Nohope, I just got back from a 3 day hunt in Michigan at a Boy Scout Camp (4200 acres). You're right.....it's the operator of the detector that counts, not the detector. Case in point: A guy with a 25+ yr old detector (White's 6000-D) for the 2nd straight yr whomped all of the other 60+ detectorers (male) and detectorists (female).....some with the new White's $1700 detector. Another amazing thing is that there was common change all over the camping areas.....a lot of it on the surface. The count is still being taken of common coinage found, but the latest figure is that it is over $277 so far.