MD'ing Best of Times Era

[reddirtfisher]

Is it just me or is the industry losing ground as far as good metal detectors go? I remember back in the early 90's. There was the best lineup of metal detectors ever produced!

Whites Spectrum Series & Coinmasters
Garrett's CX & Original Ace Series
Fisher 1200 Series ( Los Banos)
Tesoro ( not much change)
Bounty Hunter Time Ranger, Landstar,
Minelab Soveriegn & Musketeer

Those , in my opinion, were the BEST detectors ever produced and the BEST OF TIMES for this hobby. I am very disappointed and frustrated with the industry today. What do you all think?

 

[Elton]

CTX-3030
E-trac
Exp Se pro
Exp SE
EXPII
F75
F75 Se
F75LTD
T2
T2SE
AtPro
Whites V3
Whites V3i
White VX3\
XP Deus

To name a few.................

So Yes there were some good detectors for sure in the 90's........ The 2000 to present certainly hasn't been going backwards... Things have improved in Identification and depth for certain...

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Well gee, you want to talk about lightening fast evolution years?? Consider the changes in the 10 yr. period of 1975 to 1985!! If you were around in those years (like I was), you'd have seen things go from all metal TRs (no disc, lousy in minerals, a bear to keep balanced, limited depth, etc...), to motion disc (effortlessly and quickly fly around for silver ).

Yes, some more changes and advances in the early '90s. But yeah, in the last 10 or 15 yrs. (since the outcome of the explorer or so), detectors seem to have hit the laws of physics. A ceiling on just how deep they can go, with current technology. So all we see is just more "whistles and bells" lately. I think there is a point at which detectors simply can not go deeper, unless something entirely new is invented. You know, like BFO gave way to TR, and TR gave way to VLF, and so forth.

 

[Barry NY]

You seem to have missed some of the real latest in technology: the XP Deus.
I think the industry is moving towards: lighter, faster, wireless, amphibious

 

[JB(MS)]

Regardless of whether the newer detectors are deeper, lighter, faster, wireless and submersible, the 1970's and 80's was definitely the best era for detecting. Most who didn't begin detecting until the mid to late 1980's can't imagine the amount of coins and/or relics that could be found. My first detector was a kit BFO in 1969. It had a 6.5 inch coil and struggled to get a quarter three inches deep, but finding well over a hundred coins in a hunt with it, including many silver coins, at places people had frequented for a long time was common. As you've said in the past, each advance in detectors opened up another layer of coins, relics, etc, an inch or so deeper and it was like hunting virgin sites all over again. I've been retired for five years, spend at least five times as much time detecting as I did in the 70's and 80's, have detectors that will go about as deep as any other VLF's out there and others that have excellent target separation and work well in trash, but the number of coins and other desirable objects I and the guys I hunt with find in a hunt now is a pittance compared to what those of us who detected in the 1970's and 80's found back then.

 

[Shenandoah Digger]

Some nice advances in metal detector technology in the last ten years. But depth with discrimination is not one of them for the most part. I don't think there is a detector made today that gets much more depth than the Fisher 1266, and how old is that machine? And of course if you know how to use a Nautilus, it's two tone system provides better discrimination at depth than anything out there. Until good discrimination in a pulse machine comes along, there won't be any earth shaking changes in metal detector technology, with my apologies to the Blisstool, which is deep in any ground, but it's discrimination circuit leaves you wanting more. But at least it's trying.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Sure the 1266 is deep. But it's lousy in minerals. And the disc. hits a "brick wall" after about 5 inches (everything starts to sounds the same). It's just too squirrely sensitive and noisey for most places

 

[glasartisan]

I didnt hear anyone mention about the Troy X-5. I just picked up a used one and I just cant believe how deep it is in DESCRIM mode.I just made a fresh test garden this year in my back yard. My soil is moderately mineralized and almost entirely made up of clay. I dug a hole a measured 15 inches deep and stuck a nickle in the bottom, another hole at a measured 13 inches and stuck a dime in and for the clad quarter a measured 14 inches. I had the sensitivity set at 8 and I got a definite diggable signal each way on all 3 targets plus 2-3 inches more with the 9 inch stock coil off the ground. Thats hard to believe that it bangs on high conductors.I also have the Blisstool which is incredible on depth and will knock out iron.I also buried a half dollar at 17 inches and both detectors gave me repeatable signals.I dont know of too many other IB detectors out there that can push down that deep.Never used the 1266. The soverign series I think would be the closest but in all metal. Steve

 

[Tom_in_CA]

that troy x5 ...... if you tried to use it in-the-field, to get coins at "15 inches", would be a different story. You're probably going to find out that at those depths (anything beyond perhaps 7 or 8"), you loose the ability to tell iron vs conductors, for example. Also, I don't think the x5 is going to fare well in any sort of mineralized soils to get those kinds of depths. So, for example, you wouldn't be using that on wet salt beaches, etc..... Any machine (like the 1266 or if as you say, the x5) that can be shown in an air test (or staged ground test, as in your known-nickel), will not be replicatable under most conditions. Believe me, I wish I knew of a machine that can reach down at a foot or more, for coin-sized items WHILE having some semblance of TID (even if only iron vs non-iron).