What Are The Manufacturers Missing?

[PhaseTech]

Just thought I'd start a new topic to get some discussion going. 

There seems to be more detectors on the market then ever. Yes a lot are variations on the same thing, but there are a few unique models such as GPZ7000, SDC2300, Gold Racer, Deus, etc. 

So what detector in your mind doesn't exist? Could a certain manufacturer mangle together a few of their features/patents and build something unique? 

Just curious

[Mike C...]

Hybrid VLF/PI-VLF for disc and sensitivity and PI for the deep stuff   Mike C...

[AussieMatt]

For me the thing being missed by a lot, not all, of manufacturers is the need to get on board with wireless technology & user firmare upgrades via internet.

In particuler wireless technology should be on every new machine now. It's relatively cheap, small/lightweight & even the Chinese made stuff like Avantree is reliable + robust. To me even current models should be able to be released as a new version with wireless as standard as existing models enter a new production phase i.e. as a version V2 or similar. It honestly can't be that hard or expensive to do??

A GPZ that disciminates like the Dues & just as light + compact. Is that too much to ask??

[RickUK]

No one detector does it all at the moment,and cannot see any major game changers on the horizon either,my way of thinking is i have basically all the detectors that i need for my detecting scenarios,one of my main buying criteria if and when i am looking for a new detector is never buy a brand new latest model for a minimum of 12 this time duration usually highlights any design faults of which we have seen in the last few years.Will never change from this one and its saved me alot of money,frustration and down time.

The bottom line is a detectoris  just a very expensive lump of plastic/alloy packed with electronic components in side,you take it out the box and install batteries and what does it do by itself ?? nothing,it does not find you anything on its own,so although you have the latest super duper detector with the latest technology inside,it still means absolutely nothing,the best detector makers on the planet can build anything that is total new hybrid operating system and it still means nothing.

So although i have been detecting a good few years here in the UK and have some knowledge,i have been refining my detecting techniques and skills on operating a detector/s,rather than buying and chasing the latest machines,also another 'BIG' area that is very important too me rather than new detectors is research.

Owning the right detector for the job,learning as much about operating the detector/s and research,a experienced detectorist even with a older machine who has many many years operating that machine and his knowledge of the local terrain and the  items that he is seeking is far more important than any new potential new detecting technology that has yet to be invented or produced.

Experience is in my mind more important that something that has not been produced yet,of course these are just my thoughts and personal opinions.

[walkerrj]

Hmmmm, maybe a PI Coil for my Deus??

[Ridge Runner]

Well guys I say spit in one hand and wish in the other to see what gets full the fastest. That is about the way it's been with detectors and the company that makes them so far.

If wrong then I stand corrected.

Chuck 

[Steve Herschbach]

If I am dreaming just give me a GPZ with perfect ferrous discrimination to full depth. But for low hanging fruit....

All new machines over $500 should have both wireless headphone capability and Internet update capability built in.

Ergonomics is a biggie. I would love to see an SDC 2300 stuffed into a Eureka Gold box so that it could be chest or hip mounted, along with plug in accessory coils. Or Garrett ATX in similar setup with regular coils instead of ones that come with shafts attached. This list could go on for some time.

I also want someone to make a selectable frequency VLF so good it could replace the two or three VLF detectors it seems I currently must own to get good across the board performance.

And would somebody please start making Bigfoot coils for multiple brands of detectors!!

[jasong]

Something that truly doesn't exist? Well, I have an idea that doesn't require banging heads against a wall of patents, but a manufacturer can fairly pay me for it, no one gives me free detectors or profit sharing after all. 

EM fields decay quick - but they decay to infinity. So in the near field really all we have is a noise problem if we look at it that way, a problem which does have solutions. And then some things might not seem so impossible if you aren't a manufacturer who thinks 2 decades behind the times or in terms of a coil on a stick...

I don't believe a discriminating PI(or ZVT) is the holy grail though, at least not for the prospector I don't view it as anything but an inevitable next step - maybe in the 2000's it was the impossible but times have changed both in what we have technologically available to work with and the states of the goldfields and it's only a game changer in some specific areas IMO. Especially since the goalposts are being pushed further and further away every year as the goldfields become more and more depleted. I say this because I hope the manufacturers are thinking bigger and not in terms of goals set a few decades ago, or I want to encourage them to do so if not.

[Reno Chris]

This is a helicopter doing an electromagnetic survey for mineral deposits. They also do ground conductivity measurements - conceptually quite similar to what we do with our metal detectors. Imagine a miniature version mounted on a drone, done up as a metal detector. That would be ground breaking!

[1515Art]

If I'm getting to dream a little and could combine two technologies that I know little about, although am certain would be scientifically impossible due to interfering with each other's signals somehow, and cooking the operator in the process might be a possible down side as well... I'd like to have a metal detector that also had some kind of XRF technology whereby you could detect for small percentages of various minerals (Au, or host rock) and then you could hunt for indicator trails and the eventual rainbows end