Thanks Monte,yes i have also been detecting many years like yourself,have a substantial detecting arsenal and even bigger coil one,at the moment i have 23 detectors and if i recall 46 or 47 coils,some of them are the legendary older machine and also some modern exotica,but for the most part all are still used on occasions,but mainly for site specific uses.Of course our history goes back over 4000 years with the early Bronze Age,so as a result of sometimes our targets either small or large can be deeper than say a coin loss in a park across the pond.
Hence this is the reason behind alot of my machines having larger coil setups for the depth,but i do have 5 Tesoro/Laser based machines that i still use,mainly for trashy sites or when i just wish a very enjoyable couple of hours out detecting when the harvest comes off and the sun is shining in the evening,cannot beat that method of relaxation.
But also another brand passion of mine is the Whites,this i will do a write up maybe later today,the current machine that i have are the DFX,IDX Pro,TDI Pro and a MXT,all have specific site uses or characteristics that i enjoy using.
Like yourself my machines some of had 1000s of hours of use and years old,but looking at them they are minters,although one would never sell them,the only machine that i have ever sold was a about 10 years ago and that was the Troy XC5,the worst machine that i have ever owned,gave it a 12 month and 100s of hours too use it,but i just could not get on with it,as luck as it was brand new and a rare machine here in the UK i got basically what i paid for it.So a lucky escape.
Will post on the Whites thread as well when i have some time