Metal Detecting 'Cutting Through The Crap'

What Do I Think Of The New Detectors On The Market?

This is a question I seem to get asked on a regular basis and I'm not sure why, if I'm going to be completely honest, I have no interest in any of the machines that everybody's currently raving about. It's the same old YouTube faces spewing the same old shit with click-bait titles to get you to watch their videos. The whole metal detecting YouTube scene actually puts me on a downer, the sheer desperation of some out there to be some kind of celebrity is painful to watch. 

I was very conscious when I started my channel not to set myself up as a self styled guru, I'm not an expert on anything and I certainly don't look upon myself as anyone important. I just wanted to show the performance of the machines that I use, it's never been about anything more than that. To be honest, I try to keep my head out of the detecting community as much as possible, especially online, there's so much politics and petty crap, grown men arguing about which machine "smokes the other" is something I'd expect to hear from children in a school yard not by adults on a public forum.

Since the rise of social media nearly all pass times have gone from a private way of relaxing to a full blown ego trip, there's no secrets anymore because people have this incessant need to broadcast their every move. I've seen the same thing happen with carp fishing here in the UK, the minute a big fish comes out of a lake the captor posts it on social media and then everyone goes flocking down to the lake in the hopes that they will catch it as well, this is as far away from the ethos of angling as you can get. Years ago before social media if there was a monster in the water you were fishing then it was kept a secret amongst the guys fishing the place, there was this cool quietness that no longer exists in this day and age - everyone is shouting and yelling. 

This same thing has happened with metal detecting, back when I started there was this amazing mystery and buzz about digging something out the ground, not only that, I knew no one doing it. Now with YouTube being painfully oversaturated with live digs and metal detecting channels, it's taken the mystery away, there was a time when digging any treasure out the ground was exciting, now people literally think its their birthright to dig hammered coins and silver, and feel like giving the hobby up if they dig some trash. This is simply a reflection of the 'instant' society' we now live in, people want as much as possible as quickly as possible with very little effort involved as possible. There's got to be a secret setting on your machine to find hammered coins .. right? ........ wrong ... there isn't. 

Look At Me Everybody !!

The point mentioned above has moved its way into mud larking on the River Thames, the port authority have had to close down their permit process because too many people are on the foreshore removing treasures. Again, because of people needing to share everything they find to get validation off complete strangers, vast amounts of people then watch the videos and decide they want to do the same thing. What Happened To Just Being? why does everything have to be plastered over the internet. I might be coming across as a hypocrite because I have this blog, my social media and my YouTube but I don't broadcast where I am, constantly beg for subscribers and likes and try to sell you dodgy overpriced mugs and clothing with my face and a catchy little slogan printed on it. Just like this blog, I really couldn't care less who reads it or watches my videos, the information is out there for those that are interested in it.

I feel the same way about group digs, now I understand getting permissions can be near impossible and clubs and group digs are the only way some people can get out there. Leaving clubs out of the scenario, there seems to be a rise in random people starting little businesses, finding land, striking a deal with the farmer and then proceeding to charge as many people as possible to come and rape the fields of treasure. Do these people give a shit about history or just making as much money as possible? Let's not be under any illusion here, these types of digs are going on up and down the country every weekend, at this rate, in years to come, there will be no land left to hunt. I actually know a few people who had their own permissions and the types of people mentioned above offered the farmer money and large group digs took place wrecking the land for the guys that had permission to hunt there in the first place. Once again this is just an example of how painfully commercial the hobby has become and it's a real shame to see.

Where Are We At With The Machines On Offer?

Regarding where we are currently with all the new machines coming to market, I personally think the mainstream side of metal detecting is a clown show, Minelab flooding the market with new detectors might appear amazing to some but I see it as a sign of desperation. To me the Equinox 700 and 900 are what the original `Equinox' series should've been in the first place, especially when it comes to the build quality. Is there any real significant increase in performance? I'm yet to witness anything that truly stands out from the earlier models. 

In regards to the Manticore, from what I've seen it isn't worth the price tag and it appears the release was rushed. I personally don't think it has had the impact that Minelab were hoping, then we have the Xterra Pro, a cheap machine that's been released for one purpose only, to take sales away from the Simplex series Nokta produces. Let's not forget, it was Minelab that stated that the Equinox range would obsolete all single frequency machines - and what have they done? they've released a single frequency machine. 

In response to this, all the same YouTube experts that spent the last few years preaching about how dated and obsolete single frequency machines are, are now ranting and raving about how amazing the Xterra Pro is, the hypocrisy and stupidity is eye watering, the fact anyone gives these people any form of credibility is beyond me. I can see they're using the price as the main point to hype it up, the price doesn't come into it, it's still a 'dated' single frequency unit. I bet if Minelab had charged £600 for the Xterra people would've still been lining up to buy it.

Then we have the minefield of trying to gain some perspective on the performance of these new machines, it's really hard to know who to actually pay attention to. I find it very hard to watch any real videos that demonstrate true unbiased performance. If I see someone all kitted out in the same branded clothing as the machine they're demonstrating, I have zero interest and confidence in their opinion. Most of the time they're just whoring themselves for the company or desperately trying to be noticed by 'said company' in the hope they might get sent free stuff. The one thing I've learnt. just because someone has thousands of subscribers it doesn't mean they know what they're talking about. Actually it's usually the other way around. It's no coincidence that the channels with huge amounts of subscribers tend to get the new machines before anyone else and then it's the opinion of these people that others rely on in regards to purchasing the machine or not. It takes more than someone in a Deus 2 cap and T-shirt wearing a 'car salesmen smile' to get me to part with my money.

We then have the testers for the companies, the Nokta Nomads, Minelab Detexperts, among others, again, these people usually have thousands of followers. Answer me this, if these people actually knew anything, why is it that nearly every new machine coming to market ends up needing update after update. I would've thought that if they were actually testing a product properly, when the machine comes to market the only updates needed would be those that improve performance instead of getting rid of glitches and errors and failures in certain areas of performance. I don't know any other industry that releases unfinished products with the viewpoint of testing them on the consumer and doing a bodge job to bring them up to standard at a later date. Hmmmm it's almost like the companies are using these mugs that call themselves testers more for free advertising than their knowledge of metal detectors and metal detecting.

Is this post negative? you can take it any way you want to, I'm simply calling it the way I see it, the current state of both the world and our society is nothing more than a shit show. I look around me and genuinely feel we're getting closer and closer to extinction, there appears to be no escape from peoples egos and narcissistic tendencies. There's a weird shift that has been taking place for quite sometime now, people are living a fabricated life online instead of a real life in the real world. We now have what I call 'digital peepholes' that most spend hours of the day looking through at strangers lives, it's weird, no one is having a shit time on social media - but suicide is at an all time high.

So How Do We Cut Through The Crap?

That's a tricky question, firstly, I think you need to stop listening to false idols that are trying to make a name for themselves. Secondly, don't get sucked into the marketing nonsense that we're all bombarded with every time a new machine is about to be released. Limit the amount of information sources you're visiting when deciding if to purchase a machine or not. In certain situations you have to go with your gut and take a leap of faith in what detector you decide to purchase. When I purchased my first Nexus machine I had very little to go on other than my gut, if I'd listened to what a number people were saying about Nexus prior to ordering one, I probably wouldn't have bothered and that would've been a big mistake.