Comparison Videos - This Versus That?

[Steve Herschbach]

People may be wondering, with machines shipping, will I be shooting any of the super popular “this versus that” videos.

I think my doing that sort of stuff with me involved in Equinox as closely as I have been would be in poor taste. I am not trying to show anyone up or prove anything, so I will leave all that to people who are. Anything I do would be blown off as biased anyway so really just not worth my time.

They will be shot and posted by others however. I don’t really care if somebody posts videos showing anything one way or the other about any detectors. All I ask is they get posted where appropriate. As a general rule, if a video is this versus that, with the express goal of showing one machine as better than another, then the Metal Detector Advice & Comparisons Forum is really the most appropriate location. Expect such videos to be moved there if posted anywhere else.

The videos most welcome here will be the ones helping people get the best performance out of the Equinox or fun live dig videos, etc. It certainly need not be all sunshine and roses. If somebody finds a glitch in Equinox and can document it with a video, great. The main thing is to stay focused on facts and leave the tirades that seem to accompany such things aside. Good critical feedback done well results in better product going forward. Thanks!

[JoeRivers]

I’ve never really paid much attention to vs videos you can make any detector now matter how good it is look bad in a given situation. 

[Vez]

I am not a fan of this vs that videos personally.  I like to just watch people doing recoveries with a particular machine of interest.  Steve, do you have a youtube channel?  I looked in your profile and did not see a URL.

[Mountain Mike]

I do like videos that show how different modes or settings help a difficult target come in better.

[Steve Herschbach]

19 minutes ago, Vez said:

I am not a fan of this vs that videos personally.  I like to just watch people doing recoveries with a particular machine of interest.  Steve, do you have a youtube channel?  I looked in your profile and did not see a URL.

Hi Vez,

No, I set one up but never went live with it. If I were to do videos they would be educational in nature, but I don't know that I will ever get around to it. Shooting video, editing it, etc. takes a lot of time and if I was to get serious about it I have fairly high production standards I would want to achieve. Do it right or do not do it at all sort of thing for me. I did get a GoPro however and I will start shooting video more often when out and about, in hopes that I may make something of it in the future. Don't hold your breath however. Right now if I have excess time, it goes into this website and forum.

[Vez]

2 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Hi Vez,

No, I set one up but never went live with it. If I were to do videos they would be educational in nature, but I don't know that I will ever get around to it. Shooting video, editing it, etc. takes a lot of time and if I was to get serious about it I have fairly high production standards I would want to achieve. Do it right or do not do it at all sort of thing for me. I did get a GoPro however and I will start shooting video more often when out and about, in hopes that I may make something of it in the future. Don't hold your breath however. Right now if I have excess time, it goes into this website and forum.

You and I are like minded.  I have an old Kodak sport video camera and have shot hours of 720p60 live digs and finds and CRH footage.  I just couldnt do the editing portion!  I didn't want to put a half-fasst product!  Thanks for the response :)

[Mountain Mike]

Maybe make some simple videos for the forum if you didn't want to do a full blown youtube. That way you can control the comments, usage, etc. Wouldn't have to be as finely edited either.  OR you can get a couple gopros, drone, jeep, editing software, travel extensively,  and a couple recurring characters and call yourself DR PROSPECTOR 24k

[Norm S]

I am not a fan of the vs videos or even my own in the field comparisons.   I have tried it with my E-Trac vs my V3i but no matter how I did it and which one I used 1st I never did walk away feeling I had an apples to apples comparison. I was secretly biased toward my E-Trac because it was my newest detector. 

Because you locate stuff in the ground so randomly I don't know how you can do it objectively. By that I mean if you hit a signal with one detector and then see if you get the same signal with other detector does not mean you would have detected it with detector #2 because you already know where it is.. 

[Skate]

I like the kind of videos that simply give clear instructions how to change settings or how to hunt for particular targets and how to set up your tone bins. I want my silver to scream and my gold to give off a mellow tone mid tone. I could care less how a certain detector stacks up against another one.

Detecting is about attitude as well. The last thing I want to do is be shown that all the money I just spent is beaten by the XYZ 5000 under 'X" conditions etc. I want to see how I can use my detector to better my hunts and those that I can help along the way. 

[Mark Gillespie]

Over the past 20 years I’ve had the great pleasure to do many side by side metal detector comparisons.   This can be very time consuming, but with patience and careful study much will be learned.  The desire to have the best machine has always been a driving force for me to test, test, test…

I live in the southwestern part of Virginia where the ground mineralization is very dynamic and ranges from mild to extreme.   Some areas the ground is so bad I’m lucky to get a solid ID at a depth of 5 inches and anything deeper will give an iron response.  

A few years ago I decided to purchase a PI to hunt these sites and found many good targets that were just beyond the detection range of my VLF machines.  Doing VLF comparisons to a PI is not fair playing ground but it will indicate the handicaps (or weaknesses) of the VLF from the beginning.  But the PI will stay around until the day something better is developed.   So I continue to use the best VLF machines I can get my hands on.  I’ll test until I find the machine that does the best for the area I live in then sell the lesser machine.    

To me buying a machine for the sole reason of a comparison can be a very expensive mistake and I can say in years past I’ve made buying decision on other people’s comparisons.  What might be a superior machine in one region might be a total failure in another.  

It has always been very intriguing to see the difference in performance in a machine and how they perform in my ground.  Comparing some machines becomes almost impossible to label a true winner and in those instances I just keep the one I like most.