Sickness, Obsession, Or Just Plain Fun!

[Joe D.]

   Hello all,

   I recently saw someone state that they didn't fully understand why they sometimes get the urge to buy a certain detector! And for one reason or another, fail to pull the trigger, or asking the question of why not!

   I, like many here, have questioned why i would want to purchase; and have purchased, what would "technically" be an "inferior" detector! If there is such a thing; they all find stuff!!

   I think the reason's are as numerous as one can imagine! So i won't bore everyone with what i think their reasons are! I can only speak for myself!

   Probably my number one driving factor are places like this forum, and other sources for research! Once you really start to get the "bug" for detecting, you begin to understand that it can go beyond just finding treasures! In fact, my reading, and quest for information, far exceeds my actual detecting hours! Of course, there are also "real life" reasons that prevent me from getting out there as often as i would like! But instead of that being a negative; and me being bitter about it! I funnel that energy into trying to soak up more knowledge to make my actual detecting hours more productive! Many here will understand this!

   So, for those thay are unclear what that has to do with buying older, or less advanced detectors, i will explain!

   Like many, i detected a few years when i was young! Stopped for a career, and family; among other reasons! And got back to it, a few years before my retirement five years ago! Not being involved for all those years, i went with a new detector; among others i researched at the time!

   Now fast forward to today! I'm much more knowledgeable than seven years ago; detecting and theory wise, but have barely scratched the surface! I own several detectors for various functions! Some overlapping each other a bit in operation! A few others are just for fun, or for something i feel i missed, in my absent years! Other's were too good a deal to pass up! And I could get a good return for, if i chose to!

   So, to summarize! In my opinion, the longer your in it, the wider range of technology, legends, varations, etc... you are likely to buy, and try, for no very practical reason! Cost not withstanding; as you advance in this hobby! Or as some jokingly refer to it as a "sickness ", or "obsession "! 🤩 👍👍

[GB_Amateur]

The answers range from "how many detectors can you swing at one time?" to "no detector covers all situations".  And those are just the logical answers.  The used detector market is pretty robust so as long as you're as willing to sell as you are to buy then your cost is minimal.

I remember a wagering discussion that went something like the following:

person 1) You bet $100 on tonight's football game?  Isn't that a lot of money?

person 2) The bookmaker's rake is 5% so if I do nothing more than flip a coin, on average it's going to cost me $5.  You're going to a movie tonight?  What's that's gonna cost you?

Isn't that more/less what you're doing when you buy a detector, try it out, and sell it?

[maxxkatt]

I have been in and out of this hobby for many years. Jumped back in 6 years ago with AT Pro, fine machine. Got caught up in the Equinox hype and just had to have an 800 so bought one after selling my AT Pro. Recently sold my 800 and bought CTX3030. (for some loss of hearing, not any reasons the 800 was not a good detector).

I hunt parks and civil war relics in urban Atlanta. For me the hobby gets me out of the house and the dreaded unlimited honey do list. My wife still works and I am semi-retired. Run a small online business. The part of being retired she feel quite content with filling up with her honey do list. Or as she starts out every sentence is "honey, I need you to  do this...".

My detecting is physical exercise since some hunts I hike in a mile or two and back out. The thrill of not knowing what is under your coil and digging is fun. But with my CTX3030 on coins it pretty much spoils the suspense since it is so accurate at ID's coins vs trash.

Civil War relic hunting is a different story and even the CTX will keep you in suspense often.

There is a technical and historical intellectual challenge to this hobby that helps keep the mind sharp. Learning a new modern metal detector, especially one from a different vendor is like learning a Mac when you have 30 years experience on the PC or vice versa. Learning to use new research tools is also fun and often results in some better places to hunt.

I have thought about giving up metal detecting, especially in the 1st year with my Nox 800. But what else would I do? I really cannot think of another hobby that offers both physical benefits and intellectual challenges. Only thing close is panning for gold. But now in North Georgia where the gold is, it is all pretty much private property so you have to join a gold club and pay monthly dues. I guess I was spoiled for two years I had exclusive use of a 40 acre original lottery land lot with two gold mines and a gold bearing stream running through the property. I didn't back then realize how good I had it. But my boys and I had a great two years panning on the weekends.

bike riding? no, bowling? no, walking or running? no, stamp collecting? no, coin collecting? no, art painting? no tried that, writing books? no best seller was produced but it was enjoyable and gave me a sense of accomplishment.  reading? no and the list goes on. It is metal detecting for me as long as I can physically get out there and walk and swing.

It is very hard to describe to others outside this great hobby.

I also think it takes a special type of person. I think we detectorists are just plain curious and like to find things. Based on my years on the forum, we come from all walks of life. Some times we go a year or more between a really good find. But between those great finds we are having fun and that is what this hobby is all about having fun. Communicating on forums with like minded people is also fun, because in every day life, I rarely,  if ever run into a detectorists other than some rare sightings while out detecting. Those are rare, maybe 4-5 in the past six years detecting in urban Atlanta.

My dream location would be somewhere on the east coast of FL say lower half of the Treasure Coast down to South Beach. I know two detectorists who do live in that area and really clean up on the rings with nice chunks of ice on them. These two guys are not active on forums or do not make videos of their finds. But they make more than a decent living with their finds. The know where to hunt, know how to read beaches, they have the right detectors and years of beach hunting experiences. Each shared what the do with me because I was writing a small book on Metal Detecting the Treasure Coast. But they both ask me not to reveal their identity.  But moving to FL is not in the cards. My wife has too many relatives  near us and she would never consider leaving where we live.

So like a lot of detectorists, we just have to make do with detecting sites that are within our comfort driving range. For me my limit is about 1 - 1.5 hours drive to a site. Fortunately I have quite a few sites within the 40 minute range.

 

 

 

[GB_Amateur]

54 minutes ago, maxxkatt said:

It is very hard to describe to others outside this great hobby.

Excellent writeup.  You pretty much summed up what this hobby/endeavor means to me.  I selected this one quote because it reminded me of questions (and looks) I get occasionally, including one just yesterday.  They think "you spend money (for equipment) and hours searching for a few coins?"  And there's the occasional "so, how does that translate to dollars/hour?"  Some people just can't see value in anything but making money.  I guess detecting sounds like work to them.

One difference I have from you is that I have many interests, but they all share a similar common misperception.  One thing I've noticed is that most people don't appreciate the complexity, difficulty, and intellectual effort that 99.9% of activities involve, at least if you want to be at the top level.  Take closed course auto racing (particularly oval racing) for example.  "Oh, it's just a bunch of overgrown kids driving in circles.  I can do that."  It's one of those times I wish I could challenge such ignorance.  "Hop in that car and drive in circles with those overgrown kids.   Let's see how you do...."

[JCR]

My perspective exactly. Great write up.

[DOOGY-MD]

It also has an environmental impact aspect too;

Just think we are single handedly ridding the planet of pull tabs and bottle caps!

[phrunt]

I can have some of my most fun detecting using the cheapest detectors, I really like my Ace 350, so much I upgraded to the Ace 300i to get Target ID's on it and I enjoy the 300i even more!  I even have a range of coils for my Ace detectors now.   They are wonderful detectors for just simple fun and in the right soil with minimal masking targets which is my situation they're very competitive even with the best detectors.

I have many detectors and most of them I could just sell off as they're largely replaced by others but I enjoy learning each of them and their differences.  I've found coins with my cheapest detectors I've missed with best, sometimes it just happens that way.

In my ground using something like an Equinox is almost cheating, firing up something else brings some fun back into it. 

I would really love to get an old classic detector, I've been trying to find one working on the second hand market for a couple of years now and had no luck, they're just not commonly available.  I missed those years some people have had detecting in the early times of detecting, I can still live it now if I eventually get an older detector, I certainly have locations I can detect that are like the good old days, undetected ground with silver coins hiding everywhere, I just need to get the detector to do it 🙂

I've calmed down a lot on buying detectors now and have little interest in buying anything now unless I think it will give me something I don't already have that I think I need, it was getting out of control there for a while and the Simplex was my last unnecessary purchase, after that I decided never again.

[Skull diver]

On 2/10/2021 at 9:18 PM, Joe D. said:

sickness ", or "obsession

Think about a workshop...how many tools are needed to do a job?

Whenever you think about the usefulness of an instrument for a job, a detector could do it like another, but maybe it has something that you like best, that suits you better, that is a better sound, a more comfortable shaft. , a color you prefer.

Think of those who collect cars, who may not drive, but who enjoy entering the garage, turn on the lights and take off the sheets to discover their jewels, perhaps to show them to their friend on duty.
Don't you find it an expensive passion? There's simply no reason more than the moments You enjoy with it.

I am saved from collecting detectors only because I was forcibly born a beach hunter, cause of my area among two coasts, almost like Florida guys.

The only reason I don't have dozens of them is because as a category we are quite neglected and only today brands are starting to fight each other to churn out new technologies for this purpose. I can't even say new, maybe new marketing on it.

Today I am 38 years old, I want a new instrument, I wonder if the 4 I have are not enough and I answer that I do not have a variable single frequency except for a 2.4Khz paid 170 dollars.

I bought it after seeing a friend come up with a 33 gram ring.
14K, handmade, crazy.

The one and only reason that ring came out is that he digs it all up.
With that instrument he is forced to do it, he has only one signal.
With the Tdi I would not have dug it, with the Ctx neither, With the excalibur, I have my doubts.

I would still have discriminated as if it were a coin.

In the room where I sleep today, I have the detectors around on their shelves.

I started doing metal detecting after losing my father, only to find peace and silence and be alone on the beach.

After three years of collecting garbage of any kind, I remembered my passion for diving and I started with a Cz21 to find the first pieces.

I discover that I would have become a father and I sell the Fisher to raise some money by cutting the most marginal things.

At that point, I stop for a few months, stuck at work and dedicating myself to my ex-partner waiting for our daughter.

But I was missing a piece and all over again I bought a used Excalibur and fitted a new 8 "coil.

A week before my daughter was born, during a late afternoon test with the new coil I am dragged offshore by a current and I get out of it alive thanks to two fishermens.

My daughter is born and instead of stopping diving, a challenge begins between me and the seabed.
I start studying geomorphology, currents, waves, winds, forecasts and I take terrible walks in search of depressions along the coast.

I start reading the beach, reading the water, picking up pieces in places where no one dares.

The future marriage is going to get screwed, I feel the freedom to do what I love and bring the bread home anyway.

The more I know the beach, the more I know myself and the cursed scent of risk.

I built a dredge, hunted over 400km of coastline, I knew only one gulf as if it were a house in which I live.

Today I write for a shop, every now and then I test for some newly released instruments and I film underwater sessions with it.

The golden age on the beach has already passed and since the times of Bob Trevillian and Frank Carter, finds today are a third. But we pursue dreams and freedom listening for signals.

When I joined this forum, I discovered that I have seen a small piece of this world and that even today, there are technical pearls that resonate like slaps on my face.

I'm far from perfect, probably one life will not be enough to get close to it, but by the time I retire, another risk awaits me, another leap into the void.
I am too far from Australia, but a month of hunting for nuggets is what I hope to be able to do soon.

Starting from scratch in a field where I have never had experience is still dangerous.
After all, the gold hunt is like Russian roulette. Only with 4 bullets in the drum.