Brian, the reason that few seemed to have used them is that its heyday was the early 1970's and so that would make the detectorists at least 52 or more years old. Most of the hunters that used these are now in their 70's or older and many have passed away! Also at the time especially the Garrett's were not cheap detectors. They cost about $150.00 to about $250.00.....This was a lot of money especially if one was in High School.....HH..........Joe
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WORST METAL DETECTOR LIST
- Thread starter onbrake
- Start date
Charlie, you can find a replacement 12 inch coil for your Sidewinder on ebay. Although I traded off my original Sidewinder years ago, in recent history I went shopping and found a Sidewinder in working almost Mint condition! I have also accumulated most of its coils! I like the medium to fast motorboat setting! Found a lot of coins, rings, and iron relics with my original Sidewinder!...........HH............Joe
SGTSKI, the problem is that you compared an old worn-out detector from the 1970's to the current lineup of detectors! In new condition back about 35 years ago this wasn't a bad detector! For the price around $59 or $69 dollars it did a fairly good job of finding a lot of coins and relics! A lot of the older detectorists started on these type BFO's cause that is all we could afford!............HH.............Joe
Well, I too am an "antique" and cut my detecting teeth with a
Garrett Master Hunter. Charlie Garrett perfected the BFO and
for their time his were definitely the Best of the Breed.
Being proficient with BFO's called for excellent Hearing, since
the change in pitch (upward) was the response to any metal target
and the deeper the target the slighter the pitch. This was of
course also dependent on the target Size. A medium to fast
motorboat setting was the best for best hearing the pitch change
for most users with experience. Plus, the nature of the BFO
gave it perfect pinpointing ability.
The metal setting meant a rise in pitch for metal
and a drop in pitch for mineral (black sand or iron oxide), so
for this reason the BFO earned it's place (and respect) in those
early days before transmitter/receivers. Because of the more
challenging nature of pitch changes, the venerable BFO was
just plain FUN to use, believe it or not. But again, this was
also because of Garrett's design. To admit though, the main
drawback of the BFO was that it was mostly unusable in high
mineral soil. But get this, when set to the Mineral side (pitch up)
in such mineral soil, one could then hear the pitch DROP when passing over Metal! But this took a lot of patience,which most of us had little of in those heady days of "treasure hunting". But in mild soil, a good BFO worked very well, especially for "sizing" a metal target, within it's depth capability (metal side),
which of course was not up to a modern instrument's standing. But again, they were (to me and my friends) simply
a very FUN device to use!
So, in support of the BFO, I'd like to suggest that we all, as a
brotherhood of treasure seekers, show honor to this humble
instrument that helped pave the way to our modern miracle
machines. After all, every endeavor requires learning to
Walk, before we can Run, does it not?
Luck to All..
..Wayne/TX
Garrett Master Hunter. Charlie Garrett perfected the BFO and
for their time his were definitely the Best of the Breed.
Being proficient with BFO's called for excellent Hearing, since
the change in pitch (upward) was the response to any metal target
and the deeper the target the slighter the pitch. This was of
course also dependent on the target Size. A medium to fast
motorboat setting was the best for best hearing the pitch change
for most users with experience. Plus, the nature of the BFO
gave it perfect pinpointing ability.
The metal setting meant a rise in pitch for metal
and a drop in pitch for mineral (black sand or iron oxide), so
for this reason the BFO earned it's place (and respect) in those
early days before transmitter/receivers. Because of the more
challenging nature of pitch changes, the venerable BFO was
just plain FUN to use, believe it or not. But again, this was
also because of Garrett's design. To admit though, the main
drawback of the BFO was that it was mostly unusable in high
mineral soil. But get this, when set to the Mineral side (pitch up)
in such mineral soil, one could then hear the pitch DROP when passing over Metal! But this took a lot of patience,which most of us had little of in those heady days of "treasure hunting". But in mild soil, a good BFO worked very well, especially for "sizing" a metal target, within it's depth capability (metal side),
which of course was not up to a modern instrument's standing. But again, they were (to me and my friends) simply
a very FUN device to use!
So, in support of the BFO, I'd like to suggest that we all, as a
brotherhood of treasure seekers, show honor to this humble
instrument that helped pave the way to our modern miracle
machines. After all, every endeavor requires learning to
Walk, before we can Run, does it not?
Luck to All..
..Wayne/TX
Mine was blue! Not real sure if it was a Mustang but it was a Jetco. This was at least 35 years ago, not as good as the Garrett Sidewinder but not bad for only $59 or $69 bucks! Mine had no discrimination and only one or two knobs and was very light weight! I don't remember a lot more than this since it was shortly thrown in for a trade-in on a new fancy detector!
fowlercharles
Member
I had never really even thought about cranking up the Sidewinder, since it is at my son's home, and I have 8 other detectors in the closet. Some of them are older too, and I do injoy dusting them off now and then for a run. You are right about the BFO being such fun to use! Of ourse it was all new to us back then and it would have been hard not to be enjoying the newness of it all. You have me thinking now of bringing the Sidewinder home and playing with it a bit. Oh for sure, that will bring back some good memories! Thanks Joe, for the reminder about where to pick up a big coil too, though I think the small one will do for my memory trip! HH , Charlie S.Ms.
Steve, there was some work going on a few years back on a development of the superior BFO design VFA machines of 1977/78.
The Arado VFA 90 used the variable frequency acoustic principle who's design gave high gold and other non ferrous metal sensitivity while having low sensitivity to silver paper and coke and no response to salt water.
Very low battery drain, tin cans could be ignored. Pretty good all round though depth was not startling and the degree of sensitivity was altered by swapping coils ie the 8" grey stock coil gave excellent iron rejection while the 8" black was slightly less discriminating but more sensitive to gold. There was also a 5" super sensitive coil and a 10" hoard coil.
The Arado VFA 90 used the variable frequency acoustic principle who's design gave high gold and other non ferrous metal sensitivity while having low sensitivity to silver paper and coke and no response to salt water.
Very low battery drain, tin cans could be ignored. Pretty good all round though depth was not startling and the degree of sensitivity was altered by swapping coils ie the 8" grey stock coil gave excellent iron rejection while the 8" black was slightly less discriminating but more sensitive to gold. There was also a 5" super sensitive coil and a 10" hoard coil.
jackintexas
New member
How about the worst detector you have used that is still manurfactured or manurfactured in the last ten years.
jackintexas
New member
No problem....Jack
Hey,Jack good idea but a lot of dealer's would be upset.I will say that ID Excel I purchased from you sure was a good unit like you I wish I kept it.Hope the hunting is good in Texas.
jackintexas
New member
Hey Ron: I thought the same thing as you about the ID Excel. So I bought another one. I still have it . Good detector....Jack
Jack,I agree,. I have owned and use the C$,Edge,and Excel.The Excel in my opinion is the best unit in this series.Jack good to hear from you..