Do you get more Bang for your Bucks.

Intro: 

Hey Everybody. Welcome! to Episode 35 of the metal detecting show podcast. My Name is Ciaran and I have been Metal Detecting for nearly 30 Years and This week I want to talk to you about how much Bang for your Buck do you get when purchasing a new metal detector, Is there a discernible difference when you buy a $300 Dollar Detector v a $2500 Dollar detector and at what point is there a diminishing returns on your investment.  

So lets get on with the show.

Music

Hey everyone before we start I want to thank you for listening to the podcast and I hope you enjoy the show this week  but before we begin I want to give you the following information. 

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Content:

Hey Everybody thanks for joining me this week. Firstly onto my Adventures in metal detecting. This week  I got out for a few short hunts between the gales force winds and rain storms which was nice even if I am still confined to a 5km radius of my home. 

I took this lack of opportunity to hunt, to sort out some finds and start thinking about how to display these for example a recent find of mine is a silver guild livery button from the 1830’s in terrible condition as it was found on a beach but one of my favourite find’s and I want to frame and display it. 

I purchased a box frame and used a plotter cutter to cut out some precise picture frame cards and all was good, however when I went to mount the button nothing would work to lightly stick the button to the card. 

This was down to the very fine rust on the back surface that would make it impossible for any low tack glue to adhere now before you go off on one saying that I shouldn’t be glueing anything onto the button well I’m talking about something like a glue dot here which is removable if needed. 

So if you have any advice I would be glad to hear it. I’m thinking I’ll have to convert a dot of rust somehow.

So I’m in a pickle now I don’t want to go down the route of removing the rust as I believe it adds to the patina however I want to preserve the button and mount it so I’m looking at low impact ways to convert a small dot of rust enough for me to gain some purchase in mounting it.

A brief update on my quest for insurance turns out that if I get public liability insurance it doesn’t protect the farmer from jack as it would be his insurance that would be called into action if needed. 

However my next tactic is to get some personnel insurance to cover any loss of earnings, I may have if I do any damage. 

Also I have researched out some other great sites and managed to find the owners just waiting on my opportunity to strike and beg for permission. 

If you follow me on Instagram you will see I have started the process of testing the Nokta Makro Simplex and its got me thinking on how much bang for your buck you get for an entry level detector and how that has changed over the years but also is the gap between a perceived low end machine and a high end machine closing, which is better and is it better to buy an expensive metal  detector.  So this week I wanted to break it down in my own way to see if we can come to some conclusion. 

Firstly I’m not going to slam any particular brands or models but may use some as an example and No Matter what detector you have There is No Replacement for Enthusiasm if you dig enough holes you will find something good its that simple. It might take you years but you will.

Did you know Your detector costs between $20 and $100 dollars to manufacture but why do they cost from $300 dollars to $2500 dollars to purchase where does the rest of the money go,  

I believe that is one of the major points in this discussion. Starting at the low end I believe that the merchant is making about $100 dollars when a customer purchases a $300 dollar machine, the distributor is making approx. $50 – $70 bucks depending on their size leaving approx. $150 Dollars for the manufacture. 

So where does that $150 dollars go well consider $20 - $40 bucks go to manufacturing the machine. The rest is split up on marketing ,Operations, Support and R&D. 

So not much meat left on the bone for the manufacture to report back as profits to their shareholders. 

The only way they can maximise their profits on a $300 Dollar metal detector is to minimise the cost in manufacturing  with cheaper materials or  manufacturing process, Support, Marketing and Operational Costs but most importantly is to not invest in any Research and Development overhead using existing tried and tested technology. 

A $300 Dollar machine is built to a budget using cheaper materials will have less features to support and will have zero Cutting edge technology deployed. 

Have you ever heard the saying buy cheap buy twice there has never been a truer saying when it come to metal detectors. I always advise newbies to buy the best detector they can afford at the start but know that if they come to love the hobby they will be upgrading their detector in a year or two. 

I also advise them to save all their spendables to account for some of this cost later. I say this because a beginner metal detector is not designed to be used in anger every chance you get, it is for the once maybe twice a month hobbyist. put a $300 dollar detector in the hands of someone who detects twice three times a week and providing there is no 3rd party augmentation there. this detector will deteriorate and age significantly within the year and look more like a 3 year old detector. 

So what does it look like at the other end of the scale well at $2500 at this level there is more meat on the bone for the manufacture to put into quality manufacturing, features and Research and Development. And as such you get a metal detector that comes with all the latest features weather you want them or not. It is developed right on the cutting edge of technology so gives you an edge when detecting, allowing you to recover finds quicker  making sure you get to more quality digs , maybe even up to 20% more, giving you a 20% more chance of finding something cool. 

Well Ciaran I use my detector in all metal mode all the time I don’t need all the bells and whistles. Ok so if this is the argument then just look at build quality at this level on most high end detectors you will get carbon fibre shafts or equivalent providing a light detector again meaning you can go on for longer. Your detector will be made from harder wearing  plastics meaning they will age better and take less minding and will be more of an industrial tool. 

Also At this level ergonomics plays a part, with a cheaper detector they will roll out the bog standard ergonomic profile, a higher end detector will be more considered to deliver a more balanced detector. 

Look at the CTX in contradiction with my last point about lighter materials used for example is super heavy but well balanced so as you don’t really feel the weight. I also believe the CTX was constrained with 4 x 18650 lipos batteries that caused this extra weight hanging out its arse. 

These are the same battery that goes into Tesla’s and were cutting edge at the time.

Bringing in Customer Support there is an enterprise level of support delivered with a high end detector, where the customers loyalty and mighty dollar is well looked after, as they know if they offer and we have a good support experience that will grease the wheels to more sales either through word of mouth or brand loyalty.

For example 2 years ago I brought my CTX back to Minelab for repair, my fault not theirs. A little water got in because I didn’t maintain the seal now when I brought it back it was 6 years old, so well out of warranty right. 

They replaced the whole control unit and battery because it was looking tired…… for nothing…for Free…. I was expecting to pay a couple hundred bucks to fix it but rather than spending my hard earned cash on a repair, I spent it on an Equinox that same year. 

In my opinion and experience you get a lot more bang for your buck with the higher end machines you get all the features, the newest technology and to be honest you get the cool factor but the higher you go the less improvement you get, so it suffers from a law of diminishing returns and the metal detector companies know this, that is why they adopt and market a more specialised, finely tuned metal detector designed especially for high value targets such as gold nuggets which can give some level of return on investment.

I’m sure they could adopt the same methodology and produce a ridiculous detector, the best machine in the world to find quarters but there will be no market for it as there is no perceived return on investment.

As technology ages the gap between low end and high end detectors would shrink if there was no constant R&D without this, it makes it easier for that technology to be copied or deployed in cheaper detectors, so there would be nothing to distinguish a high end detector from a low end one right!  

and that is why the manufactures have to keep innovating, keep investing in R&D and charge higher end prices for their newest technology or else it would be a race to the middle.

You get what you pay for no more no less if you buy a cheap pair of sneakers you wear them everyday only to have them fall apart a few weeks later and to then buy another cheap pair this is a false economy but  buy a good pair in the first place and you have them for years.

One of the arguments you see online is the argument that kicks off when someone buys a low end metal detector and states that it is as good as a high-end machine, case in point  the silly comparison of the simplex v the equinox now I’m not comparing both as it is not an apples to apples comparison but this happens also with brands such as Garrett v Minelab or American made v everything else and visa versa, so Why do some people say that their detector is better than others,

this comes down toChoice-supportive bias or post-purchase rationalization. This is the tendency to retroactively ascribe positive attributes to an option one has selected and/or to demote the forgone options. 

These people are trying to Validate their purchase choice by only looking at the positives and disregarding the negatives. In the case of the simplex v  the equinox there is choice supportive bias on both sides. 

On the equinox sides they are trying to justify the high cost of the detector by regaling everyone of the benefits of multi-frequency and its performance on the beach v on the simplex side where  they downplay that feature as something they don’t need and not worth the price saying that the cost difference doesn’t equate to a difference in performance. 

The funny thing is many of these arguments are derived by people who have only used one machine very few people have used both, I have! and I can tell you there is a marked difference between them but again this is not an apples to apples comparison. 

The Fact distortion continues when you pitch brands against each other Garrett v Minelab Garret is best because it is American and American is Best. No Minelab is Best because they are quicker to market with the newest cutting edge technologies. Both true and untrue and who cares buy the best detector you can. 

look at the features and where and how often you are going to detect, look for reputable reviews and comparisons but don’t listen to anybody who is reviewing their own metal detector. 

High end means a higher prices which brings cutting edge features and quality that gives you speed and information when hunting but that may not be what you want. 

You might want to pay a lower price for some rock solid technology that you know works and that has a body of information built up in the communities online. Look at the e-trac 12 years old now and people are still buying and loving it. Or the Garrett Ace series out since 2004 and still killing it.

It’s all down to personnel taste and circumstance and remember if you do make a mistake own up to It, there’s always an excuse to buy another detector. 

I’ll finish with this again. No Matter what detector you have There is No Replacement for Enthusiasm. 

Wrap Up 

That’s it for this week’s I hope you liked this episode of the metal detecting show podcast.

Check out our website www.themetaldetectingshow.com for this episode show notes. 

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If you like this content and would like more please don't hesitate to tell your friends and don't forget to hit that subscribe button.

Once again, I hope you have enjoyed this episode and we will chat to you all again next week. 

Get out there eyes down and Happy Hunting.