what are the best machines for competition hunts

[burried gold]

I am going to be doing some competition hunts this year and I think i am going to need real basic easy swing machine, probably something that will switch frequencies quickly for hunting next to lots of other people. the hunts will be planted coin hunts in an open grass field. I have never done one of these hunts before so I am not sure what to expect. but I think i will at least need the things I mentioned. if you have any another ideas please let me know.

 

[D&P-OR]

The Tesoro Cibola is a good competition hunt machine.-----It is lightweight, has a fast enough response, has a frequency shift switch (you can switch frequencies "on the fly") if need be. This detector is resonably priced & has a lifetime warranty.-----The Cibola has a pre-set g.b.----another good one is the Tesoro Vaquero with manual g.b. (it has the same other features).---Both those detectors come with 9X8 concentric coils.----------Del

 

[Larry (IL)]

Any of the fast recovery detectors works well in competition hunts. All of the White's detectors fits into that category and Tesoro is very popular with a club I belong to who primarily travels to organized hunts. I have used the DFX and V3i with great results if you want a do it all type of detector.

 

[Smudge]

I'll second the Cibola for competition hunts.

 

[dewcon4414]

The Tesoros are great competition machines.... light weight and will work well with other machines in the area. Most competition hunts targets wont be deep and many times you know ahead of time the targets to be hunted. Just reduce your sensitivity and move along quickly. You might even have enought time to do some sort of a pattern.

Dew

 

[BarberBill]

Having both Whites and Tesoros, I have to agree with Larry on the quick recovery, but disagree otherwise as the Tesoros are much more pleasant to swing due to the light weight and recover very fast as well. My wife and I use Tesoros on several hunts of this type every year and the basic Tesoros, Silver umax, Silver Sabre Umax, Cibola etc. are all well suited to this type of hunting and very light to swing. The frequency switch is a plus, but not needed as much as you might think, as moving a few feet from a machine that is causing interference usually eliminates the problem. The stock coils are usually just fine for the purpose although I like the 7" concentric as it covers nearly as much area and pinpoints slightly tighter. IMHO the Tesoros are exceptionally well suited to these types of hunt.
BB

 

[burried gold]

thanks for all the input everyone. I have an mxt but I thought i would be to much trouble for a comp hunt. No tones so I would have to look at the screen everytime the machine beeped. I had looked into the basic garretts like the 250 also I think they have a bell tone so I could search without looking at the machine just tones. and I think they have notch so I could just notch out every thing except prize tokens and coins. has anyone used an ace 250 for one of these hunts? the cibola sounds like a good machine does it have tones? the ace seems like it would be a good back up loaner also (easy for some one that has never used a machine before.
here is what I have narrowed it down to.
Ace 250
older prizm
F2
Cibola

 

[Joel-Winnipeg]

I used the ACE 250 for a hunt last spring.
Usually the coins were about 2 to 3 inches deep.
The bell tone of the detector came in well to distinguish where the coins were.
The only thing that was annoying was if I came to close to another ACE 250 there was mager interference
This year I'll use the AT PRO if I go back .

 

[Larry (IL)]

Nancy on the MXT forum can give you an education on competition hunts. She is one of the best with her MXT beating all of the Tesoro ladies and most of the men........ You don't look at the display in competition.

 

[BarberBill]

You'll have no need for tones or an ID screen. The coins are usually just below the surface and often can be retrieved with just your fingers. In fact at the hunts I participate in, no digging tools other than a 3/8" wide or smaller, screw driver blade are allowed. You won't need to identify one type of coin over another, just dig, put in your pouch and move on, QUICKLY. Nearly every target will be either a coin or a prize token with the exception of the stray nail, piece of wire etc. Prize tokens (usually painted coins) are planted as well. The only good targets that might hit a bit weakly will be coins on edge and as mentioned they probably won't be deep. By the end of the hunt you'll probably be pretty sore from all the bending, kneeling etc. Some of the younger, more limber participants often retrieve 150 to 200 or more coins in the 50 minutes to an hour that each session runs. That's a lot of bending.

The hunts are lots of fun and meeting and visiting with other treasure hunters is an added benefit. I didn't think I'd care for this type of detecting, but once I tried it, I've attended each of the two that are held every summer close enough to where i live for me to be able to participate. I'm looking forward to numbers 22 and 23 this coming summer.
Go for it and have fun,
BB

 

[D&P-OR]

You got some pretty good advice here on competition hunts.---Speed & fast target recovery is really important to do well in competition hunts.---Of the many I've attended, on a typical one hr. hunt, most of the targets are "dried up" (recovered) in the first 15 to 20 minutes--so you really have to "move out" (especially during that time) to do well.----Seeings as how you haven't done any competition hunts before---I'd suggest purchasing a book written on competition hunting.---There will be some good info, tips, etc. in it--would be a good investment and give you a "step up" on your first hunt.-------Del

 

[Byron (TX)]

It's the detector you are most familar with, using a medium size coil. Best way to simulate competion is to toss several clad dimes in the grass and locate and pickup as fast as you can without using a meter/display or pinpoint modes. Just pinpoint in a couple of sweeps and grab and go.

I sometimes practice for these at school tot lots digging the targets as fast as possible. I have used a Fisher 1236-X for about 10 years and it will hold it's own against any modern detector in the competition hunts. Still see several used at the hunts and the old model Fisher 1235. Both are lightweight, hit very loud on the targets, pinpoint easily, and the 1236 has an analog frequency shifter, and excellent discrimination.

Also used a Troy Shadow X5 in competitions and did good too, it's got a 3 frequency shifter switch. See lots of those at the Texas hunts, along with the Shadow X3 and X2, Tesoro's silver sabers & vaqueros, Garretts Ace's , & various White's . All do well.

 

[slingshot]

Now here's the thing about the Ace. It's depth increases the faster you sweep it. I lower my sensitivity to about 3 bars showing and fly like an eagle. I finished practicing on a tot lot today and finished it in about 20 minutes. I have also learned to pinpoint while in motion. You wouldn't believe how fast I can hunt and recover with it. Now I'm not a biased person, as I have 3 Tesoros and they're fine,too. I put the Ace in relics mode to avoid the possibility of very much target masking and really fly. The tones are awesome so you don't have to stop swinging for non-coin tones. And at these speeds, the nickels will have a longer middle tone. I once took the Ace with the sniper coil on it, raised it above my head, and swung it like a golf club as fast as I could and the belltone hit like a gong on the coin I placed under the soil! I really am gonna enjoy this spring.

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Its light, easy pinpoint and you can change frequencies..for years the favorite of many of the top guns at planted hunts...out of production for years but now and then pop up on the classifieds