'ghound,' I can appreciate your feelings, but I guess I take a little different approach because I'm relying on 53 years of detecting a wide range of challenging sites, as I am sure you do, and through the years of this process I consider not only a detector model and what it can do, but the available search coils for them and how they might, or might not, benefit me where I enjoy detecting.
I only have 2 detectors at any one time, with multifunctional detectors like the Rutus, Impact and the soon to be released Equinox,...
There you go! You
have only two but your are going to
add a 3rd. No harm-no foul, and I have owned at least 2 to 4 detectors since late '71, simply because some offer a complement to another, and some also have a different search coil I like to use.
Several times, even in this past 10-15 years, I have trimmed my personal arsenal to 2 or 3, or maybe 4 detectors, sometimes for explainable reasons. I worked and that limited my detecting time and opportunities. I had some severe back issues from an injury that limited my mobility, and still does, and I had back surgery in '95.
I've dealt with several other health related issues, like a fall off a ladder that broke four ribs, fractured my skull, cracked two vertebra in my neck and ruptured my right eardrum, and that limited my detecting for quite a while. Two and a half years later they amputated
(they call it 'modified') part of my left foot, and it took a few months to walk and move and that cut in on my detecting opportunities.
Add to that I was married and my income was limited compared with today and my 'budget' was spread a bit thinner. I couldn't get out often or for as long as I used to, and my allowable hunt time was more limited. What I had worked for me, and that's what I like to have. A detector battery that works for me and the places I like to search.
i don't see the need to own 10+detectors.
That I understand, and we have to consider our 'wants' and 'needs' when it comes to the selection of metal detectors as well as functional search coils. Since you're kin d of aiming your 10+ detector reference to me and my
Regular-Use Detector Team, I can easily qualify my personal
'wants' and
'needs' combined with 'have-to' and 'not-have-to' considerations.
I had a Tesoro stolen in October, but I still own three (3) Tesoro detectors. They all work well and do what I would like them to do. Do I '
need' all three of them? I guess not, however two of them only have one search coil, a 6" and 7" Concentric, and I never change coils with them. The third, a Vaquero, has two coils. The 6" Concentric stays mounted, but if I have a
'want' or
'need' for a larger 8X11 DD, it's at-the-ready on a spare lower rod.
The we come to detectors I really enjoy and that work excellent for me, that feature visual Target ID and audio Tone ID as well as some functional adjustment features. They are the Nokta FORS CoRe at 15 kHz, the FORS Relic at 19 kHz, and the almost year-old Impact with selectable 5, 14 and 20 kHz options.
I have 3 Tesoro's that are non-display detectors that I use for certain applications yet are versatile in performance. My TID battery mentioned so far are three (3) Nokta detector models. Could the multi-feature and versatile Impact be an 'only' Nokta detector in my set-up? Sure it could, but why? The Relic and CoRe provide great performance, for me, as well, and even the CoRe can out-perform the Relic and Impact in some very challenging unmasking tasks, so why part with a proven performer?
So there I have 3 non-display detectors and 3 different models with visual Target ID, and many might think that those 6 detectors would be an ample detector battery, and I would totally agree. However, a detector can only do so much with one search coil, and in many applications we might want to change search coils to better handle site challenges.
Open, sparse target areas with deeper positioned targets, or low-to modest amounts of trash in some areas where a mid-sized search coil is more handy, to places with a very dense amount of discarded trash that includes a lot of nails and other iron in the mix and calls for a smaller-size search coil.
You mentioned two detectors and are planning to get an Equinox to make three detectors. You are only going to have and use one search coil per detector, correct? No optional search coils for different site needs? Just 3 detectors and 3 search coils, one for each unit?
Well, it that works for someone that's fine. I used to do that way back when. But we have more featured and more versatile detectors today, and they offer an assortment of available search coils to enhance their versatility. Maybe you have an Impact Pro Pack w/7X11 DD and 4X7½DD, and added the 7" Concentric to make 3 coils for that detector.
Maybe the Rutus only has 1 coil for it, but you get an Equinox with 2 coils. You still only have 3 detector MODELS, but a more versatile 'package' because you can interchange optional search coils to make
YOUR set-up more multi-purpose.
Well, that's what I have and what I have done for many years, and that is have a multi-search coil outfit. What
I have done differently, however, is make it easier on me and eliminate a lot of 'down-time' because I have my primary-use favorite search coils along with me AND keep them mounted on a duplicate detector. I have 2 Impact's with different favorite-use search coils, just like 2 Relics and 2 CoRe's with different coils on each.
I simply grab the detector/coil combination I
'want' and '
need' for a site I encounter, and if I want to change to a different detector make/model or change the search coil I use, it is quick and easy. When I am off for a long journey, like a week or two or three, and want to hunt a wide variety of sites, I might take most or all of my
Regular-Use Detectors along. However, on a day-to-day adventure I usually tote just 2 to 4.
And my arsenal is growing next year. The 6 Nokta and 3 Tesoro models bring be to 9 detectors, and my new White's MX-7 makes a total of 10 detectors. I really like the 6½ Inch Concentric coil on my MX-7 and it is going to stay mounted full-time. But I'll save up and buy another MX-7 early in 2018, bringing my
Regular Use Detector Outfit to 11, but that one will keep the standard 950 Concentric coil mounted.
Very seldom to I make a coil change because I have an arsenal of
only 4 TID detector models, but they are duplicated so as to always have one with a favorite useful search coil hooked up and ready-to-go.
My main detector is the Signum MFD, most of my sites are ancient pastures, many haven't seen a plough in living memory, and on these sites depth is king, and from the detectors i've owned the Signum wins this hands down.
Glad you found a make/model that satisfies one of your
'needs' and
'wants.'
I have other sites that have a 1000yrs of habitation and you need an iron sifter here, and i'm waiting to see what the Equinox has in this department, otherwise I'll go back to the Rutus 71 for that purpose.
The bulk of my chosen hunt sites, while not as old as those you have, are terribly littered with a dense amount of nails, smaller iron and rusty tin and shards of tin. That's why I have what I have in the way of detectors and preferred smaller-size search coils. There's no 'perfect' detector ,so I like a set of makes and models that complement each other.
I don't get it when folk say they take several detectors along for a days detecting, perhaps i just like to keep it simple.
I 'keep it simple' ... I don't have to swap search coils a lot, I
SIMPLY grab a detector/coil combination that's ready-to-go.
And if I am just heading out to detect today, or I am going to go somewhere on another day, I just take 1, 2, 3 or maybe 4 detectos along. But on a lengthier journey, like several days or a week or two, then I take along more detectors. Why, because I
'want' to and I might
'need' them.
Monte