And so with the going away looming imminent on the horizon I'm looking for a metal detector. Days off searching ghost towns for abandoned caches of Platinum and gold, lost jewelry, etc. Even prospectors need a day off.
Used, there's nothing, a 40 yr old Bounty Hunter on Kijiji for $125.00. There's got to be better out there.
So I begin searching.
Now, treasure hunting is a bit like - well, hard to explain. But people interested in prospecting and Metal Detecting and other related things tend to be - well, judging from the websites, gullible.
Every metal detector comes in 30 different models, ranging from $200 all the way to $3000 and more. Waterproof, discriminator functions, 3D Holographic imaging, the specs are varied and nonsensical.
The specs are mostly concealed in jargon, and the new fancy computer-led-displays, while possibly a good thing, smell to me a bit of quackery.
People who go searching for buried treasure I suspect are a bit gullible and easy to bilk.
The specs are never easy to read. Add to this the sites that sell them are frequently cluttered with ads for treasure maps, binoculars that will spot gold on riverbanks, other absurd "treasure hunting" equipment and you start to realize that to buy anything strictly practical will not be an easy chore. It's much like Celine's descriptions in "Death on the Installment Plan". Add to this the fact that few places in Calgary sell them, and virtually none offer any sort of selection, and you'll know what I'm up against.
Still, do a job, do it right, I'll possibly only travel this road once and I'd rather not be blaming failure on a lack of preparedness, and so off I go to test them out... After all, it would only take a nugget or two to pay for one...