Revolutionary Detectors Over Time?

[JCR]

Not revolutionary, but practical handheld pin pointers have been a great step forward.

[Aureous]

Historically, the 'game changers' have been with leaps in technology. Ground balance in VLF detectors, like the early-mid 1970's Whites, Gardiners, Garretts and Fishers detectors, thanks to George Payne's ground breaking work. Then, SAT type auto threshold circuits like the Goldmasters etc. DD coil tech which reduces sensed mineralization, higher frequency detectors for more sensitivity to small gold nuggets. Auto ground balancing (tracking) started with the Minelab GT16000. Once all variations of these different techs were exhausted, then Pulse Induction tech came along with Eric Foster's Goldscan range and then Minelabs SD2000. To my mind, the only 2 big leaps forward since then have been Minelab's 'ZVT' and 'Geosense' take on ground signal reduction in PI tech and simultaneous multi frequency 'SMF' tech in discriminating VLF detectors. Its starting to look as if all of the recent true innovations have all been created by Minelab and no-one else has even bothered.

To my mind, as far as a list goes, these detectors added the most to the world's end-user success and technological advancements:

1970's-1990's VLF/IB

Whites Coinmaster VLF range, Whites Goldmaster range, Garrett Groundhog and Deepseeker ranges, Fisher Gold Bug 1 and 2, Tesoro Diablo 1, 2 and Lobo, Minelab 15000, 16000. Whilst detectors like Garretts GTi range, Minelab Sovereign, Explorer & Etrac and Whites Eagles got a huge following later, they didn't really offer any ground breaking tech. Only the Equinox added truly new tech with SMF which everyone else has now 'copied' in essence at least.

PI detectors.

Apart from Eric Fosters Goldscan and C-Scope CS range which were only ever a small addition to the picture, Minelab created the first truly successful commercial PI detector in the SD2000 and the tech has been expanded upon ever since with various Minelab patents like MPS (dual channel PI), DVT (select voltage for each MPS channel), MPF (super fast sampling of the remnant signal) and now ZVT (instant voltage switching to allow superior ground signal elimination) and Geosense (rapid sampling and evaluation of the ground signal to alter the pulse train code on-the-fly). When these detectors were released using these patents: SD2000, GP Extreme, SDC2300, GPZ7000 and lastly GPX6000 they all added literally tens of thousands of ounces of gold to peoples pockets.

A great many brand names and models mentioned there and Ive owned many of them. 44 detectors in 41 years!

 

[snakejim]

8 hours ago, Aureous said:

Historically, the 'game changers' have been with leaps in technology. Ground balance in VLF detectors, like the early-mid 1970's Whites, Gardiners, Garretts and Fishers detectors, thanks to George Payne's ground breaking work. Then, SAT type auto threshold circuits like the Goldmasters etc. DD coil tech which reduces sensed mineralization, higher frequency detectors for more sensitivity to small gold nuggets. Auto ground balancing (tracking) started with the Minelab GT16000. Once all variations of these different techs were exhausted, then Pulse Induction tech came along with Eric Foster's Goldscan range and then Minelabs SD2000. To my mind, the only 2 big leaps forward since then have been Minelab's 'ZVT' and 'Geosense' take on ground signal reduction in PI tech and simultaneous multi frequency 'SMF' tech in discriminating VLF detectors. Its starting to look as if all of the recent true innovations have all been created by Minelab and no-one else has even bothered.

To my mind, as far as a list goes, these detectors added the most to the world's end-user success and technological advancements:

1970's-1990's VLF/IB

Whites Coinmaster VLF range, Whites Goldmaster range, Garrett Groundhog and Deepseeker ranges, Fisher Gold Bug 1 and 2, Tesoro Diablo 1, 2 and Lobo, Minelab 15000, 16000. Whilst detectors like Garretts GTi range, Minelab Sovereign, Explorer & Etrac and Whites Eagles got a huge following later, they didn't really offer any ground breaking tech. Only the Equinox added truly new tech with SMF which everyone else has now 'copied' in essence at least.

PI detectors.

Apart from Eric Fosters Goldscan and C-Scope CS range which were only ever a small addition to the picture, Minelab created the first truly successful commercial PI detector in the SD2000 and the tech has been expanded upon ever since with various Minelab patents like MPS (dual channel PI), DVT (select voltage for each MPS channel), MPF (super fast sampling of the remnant signal) and now ZVT (instant voltage switching to allow superior ground signal elimination) and Geosense (rapid sampling and evaluation of the ground signal to alter the pulse train code on-the-fly). When these detectors were released using these patents: SD2000, GP Extreme, SDC2300, GPZ7000 and lastly GPX6000 they all added literally tens of thousands of ounces of gold to peoples pockets.

A great many brand names and models mentioned there and Ive owned many of them. 44 detectors in 41 years!

 

In 54 years of detecting, I tried to think of and list all the detectors I have used. Wow! What a change has happened in all those years. I have used nearly every one of these that you mention and then some. Thanks Aureous for bringing back those memories of days past! snakejim

[Aureous]

9 hours ago, snakejim said:

Thanks Aureous for bringing back those memories of days past! snakejim

No thanks necessary Jim, always fun to reminisce about good times :-) 

[Jim McCulloch]

"...And I often grieve, and pine... for the days of old...the days of gold... the days of Fortynine..."

[jasong]

Those ACE detectors, despite being pretty simple, probably are responsible for getting more people into metal detecting than any other relatively modern detector. 

I struggled for years with some sort of old 70's green, hard to use Garrett that I got for $10 at a garage sale in 1994. I'd give up every year out of frustration but kept eventually trying it out again a year later. 

I started watching forums around 2003 or so, and eventually I saw the ACE 250 announced, musta been about 2004. It was $200 and at the time, about what I made every week or two as a lab TA at university, it was a massive amount of money for me so I agonized for weeks on wether to buy it or not, but finally took the plunge, and never regretted it.

It was so easy to use, and my finds instantly went through the roof, I found myself totally hooked on metal detecting. I started detecting so much that I skipped classes and almost dropped out of school. It eventually led to me getting into prospecting detectors a few years later and now I'm north of $30k spent on detectors total, so the rest is history. 

[mcjtom]

On a personal note: about a year ago I bought the first 'Mental Detector'.  It was great: cheap, looked the part, and beeped a lot.  Then I found DetectorProspector.com, read archives, asked questions, listened to deliberately supportive answers and got the Vanquish 440.  That was revolutionary.

[jim tn]

I'v been chasing old coins for 50 years this past summer and every detector I have owned over the years was a game changer in some respects. Probably, though, for me the Fisher C Z's in the early 90's upped my hunting game the most with their wonderful depth. Then along came the F 75 and it also had very good depth, but with its rapid target response reopened some old trash laden spots and opened others. And most recently, the Minelab Equinox 600 with its multi frequency feature. It also gets excellent depth and performs quite well in harsher ground. HH Jim Tn

[oneguy]

swung Tesoro for 22yrs then bought an Etrac and trash/treasure ratio did a complete 180......

[schoolofhardNox]

White's Coinmaster V Supreme with G.E.B. (Ground Exclusion Balance) was the first detector for me that would ground balance hot rocks that previously read like coins. This changed everything for an amusement park we were the first to hunt circa 1969. The next detector is the Minelab GPX 5000. It allowed me to coin hunt and relic hunt like never before. I know gold guys had previous versions, so it may not be revolutionary for them, but that was the first GPX I had tried. An honorable mention (kinda revolutionary) was Minelab's E Trac for deep silver in parks. There are other great models, but not revolutionary in my experience.