Testing....testing....testing.

Being in the software development business for close to 40 years, managing, designing, coding, testing and implementing hundreds of small and large projects on both mainframe legacy systems and up to the minute new technology Java/web based systems I have come to the conclusion that successful projects have 2 things in common. 1...the requirements were well vetted, documented and there was little if no abiguity in them. 2 - the quality of the testing.

This can be applied when evaluating a new detector for ones self.

Requirements...pretty simple. What applications/hunting scenarios will you be using it for ? How are the ergonomics ? Price ? What soil conditions are most prevelant when hunting ? There are many others, and all quite subjective for each individual. Performance can then be evaluated based on those requirements and for the most part, we all want a high performing detector for our applications among all other requirements.

Testing. In the software development business you cannot get around this. At least not on my projects ! When testing, there can be a few or thousands of test scenarios/use cases to vet out the requirements, design and code. When testing, one tests for meeting all the requirements, the interface, the design, the connectivity, the database...ok, I can go on and on. Testing is also performed for scenarios that do NOT meet the requirements and may cause errors or unexpected results...and when found, the design/code needs to be evaluated and possible new functionality put in to resolve this error if it has not been coded to do so already.

When testing a detector, a person can only test for what they need it to do if they wish. And that can be a very valid test. One does not have to test every scenario, test what may 'break' the unit, try to make tests to fool the unit, etc. They can test those scenarios if they want too, and a lot of guys testing do so because they may hunt in a situation where it is out of their norm and they want to have an idea how their unit will perform in that situation.

What is great about these tests and the videos is that someone put the time in to do so. Some one thought out test scenarios, put those scenarios in a real world test, thought of things that they may encounter in the real world when testing and as they test, they come up with new ideas ( which is very important as it leads to new experiences and possible enlightenment) They then document that via video and via posts on forums, give comments on how they felt the tests are proceeding, how the test results faired, etc.

For the most part, all these tests/videos, etc. are validating things.

Yes, there are times when tests are complete garbage. When tests are skewed to make one unit look better than another. Possible motives as to why. Haven't come across many of them but I am sure some are out there.

All the videos I have watched by hunters who have taken the time to publish their tests are a quality product. To me, they all are accurate, validate and give quality information. Sure, maybe one unit was tuned a bit different than the other or one coil is a bit bigger or smaller than the other. Or maybe the test does not meet your requirements as a hunter ( ie, you are a old coin/clad coin hunter in trashy aluminum parks and the test you are watching is for iron laden sites with heavy mineralization where the hunter searches for relics). Or beach hunters who watch tests of hunters who nugget hunt.

Bottom line is, we now live a world where we can get SO MUCH information without leaving the comfort of our home. We can watch videos and read up on things and it gives us enough information so we can either say, nope, not for me or wow..that's interesting I need to do more research.

I know one thing....the tests and videos hunters are putting out does one thing for me more than anything else....it gets me MOTIVATED to get my butt out there and detect !!!!

Well stated: In addendum take every test or video with a grain of salt......