Thank You Steve Herschbach

[Matt4gold]

Like many of you I have played around with detecting since putting together a Heath Kit as a kid back in the late 60s or early 70s. It wasn’t until I found this forum that  I saw unbiased perspectives instead of a bunch of marketing hype. You never know what you don’t know so to say.  The detector reviews made me think about what is really important and what is just window dressing.  
Thank you Steve for all you do and the rest of the posters for your information you share about all the different detectors and accessories available now days. 

[Greenhorn]

Thank you Steve for all of the work you do on this site! I wish I had found it sooner, I would be that much further down the learning curve and would have saved thousands of dollars. The information here is invaluable. 

[geof_junk]

I have been a member since Jan 2014 and have seen many new people join this fantastic forum. I knew the original owner of the old Finders Forum and what a lost it was due bad bottom dwellers. Most of the good forums have gone now but good management has kept some still in existence. All I can say is Steve will keep this one going and I hope he does not get too upset by the idiots that have nothing between their eyes. 

😟

[Lagerphone]

Thank you Steve, when I started out detecting in 2016 green as green it was your reviews and advice and the same from other members of this forum that helped me immeasurably to develop my Knowledge, techniques and reserve of equipment as I have grown into this hobby/obsession. I for one value your input greatly and stand staunchly in your corner. And this forum is proof that the treasure is not only in the ground.

Thanks again Steve.

[Caliche]

I check the new posts here several times a day, it's a staple. 

Do I subscribe or pay any attention to monetized YouTubers that farm engagement without anything valuable to say?  No.  Not even at 3X speed.  And I'm someone who listens to YouTube (mostly finance and news topics) via earbud a lot.

Here for the shared tech and the real stories, all thanks to Steve.

[Ethan in Adelaide]

Yes Steve is a professional and objective person

[Redz]

Steve, your posts are very valuable to many

[phrunt]

The strength of any forum is the people and Steve leads by example, happy to use any brand, willing to say it how it is, no bias towards anything, real honest opinions and that's what makes it so special.

Steve's Reviews and  Steve's Guide to Gold Nugget Detectors are extremely honest, factual and real and the gold standard for someone wanting to know real pure information about these products and you can't find that anywhere else on the Internet. Google top 10 gold detectors or best gold metal detectors 2025, the results are embarrassing, and the ones provided by Co-Pilot AI are not much better.

Some people have such a clear bias towards products and brands that it's undeniable and blatantly obvious and opinions can be bought with some freebies to help with promotion with some people,  this isn't the case here,  Steve on the other hand has always given anything a go, happy to say the good at bad about everything even when supplied free for testing/review even with his favourite products and that's why to me at least this forum is extremely valuable as you know the information you get is real, not sponsored or biased in some way, right from the top this forum and a bulk of its members tell it how it is, and doing so is encouraged.  No one is frowned upon for expressing negative views, it helps make products better in the future.

An example is right as XP released the Deus 2 it rapidly became clear by some there were shortcomings with gold prospecting performance, some high-profile people over the internet ignored the topic while focusing on its strong points while some users here used their knowledge to provide information than eventually turned it into an improved product.  Not to pick on XP alone, the Manticore also had some gold sensitivity issues when released which were fixed up in the initial firmware update.

The Legend is another example where members here have helped improve the product exposing weaknesses.

A similar thing happened with the GPX 6000 and it's EMI audio problem, what a saga that was, along with the Manticore carbon shaft, the right sort of criticism and done the right way ends up improving products for us all, and I believe this forum really helps that take place and has benefitted the detecting community greatly by doing so.  I'll never forget when I pointed out some of these faults with products on their Facebook groups how my posts just disappeared,  I did them again worded differently, again they disappeared.  I post a positive post, it remains.

[Wild Bill]

Exactly Phrunt, wow I had no idea honest reviews and results could even be an issue.  This is why reviewers and testing is needed in the first place by qualified and experienced operators.  To fix any issues and get it right.  It’s childish to have any negative attitudes with that system.  That’s how lots of industries work.  Rigorous testing and honesty works and that results in a better product.