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A True Discriminating Pinpointer


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46 minutes ago, schoolofhardNox said:

The Sunray probe was awesome for the E Trac. I wish I never sold mine.

And I'm trying to sell mine and would have preferred if I never bought it. 

I was never impressed with the Sun Ray on the E-Trac. The discriminating is neat, but its poor ability to "home" in on a target and how it constantly has to be moving never really caught on to me.

Different strokes for different folks!

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2 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

I did, however, find an "old school" descriminating pinpointer that handles the job perfectly. It's called the Cache Pro Elite.

Interesting.  The tip has a permanent plastic shield to protect the targets?  And it doesn't work its way off with repeated use?

2 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

Unfortunately I've gone through two of them in about a year and my third one is on it's last leg,....

Oh, that sounds like a significant expense. What do they cost?

Appears to be one of those good (niche) ideas that never really caught on with the general population of detectorists.  Fortunately I can dig plugs in my parks so I'm not so constrained in recovery as some of you.  I'm only interested in older coins which tend to be deeper, thus the screwdriver-pop method isn't really an option for my intended targets.  Near surface coins and jewelry is obviously a different story.

43 minutes ago, mh9162013 said:

I was never impressed with the Sun Ray on the E-Trac. The discriminating is neat, but its poor ability to "home" in on a target and how it constantly has to be moving never really caught on to me.

That was my experience.  I bought a used one for ~$100 for my Fisher F75.  I actually wrote up my impressions here (it's still around if someone wants to search) but basically having to move the probe around to get it to work (in motion mode) was a big downer for me.  I got lucky and someone here posted a Wanted ad for one within a couple weeks after I bought it.  I got my money out of it minus a nominal shipping fee, so worth the try.  I recall Steve H. saying they were a big hit with FBS detectorists, and the prices at that time (~$200-$250) for used ones bore that out.  schoolofhardNox was apparently one of those.

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14 hours ago, palzynski said:

There are 2 discriminating pinpointers available at the moment ,:

1) QUEST XPOINTER MAX :
QUEST XPOINTER MAX (metaux-detection.fr)


2) MINELAB PROFIND 35 :
https://www.metaux-detection.fr/fr/pro-find-35-c2x30847474

 

I own both of them . I have the Profind 35 since 2 years now and I am currently testing the Quest Xpointer Max . The Profind is a very good pinpointer but I prefer the Quest.  I will post a report on the Quest soon ... 

From my standpoint I would never come back to an all metal pinpointer as the discrimination is a great help in the field for me  , especially for identifying big irons at depth ..

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The extra range of the XPointer probably makes its iron tone more effective than the ProFind 35. Are you finding that to be the case?

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5 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

I actually wrote up my impressions here (it's still around if someone wants to search)

Oh, I found it and came across it a few months ago when I was trying to figure out my Sun Ray Probe for the E-Trac. I remember using it and being like, "that's it? What am I missing?"

Then I found your thread and started messing with the sensitivity, using pin point mode, etc. Nope, still didn't think it was more efficient than my F-Pulse.

And here's another issue: it's got some notable weight. And the E-Trac is already too heavy. Then combine the two? The Sun Ray needs to be A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, and it's not even close.

This isn't to say it's bad or doesn't work. It's definitely a useful and a worthy device for pinpointing. But only a slight improvement in pinpointing ability over the F-Pulse? Sorry, I have to pass.

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5 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Interesting.  The tip has a permanent plastic shield to protect the targets?  And it doesn't work its way off with repeated use?

Oh, that sounds like a significant expense. What do they cost?

Appears to be one of those good (niche) ideas that never really caught on with the general population of detectorists.  Fortunately I can dig plugs in my parks so I'm not so constrained in recovery as some of you.  I'm only interested in older coins which tend to be deeper, thus the screwdriver-pop method isn't really an option for my intended targets.  Near surface coins and jewelry is obviously a different story.

The plastic didn't come with mine. I think that was just a protective cover. 

I think they were in the $200 ball park when new decades ago, not sure, but I got mine on a close out for $75 each. The refurbs I seen lately are in the $150 range. Unfortunately they have a short life span so I probably won't buy a refurb. If I can figure out the circuit board I may just try to build my own version, it's probably well past any patents, but I'll have to check. It's a brilliant idea, but not heavy duty enough for extended field use.

It probably is too niche to be practical to revive for the general detector market, but it was perfect for what I needed. I generally don't use the pop method, I use more of a surgical extraction. I've had to learn how to retrieve deeper targets and can usually get to an 8 inch target without opening a hole bigger than an inch or two. Past 8 inches gets too involved and draws too much attention.

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I also have 2 of the Cache probes, a 1st-gen and a last-gen. If you remember the old AH Pro detectors from the late 70s, it's the same guy (AH = Allen Hametta). I think he's through building them. They use the same off-resonance technique as the AH Pro models did. The probe is a stainless steel tube with a stainless tip so, oddly enough, the (mono) coil is completely enclosed in metal. It's a good concept for pristine lawns since the probe can literally be stuck in the ground, no need to dig a hole.

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8 hours ago, ☠ Cipher said:

The extra range of the XPointer probably makes its iron tone more effective than the ProFind 35. Are you finding that to be the case?

Extra range you mean depth ?  

I prefer the Xpointer LOW/HIGH tone to the Profind tones ,the Xpointer sounds like a standard detector then it is very easy to learn/use. 

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17 hours ago, mh9162013 said:

 

I was never impressed with the Sun Ray on the E-Trac. The discriminating is neat, but its poor ability to "home" in on a target and how it constantly has to be moving never really caught on to me.

 

Interesting I never realized that this pointer had to keep moving...watching guys use this pin pointer in videos lead me to believe they were  of the nervous disorder type... shows how little I still know about metal detecting 🙂 

strick 

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6 hours ago, palzynski said:

Extra range you mean depth ?  

I prefer the Xpointer LOW/HIGH tone to the Profind tones ,the Xpointer sounds like a standard detector then it is very easy to learn/use. 

Yes, that’s what I mean. When I had the ProFind 35 I had to be right on top of iron for the iron tone to engage, and by then I’m already distracted. It didn’t get the depth of my TRX or Tek-Point either, so I let it go, but I remember thinking that if it had more depth the iron tone might also see a bit further. The XPointer seems to be more of the TRX and Tek-Point caliber depth, and so I wondered if it carries its iron tone a little further out than the ProFind. 

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