BH Pioneer 202 vs Tesoro Cibola - Unbelievable

[GRAY GHOST]

hey perry. i can really appreciate a good post such as this. you've obviously taken some time out and learned both machines like i have. i have found that different types of detecting requires different mindsets and sometimes a change of machines does you very well. the 202 does much better depthwise with the 10" mag coil - try it, you'll probably like it. you can retrieve targets 2" - 3" deeper overnight. the only drawback to the 10" mag coil is that you'll start missing the smaller targets. still, it's well worth the $.

i've also found that i can closely sweep an area with the cibola, "clean" it out, then come back the next day to the same place and start recovering stuff with the 202. to figure that out would require an exploration of quantum physics and of the physical properties of the earth and magnetic poles i'm just not willing to enter! like i said earlier, i still believe the 200 bucks i spent on my pioneer 202 5 years ago was the best 200 bucks i ever spent on a machine, hands down. you get a lot of bang for the buck.

beware of the air test thing too - the air around us will never duplicate the actual search conditions present in the ground that vary so much from one spot to another. all the machine is telling you with an air test is that "yeah, i see a piece of metal 6" away." - and nothing more. this is why test gardens are so popular - the coin or relic is pinpointed and retrieved from a known and predictable depth and location from the ground. it hones many of the skills a beginning hobbyist needs - and so does night hunting.

thanks for a great post, perry. i have to contend with the rather warm ground around richmond, va., so i can feel some of your pain. i believe i'm gonna pull the ol' girl off the shelf and hit the woods in the morning!

 

[pjoenss]

Gray Ghost,
I really appreciate your classy reply. To be honest, I had wondered if I might offend someone who might think I was bad-mouthing the Cibola (some folks are pretty protective of their insturments!). Also, I didn't want to come accross as "hawking" the 202 or anything of that nature. So I'm glad that (so far, anyway), I hurt no feelings nor offended anyone.
I totally agree with your sentiment on coin 'gardens'. I actually have one. I was just trying to focus on the recovery time here. Actually, the first thing I do when hunting a new site, is to bury a penny roughly 4-5 inches in the ground, just to reassure myself what a "good" target sounds like when I am getting no signals.
Thanks for the advice about the coil...may just go that route instead of buying a 505!
Good Hunting to you guys!
Perry

 

[Markmac]

Excellent points of view and i enjoyed reading your comparisons between the two detectors.I own a Tesoro and a garrett but i bought a new bounty hunter 202 for my 10 year old grandson for Christmas this past year after readng all the good reviews on it being a good buy for the money and have to say i think i will enjoy helping him learn to use it and im sure it will make him a great first metal detector...It even came with a pinpointer and detector bag and trowel and coin pouch so he is set for starting to learn this great hobby as soon as weather here permits....Good luck to You all...Markmac

 

[vwbuggs]

I'm glad to hear ya'll have had good luck with the 202, I myself have not. It is because I have been trying to use it on the beach and am told that it does not do well on sand do to the mineral content of the sand. I have had it for 3 years and have found nothing, nada, either in Florida or New Jersey beaches. So I guess I am religated to the dirt. I just found this out from Bounty Hunter. I wish I had known before I purchase it. But I will use it in parks, and the woods. If anyone has used the 202 and has had success at the beach, please, please let me know. Thanks vw

 

[Ed in SoDak]

Not like there's any salt beaches here for me to verify my post, but here goes!

Salt is a mineral, like any other, such as the black sands we find here in gold-bearing areas. Their signal is weak, but everywhere. Not all detectors can be adjusted to this extreme range of ground balance, so the machine will tend to false or lack depth.

There's a couple things you can try that may help. It won't turn the detector into a beach machine, but you may be able to find shallow coins, rings or other objects.

The techniques are simple and work on any detector. Turn down the sensitivity and raise the coil so you are searching with it raised several inches above the sand. The weak salt effect does not extend as far as a metal signal will, so hopefully you can eliminate the background salt signature and enough "coin" signal will remain to be detected.

If you have a smaller coil, use it. It will "see" less of the surrounding soil, so again a coin has a better chance of overcoming it.

If you can hunt in all metal and have sensitivity or threshold adjusted to leave a little chatter or background noise, listen closely for an increase in the sound level.

Hunt parallel to the beach so your swings follow the wave line. This keeps the relative moisture content more consistent. If you follow a path along the waterline, swinging the coil towards the shore and back towards water, every inch travelled will have a differing moisture level. Or if you hunt in a track from up on the beach down to the water, every step may be over wetter sand. My suggestion kind of implies detecting sideways, so to speak, but I'm sure you can develop a technique that keeps the coil over more-or-less consistently moistened areas of sand. Follow the wave line, but keep the coil swings compacted and narrow.

Higher up on the beach, it should be easier going. Raise the coil till it quits falsing. Use a test quarter or ring to check your settings. Tie a string onto your test ring to make it easier to recover it and not lose it accidentally.

-Ed