First Impressions Of The Deus II

[phrunt]

It depends what gold you have in your area, no point looking for what's not there and rejecting what is there 🙂

Rings are a different story, there is unlikely to be lost earrings and not lost rings.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, strick said:

The whole micro jewelry thing really baffles me...I mean what is the attraction? The Nox and CTX both will hit on diamond stud earring..most of which are just junk anyways...

There in two, is high percentage hunting. I spent some time hunting micro, found more than a pint of the stuff and not one piece was worth anything at all. Some very pretty things that might have made for nice pics to brag on, but no intrinsic value. It was worth learning to do just to know it was not worth doing.

The first year with the Tarsacci I dug everything. Piles of junk that ~could~ have been gold, but was not. Also worth doing to learn how far I could trust that detector and just what I could get away with and not lose actual value.

Now I hunt items with intrinsic value. A quarter is always worth what it says, gold is always worth melt value, micro jewelry is worth little. And exactly as Strick suggests, it is worth less than nothing when you consider the time recovering tiny and all the little foil bits that must be dug to get it at all.

A wiser approach is to focus a little higher up the scale, even if you find less, just at Steve suggests. The value in total is better.

The debate of the moment is Deus 2 vs Equinox, with an occasional nod to Tarsacci. Most any of the old salts here could take any of those, and some others too, and do about as well as they can if they had the other. It comes down to what you like. I like the Tarsacci, and for the very things most dislike about it, but then I do very well doing the opposite of what most choose to do.

[Steve Herschbach]

3 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

A similar argument has been made for grain-sized natural gold and USA coins, particularly (and close to my heart) USA 5 cent 'nickels'.  Why do people fish if they are just going to throw it back if they even catch one?  Why do people golf who have no chance of ever breaking 80 (or 90, or...)?

Sometimes its about the challenge and (small, in the eyes of some) accomplishment.  Now in my case, there's a juicy key date Jeffie or Buffie out there just waiting for me, so I'm swinging for the fences, not hitting for average.  And I can even keep the undersized sunfish.  😄

Lots of validity to that. I’ve certainly hunted my share of micro jewelry, and enjoyed doing it. I spend a lot of time simply using detectors for the sheer enjoyment of it, noodling through a park for instance, and just digging all manner of stuff. Most of it worthless. But what of it? I’m not doing this to get rich, but to enjoy myself, and I do. I’d observe that many who do not last at this hobby, are not in it for fun, but for money. When the easy riches do not materialize, they quit detecting. Ironically, if you do it because you love it, the riches can happen, but it’s more a byproduct of having a good time, instead of the main goal.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I spend a lot of time simply using detectors for the sheer enjoyment of it, noodling through a park for instance, and just digging all manner of stuff.

A point well made. I feel the same in a lot of ways, but like to hunt higher value. What that means of course is I dig more pull tabs than foil. The value changes, but the amount of junk remains the same. 

[Chase Goldman]

23 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I spend a lot of time simply using detectors for the sheer enjoyment of it, noodling through a park for instance, and just digging all manner of stuff. Most of it worthless. But what of it? I’m not doing this to get rich, but to enjoy myself, and I do. I’d observe that many who do not last at this hobby, are not in it for fun, but for money. When the easy riches do not materialize, they quit detecting. Ironically, if you do it because you love it, the riches can happen, but it’s more a byproduct of having a good time, instead of the main goal.

The above pretty much sums up my hobby detecting philosophy.  It's a hobby, it's therapy; it's adventure; it's meeting new people; it's busting my detecting buddies' chops; it's going to new places and seeing new sights; it's touching history; it's touching treasure; it's getting out of the house and getting fresh air; it's getting exercise; it's getting tick bites, poison ivy, twisted ankles, sore muscles, heat exhaustion, dehydration, hypothermia and sunburn; it's getting your truck stuck in the middle of nowhere; it's pushing yourself just beyond your limits; it's getting frustrated; it's doing a happy dance with no one else around; it's nerding out on gadgets and technology; it's learning how to use a map and historical records to do research; it's learning how to read the land and human nature for clues.   It's hours of boredom interrupted by seconds of pure joy.

The best thing is it isn't work...

If I find it becoming work like (e.g., having to find enough to "pay for my detector") or find myself bending the rules (wrecking the site with sloppy dig holes and trash or night hawking or tresspassing) in pursuit or just not caring, it will be time to quit...

[GB_Amateur]

4 hours ago, strick said:

Looks like I've been busted once again 🙂

I was thinking when I wrote my reply that you made a tongue-in-cheek / devil's advocate post.  Even if that wasn't the case, if you just keep quiet you'll get the credit. 

[Erik Oostra]

The bone-phones are here! Not looking good for the Wireless detector, the Deus II has just sprouted a whole tangle of them..

 

[phrunt]

Do they seem sturdy? they don't look very tough.  Hopefully they resolve your audio issues underwater with your hearing problems, I love the idea of the technology.

They look to have a long cord, it's a shame they didn't make it that retractable style where it stretches out when it needs to which sand might be a problem with I guess, or a curly type cable.

 

[Erik Oostra]

1 minute ago, phrunt said:

Do they seem sturdy? they don't look very tough.  Hopefully they resolve your audio issues underwater with your hearing problems, I love the idea of the technology.

Like anything XP, they're like a toy.. they reminded me of a kid's stethoscope to play doctors and nurses.. and for all XP's bragging about being the first to introduce bone conduction headphones for metal detecting, so far the new technology isn't working for me.. if they are supposed to vibrate I can't feel a thing.. maybe I'm unlucky and have received a pair of non-vibrating bone-phones.. so far all I've got is a pair of cheap and nasty looking headphones.. 

Nonetheless, cheap looking or not, they do work! and I should be able to hear them underwater.. 😁    

[phrunt]

I think to use them effectively it's best to wear ear plugs to prevent noise getting into your ears from the water and waves, they work by tiny vibrations on your cheek bones not by the sort of vibrations you're expecting, not like a vibrating pin pointer 🙂  Give them a shot with some ear plugs in and see how you go.  If you're diving deep you need special pressure relief ear plugs but normal shallow stuff normal swimming ear plugs would be fine.

It's an interesting technology, I thought it was something relatively new but it appears not so.  Ludwig van Beethoven may have been one of the first people to develop a device for hearing through bone conduction. Once the 20th century age of electrically amplified sound hit, inventors started developing bone conduction hearing devices to aid people with hearing loss, or who had to work in loud environments.