I pulled a stupid move yesterday and left my scoop at home. Hal and I drove 45 minutes to the lake before the gaff was discovered. Guess I can now join the Big Boo-Boo club. Ah, well - moments of brilliance... 
Anyway, good old Hal, my detecting partner, brought yet another detector model along yesterday. He is the King of Detector Trading and has gone through more units than I have fingers to count with in search of the perfect machine for him - all withint the last 3 months. This time he traded his Tiger Shark for a Whites Beach Hunter ID. I use a Tiger Shark as my personal choice in a freshwater detector and was pleased the day he got one of his own. Naturally, I wondered at his sanity when I heard he had gotten rid of it. All I will say is that it wasn't a great trade. Okay, thats not all I can say...
I know there are plenty of you who like the BHID, so I'll go easy in deference to you, my friends. And it IS a White's, after all, so it can't be all bad. But at the end of the day, I found it to be less than worthy. Here are the ways it went astray.
1. It is heavy and ill balanced.
Heavy duty isn't an instant condemnation. Rugged is not a bad thing around the water. But, the way the thing hangs along with the weight it carries....well, it doesn't compare to the Tiger Shark on this score. Sorry.
2. The control box is too bouyant.
Once it submerges, it begins fighting you for control, trying to float up. Too much air is trapped inside. This might not matter if you never went in past your knees. If you do, however, it becomes something of a bother.
3. The control box is fixed under the cuff.
The only option is hip/chest mounting. Truly, this is not a biggie as I like chest mounting for a water detector, while I dislike hip mounting. But, I thought that while I was nit-picking, I'd toss this in.
4. The THRESHOLD kept drifting
It was always increasing in amplitude. Every few minutes it needed adjusting back down. I went through the GB exercise numerous times, at a lake beach I know has stable bottom conditions. What's up with that?
5. The pin-point was, well, not.
It was drifty and hard to nail precisely. The target signal was always moving around, hard to say for sure if it was here... or there. Keep in mind I use a Tiger Shark in fresh water, so Im spoiled.
6. The battery cover is suspect.
I didnt monkey with it, so let me say that upfront. But at first glance, it is a goofy affair consisting of a lid held in place by a clamped strap - held captive between two flimsy plastic pins. Others have had problems with it and I confess it didn't instill confidence in me. Again, I use a Tiger Shark, which suffers from no such worries.
7. THE BOUYANT COIL ISSUE
Yep, its true. If you've heard about it, rest assured - the coil floats when under water. It, too, is always fighting you, like the control box. It reminded me of some lumbering, slow-motion whale, trying to breach back to the surface. Use this thing for long and you can cash-out your gym membership.
To offset this annoying tendency to float, you have to do silly things like tie a sand-filled sock to the lower rod, or come up with some sort of weight to offset the bouyancy. Hal had his wrapped his coil rod with the required sand filled sock AND a generous wrapping of duct tape in an effort to keep things secure. In all honesty, it looked ridiculous.
To make matters worse, at one point I lifted the coil from the water when a nearby kid spotted the "sock and duct tape" rig - and, oh dear Mercy, began to howl with laughter. He was pointing at me and shouting something at his mom; all the while roaring in fun at my expense. She hollered back at him, something to the effect that he should behave himself and leave that guy alone. Luckily, I had headphones on and couldn't hear all that the little urchin had said.
I mean, if I was sensitive to what people thought about me, I wouldnt be water hunting in the first place, but that was just too much.
Now in all fairness, there were some things I liked about the BHID - A LOT
1. It has an audible THRESHOLD
I'm old school - thresholds should be audible, whining along in the background. The BHID has one in the DISC mode. Goodie!
2. It has Manual GB
This should be an option on nearly all detectors, especially in and around the water where conditions can vary so much.
3. It has iron null
The DISC has an iron null feature. Again, Im old school - iron should null out, or at least you should have the option of selectng this feature. With the BHID, unless it was a corroding engine block, most smallish iron nulled the threshold. I like it.
4. Tone AND visual ID
Hooray! This is nice, nice, nice in the water. It is a boon when hunting to have these features in the water - since you can't see squat for the most part. And surprise...the lights are bright enough to see clearly in bright sunlight.
5. The DISC set up
There is NONE! In the water, there isn't a great need to fiddle with a DISC knob all the time... you are interested in knowing about everything beneath yor coil. On the BHID, switching to DISC enters a pre-programmed arrangement of 'conductivity blocking', based on:
Low range - iron... red light and low tone/nulling
Midrange - foil, nickles, tabs, gold... yellow light and midtone
High range - coins and silver... Green light and high tone.
This tone/lights/blocking arrangement is nice and leaves more time for digging, since you arent always twirling the DISC knob in feeble attempts to ID stuff. Thanks White's; I like that, too.
With all the good things going for it, I am baffled by Whites seeming disinterest in improving this model. If they only went to a printed, epoxy coil like everyone else, this sucker would go a long way down the right path.
Then include the chest mount rig when you buy one and we're getting somewhere, boys.
Admittedly, I haven't used it for an entire season, done extensive air testing nor any of the other things BHID afficionado's will say I should do. But, I've been detecting for 20 years and have tried beaucoup detectors. And thanks to Hal and his weekly trades, I get to try a lot more these days, too. What a great partner!
Since I am hardly a novice and have used, owned and currently employ some of the best gear around, I put some faith in my first impressions of equipment.
Hey, White's, I dont hate it - you're really on to something with the BHID. But, you're not there YET. Are you listening?
Anyway, good old Hal, my detecting partner, brought yet another detector model along yesterday. He is the King of Detector Trading and has gone through more units than I have fingers to count with in search of the perfect machine for him - all withint the last 3 months. This time he traded his Tiger Shark for a Whites Beach Hunter ID. I use a Tiger Shark as my personal choice in a freshwater detector and was pleased the day he got one of his own. Naturally, I wondered at his sanity when I heard he had gotten rid of it. All I will say is that it wasn't a great trade. Okay, thats not all I can say...
I know there are plenty of you who like the BHID, so I'll go easy in deference to you, my friends. And it IS a White's, after all, so it can't be all bad. But at the end of the day, I found it to be less than worthy. Here are the ways it went astray.
1. It is heavy and ill balanced.
Heavy duty isn't an instant condemnation. Rugged is not a bad thing around the water. But, the way the thing hangs along with the weight it carries....well, it doesn't compare to the Tiger Shark on this score. Sorry.
2. The control box is too bouyant.
Once it submerges, it begins fighting you for control, trying to float up. Too much air is trapped inside. This might not matter if you never went in past your knees. If you do, however, it becomes something of a bother.
3. The control box is fixed under the cuff.
The only option is hip/chest mounting. Truly, this is not a biggie as I like chest mounting for a water detector, while I dislike hip mounting. But, I thought that while I was nit-picking, I'd toss this in.
4. The THRESHOLD kept drifting
It was always increasing in amplitude. Every few minutes it needed adjusting back down. I went through the GB exercise numerous times, at a lake beach I know has stable bottom conditions. What's up with that?
5. The pin-point was, well, not.
It was drifty and hard to nail precisely. The target signal was always moving around, hard to say for sure if it was here... or there. Keep in mind I use a Tiger Shark in fresh water, so Im spoiled.
6. The battery cover is suspect.
I didnt monkey with it, so let me say that upfront. But at first glance, it is a goofy affair consisting of a lid held in place by a clamped strap - held captive between two flimsy plastic pins. Others have had problems with it and I confess it didn't instill confidence in me. Again, I use a Tiger Shark, which suffers from no such worries.
7. THE BOUYANT COIL ISSUE
Yep, its true. If you've heard about it, rest assured - the coil floats when under water. It, too, is always fighting you, like the control box. It reminded me of some lumbering, slow-motion whale, trying to breach back to the surface. Use this thing for long and you can cash-out your gym membership.
To offset this annoying tendency to float, you have to do silly things like tie a sand-filled sock to the lower rod, or come up with some sort of weight to offset the bouyancy. Hal had his wrapped his coil rod with the required sand filled sock AND a generous wrapping of duct tape in an effort to keep things secure. In all honesty, it looked ridiculous.
To make matters worse, at one point I lifted the coil from the water when a nearby kid spotted the "sock and duct tape" rig - and, oh dear Mercy, began to howl with laughter. He was pointing at me and shouting something at his mom; all the while roaring in fun at my expense. She hollered back at him, something to the effect that he should behave himself and leave that guy alone. Luckily, I had headphones on and couldn't hear all that the little urchin had said.
I mean, if I was sensitive to what people thought about me, I wouldnt be water hunting in the first place, but that was just too much.
Now in all fairness, there were some things I liked about the BHID - A LOT
1. It has an audible THRESHOLD
I'm old school - thresholds should be audible, whining along in the background. The BHID has one in the DISC mode. Goodie!
2. It has Manual GB
This should be an option on nearly all detectors, especially in and around the water where conditions can vary so much.
3. It has iron null
The DISC has an iron null feature. Again, Im old school - iron should null out, or at least you should have the option of selectng this feature. With the BHID, unless it was a corroding engine block, most smallish iron nulled the threshold. I like it.
4. Tone AND visual ID
Hooray! This is nice, nice, nice in the water. It is a boon when hunting to have these features in the water - since you can't see squat for the most part. And surprise...the lights are bright enough to see clearly in bright sunlight.
5. The DISC set up
There is NONE! In the water, there isn't a great need to fiddle with a DISC knob all the time... you are interested in knowing about everything beneath yor coil. On the BHID, switching to DISC enters a pre-programmed arrangement of 'conductivity blocking', based on:
Low range - iron... red light and low tone/nulling
Midrange - foil, nickles, tabs, gold... yellow light and midtone
High range - coins and silver... Green light and high tone.
This tone/lights/blocking arrangement is nice and leaves more time for digging, since you arent always twirling the DISC knob in feeble attempts to ID stuff. Thanks White's; I like that, too.
With all the good things going for it, I am baffled by Whites seeming disinterest in improving this model. If they only went to a printed, epoxy coil like everyone else, this sucker would go a long way down the right path.
Then include the chest mount rig when you buy one and we're getting somewhere, boys.
Admittedly, I haven't used it for an entire season, done extensive air testing nor any of the other things BHID afficionado's will say I should do. But, I've been detecting for 20 years and have tried beaucoup detectors. And thanks to Hal and his weekly trades, I get to try a lot more these days, too. What a great partner!
Since I am hardly a novice and have used, owned and currently employ some of the best gear around, I put some faith in my first impressions of equipment.
Hey, White's, I dont hate it - you're really on to something with the BHID. But, you're not there YET. Are you listening?
