The best totlot units?

[Mike Hillis]

As an inland gold jewelry hunter, totlot playgrounds are included in the site list along with parks, athletic fields, and schools grounds But totlots pose some unique challenges:
______Many totlots in my area are surrounded by concrete curbing that often times contain rebar and believe it or not, I have found some to contain hot rocks.
______The totlots also contain structures supported by metal poles of varying sizes.
______Many of my totlots are close to EMI sources
______Many totlots have gone to woodchips and are and contain multiple fillings.

So a good totlot detector has to be able to hunt close to the curbing, and close to the metal poles and be fairly EMI resistant.

The Fisher F5 with the stock 10” elliptical concentric coil is probably the best totlot detector I have every used. With the single or dual tone mode selected I can hunt right up next to the curbing. The separated Gain and Threshold controls allow me to control the coil foot print and hunt right up to the metal poles of the structures. The Overload feature is such that it cuts off and resets by itself, which allows you to put the coil up against large metal, wait the few seconds for the overload reset, and then pull smoothly away which allows even closer detecting to surface metal.

But I am experiencing two issues with the F5. EMI is getting stronger which is requiring more reduced settings, which in turn is limiting available depth.

So to the purpose of the post, I’m looking for a backup totlot detector. It has to have very good EMI resistance, the coils have to be well made enough that they can get close to the curbing and support poles. I’m not looking for something that has to have a hockey puck coil attached to it to do the job, it has to be able to work well with normal stock size coils.

I seem to recall the ATPro with the 5x8 coil did pretty good but I want to get some more opinions before I pull the trigger on another unit. What would be your suggestions?

HH
Mike

 

[slingshot]

You probably won't consider this one but my Garrett Ace worked in a park where some telemetry system they had installed made ALL my other detectors unusable. The catch? The sniper coil. Don' t know why. And I was able to find coins up against the equipment and poles. I tried the Compadre, both Bounty Hunters, MX5, Royal Sabre-all without success.

 

[Sand dog]

At pro with 5x8 coil is hard to beat in that kind of hunting. It'll pay itself off in no time.

John

 

[Southwind]

OK this is going to strike you, and everyone probably, as a bit odd, but I'd say a good old White's DFX with the 6x10 Eclipse coil.

I'm a tot lot hunter myself. I'd say a good 70% of my hunting is in tot lots. I can relate to EMI but not the rebar. All my tot lots are either shredded rubber, Wood chips, sand or pea gravel. I also use a XP Deus, AT Pro and a Makro Racer 2 and other than depth the DFX kicks with the best of them. Now, if depth, mainly I see it in wood chip tot lots, is a big issue then the DFX is not the best choice. It can hit even the smallest piece of gold but limited on depth compared to say the AT Pro, R2 and Deus. But believe me, you load up the factory COIN & JEWELRY, drop the excepted VDI range down to -20, and set it for single 15 kHz and that baby will kill on gold. And you can get a good used DFX for around $3-$400

One of the things that make the DFX such a good tot lot detector is the lower power. You can get right next to the iron playground equipment. Under iron polls. It does have some EMI issues though.

 

[Snap On Man]

I have a t T 2 Classic with a sharpshooter coil on it and since I bought it in July I have pulled over 1,200 coins out of tot lots. 200 just this weekend.

 

[Dave_E]

You probably won't consider this one but my Garrett Ace worked in a park where some telemetry system they had installed made ALL my other detectors unusable. The catch? The sniper coil. Don' t know why. And I was able to find coins up against the equipment and poles. I tried the Compadre, both Bounty Hunters, MX5, Royal Sabre-all without success.

100% truth right here. Soooo easy, soooo much fun, and soooo cheap!!!

 

[Mike Hillis]

Thanks for chiming in, Southwind.

I tried to make my V3 & 6x10 Eclipse work in the totlot sites but the Eclipse coil foot print is too large. I had gain set at 5 which is still a little high but was trying to maintain a good depth window too. I'll have to go at it again and see if I can get it closer with a lower gain. My last time out with it I was hunting and not testing so I didn't do a lot of ajdustments.

I tried the DFX with Bigfoot coils in totlots but Bigfoot coils have huge surface footprints and was a no go.

Probably need to take my whole lot out and spend some time just testing to requirements.

HH
Mike

 

[Mike Hillis]

Hi John,
Yeah, I've had a couple of ATPro's and they did real well. The Garrett AT coils have a nice tight foot print. They also handle the EMI I have here pretty well too. I had gotten some really nice earrings with very nice stones with the ATPro in some very heavy EMI sites where I had to put the F5 up. I guess I just looking to see if anyone can talk me out of it.

HH
Mike

 

[sprchng]

F75se with a 5 x 10 elliptical concentric,,,,you can actually aim it to reach up to the structures and picks up the smallest stuff. Boost mode is a killer in volley ball courts on the small items. Toy cars at a foot are not uncommon!

 

[Mike Hillis]

Thanks Snap on Man.

I have a F75 which I would love to be able to use in these sites as it excells at this type of hunting, but even with DST activated, with 0 Sensitivity settings, the EMI at some these places is to much.

If I had my druthers, I'd pick the F75 anytime for this application as the new FA mode works really really well in this environment. I just don't want to carry three detectors around for totloting. I want one that will work all the time, everytime, and the F75 can't do that.

I was unable to do that with the T2's either.

Glad to hear of your sucess, though.

HH
MIke

 

[Mike Hillis]

Thanks Sling shot, and Dave,

The key word in your post was "sniper coil". I HATE using the hockey pucks in totlots. They are just too small to cover the amount of territory I need to cover in the time I have to cover it.

I don't mind using them around picnick tables/pavilons or areas like that, but I REFUSE to use them for general hunting.

I have thought about moding a Sunray probe so that I could switch back and forth over to a hand held hockey puck on a cane handle but never pursued it.

Thanks though.
HH
Mike

 

[Mike Hillis]

I got real excited about the 5x10 DD on the F75 LTD I have until EMI closed me down.

EMI is the real enemy. Its just getting worse and worse.

HH
Mike

 

[jim tn]

I am a pretty strong advocate of the F 75 DST, but for tot lots and possible emi situations, I grab my A T Pro with either the 5 x 8 or Sharpshooter coil. HH jim tn

 

[dfmike]

I don't know what specific functions you are looking for in your detector of choice apart from controlled EMI but I can say that my F19 seems totally impervious to EMI at least for me and the places I've hunted so far. With bigger third party coils (NEL Thunder, Detech Ultimate), I get some EMI indoors near an oxygen machine when air testing but with smaller Fisher coils, nothing. I've never had an issue with EMI outdoors wherever I have been regardless of coil choice. I've had some issues with the F5 but not to to the extent you mention.

Didn't I see a 19 kHz First Texas machine in your signature at one point (F19, Goldbug) ? If you still have it and absolutely want a concentric coil on it for tot lots, maybe you could try it out with that detector. I'll admit I never tried the 10" concentric with my F19 but I should for kicks. Others have and seemed to like the results although depth might be impacted. I've hunted tot lots on occasion and absolutely love the F19 Detech SEF 10X5 combination for that purpose.

 

[slingshot]

Thanks Sling shot, and Dave,

The key word in your post was "sniper coil". I HATE using the hockey pucks in totlots. They are just too small to cover the amount of territory I need to cover in the time I have to cover it.

I don't mind using them around picnick tables/pavilons or areas like that, but I REFUSE to use them for general hunting.

I have thought about moding a Sunray probe so that I could switch back and forth over to a hand held hockey puck on a cane handle but never pursued it.

Thanks though.
HH
Mike

Expected answer. I used to do some light side posts-Snipey and the Flying Ace. I found out that I could sweep the coil extremely fast and the detector would not only hit better but deeper with most accurate ID- which was discovered by the late Bill Revis. So I can literally fly across some areas. As you say, it's not for every ody and I only have a few machines so I use what I have. I WAS surprised how the Garrett handled the emi.

 

[sprchng]

I got real excited about the 5x10 DD on the F75 LTD I have until EMI closed me down.

EMI is the real enemy. Its just getting worse and worse.

HH
Mike

I am able to work through any EMI I have experienced especially with the DST and a combination of sensitivity and boost.
Nice to be able to back off of the throttle and go just as fast.

 

[ArizFlash]

Ive had good luck in high EMI areas with my Whites IDX with the 6-1/2" ( 5.3) coil and the 8" coil. Turn the sensitivity down annd disc out iron and it can get close to rebar in curbs. The metal poles are more difficult but I have the 4" coil for that if I'm so inclined.

To a certain extent he MXT Pro can auto-trac out rebar at about 6" away and then lock the ground trac and you can search at a lower sensitivity . The MXT is also pretty EMI resistant.

I like your idea of a Sunray Probe on a long shaft.

Alan

 

[Digger 45]

I like the xterra 705 with the 5x10 gold coil, i nels out most of the pipes but will pickup coins right next to the pipe. I have found rings and coins with in an inch of a 4" pipe in tot lots where other detectors just blast out a hard sound of the pipe.

 

[Mike Hillis]

Thanks Digger 45.

My F5 will do the same. The only issue is when the EMI gets to be too much. Never have been a Xterra fan. Tried real hard many times but never connected with them.

HH
Mike

 

[Mike Hillis]

Besides the ATPro, I also recall that I really liked the Tesoro Lobo Supertraq in heavy EMI. But I didn't hunt it very much in woodchips so I don't know how it does next to metal bars. I remember it still ran pretty hot even at mininum sensitivity.

Can anyone give a report on how the Lobo St with stock coil does next to surface metal?

Thanks,
Mike