Would You Pay For Developer Quality Software On Your Metal Detector?

[MDCHIEFSH]

In most industries electronics folks get access to developers kits to build in their own tools and special features. By the time a product goes to market all of this control is stripped out to simplify the unit for general users, who are not usually experienced enough to use it.

I was thinking why dont metal detector companies release two versions of code? One for beginners and another set for expert users. It would be easy i would think to pay a fee, get a key to plug in, else reprogram the units for a fee and get all the control i would ever need to work around any issue, gnd, etc out there.

I am curious if other folks would like this and would pay for it?

[Roughwater]

I might pay more if having the old codes if doing so appeared to be really beneficial.  Can't say how much more without seeing the pluses to having the codes left in the detector.

I haven't personally used one but I do recall one review of a newer company's detector made to to take discrimination to the point where it would discriminate everything out if you prefer and set the gain higher than could be used in most applications and the reviewer felt this was a plus.   I think I would too.     

[Reno Chris]

I think that a developers kit  for the complete adjustment of the operating program and all settings within a metal detector would require a level of explanation that would mean revealing trade secrets as to how the detector was designed. Additionally, there are many factors which cannot be resolved by simple programming change. Many ground conditions require more than just a tweak of the programming and would mean something like a technology change going from a VLF to a PI. Additionally, the adjustment of many settings greatly affect the performance of others. As an example, greatly speeding up the detector response speed can result in a large loss of depth of detection. This is why very detailed explanation of all the settings and how they interact would be necessary.

While "developer kit"  systems are common in the computer industry where a company wants others to write programs for them, they are by no means common in the general end-user electronics industry as you claim. There is no "developers kit" to tweak the operation of my refrigerator, automobile, camera, stereo, television or washing machine. Even for my cell phone, while there are developer kits to help people write programs that will run on the phone, the manufacturer does not provide a kit to hack into the phone itself and people who do hack into their phones void warranties and risk rendering them inoperable.

I think it is a tiny, tiny subset of metal detector buyers that are really interested in tweaking every possible setting and rewriting the programming code for metal detectors. Most detector buyers are interested in taking their detectors out in the field and finding things far more than they are interested in trying to fully reprogram the detector itself. Many detectors currently on the market already come with a dizzying array of potential adjustments. I think I read somewhere that my GPX 5000 had something over 10,000 different potential settings  - and that was more than enough for me. 

[Bill_S]

The V3i is about the closest detector I can think of that will let you change just about everything but not like your are suggesting. I think that would be pretty cool.  Got to have that master reset option though.....;o)

[Steve Herschbach]

The V3i is indeed a good analogy. There are people who like fiddling with detectors almost more than detecting itself. I have been a bit guilty of that myself. What the V3i has taught me is that what I really want to do is go metal detecting. The perfect detector is one that can accurately identify targets to the greatest depth with the least controls. For some applications depth trumps everything. In theory what I want is a detector with an on/off button that accurately identifies items to two feet. Wish list....

1. Maximum depth
2. Accurate discrimination
3. With fewest controls
4. In most ergonomic housing

Having said that, there are people who would like what you descibe. The failed promise of the V3i was the ability to hook it to the computer and be able to create and save custom programs. Those programs could then be traded over the Internet. If that capability had been delivered I think the V3i would be its own little online community with people developing and trading programs. As it is the need to key everything in is a major impediment that has kept that from happening.

[klunker]

  A pick, shovel and a steel gold pan tax the limits of my technological ability. The 7000 is an excellent detector for not having to fiddle with it and not having to cover the same ground several times because of dozens of combinations of settings. So while you cumpewtir jeenyusez are programing with gizmoizm and doodadery I'll be out carefully covering ground using what works best for me and we'll see how time was best spent.

  So- no I wouldn't be shopping for a self programmable detector. I would like to see one that could be switched from PI to VLF.

[MDCHIEFSH]

9 hours ago, Bill_S said:

The V3i is about the closest detector I can think of that will let you change just about everything but not like your are suggesting. I think that would be pretty cool.  Got to have that master reset option though.....;o)

yes i was thinking about the v3i...but its big challenge for a lot of folks is that it has only one software option so it tough for beginners to use.

[MDCHIEFSH]

maybe its just best for folks to suggest key features then i guess from v3i or other top units to roll down into the lower units...seems like the beginner/pro sw switching isnt an easy path

[Bill_S]

I just looked over the AKA Berkut's manual. It can also be customized many different ways too. It's pretty awesome. I have one on the way. Should be here tomorrow.