The ultimate tot lot machine?

[Southwind]

OK all you tot lot hunters. I'm looking for the ultimate in tot lot detectors. Hunting tot lots makes up a good 50% of my hunting so I figure having the best would be nice.

I understand that "the best" will vary, most of the time, from user to user, but tot lotting has a few particulars that does target specific needs. Sensitivity to small gold, the ability to get close to playground equipment and light.

So what do you think would be the ultimate tot lot detector and why?

Thanks

Personally I've used the White's DFX, The Minelab E-Trac, the Garrett Master Hunter CX Plus and the Tesoro Silver uMax in tot lots, and each seemed to have pros and cons.

The E-Trac pulled jewelry from greater depths than any of the others, but is clumsy to use in a tot lot environment. Doesn't do well in getting in close to equipment.

The DFX does very well with good depth and in my opinion the most sensitive to small targets once adjusted, but shares the same clumsy issue as the E-Trac. Putting on the 4x6 DD shooter does make it one of my top choices for tot lots.

The Garrett Master Hunter CX Plus is a good solid hunter with fair depth and sensitivity. It does very well getting in close to playground equipment even with the stock coil. It is a bit on the clumsy side balance wise.

The Tesoro Silver uMax wins hands down when it comes to a light simple tot lot detector. With the stock coil is does fair in the sensitivity to small gold challenge. Depth isn't bad. What I don't like is having no threshold as I like to hear any little changes that could indicate a target good or bad.

 

[MNCoinhunter]

Garrett Ace 250 w/ Sniper coil..

 

[Monte]

Omega 8000. The Gamma 6000 would do equally as well, but I prefer the quicker set-up and adjustment of the Omega 8000.

Some 'To Lots' are dilled with sand or small pea gravel and hey definitely calls for good Ground Balance adjustment. Many of the wood-chip filled playgrounds I hit have deep/think wood product and are quite 'mellow,' but some are very thin, aged, packed, and wet/mulchy just under the surface (shallow) chips. Due to this and the closeness of detectable 'ground', I find a better detector features Ground Balance. I like manual or true auto-balancing (not factory preset).

I also will often use the 5" round DD coil as I can hunt close to metal structures. In average open ares the stock 10" elliptical concentric coil does fine, too, and with the ability to quickly thumb the Sensitivity level down if needed/desired, the Omega is just doing quite well. Very light-weight, well balanced, and enough selection of tones and audio responses to let you tailor your choice to the particular site needs.

Monte

 

[ki4trw]

My choice was the Tesoro Compadre. Great tot lot detector!

 

[Darkflight]

BTW...You ever try "shaking" the target ut with the silver?. It's where you whip the coil over the target & see if it starts breaking up. A pretty reliable indicator it is a junk target. Another trick is to lift it & do sweep-also looking for a broken signal indicating trash.

Shame is I don't have to do that with my newly acquired Troy X2. It has a much better discrimination circuit I guess. I trust that machine a lot to do its job after a few days test drive.

Someone else (Monte?) said the Compadre had a better discrimination than the Silver. And it has the smaller coil ta boot.

 

[BarberBill]

I do well with the Silver Sabre

 

[D&P-OR]

I think the Silver umax with the 5.75 concentric coil is a great little tot lot machine.---Only thing is, my wife thinks so to, I can't get it away from her to use it in those tot lots! -------Del

 

[Monkeywrangler22]

Tesoro Cibola with what ever coil you prefer.

 

[LittleJohn]

Garrett Ace 250 w/ Sniper coil..

They do have quite a following...still trying to understand why?

 

[silversmith]

Hi Ki4trw. My choice too, however he wants an idle tone. Compadre doesn't have one.

Oh, 73 de K6zl

 

[HOWDY]

Ace250, Deleon and Cibola have always served me well in tot lots.

 

[Canman]

I have to say the Teknetics Omega 8000 too .The low freq makes it a park bandit on the coins.

 

[slingshot]

Garrett Ace 250 w/ Sniper coil..

They do have quite a following...still trying to understand why?

Well-and I do use the silver umax-so I'm not biased. Garrett made the coil in an almost perfect configuration. The coil is "hot" from about 1/2" below the top of the coil to about the same below the bottom of the coil. That means you can't do any better with this coil on it's bottom tip-BUT the top can be brought VERY close to poles and at 1-2 bars sensitivity you can almost TOUCH the bar! At the higher sensitiivies, the coil is deeper than usual for a small coil-some finds at 7:" Add to that the fact that you have the relics mode(same as the Silver umax at minimum disc.) and a/m mode WITH tone id. It gets my vote for the best tot lot machine. Since that's my mainstay, I'll have to admit that I don't know about other applications.

 

[fishhawk]

Me, Iwhould go with Fisher F2. Heck of a coin magnet.

 

[gilfordberry]

I would think the secret here is not so much the detector as the coil. For the most part,
you're not detecting more than 4 or 5 inches deep and most any modern detector can
reach that depth. You would be better served, of course, with some decent display, i.e.,
VDI numbers and depth readings, but they're not essential. What is essential is the
ability to get REALLY close to the playground equipment without having your coil pick it up..
detect DOWN, not UP or to the side. I've had good luck with my XLT, but only when using
the bigfoot coil - can't get close enough to suit me with a round coil, even the 5.3". It's also
got a lot to do with your ability to notice a change in tone (when using tone ID) or VDI numbers
when near the playground equipment...sometimes you can tell there's something there because
the numbers you get are different from near-by similar equipment....

So, no vote here except to say need a really good small coil...

 

[slingshot]

I agree with the small coil being important. I tried my Silver umax w/4" coil and could not get as close as with the sniper coil on the Ace. And although .75 of an inch doesn't seem like much, it seems to get me through the search a little faster. Love both detectors-just that the sensitivity can be lowered to almost nothing on my Ace, the coil can be placed closer, and I have ID just for funsies.

 

[Willee - Texas]

n/t

 

[goodmore]

Prizm VI with the shooter coil. May not be the best , but I had a bunch of fun with that detector.

 

[tab-nabit]

My vote goes to the Compadre only because that's what I use most of the time when I hit a tot lot.
Next would be the Silver with 5.75 coil.
I don't hit the tot lots often - maybe a few days a year. Then I usually grab the Compadre, and once in awhile the Silver. Fast, easy to use, turn on & go, effective, and a blast to use such simplistic detectors.

 

[Canewrap]

I haven't looked at all the other responses, but the best tot lot machine I've ever used is an X-terra 70 with the 6" DD coil. The coil will get you plenty deep enough for that environment and you can get close to the equipment as well. The TID is good enough to run it in all metal and once you've picked out the numbers corresponding to the different coins, you're good to go. The X-terra 705 would be even better as it has a backlight (uses same coils as the 70) and you can still get one new with the warranty. If you have enough tot lots nearby, it would easily pay for itself. The machine is light and the display is easy to read. I got mine as a relic machine and its about average in that category, but as a coinshooter its easily the best I've used.