Basic muse on learning curve- thanks Steve!

Just a quick (maybe...) rabbit trail: It seems to me there are two major schools of thought on learning MDing, Jack of all trades (learn many different machines and discover their strengths and weaknesses) vs Master one (become a virtuoso exploiting the units strengths to near maximum limits). Each has its pluses and minuses. If only one could do both well! Reading Steve G go after iron pollution I go to thinking about this aspect of the challenge. I chose the wide and shallow course to hopefully find a unit I could spend my days getting intimate with and I am somewhat playing the field still. My machinist training leads me to see machines as tools and look for the right one for the job, contributing to Jack. I listen to NASA Tom and lament my non-mastery of most of MDing and repent of being satisfied with mediocre skills with a dozen detectors. Not sure where to go with this, but I believe confession is usually a good start.
Tom

Past(or)Tom
Using a Legend, a Deus 2, an Equinox 800, a Tarsacci MDT 8000, & a few others...
with my beloved, fading Corgi, Sadie

Pasttom --

Interesting post. I'll add a few thoughts. FIRST -- there's nothing for you to repent of! This is supposed to be a hobby, and it's supposed to be fun. So, if what you are doing is fun, then you are doing nothing wrong!

For me, I have perfectionist tendencies, I'm competitive, and I am a thinker. I love to "master" things, and love the rewards that come as a result of being the best I can be. SO, what this means is, FOR ME, I want to continue to improve, and learn more, and learn to find every single good find that exists in a site that can possibly be found. So, the way I am doing things, trying to learn, seeking maximum information and knowledge, etc., matches MY personality, it challenges me and my odd mind -- and thus this is what is "fun" for me. For you, it may be similar, it may be different, but I think what is important is that you are getting out of the hobby what you seek to get from it, and if you are, then mission accomplished! This hobby will mean different things, for different folks with different personalities.

Secondly, you are right; many folks use a number of machines, and make good finds with them; others hunt with one or two exclusively, trying to master the machines and do the best they can do with the tools at hand. Neither approach is "right" or "wrong;" in my mind, though, the learning that I want to accomplish is more about HOW iron masks targets, HOW targets behave at different depths, in different places, HOW targets react and behave when "illuminated" by a detectors electromagnetic transmission, etc. In my mind, understanding THOSE things will allow me to make the most finds I can make NO MATTER the machine I'm using. I think guys like Keith and NASA-Tom demonstrate this so well -- they understand what's going on in the ground SO well, and how iron behaves SO well, and masking, and depth limitations, and on and on and on...they understand all of this SO well, that they can pick up ANY machine, and in short order learn the "personality" of the machine and then very quickly know how to utilize that machine BECAUSE they understand the concepts of detecting that are foundational -- the things that are truly IRRELEVANT of the type of machine being used.

In my mind, one must have an understand of the job they are trying to do, what the limitations and problems are, and conceptually what needs to be accomplished, BEFORE they can pick the "right tool." So, that's kind of where I'm at right now. I, like most others, started with "the tool," but if you really think about that, it's a backwards approach in some ways. Ideally, we should understand what we are trying to accomplish FIRST, with a thorough enough understanding such that we know how to pick the proper tool.

As an analogy, think of a golfer. If you have a short par three, with the pin set up front, it is helpful for you to have the experience and knowledge to realize that there are a couple of different ways to play that shot -- you can hit a high shot with backspin and land it past the flag, allowing the ball to they "spin back" toward the hole; you could also hit a lower shot, and run the ball up onto the green. Once you understand those things -- which only come through experience, and understanding how a ball acts when it hits the green, or when it hits short of the green, etc. -- THEN, with that knowledge, can you confidently know how to pull the proper "tool" from your bag (i.e. a pitching wedge for the high shot vs. a 7-iron for the lower shot). Sure, you also have to know how to use each of those "tools" properly, and know how they behave, so that when you choose that one, you know how to use it properly, but to me, the most important part is understanding the task at hand, and what the challenges of that task are, and THEN you can pick the proper tool...

Just some rambling thoughts. I think you are doing just fine, Pasttom, because I know you have been at this for quite awhile, which suggests that you enjoy it and are having fun...and that's what's important!

Steve

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2013 03:27PM by steveg.

Thanks, Steve, I thought that too.
I am 3 years, two months addicted.
Tom

Past(or)Tom
Using a Legend, a Deus 2, an Equinox 800, a Tarsacci MDT 8000, & a few others...
with my beloved, fading Corgi, Sadie

Learning one unit sounds good but one detector won't do it all.

Guess thats why we all have several...probably not the reason but sounds good anyway and perhaps fun addiction is the real reason.

In any case whatever works and don't forget to smell the roses along the way....

There is no one do it all machine, but if you are largely a single type of hunter, such as a coin hunter or relic hunter, you are better off with one detector and learning it extremely well, IMHO.