Are You Good Enough?

[Lost Scout]

For various reasons I'm going over metal detecting stuff and gun stuff at the same time. And it occurred to me that an analogy could be made. 95 percent of people that hunt can't shoot as accurately as their gun can. Buying a sub minute accurate rifle for hunting is generally a waste of money unless you practice and are dialed in to your rifle at at all ranges. Spending the money on a $1500+ dollar rifle is not going to make you any better if you don't improve your own game. How many of you out there are hoping to to find the big nugget because you spent $7000 + dollars for new technology that you don't learn to use? I'm not trying to bash anyone, but rather encourage learning the machine you have to to get optimum results.  And there is certainly a cost/ benefit equation. I don't detect enough to justify  a gpz but have used a used 4500 enough to to get my money out of it if only for the satisfaction of the hunt. My wife and I have spent countless hours using an Equinox 800  and have been fully rewarded for our efforts if only for the time spent learning the machine. The ultimate goal is to come away with a profit ( monetary or historical ) and that is why it is worth while to pursue. I want to find gold..but I know that I have to research, practice and spend the time with the coil to the ground and pay attention to what I'm doing,  hearing, and the results I get.

I know this isn't technical and a deep dive into electronics but i would like to hear back from some you that make a living or spend a lot of time dedicated to this game.

[F350Platinum]

I'm kinda on the other side of the coin where the ultimate goal is not about making a profit at all.

For a good part of my life I was a musician, and wanted to go far with it, but my mother gave me some good advice early on:

"Don't make music or anything that could be a hobby your vocation, make it your avocation. If you have a good vocation, you'll be able to afford the best things to enjoy the avocation, and it will mean much more to you."

So, I joined the Army to pay for my college, and went out and got a career started in IT. I always disliked the IT profession, but it paid well and I made damn sure I could at least do things my way by the time I retired.

I had all sorts of guitars and amps and played in bands, had my fill of dopamine, but never made back the money I invested in it. I didn't care because I enjoyed the thrill of performing part time.

I was pretty darn good at photography too, worked for a studio for a few years again part time doing weddings, and yet again never made enough to pay for the great cameras I had until I started buying old cameras and selling them. That hobby probably broke even, but I kinda got disgusted with dealing with the public. There was no real thrill in it for me, people kinda suck in general when they want you to do something for them.

I bought a metal detector about 6 months before I retired, and probably get out there a few times a week, because of where I live I don't have to travel far. Heck I found a 1773 Virginia half cent about 100 yards from my house. There is that much stuff here. I've filled up probably about 30 Riker cases thus far. I've since upgraded to the latest detector, and after 2 years I'm still learning it, it keeps me going.

In 3+ years I have made some astounding finds in any book, but unless I find something that my wife doesn't want, that doesn't mean much historically, and I have no attachment to like a platinum diamond ring too big or gaudy for my wife, I'm going to take the low road and leave it all to the history folks posthumously. 😀 My local Jeweler is waiting for that day as well 🤣

I enjoy the thrill of the finds, period. I wish my wife was well enough to go with me, but at least I earn my points with her by tackling my responsibilities first, taking her out for dinner if I find precious metal, and giving her right of first refusal on everything. 🙂 It's a discipline but well worth it.

Bottom line for me is being able to afford the best gear has always been an easier path than starting at the beginning. My wife always says if you can't afford the best at least shoot for the midrange.

Oh and I really like this forum for the help and the friends I've made, for some reason the most genuine people I've ever known or met are right here. I think that's enough for me.

[Lost Scout]

I like your sentiments. For me i love the hunt. Doesn't matter if it's for game or metal detecting. 90 percent is being outside and experiencing everything associated with it. But I have to have goal... A point. If I can't eat deer meat once in awhile it negates my purposes. If don't find a treasure in the ground the rest seems pointless. I  would just  go out on hike or go camping and not spend the money on a detector.

32 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

I'm kinda on the other side of the coin where the ultimate goal is not about making a profit at all.

For a good part of my life I was a musician, and wanted to go far with it, but my mother gave me some good advice early on:

"Don't make music or anything that could be a hobby your vocation, make it your avocation. If you have a good vocation, you'll be able to afford the best things to enjoy the avocation, and it will mean much more to you."

So, I joined the Army to pay for my college, and went out and got a career started in IT. I always disliked the IT profession, but it paid well and I made damn sure I could at least do things my way by the time I retired.

I had all sorts of guitars and amps and played in bands, had my fill of dopamine, but never made back the money I invested in it. I didn't care because I enjoyed the thrill of performing part time.

I was pretty darn good at photography too, worked for a studio for a few years again part time doing weddings, and yet again never made enough to pay for the great cameras I had until I started buying old cameras and selling them. That hobby probably broke even, but I kinda got disgusted with dealing with the public. There was no real thrill in it for me, people kinda suck in general when they want you to do something for them.

I bought a metal detector about 6 months before I retired, and probably get out there a few times a week, because of where I live I don't have to travel far. Heck I found a 1773 Virginia half cent about 100 yards from my house. There is that much stuff here. I've filled up probably about 30 Riker cases thus far. I've since upgraded to the latest detector, and after 2 years I'm still learning it, it keeps me going.

In 3+ years I have made some astounding finds in any book, but unless I find something that my wife doesn't want, that doesn't mean much historically, and I have no attachment to like a platinum diamond ring too big or gaudy for my wife, I'm going to take the low road and leave it all to the history folks posthumously. 😀 My local Jeweler is waiting for that day as well 🤣

I enjoy the thrill of the finds, period. I wish my wife was well enough to go with me, but at least I earn my points with her by tackling my responsibilities first, taking her out for dinner if I find precious metal, and giving her right of first refusal on everything. 🙂 It's a discipline but well worth it.

Bottom line for me is being able to afford the best gear has always been an easier path than starting at the beginning. My wife always says if you can't afford the best at least shoot for the midrange.

Oh and I really like this forum for the help and the friends I've made, for some reason the most genuine people I've ever known or met are right here. I think that's enough for me.

So to get back to my question, regardless of what you paid or how good the detector might be, are using it to its fullest? And if not are you happy with your your choice?

[mn90403]

I had a chance in 2010 to buy the best detector, a 5000 and start doing something I'd never done before.  I started going out into the desert looking for gold.  To say I didn't know much about it would be an understatement.  I did think I could get the best detector and I would find things easily.  That is not what happened.

The detector was fine but I didn't know where to use it and what to listen for.  About a year later I found my first nugget in a tailing pile.  That somewhat satisfied the where part but I still had a problem with the what to listen for stuff.  I couldn't hear gold and I couldn't hear little meteorites.  I wasn't adjusted right.

At this point the ability to think and perform a bit outside of the box became worthwhile.  I got lucky with finding a nice nugget in a non-nugget location.  I kept that in mind and when I upgraded my coil I went back to that same area and I got 'lucky' again with another larger nugget.  Upgrading to the 7000 was not the same type of increase in nugget size.  I've mostly gone back to where gold has been found before and sizeable nuggets just are not there.

Enjoy your walk-abouts.  Carry a detector and you will find some missed gold but go one canyon over and you might still find a big nugget.

[F350Platinum]

3 minutes ago, Lost Scout said:

So to get back to my question, regardless of what you paid or how good the detector might be, are using it to its fullest? And if not are you happy with your your choice?

I definitely am happy with my latest detector, so much so I now have two, well really four (Deus 2 and WS6) 😀. I still use my midrange machine now and again but it pretty much reminds me why I upgraded. I'll probably give my first machine to an interested kid.

Every hunt for me is practice and about testing skill, I don't mind getting skunked now and again and I'm thrilled when I don't. I try new stuff and bounce wild theories off of my detecting buddies, sometimes even here on the forum. I'm probably as good with a detector now than I was with a rifle, but my Army Expert badge was pretty hard earned too.

However, that sort of hunting doesn't appeal to me anymore either 😏

I may be missing the point of your question, but so far I have reached my goal about 95% of the time I use my machine, and yet I still have some to learn. That gap is closing now because of using it so much and sticking with it.

I constantly and repeatedly seem to outdo myself each year, probably haven't hit the other side of the Bell  Curve yet. I hope that doesn't happen until I'm too old and feeble. That's a lot of reward. A lot of factors play into my success thus far, but yeah, I think I'm good enough. 🙂 At some point there will be a better machine, so I still have something to anticipate.

[DSMITH]

I am like @F350Platinum I do not spend money on different detectors thinking I will make a living from detecting or thinking I am going to recover some big find that I can sell to make a profit on or make me famous as a metal detectorist LOL, all the detectors I have purchased other than one I have found enough that they paid for themselves some a few times over, the reason I purchase a detector is to learn a new detectors differences and to just get out of the house and enjoy the great outdoors, which I could do with the very first detector I ever purchased, meeting different people and just enjoying being out detecting, it is not about the money for me but rather doing something I love to do, if I do find something all the better and is gravy on top of the adventure, did I need any of the detectors I have purchased to do what I love to do (Nope not Really) I can enjoy what I do just by looking around at the different landscapes and exploring different areas, the detectors just make it a little funner when exploring.

When I do purchase a different detector I do try to learn as much as I can about that detector by talking to others and asking questions, some of that learning can only be done if you get out and swing that detector, but as far as purchasing a detector to try and make a living nope, its about learning new tech and things like that, but in reality what I have figured out is I could take the very first detector I ever purchased out with me and have just as much fun as I do with the newer so called technically advanced detectors, they all find metal some may do it a little better than others, but if I were to think about the money I have spent then it probably would not be near as fun anymore purchasing the different detectors.

[Lost Scout]

23 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

I definitely am happy with my latest detector, so much so I now have two, well really four (Deus 2 and WS6) 😀. I still use my midrange machine now and again but it pretty much reminds me why I upgraded. I'll probably give my first machine to an interested kid.

Every hunt for me is practice and about testing skill, I don't mind getting skunked now and again and I'm thrilled when I don't. I try new stuff and bounce wild theories off of my detecting buddies, sometimes even here on the forum. I'm probably as good with a detector now than I was with a rifle, but my Army Expert badge was pretty hard earned too.

However, that sort of hunting doesn't appeal to me anymore either 😏

I may be missing the point of your question, but so far I have reached my goal about 95% of the time I use my machine, and yet I still have some to learn. That gap is closing now because of using it so much and sticking with it.

I constantly and repeatedly seem to outdo myself each year, probably haven't hit the other side of the Bell  Curve yet. I hope that doesn't happen until I'm too old and feeble. That's a lot of reward. A lot of factors play into my success thus far, but yeah, I think I'm good enough. 🙂 At some point there will be a better machine, so I still have something to anticipate.

You are obviously enjoying yourself. Keep it up!

 

[Lost Scout]

20 minutes ago, DSMITH said:

I am like @F350Platinum I do not spend money on different detectors thinking I will make a living from detecting or thinking I am going to recover some big find that I can sell to make a profit on or make me famous as a metal detectorist LOL, all the detectors I have purchased other than one I have found enough that they paid for themselves some a few times over, the reason I purchase a detector is to learn a new detectors differences and to just get out of the house and enjoy the great outdoors, which I could do with the very first detector I ever purchased, meeting different people and just enjoying being out detecting, it is not about the money for me but rather doing something I love to do, if I do find something all the better and is gravy on top of the adventure, did I need any of the detectors I have purchased to do what I love to do (Nope not Really) I can enjoy what I do just by looking around at the different landscapes and exploring different areas, the detectors just make it a little funner when exploring.

When I do purchase a different detector I do try to learn as much as I can about that detector by talking to others and asking questions, some of that learning can only be done if you get out and swing that detector, but as far as purchasing a detector to try and make a living nope, its about learning new tech and things like that, but in reality what I have figured out is I could take the very first detector I ever purchased out with me and have just as much fun as I do with the newer so called technically advanced detectors, they all find metal some may do it a little better than others, but if I were to think about the money I have spent then it probably would not be near as fun anymore purchasing the different detectors.

I don't think it's always about making a living as it is about being proficient. Do you use it as an excuse to get out? Or are enthused about being able to find stuff in the ground? Either way I get it. Thanks for the reply and keep at it.

[DSMITH]

1 hour ago, Lost Scout said:

I don't think it's always about making a living as it is about being proficient. Do you use it as an excuse to get out? Or are enthused about being able to find stuff in the ground? Either way I get it. Thanks for the reply and keep at it.

Honestly its about both for me i use it as an excuse to get out as well as to find stuff, would I love to dig a 1-10 ounce nugget without a doubt LOL who wouldn't, but it is not necessary, do I try to become proficient at metal detecting with each detector I own absolutely, if my lively hood depended on finding something of value I might look at things completely different, but again personally for me I really do not care if I find anything its just about being out and not sitting on my Butt in the house which drives me crazy, i figure if I get out and get my wife out we are at least getting some exercise, and trying to stay a little healthy.

[geof_junk]

When I bought a detector price was not factor in choice, however when I upgraded the existing one would be given away as it value  was always too low to considering selling it.

At the moment our current detector have not moved in to digital/processor type yet but the old analog have found plenty of gold and coins. As they say location and knowing how to use what you got is the best way to go.