[Rod]

Hope you enjoy
http://www.arizonagoldprospectors.com/blog...or-upgrade.html

[MikeT]

Good one Rod, as always and thanks.

Mike

PS: You need to chage the year on the date of the shows (3 & 4).

[russfordAZ]

Good show as always Rod and hope you don't mind if I disagree with you on this one. Having been a dealer, perhaps I come from a little different perspective on the issue of high end detector rentals. I'm sure you probably know I had a variety of VLF's up for rental at the shop, and never had a problem with renting with a deposit and a person't I.D. However, when it comes to high end detectors it just doesn't work. Remember as you said, the dealer is the bottom of the Totum Pole. He is usually just trying to make his next month's rent and doesn't have the cash available to put into a high dollar rental. The distributors aren't going to put one in stock for him, so it would be cash out of his pocket. Then he would have a used and maybe abused unit and be unable to recoup his money. I'm sure a dealer could get insurance as you say, but that's not the real issue. Here it is in a nutshell - and you won't hear this from anyone else because it would not be good for a dealers image to state this...but, I'm not a dealer, and my image is....well...

A dealer is in the business to "sell" detectors. And most sales of high end detectors are made because the customer thinks maybe this detector will do a lot better than my last one (whether it will actually do better or not is not the issue. It's all about hope and perception and sometime sales hype). If you rent out a new P.I. the chances are 10 to 1 against a person being able to give it a good test, or even figure out the new features in a day. So, he will arrive at the "perception" that the upgrade is not justified...there goes a sale! On the other hand, if a person has to buy that high end machine, he will work with it, figure out the features, and in the end may be well satisified with his purchase. As an example I have done this myself. Except for my very first P.I., every new P.I. I've bought seemed like wasted money weeks or possibly months after I got it. Only by using it for sometimes a year or more and understanding it better have I come to love the advancements in each one. I know this position may not seem very consumer friendly, but it really is because this way the new machines will get used and understood and the consumer will benefit in the end. A snap juggement by a consumer would not do the machine justice and would do the nuggetshooter an injustice as well.

...rf

[Rod]

Good stuff Russ, thank you. I'll share some thoughts as well.

Most dealers I know work out of their house and hold day jobs so there is no rent for the actual detector business. Business insurance will recoup the money on any damaged rental units.

An experienced operator can test a machine in a day easy, get to know it no, test it yes.

From my perspective the big picture is being missed by the industry in general but I'll leave that for time to tell. The manufacturers and distributors needs to get with the dealers and try. Kevin Hoagland sent me a Happy New Years text message and I replied with the same, maybe Minelab will give him a new project one day?

Have to disagree with the upgrade stuff, I'll gladly swing my Extreme over my 3500 any day. And I've used the 3500 for well over a year.

I'm pretty sure snap judgments sell a lot of detectors as the with the current state of affairs the consumer cannot test the unit.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts