Metal Detector

https://www.metaldetector.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoo5SmQR-daexZl11mfksLmKuIjsD_ykfpIfp-MyxBdNqepoktxT

My name is Michael Bernzweig. Let me share with you the story of our family business. Along the way, we will meet some of the individuals that helped our family get their start in the industry.

The year was 1975; I had just turned 5 years old, when my older brother Daniel, 10 at the time, announced to our parents that he wanted a “real” metal detector. Not that “toy” that our father David had painstakingly soldered together for him in his spare time over the previous three weekends! The problem was that the “real McCoy” cost $200. This was a tough predicament for a kid on a $2 weekly allowance. After some careful negotiations, he came to an understanding with our parents. They agreed that if he saved up half, they would put up the other half. To their surprise he did, and the rest is history. Soon I wanted one as well. Dad quickly followed suit and within three months we were a three detector family.

You see, our father David was a scientist by training and had always been a tinkerer in his spare time. He could never accept the notion that things could not be improved upon. He was not happy with the performance of the metal detectors of that era. He set out to enhance their performance and to improve his success in the field. He quickly realized that the deeper, more valuable coins and other targets were softer and harder to hear. At the same time, he noticed that the surface targets were quite loud. His answer was to develop an audio circuit to overcome these two problems. His invention, enhanced the sound produced by deeply buried targets, while simultaneously reducing the loud ear-bashing surface signals. Friends from his local metal detecting club began to take notice of his invention. He started by producing a few units for them to try. Their feedback was amazingly positive. All of a sudden he and his friends were heading back to areas that they had previously hunted and thought were worked out. To their amazement, they started finding older, deeper targets. A light bulb quickly went off in his head. He realized that this invention might be the answer to his entrepreneurial desire to start a business of his own!

Fast forward to the year 1983, when our family hobby turned into our full-time business and passion. Seeing her husband’s excitement with his new invention, our mother Sondra turned to my brother and me and asked us “does this thing really work?” Our response was an emphatic yes! Knowing that her husband was more of a scientist than a business person, Sondra decided to become involved in the business. With David doing product design and development and Sondra focusing on marketing, things started to take shape quickly. At first they ran the business out of the house. They began advertising his invention under the name DepthMaster®. Soon the business became too big for the house and we moved to our first commercial location. Soon customers began calling to buy metal detectors. Several years later the MetalDetector.com website was launched as a resource for treasure hunters.

The business that Sondra and David humbly began nearly three decades ago is now enriching the lives of many generations of treasure hunters around the globe.

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