tboykin

Made me laugh.

I'm still in the squat-behind-the-brush phase, but I make sure to leave a nice-sized fishing sinker everywhere I do my duty.

Careful where you dig at Rye Patch!

7 minutes ago, mn90403 said:

How did you keep the GMT dry?

Both of the machines got wet from the drips, but they can take that. Just don't want to submerge them.

4 hours ago, Des D said:

'Probably, the Holy Grail of a coin find in the USA.

It has the look of something that came out of a stream / river / waterlogged site but not corrosive soil?

Well done to the finder: he/she must be chuffed?

Did you present the finder with a New MX Sport Tom Lol.......?' (maybe a TRX as a runners up prize)

He's really pleased with his MXT right now. It's the go-to machine of most of the cellar hole hunters I've met. I think the simplicity and metal box are what draw them to it - it's a tank of a detector. TRX is a good idea though, I should see if he's got one.

Customer sent these pics of a once-in-a-lifetime find. This is a dream for many coin hunters on the East Coast of the U.S.

2 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I thought the same thing and was Googling for part number changes yesterday but could find none. The scuff cover I ordered was large and a bad fit so I do think the D2 was slimmed down. I will weigh mine and post. More investigation needed.

We did slim it down. This was based on customer input as well as Steve's post about our "archaic" loop design.

On 5/25/2017 at 7:40 PM, Tnsharpshooter said:

Private message sent to TBoykin,,asking about White's forum update as far as M6 being reflected as discontinued.

Updated the list on our forum.

For those of you who have not had the opportunity to meet Steve Herschbach in person - he really is that smart!

If you can get the 4x6 shooter for the GMT it might help around the rocks. Good luck and find some shiny!

Yeah they said since I couldn't grow a beard I was out of the running. But the wife is happy! 

2 hours ago, jasong said:

I think that's a pretty accurate representation of the current industry too.

But the reason I posted my chart was to show the growth segments. Which are the demographics which currently have interest and are potential customers, but don't yet own detectors and don't attend shows, for what I believe are the reasons I posted.

I'm just posting for general interest, not in specific reference to White's. I just think the detector industry as a whole has really passed over a lot of potential customers due to their pricing schemes. Treasure hunting in general appeals to a lot of different age groups after all so the fact that a large segment is absent as product users should be a red flag for any manufacturer.

I appreciate it. I think having a less risky purchasing decision (sub $300 machine) is the way to go to get those people interested. Hard to justify spending $800 to try something out when many people under 35 are spending half their pay on housing...

4 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

https://press.discovery.com/us/dsc/programs/devils-canyon/

Tom B., is this the show you auditioned for last year?

 

Yep!

27 minutes ago, Shelton said:

MX Sport is not good machine. A lot of software errors. This unit is unfinished.

  For YOU it is not a good machine. Everyone is entitled to their opinions! A simple YouTube search will show what others think of the MX Sport, and their incredible finds. Sometimes you just don't connect with a machine, that doesn't make it bad. For example - the XP "Deuce" is a fine detector... I just can't stand how it sounds! My opinion but hardly gospel. Also, try setting the Reject Volume at 40 for your alloy military buttons, or opening up your Disc mask to about -40. It should help a great deal. But still, it just might be too much raw horsepower for some.

2 hours ago, johnedoe said:

With the versatility of the V3i I was wondering what settings I would have to make to set it up to emulate the MX Sport....

Try lowering the Recovery Delay down to about 30 (might have to play with this) and go into the Expert Menu to adjust the tones how you like them. You can assign any VDI to a tone. For a four tone mode emulation on the MX Sport you can put VDI's in certain buckets on your V3i. Bonus is YOU decide which ones. Takes time but can really help if your ears are setup like mine.

I don't think the V3i will ever feel as fast as the MX Sport. The V is a beast of a machine, but the Sport just has a zip that most other detectors don't have. The AT Pro comes close and the "Deuce" is right up there too. But the V3i has strengths in other areas - saltwater, iron ID, and pure flexibility to setup however a user wants.

9 hours ago, johnedoe said:

It wasn't too long ago that white's put a lot of restrictions on the dealers and their online presence if I remember correctly............. I might be wrong but I seem to remember hearing that.

That was a while back, we've been trying to encourage our dealers to be active online for the past several years.

Just to be clear, this wasn't meant to be a "help White's sell more detectors" thread, that's on me, not you guys (though I appreciate the good intentions)! It was a more high-level view of the hobby and it's slow decline in the US. There are other countries where hobby detecting is growing at a fast rate (China, Peru, Mexico, etc) and then of course gold booms and busts all over the world.

8 hours ago, jasong said:

You would think 65+ would be the largest demographic for a gold prospecting/metal detecting related detecting channel, but in fact, it's not even close.

Here's our channel right now, which I would say is indicative of the metal detecting hobby overall based on my travels and interactions with hobbyists across the US. Like golf, it's an older, whiter guy's hobby. Our field team is all over the map, from 26 to 50something, so we have a good spread to cover these bases.

21 hours ago, Mike Hillis said:

Too bad you don't have dealers/distributors selling anymore . 

They do their best but many of them are opposed to having any kind of online presence. So I think it's hard for them with the changing market. But some of them do alright without even knowing what Facebook is. Still, I wonder how much BETTER they'd do if they bit the bullet and learned how to use the technology at hand to increase their reach. Old dog, new tricks...

Thanks to everyone for adding to the discussion. I'm starting to see that the generational differences play a huge role in the changes we are seeing to metal detecting. There's a whole new crop of hobbyists who spend a lot of time on social media and sharing is a huge aspect to them. They may not be in a detecting club or do much face to face sharing, but you can be assured their finds will show up on Facebook and get a ton of engagement from people all over the world.

The interesting thing to me is how little cross over there is to forums like this. The younger set tends to stay away from internet forums. Well, they might read them, but they are not as active as the older guys.

18 minutes ago, Tnsharpshooter said:

I also see this with younger males,,,they don't like to hunt and fish like my generation did.

I grew up hunting, fishing, camping, wheeling. It seems like the generation that is growing up with constant access to technology is less interested in the real world, but maybe that's just me.

I would guess it's because the internet offers an instant (but I would say hollow) gratification - boom, you're connected. But hunting, fishing, detecting - those all take WORK to get something out of. Same thing with building something out of wood with your own hands.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I do think it's worth trying to get younger people outside but it's tough... Kinda like detecting itself sometimes.

Something I've been thinking about is "growing the hobby." It's kind of a tricky thing.

For detector manufacturers to survive, there is a need to expand the reach and interest in metal detecting as a hobby. But, the catch 21 is that there are less and less relics and old coins to dig each year. The more people get into detecting, the less old stuff we find. And the finds are what get people into detecting in my experience. It's a lot harder to get excited about finding 37 cents at a park than it is to find a trime or a colonial buckle.

In talking to old timers, the "good ole days" seemed to be the 70's, 80's and early 90's - when silver was easier to find and every site wasn't pounded to death. That's why making detectors that out-perform current machines is so important. A deeper, better discriminating machine can breathe new life into old spots, which is what most manufacturers should be working on.

What do you think about introducing the hobby to new generations? Would you prefer it stay an "old guy hobby," or would you like to see the younger crowd pick up where you leave off? How do we deal with the fact that each day, there is less treasure (including nuggets) to find?

On 5/9/2017 at 9:26 AM, jjm861 said:

I will start be saying is has been a pretty good year already with the release of several detectors.  With out sounding too impatient, I would love to see Fisher release a new muti-frequency or PI type detector soon.  What are your thoughts of this happening with the next couple of months?? 

We taking bets?

Thanks you guys for all the feedback and votes. Asking.... for a friend!

54 minutes ago, scoopjohnb said:

The LED needs to be where you need it.

Integrated in the coil just above the sweet spot.

Disc controls the colour. Red disced out, Green is an accepted target.

With screens you are always changing your focus, Coil, Screen, checking if the numbers are solid, looking how the target traces, rescan, etc.

Simplicity, if it's above disc I'm interested and digging. Even if it's just trash removal, cause next time, less trash equals more goodies.

 

The least talked about bit of gear in detecting is our most important asset. A Great Digger!!

I like this idea.

8 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Well, with a good visual, say SpectraGraph, you hunt until you get a sound, then examine the screen. If deaf, with vibrate you hunt until you get tactile feedback (which is nuanced) but then also go to screen for the visual. In either case, you are being alerted as to when you need to look at the screen so you can detect without having to stare at the screen all the time.

I see commentary from people saying they do not like screens because they do not like staring at the screen all the time, and I always wonder "why are you staring at the screen all the time?" You can look at is as much or as little as you please. Unless you are deaf and do not have the vibrate function.

Being focused purely on the screen is actually dangerous to the safety of the operator.

Ditto on headphones in snake country. If you are not aware of your surroundings (no matter which sense) you are setting yourself up for a bad time out detecting.

This is coming from someone who has had several close calls with rattlers and one with a very curious cougar!

2 hours ago, Deft Tones said:

Both but audio as the primary.

 

Instead of vibrate why not a few colored led lights to convey more information.

I hate vibration on my phone. Sometimes calls are missed when set to vibration. I don't see it having any advantage over a lighting system except for stealth.

Would every signal vibrate the same? If yes, then what's the point?

IMO vibration is better suited for the blind, not deaf.

Having several deaf family members whom use TTY machines for phone calls, their phone is integrated into the houselights so they flash when the phone rings. They don't have vibrating anything except when stomping the floors to gain your attention. Flashing visual indicators for the deaf, vibrating indicators for the blind deaf.

Good input! I think vibration could be a more nuanced sensory input than lights. The strength and frequency of the vibration could match the VCO audio of a gold detector. So the ZIP ZIP you get from a GMT could be felt as a very short, strong shake in the palm of your hand. Whereas an iron response could be a broken vibration with a hole in the middle. Just a thought!

2 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Given the option I will always choose a machine with both, but at the end of the day I hunt by ear. Audio rules, visuals just add more information. I can easily hunt with a detector that has no visuals. I can't imagine hunting with a machine that has no audio!

Same here. But I have heard from hearing impaired customers that really have it rough. A vibration function is very useful for them, and I wonder if it might be for me too.

How many of you are "beepers" vs. "peepers"?

Before my days in metal detecting I had the pleasure of working on this TV show. Really cool, and actually sparked my interest in the hobby.

I've never hunted meteorites - maybe someday I will find one by accident. Guess I will have to "dig it all" to make that happen!