Midnight that minelab is not as hard as people make it out to be. If you're hunting coins just use the preset it works great. after that you can go
to the minelab nets they have good information. You being a ham understand more about the frequencys than most. I needed an all around detector and I could only get one So after months of looking and I mean that literally literally. I finally chose the ex ll. I took it over to a lake that has dried up here in town. The lake had a swimming hole in it since the 50s that I know of. 100's of detectors had been there. I mean that literally too. I did not walk away empty handed I was quite pleased. I was concerned that it wouldn't hit the load ore I'm always looking for, which in truth is harder to hit than free gold. But after looking at the freq detectors are transmitting on that didn't make sense to me. When I ran the tests and they are definitly not extensive, the explorer seemed to do fine. There are serious detectors and then there are those who carry their detector in their car or leave it in the closet and use it once a year. My friends are serious detectors. I do a lot of research for them (which I love) and they are thinking of getting an explorer. They hunt gold with the minelab gps. When I was on rich hill those guy used to take people out to look for nuggets for money used gps's. On all the gold show I watch on tv they are using minelabs. It is true when you can't buy 3 or 4 machines and have to get one that is versatile you my lose a little in places. The serious detectors and the guys who live, breath and hunt have nothing bad to say about the explorer. In my metal detecting club it is split at the high end 50/50 minelab/whites. That is why I have nothing to say about the whites. As to difficulty if you didn't want to expand the time to learn your machine you should have went to wal-mart and bought a bounty hunter. The fact of the matter is though we bought those high dollar detectors because we are serious and we love the sport. With us learning is an everyday event. After the time you expanded getting your ham liscense that explorer will be nothing. Don't let the whites fan club here ever talk you into doubting that machine. I love it and truthfully i'm begining think it scares the daylights out of people peddling other brands. those guys who have used the 1000s won't give them up for other brands. That tells you sometnhing. Happy hunting
