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Disgusted By $500+ Price Of Garrett Deepseeker Coil (and Minelab Prices)


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2 hours ago, hayesman76 said:

Just how fast do you think you'd be able to find that elusive 6 ounces of in-the-ground gold? Not to mention the other miscellaneous costs involved in the endeavor.

With gold valued at less than $1300 US/ounce a strong argument could be made that you'd be way better off buying 99.999% pure gold bullion by the ounce rather than trying to find that 6 ounces with a $7000+ metal detector.

ummm.....I think it was under a week, though I did take a day off to do my washing, clean my room and take some crap to the dump. So to be safe lets say 7 days.

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Quite a few people on this forum have found over 6 ounces in a single lump. That's kind of beside the point. When you buy gold you have the gold you bought. If you buy a detector and find the same gold, now you have the gold and you have the detector, which does have value also. You can keep the gold and sell the detector used - the real cost of the use of a detector is the difference between what you pay for it and sell it for used, not the full retail. Or you can keep it and just keep adding to the gold.

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Even with the older machines out there, There are now enough coils to bring an SD/GP/GPX close to the performance of the ZED, and dozens of them will whoop the ATX's A$$,

Due to the time I have had on my hands this past year being unimpressed with any VLF detectors that have been release I decided to try and improve upon what I have and how I use them, I since found more depth and more sensitivity,

Like you I use to bitch about the stupid cost of certain machines but on the other hand I did nothing to give the machines I have a fighting chance, Once I stopped blaming other companies and got my backside in to gear I found depth and I found sensitivity and I also taught my self to focus on one type of signal,

Most people buy a machine and swap settings with others and then find a mid point between the two and leave it at that, But this is where the winter months come in to their own using that time to exploit every setting and try out new coils or you could get under the Wife's feet and spend the days complaining about the Weather.

As for ML and their $7000 machine, Some see value in it some don't but the R&D that has gone in to that machine has to be paid for, You are not just buying a box with bits inside it, You are buying 2-3-4 years + of research and development and production cost and the list goes on, You could put the price down to greed ?  But this whole hobby is about Greed, Companies want to make money and "We" want to make finds,, We ask these companies to make certain type machine and then slate those companies because of the price involved, As humans we don't work for free and we should not expect them to do so either, and if you want more depth etc from a machine then learn how to use it better and do some of your own R&D with Coils,, That ATX deep seeker coil will give you a bit extra depth and yes it is expensive but as said before you are paying for the extra bits that come with it,

The major issue I have with the ATX is like the SDC they come with limited coil choices where as one of the GPX range the sky is the limit, A 4500 might be a little more costly to start with but the coil choice and versatility is only limited by the mind of the user, And any of the most successful machines out there where there are dozens of coils made for it almost has unlimited uses and never really go out of fashion so to speak, hence the re-release of the 4500.

We can't blame ML or Garrett, because we asked them to make this stuff so the blame lies a little closer to home.

J.  

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Since Minelab is a publically traded company not all this stuff is secret. It took Minelab about five years and approximately $10 million to develop the GPZ 7000. That is just development. Then add in manufacturing, distribution, advertising, etc.

http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/2703-cost-to-develop-gpz-7000-over-10-million/

I don't care what companies charge for products I don't have to own. I can choose to buy them or not. No point in getting mad at Maserati because they charge more for cars than I want to spend!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I agree that the cost of Detectors and accessories is excessive, but metal detectors fall into one of those unique categories like software in some regards that if a company puts a large investment into the research and development phase at the front end, the price is inflated well above the manufacturing cost per unit by far to recoup and make a profit to put into continued research.  I don't necessarily like some of the prices I see either, but kind of figure if we want to keep seeing advancements in technology, you have to pay for it somehow. I also just wish it wasn't excessive, but when something comes around that does what you want, like you want... and you decide you want one... well cost seems to become less of an obstacle in the decision to buy process.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
On 12/13/2017 at 8:47 AM, Randy Lunn said:

The GPZ was just an expensive accessory for my 4X4 Jeep. But ....  oh, the places you will go!

 

50A37AAC-058A-4C59-BAD1-5358A3400D74.jpeg

That is an excellent way to look at it.  I can’t afford a GPZ 7000 because I have invested $15,000 into a 30 year old jeep to get me to areas that I can take advantage of my GPX 5000 and the half dozen coils I have for it.  Plus now I’m building a trailer to haul my quad on to tow behind the jeep to again get farther off the beaten path.  Regardless of the money spent this hobby has by far had the only financial return for the money spent.  

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Without reiterating remarks already made...

I'll just add, that anyone who goes into this 'hobby' with the intent of recouping funds is most likely going to be disappointed.

Sure, some have done well.  But most are doing it for all the other aspects as well, and the possibility of gold is just the 'cherry on top'.

Good Luck !!   There is still gold out there to be found.  :cool:

Luke

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My hobbies have paid for this hobby. My wife and I have an agreement. If I can figure out how to pay for something without having to dip into the budget or savings I can get it without having to get approval. I used to surf. The older I got (52 now) I'd be on my board thinking about metal detecting so I sold my surf boards and bought more detectors. I used to kayak surf and when i wanted an Excal I sold the kayaks. Same thing happened to my paddle boards, I wanted to try the CTX so I sold my boards. 99% of my hobbies prior to going all in with detecting were black financial holes. New paddles, wetsuits, boards etc. All cost money that could never be returned.

It didn't hurt that great whites have been showing up all over the coast in terms of influencing my decisions. Bottom line is we find the money we need when we really want something bad enough. I know a guy who smokes a pack a day that thinks Minelab's detectors are too expensive. $6 a day times 365 days is $2190 to smoke menthols. $2190 will buy a CTX and maybe a used extra coil. It's all about perspective. 

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