sgtm8411
Active member
I have owned well over a dozen different detectors but there is only one that I vowed to never sell. It was my second detector (first was a Tesoro Bandido) and I developed a love of metal detecting using it. It’s a Whites Spectrum XLT that I sent in to Whites 20 years ago to have the board replaced. I was probably 19 when I first bought it and im 47 now. I have a 14 year old who I just got addicted to detecting who brought it out of storage and upon changing the AA batteries I was greatly saddened to see that upon pressing the power button there was nothing but a sad silence. I have plenty of other detectors but this one is special. After staring at the detector sitting in a dining room corner for a week like an ad hoc funeral wake I got a wild hair and decided to inspect the battery terminals closely. They all looked shiny and brand new except one which was green with corrosion. I tried to remove the corrosion and the terminal broke. I lightly sanded what was left exposed and reinstalled the batteries. I hit the power button and was graced with that familiar three beep sequence as my old friend greeted me from the dead. A new battery is on the way but I won’t likely use it much. Not because it’s not a capable machine but I just don’t want to put any more miles on her. It’s an old racehorse that has earned a well deserved rest and if the wife would permit, would hang above the mantle like an old rifle as an ever present reminder of my youthful days spent digging up trash and treasure alike. In many ways that old and beaten up detector replete with battle scars is a metaphor for what I have become after 21 years in the Marines and now 100% disabled vet. It’s hard to miss the supreme irony in how we aged. I can only pass on what I have learned to my sons and hope that someday they look at their detectors and recall their experiences with the same fondness that I have. At the end of day I am so thrilled to see that old XLT turn back on. There’s some life in those old bones yet!
