Need Advice on the Omega or Delta

[bobbydadario]

Hi All,

I am looking for advice on the Omega and the Delta models. I recently sold my Minelab Explorer XS. I thought this was a great detector on the wet and dry sand. Will the Omega be stable in the wet sand? I figure the Delta might be at a disadvantage with automatic ground balance. I didn't care for the Explorer on the surf.... too slow to get a target reading, the flutey sound also came on screwcaps and cans. Also, found it difficult to pinpoint target. Do the Teknetics have a stable numeric reading (will a target that ID's in the coin range be an actual coin?). Can I move along faster than using the Explorer? Is pinpointing easier using the concentric coil?

I want to have fun again detecting. I am a coinshooter and using the Omega in the wet sand would be a real +. The Delta looks interesting because I see the price dropped the $279. Is anyone still selling the Omega with the DD coil & the stock for $599? I read here that someone was selling it as a bundle, but I cannot find that deal anywhere.

Can you adjust the volume. No backlight?????? (a real shame for early beach hunting)

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Bobby I can answer some of your questions, I've been using the Omega for a couple of months now.

I would agree that the Deltas fixed GB could be a disadvantage, I thought I read that the Omega can GB to salt, so it "should" be able to hunt in wet salt sand OK, but probably will not be as stable as a multifreq machine like your Explorer. The Teks will be much faster then the Explorer, the Omega pinpoints well, the numeric reading is fairly stable, and will tell you the conductivity of the target relative to the ground conditions, but as you probably know with so many variables in targets, a TID of say 75 may not always be a dime, it could be many things with the same conductivity reading. The Omega has a fixed volume, but I haven't found that to be an issue (I use Sunray Gold Pro's and Killer Bee's so I can adjust the volume on the headset if necessary). No backlight, the only current First Texas machine with a backlit (AFAIK) is the F75, which is on all the time.

I think Mr. Bill was offering the DD coil package on the Omega, might want to give him a ping to check.

 

[BuckeyeBrad]

It too will manually GB down to salt like the Omega. But if the $100 price difference isn't a hinderence, I feel the Omega's refinements are more than worth it.

 

[bobbydadario]

Good point on the Gamma. Here's the rationale... been detecting on and off for 25 years. Bought the Explorer XS and just hated it on the turf. I miss going out so am looking for a detector that might be a better fit for me. At $279, the Delta looks like it could be a lot of fun - simple, stable, and easy to use. However, part of me thinks that I will want to upgrade, especially to ground balance in the wet sand. So for a hundred dollars more than the Gamma, I might as well go into the Omega. I really am just looking for a detector that is quiet and when it gives a good signal, there is a reasonable chance that it will be something I want to dig (is that too much to ask?) It seemed with the Explorer there was a good likelihood of a good signal being a screwcap. Also, I want a machine that's easy to pinpoint. I hope these machines will meet my basic goals. I don't want to be too negative on the Explorer - but this time I don't want to spend weeks figuring out which flute sounds like a coin. I am looking into a Tesoro DeLeon, but these machines seem like old technolgy in comparison to the Fisher/Teknetics line. Also, the interface doesn't seem as elegant. I will probably use the detector a few hours a week since I work a lot and have a family. That why I want/need easy to use.

 

[Cliff KS]

says there will be an Omega Pro Package that comes with an additional 11" DD coil for $699

and a Omega Coil Combo that will include the 11" DD and the 5" for $799

Apparently you get the standard 10 oval concentric with both, so with the Pro Package you would have 2 coils: the 10" oval concentric and the 11" DD and with the Coil Combo you would have 3 coils: 10" oval concentric, 11" DD, and 5" DD.

 

[BuckeyeBrad]

I'd say the Omega will be a great fit for you based on what you're looking for. For a detector with it's features, I'm not aware of anything as easy to operate with a high degree of sucess (providing the targets are there to be had) and learn to whatever level you choose.

 

[bobbydadario]

Thanks Guys,

Your input has been very helpful

 

[Mark in NC]

There's a lot to like about the Delta, but I prefer the Omega.... I was able to run the Omega with stability on North Carolina beaches...but I don't think you're going to get Explorer depth from a single frequency machine in the wet stuff. I was getting clad at 6+ inches. Neither the Delta nor the Omega were designed as primarily "wet, salt sand" machines, but they were built to handle it if need-be...a pretty cool thing considering a lot of single frequency machines are almost useless in wet salty sand. On the Omega, I manually ground balanced to near zero...then it was stable. The only "noise" was when a wave would break over the coil...pretty typical with most machines.

 

[bobbydadario]

Thanks Mark in NC
I sometimes go to the Outer Banks... it's good to know that I can use the Omega along the beach. I guess I'm just trying to find a do it all detector. The Explorer admittedly achieved some amazing depths in the sand.... easily 12-16 inches on quarters. I used to get really tired digging a foot down in wet sand. But that would be the only + in my mind.