The Minelab Expert Series Video

[cjc]

Just  happened  to look at this video yesterday. Kind  of  shocking the things they consider to be "expert" knowledge with the Manti.  

1/ That not running full sensitivity will  allow targets to stand out better in iron  infested ground.  This is something I was taught in the first week of detecting--the (now tiresome) "car lights in the fog" analogy...

Okay...

2/ That running the regular "all terrain" modes on a salt beach allows you to use the  stabilty control .  Might work far from the water's edge but even where you have saturated  sand you  will  probablty  have a  a lot of noise. In this environment even running beach general is a challenge --one that I've worked hard to accomplish.  Forget this idea  in the water. 

3/ That in tuning a detector--everything is a "tradeoff."  Who knew?

cjc

 

[Terry Soloman]

As a certified and respected expert in the field, I understand your opinion on what should be evident. With that said, the industry is pushing complicated machines on complete newbies to the hobby/sport. They need all the help they can get. Most are too lazy to read your book - too bad for them, so these videos are the lazy way to learn.

[cjc]

True--but if  they're going to bother-- these  videos should be  hours long lol...

cjc

[mn90403]

3 hours ago, Terry Soloman said:

As a certified and respected expert in the field, I understand your opinion on what should be evident. With that said, the industry is pushing complicated machines on complete newbies to the hobby/sport. They need all the help they can get. Most are too lazy to read your book - too bad for them, so these videos are the lazy way to learn.

I pride myself on being a 'typical' user.  I get a new detector and I go through the menus and read as little as possible!  haha

After a year I've read 'part' of Clive's book that I got at the beginning of the summer.

[phrunt]

Everyone has different ways of learning, some people have a phone for decades and can't do much more than make calls on it, even that can be a struggle for some, others are there making their own apps and know the operating system inside out.

The same goes with computers and metal detectors.  

Some learn by reading, others watch videos and some just by using or any combination.

Minelab sent out surveys asking if they should do these sorts of videos, I guess the response was a yes.   People also like to feel they're more advanced at things than they really are.  A prime example is the skiing I do, it's amazing the people who think they're advanced skiers and tell people such as they take on an advanced run, yet they fumble their way down it in the most awkward of way. 

Calling this information advanced in these videos makes people not so scared to buy advanced detectors, you'll notice on Minelab's website now they classify detectors by skill level.  

Starter

Intermediate 

Advanced

In some cases the difference is more about price than skill level, like the Nox 600 to 800, no extra skill is required to run an 800, or the Vanquish 340 over 440, the price is higher, the number of features is ever so slightly higher but not anything to do with skill level . They put the GPX 6000 as an intermediate detector but it's marketing is all about it turn beginners into pro's, I guess the price was too high to put it in the starter category.  

They want people to think they're advanced users so they feel comfortable buying the higher priced detectors, and now the focus of many of their higher priced models is ease of use and simplicity taking away the "advanced" skillset entirely, GPX 6000 comes to mind.

[cjc]

Its true--I suppose these days everyone is an "expert' in that it does not take much to hit a few buttons and be operating at a decent level of accuracy and  depth.  However its when you want to adapt to changing condions that problems arise.  When the NOX hit the market it unleashed this army of peole digging every flyspeck (and quarter panel) of  (obvious garbage) metal targets that had  zero chance of  being anything of value.  My friend Laurie Gagnon (Relic Dirty Hands) up here in Canada has created an excellent series of videos bringing more detail to the Manti's basic operation.  Much more practical and general than these highly selective "expert tips." Calabash also did a great basic skills video for the Manti.  What I've always liked about the Nokta manuals is that they take a bit of time to impart some simple basics--the ones that will save the new hunter a ton of useless  digging.  In anything--wallk first--"expert" later.

cjc  

[mn90403]

I was one of the first owners of an 800 in the United States.  I think I was the first one to find gold nuggets with it after Steve.  I used it the way I used my 3030 and Explorers.  I just expected it to hear more and it did.  I dug a lot and that is ok with me if it was there because the other detectors missed it or couldn't see it.  I'm not a cherry picker.  I found many gold rings with it on my beaches.

The thought never occurred to me that now that I have this detector, I should start hunting other beaches or go on long trips to use it.  During all of those years of usage I can say that the number of times I used single frequencies was well less than 10.  I learned the way targets sounded and didn't rely on the screen to tell me if it was trash.  I have too many crossovers with zinc pennies.

When I got my 7000 I borrowed settings from others or took lessons and once set I leave/left the settings for most tasks.  The number of days I hunt nuggets now doesn't leave me enough time to experiment.  I rely upon the best hardware to make up for my lack of detector knowledge and the gaps show ... but I have fun.