Recession detectors... What 'mid-priced' detectors you have used

[Jackpine Savage]

would you be more than happy to have as your main unit in these tough times? Can be current or recent detectors that are still readily available in good condition. I know there are lots of you top end detector users out there that have a backup for friends or simply a detector that they turn to that's easy to use yet satifying performance wise. These would be a step up from the routinely reccomended 'beginner' machines.

Let's hear it folks

HH Tom

 

[Sven]

I use an older 1994 Minelab Sterling as I can no longer afford a top of the line unit. It gets the job done.
And has surprisingly good depth.

I also picked up a 1980 detector cheap that needs some work. Like the one pictured that I once owned.
If I can getting it functioning correctly, in VLF mode will be more than happy to use it. These units went
deep, depending on soil conditions.

I am seeing vintage units selling for more $$ than last year, especially top of the line units of yesteryear.
Some selling close to orig. retail price......... I don't think the bulk of these buyers are collectors
But these vintage units are still 50-75% cheaper than currently priced top of the line units. Even those
earlier TR units are escalating in price. I pity the person who tries to use one of these and can't keep the
coil at a constant height & level to the ground during each sweep. Many of those buyers of vintage units
probably would have been better off spending the money on a current lower priced model that would match
or exceed the vintage units performance. And have a warranty to boot.

Current Tesoros and the Garrett Ace seem to be doing well for the money spent. Especially if most of your finds
will be in the first 6" of the ground.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

The 6000 Di pro (make sure it's a "Di pro", and not one of the earlier incarnations of the 6000 lineup) is a good versatile machine. They started with that generation in the early 1990s, and it's still competitive today. Good general all-around turf, demolition, relicky-ruins, and saltwater beach machine. Maybe not in the super deepseeker class, and maybe not in the super TID bells-&-whistles class, but certainly better than some of the j*nk being constantly recommended as good beginner machines today.

 

[slingshot]

My Ace 250 w/sniper coil has tripled my finds-mainly because of the spots that have so much trash that discourage hunters. You can set the detector so many ways and when you lower the sensitivity it's LOWERED and doesn't remain about halfway like some others-allowing you to work in impossible situations. I hope I would also have my Silver umax along for normal situations. Wow! that D-tex looks as good as the day I remember them!

 

[Dan-o]

I'd be pretty happy with my Whites 6000di pro sl. If I were to have to buy a newer model, it would be a used, Whites M6 or Minelab Xterra 70.

Dan C

 

[Mike Hillis]

If the little woman put her foot down and said, "Honey, you have to make a choice, choose one and quit this nonsense !" I'd pick my Fisher F5. Sure glad that hasn't happened yet

HH
Mike

 

[Hombre]

Hi Guys

Last summer I picked up a like new White's 5900 Di Pro SL (CB) for a modest price. It's much like the 6000 Di Pro SL that Tom-Cal. was talking about, but the 5900 has a dual stacked adjustable Ground Ballance instead of the Auto Trac of the 6000. My 5900 Di Pro SL (CB) was one the last ones made (2004) so I would consider it recent enough for this dicussion. By doing research on Monte's posts on the 5900 Di Pro SL........ I've gleaned a few tricks on optimising the performance of this detector. It compares favorably to any machine I have ever tried to include Explorer,CZ5 and Whitle's XLT, and it's a better detector than my DFX which I sold a couple of years ago. Just my two zincs.

Randy

PS: With the 5900 Di Pro SL you can adjust the Signal Balance to where it becomes unstable and then back it off some, and as long as you can get a good usable ground balance with a slight positive threshold and with out 'fold over' you are good to go. I use a 5.3 Bullseye coil on this set up and you can use a slower sweep speed with the small coil, and it will surprise you with the depth you can achieve.

 

[Jackpine Savage]

5900 'CB's' to see what all the talk is about and IMO it's reputation is well deserved. A few years back you could pick them up for $300.00 - $325.00 in like new condition. If White's would forget all that fancy screen and adjustability business and simply produce a modern lightweight design with the abilities of the 5900 Di Pro SL 'CB' they would sell a ton.

Tom

 

[UK Brian]

I don't feel sorry at all. Anyone who buys a non motion machine learns to sweep correctly and when they go back to a modern machine hopefully good they will retain good coil discipline which means they will do better than they did before. Plus if there's no I.D. meter they have to pay attention to what information the audio supplies.

A young lad local to me has switched from a modern motion machine with depth reading/I.D. etc to a old Laser B1 (nearest U.S. version is the Mk 1 Tesoro Eldorado). Depth is not super deep but its detecting old, thin items and his first engagement ring that the modern motion detectors are pushing down into the iron and foil sections of the I.D. meter and thus don't get dug. Cost was

 

[Hombre]

5900 'CB's' to see what all the talk is about and IMO it's reputation is well deserved. A few years back you could pick them up for $300.00 - $325.00 in like new condition. If White's would forget all that fancy screen and adjustability business and simply produce a modern lightweight design with the abilities of the 5900 Di Pro SL 'CB' they would sell a ton.

Tom

I did a slight mod to my 5900, I replaced the 'S' rod and lower rod with a Tall Man rod from White's. This makes it a 'straight rod' setup......and with the little 5.3 BullsEye coil it has a perfect balance right under the meter. With this setup you can swing it most of the day.

 

[Waterdog]

I have thinned down the herd. Today going to the park or school I take the Garrett 1350, or the Ace 250. They work for what I hunt for.

 

[Shambler]

F4

Plus if there's no I.D. meter they have to pay attention to what information the audio supplies.

The problem with this is most detectors are digital now. A beep is a beep. Unless you're running some type of delta-pitch machine like an Explorer, then there isn't much info in the tone anymore. Sure, it might be clipped, or a just a chirp, or louder, but for the most part it's the same noise. I can remember swining my Dad's old analog machines and getting information based on how the analog tone fluctuated. Most modern detectors have four or five tones tied to TID ranges and that makes the visual more important. If 75 - 99 is a high beep, you really have to look at the numbers to see what you're actually about to dig especially if 77-79 is a zinc penny. I just don't want to kneel and dig over 50 times to dig 50 cents in clad.

 

[Hombre]

Sure.......I dig a lot of zincs but I also get the occasional Indian Head penny and once in 'great' while, a men's gold class ring that reads as a zinc penny. You gotta dig the trash to get the cash! In the old victorian house sites and old one room schools, old chuch,picnic grove etc. I dig any positive signal foil and above and sometimes I win, and sometimes I loose. My two zincs.

Randy

 

[BH_Landstar_]

Well, lets see, I'm using a Legacy 3300 (Discovery 3300 / Titan 3000) made by Bounty Hunter, it does what I need it to do. Look for my posts in the Bounty Hunter forum to see what I've found so far (since Jan of this year).

BTW, the finds below are from today in a field. The rings are 925 silver.

 

[JB(MS)]

I've recovered 12 boys class rings, plus a large 10 kt nugget ring and the ring in the photo that's the biggest ring I've seen, that gave zinc range signals. The ring in the photo is 18 kt, so big in diameter a quarter will almost go through it, has 1.5 kts of crushed diamonds on it and appraised for well over $1,500. Not bad at all for a zinc signal. The seated quarter is in the photo for size reference. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, I was able to return the ring in the photo. Just last week I dug a corroded zinc and noticed something shiny in the side of the hole, it was the smaller than it looks in the photo necklace that's gold plated over sterling silver. I was using an old Garrett MH 7 ADS and the only way it would detect the necklace was to wad it up and scrub the coil with it, and even then it ID'ed the same as the old steel bottlecaps. Not worth much, but if not for digging the zinc I wouldn't have got it. I don't like digging the darn screw off aluminum bottlecaps that ID as zincs, but I've dug enough good stuff, including quite a few indian head pennies, foreign coins and quite a few wheaties, that ID'ed as zincs that I just can't pass up a zinc signal.

 

[pescadore]

My main detector is a Troy Shadow X-3. I have been using a Minelab X-terra 50 with some success. I am trading for a Fisher F5 and I hope I am going to like it. I almost made a mistake and sold my X-3 and thank goodness the guy backed out of the sale. It has been the most consistent machine I have ever owned and I have owned a lot of them. I thought that I wanted to go with a more advanced TID machine but I read so many posts about these guys exchanging programs and talking about the best way to set up their machine for optimum performance and I think to myself why would I want to put myself through all of that again when I have a great machine that gives adequate depth and only weighs only 2 pounds. If I'm going to seriously hunt an area, I am going to set my discrimination low and dig it all anyway. I guess I am just getting old and simple seems better for what I do.

 

[BARKER]

Hi Folks; Just my own 2 cents worth but for me I'd get the Whites Prizm.'It is simple to use with only 2 control knobs and it is deep and accurate. I used one over the weekend and found a 1790's Large Cent at 8". Signal was loud and clear.Only one side piece of advice when buying "any" detector. Buy a "good" set of headphones.Don't waste money on a cheap set."You can't find what you can't hear" ok. Good Luck. PEACE:RONB

 

[Oakman404]

For me it's my Garrett 1350!

 

[fir469]

I own a variety of detectors now as I like to try different varieties... I started with an ACE 250 and moved on to a DFX, I then sold the DFX and bought a Minelab Musketeer. I went backwards to single frequency and no TID and I love it!! I have increased my finds tremendously just by not having a TID. I spent way too much time analyzing the tones/VDIs/TIDs with the DFX that I picked and chose my signals and then eventually just started digging everything positive... The only time I used the TID was when I was coin shooting in parks just to avoid trash and dig coins when I didn't want to break my back digging garbage. Now I own a Tesoro Silver Sabre 2, Minelab Musky Advantage, Ace 250, Nautilus DMC2b, JW Fishers Pulse 8 and I just acquired a Whites 5900 DI/Pro SL... Only reason I bought it was to have a TID machine to park hunt with a more accurate TID then the ACE. But 90% of my hunting is with a Non TID machine since I'm searching old areas, I want all the goodies from buttons to bullets to coins to buckles.... dig it all!!

 

[Davy Jones Locker]

HMMM I picked up a mint used Spectrum XLT in 11/09 and a mint QXT in 4/10 does that make them recession detectors?Can't afford anything new, if I could it would be a MXT or a V3.