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How Much Would You Pay For VLF Type Discrimination At PI Type Depths?


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Well, since this thread petered out I will answer my own question directly. If the AKA Intronik STF really can detect and accurately identify a U.S. dime or nickel at depths that clearly exceed that of anything else it would definitely be worth some bucks to me. The key of course is the depth improvement would have to be indisputable by anyone that tried the machine against the competition. No hair splitting but a solid 10% plus improvement over the absolute best currently obtainable. The TID would not have to be 100% accurate but it would have to be on par with the competition.

To put it simply, I would want to bury a dime deeper than, for instance, a Fisher F75 could detect at all no matter the combination of settings. Then I would want to see the AKA Intronik STF clearly and easily detect and identify that dime with a clear, loud signal. The depth gain would have to hold under a large variety of ground conditions.

Now, to my mind $12,000 would be more than I would spend to get that capability for the simple reason that I can still find good targets with the machines I already have at the locations I hunt. If I am already getting everything possible down to 10", exactly how many more good targets and I going to see getting to 11"? Very hard to say of course. In the prospecting world that extra inch can pay off in ounces of gold rather quickly and so $12,000 is something a person might consider. Coin and relic detecting however are unlike nugget detecting in that it does not hold true in many locations that more targets exist at depth. That is even true of prospecting detectors in many locations, and the coins and relics are of less average value than gold nuggets. There are constraints on how deep one can dig as a practical matter in many parks and yards also.

I guess it just comes down to what your "thing" is. My thing is gold prospecting first, and so the vast bulk of my detecting time goes to doing that, and that is where I am more inclined to invest my detecting dollars. Coin and relic detecting is a distant second place activity for me, in fact really third place as I do more jewelry detecting than coin and relic detecting.

So $12,000 would be out of the question for me personally for more depth on a dime. I do like my toys however, and the $3000 - $3500 range as last mentioned by Ringmoney does not seem automatically out of the realm of possibility at least as far as I am concerned.

The catch really is somebody else will have to be the guinea pig on that one. I am just not willing to make that big a gamble on a company I am not familiar with. It is one thing to drop $800 into some oddball brand with no U.S. dealers and quite another to spend thousands. There is also the gut feeling I have that Fisher or White's or Minelab etc. are sooner or later going to produce that next big thing and I am far more willing to not only trust what they might produce, but willing to wait some time yet to see what it might be. But that's just me folks. You all have to make your own calls in that regard.

Anyway, best of luck to AKA and I do hope they can deliver the goods. I will certainly be watching them to see what develops.

aka-intronik-stf-metal-detector.jpg

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I personally am quite happy with my V3i. I know a lot of you don't have a high opinion of it but mine has paid for itself several times over with the coins and jewelry I have found with it.... And I don't get out all that much.. and certainly not as much as I would like to, but location and the fact I do still have to work for a living kinda puts a damper on my free time.

I have used MMS (mixed mode stereo) now for a while and have gotten to really like that program plus I have added my own tweek's to the program to suit me...

As to the foreign machines entering the market...... well I'm kind of a keep my money at home as much as I can kind of guy..... nuff said.

Is the V3i perfect?... Nope... But I am pretty comfortable with it now and I think I am getting as good a performance as I need with more if I need it.

I also make it a point to go to White's Sweet Home headquarters occasionally so I can snoop..... I think they are a great company and I think they have some stuff on the horizon that will impress. 

 

I would love to be able to get out and nugget hunt but there just isn't anyplace I am aware of near me.

So I do what I can when I can and that is coin and jewelry in schools, parks, and an occasional private area...

I do envy you guys and gals that are near the nugget fields.

Happy hunting to all.

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I can care less where the detector is made, if it exceeds the capabilities of any VLF or PI and has excellent discrimination abilities at depth I would buy it. I hunt to find gold, anything that gives me the edge to get to that nugget quicker with less trash/to good target ratios I would buy. There are endless amounts of tailings and areas full of trash that have gold in them. Most of these areas are virgin because we get frustrated hunting for hours and hours digging freakin trash....it gets a bit discouraging. So, perhaps we need to motivate some company on this planet to work on this miracle machine because their are plenty of people who will spring for it. For some of us, the only grounds available at this point are trash infested grounds...we need a tool that will see the yellow between the rust. 

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Ah AuWanderer, you are singing my song! Trust me, it is not from lack of motivation or trying. It is simply a hard nut to crack. It is important people like us keep making it clear we want it and are willing to pay to get it. Otherwise people should not complain when the same old same old just gets repackaged endlessly.

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As an individual we all have a limit, Steve.    I would imagine most of us have multiple units and coils, which, if we sold it all could raise two, three thousand or more in a normal resale market. However, 'normal' in regards to resale appears to be a relative word as 'depressed' is apparently the new normal. 

I am in a treasure quest mode.  If the new detector would actually increase my acquisition of the sought after treasure then the desire to own one would increase to the point where I would have to have it, which in turn would motivate me to do whatever i needed to do to obtain it.  If that was the case, if I couldn't swing a new one, I'd seek a used one, even if I had to wait a year or three to make it happen.  It would become a goal.

Buy and try is pretty much out of the question in today's depressed resale market so I would have to "know" that the unit would do what I needed it to do before I'd sell all of my other proven equipment, eat the loss resulting from that sale, and then add what ever additional dollars might be required to obtain said new high priced metal detector.  

That said, I have put back some cash for the next generation of metal detector that would actually help me in my particular treasure quest.  But it is saved for something that I "know" will help me.  Not for "buy and try", not for "caught my eye",  but for a unit that I know for sure will increase my treasure recoveries above and beyond what I have already proven. 

My nickel,

HH
Mike  

 

 

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I hear you Mike and we are on the same page. Frankly, I tell myself I should just stop buying any more detectors unless they really are packing a new patent number. I am frustrated that when I get a new detector at the end of the day it may be different but it's all the same. PI has been on a roll and delivering true measurable improvements to prospectors. But the coin and relic machines really are in a rut. The DEUS made waves being light in weight and with fast recovery in dense ferrous, but I never personally saw it as doing anything some good old Tesoro units could not do with the right coils. Machines like the V3i really mix it up and spit it out in different ways, but that ability to hit a dime at X inches hit a wall a long time ago. I really want to get my hands on something that without a doubt no questions asked is a real improvement in discrimination at depth.

When a new VLF detector comes out I may as well just have one canned report "great new detector with unique mix of features that finds a coin at depth just as well as machines we have had for years".

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Just got back from another day of trash recovery. And yes, I am frustrated because I have been in a skunk for a number of weeks and all I have now is iron infested tailing piles...:angry:. As far as detectors...I still use the 4500 and find no reason to upgrade. Gpx machines have a huge variety of coils available which makes this detector capable of good depth and also get the small gold. I don't plan on upgrading until SOMEONE comes up with a machine that has the ability to recognize trash form yellow. Until then I will keep going out and picking out trash until a bit of yellow shows up....but to be honest trash is not a great motivator, gold is. 

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Very interesting information on a new detector.  I remember when the Fisher F75 first came to the dealers and an excited Gene Scullion called me and stated, "Mark this new F75 is a game changer, you have to get one", then he said, "If you buy one you'll never look back."  At that time both Gene and I were using the Tesoro Tejon, well anyway I jumped on and ordered a F75 from him.  And yes it was a game changer, found more silver in places where I had completely hunted out.  I actually hope the machine becomes reality..............

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Steve,

I would like someone to make a detector that JUST looks for silver coins, at the expense of everything else, and deeper than f75.  THAT i would pay a lot for, if I can use it for extreme depth when out in fields, or quicker for in old homesteads, and able to filter aluminum junk.

Copper coins come out looking terrible and eaten away most of the time in my wet/fertilized/clay/pesticide soil..not much use focusing on them.  Gold coins...too rare, although make a special one for that too, might as well. 

A really really really focused tool(detector) instead of the swiss army knife approach which must have to sacrifice a little bit in most areas to be pleasing to most people...

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