Detech Arrow Recipient?

[Guest]

Good New Year Morning,

Reading the “Miracles do Happen” thread about the new Detech Arrow coil (and every other mention of the coil now too) opens the mind to the possibilities of such a thing. It could be a lovely addition to scan large areas quickly to narrow focus for more intensive work, a nice back up, or perhaps a rewarding niche detector in it’s own right. Sounds fun, and a good mental exercise while waiting for spring.

Having never chosen a coil before the detector that runs it, some questions come to mind. Like, which one? There is a fairly good range of detectors that it could be put on, with corresponding strengths and weaknesses of each, but very few of which I have any personal experience with. A good many of the choices are no longer made, but remain in the used market at very attractive prices. Some of those choices were once considered excellent top tier detectors that are still as good as they ever were.

From what the Arrow could go on, the choices I narrowed it down to are the venerable E-Trac, the G2, the T2, Gold Bug Pro, and the Simplex. Pluses and Minuses to each of course, but my primary interest is recent drops which will be in or on the upper soil profile. Any of these would work certainly, but what I am looking for is the best TID for that top 3” of ground. Depth does not matter, but good consistent ID and being able to shut off iron audio is important.

The idea is to be able to do a quick surface scan to see what is there and locate small hot spots in large sites. From the choices listed, the E-Trac and Gold Bug Pro probably have the best target ID as far as I can tell, but at such shallow depth any might work. I have no experience with any of these detectors, your thoughts would be most appreciated.

 

[Chase Goldman]

First of all, the Gold Bug Pro and G2 are basically the same detector (as is the Bounty Hunter Time Ranger Pro and the Fisher F19) so I would eliminate either GB Pro or G2 off your list and simply go for the cheapest of any of the following: GB Pro/G2/Time Ranger Pro/F19.  In it's place, I would add the Fisher F75.  Since the idea here is to be able to sweep large swaths of ground while also providing good separation and by the nature of the coil, you are only going to get limited depth, I would avoid dropping coin on the expensive eTrac depth monster if the intent is to simply provide a platform for this coil. I own the G2 and the F75 but decided to simply go with repurposing the Simplex that is collecting dust in my garage as an inexpensive but very capable platform for this coil.  It is as capable as the F75 and operates at a lower frequency than the G2 which should give it an incremental depth advantage on high conductors.  The Arrow coil itself costs as much as the detector I am mounting it on.  That's fine.  The Simplex platform uses pretty modern signal processing, has great modes and features, manual and tracking GB and can be Firmware updated (though I am not sure Nokta is still developing updates for it). If you want to use it at the beach in wet salt sand, the G2 might be able to be set up to be more stable in wet salt sand than the Simplex.  The e-Trac would definitely be the ticket if wet salt sand beach detecting was the priority. For gold-focused detecting, G2 would be my choice.

Simplex uses rechargeable batteries which I prefer and has built-in wireless capability, none of the previously mentioned detectors have both these features.  I would mainly be using this in mild soil for coins and relics vice salt beach detecting or prospecting, Simplex is my choice for the Arrow.  I also purchased a Nokta CF replacement lower shaft replacement because the stock lower shaft is made of a somewhat flexible plastic material and the added weight of the Arrow coil could stress it further.  HTH.

[wltdwiz]

i tend to agree with Chase

the simplex would be a good choice

i mounted an arrow to my goldbug pro & i love it great coil its a permanent addition 

the g2 or the Bounty Hunter Time Ranger Pro or f19 also a good choice

simplex is water proof & price is good....also built like a tank & there service is 2ed to none.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Chase Goldman said:

repurposing the Simplex that is collecting dust in my garage as an inexpensive but very capable platform for this coil.  It is as capable as the F75 and operates at a lower frequency than the G2 which should give it an incremental depth advantage on high conductors.

Chase, thank you so much for this very detailed and well reasoned reply. 

1 hour ago, wltdwiz said:

the simplex would be a good choice

i mounted an arrow to my goldbug pro & i love it great coil its a permanent addition 

Wltdwiz, thank you for the benefit of your experience. It is nice to know the coil is working well.

I like the look of the Simplex, online there is hardly a bad word said about it by anyone. Rare to see something that universally well liked. I liked the frequency it runs better than 19 kHz, but wondered about the target ID resolution in such an inexpensive detector. 

I have had a Makro Gold Racer since they first came out and have been impressed with the brand ever since. Their customer service and attention to detail is first rate. I wonder if a person could buy it with the 5.5X9.5 instead of the 11” coil. That would make a lovely sniper for some places I would think.

The Simplex is so reasonably priced that searching the used market seems hardly worth the while.  For what I want to do, it sounds perfect.

[sodbuster]

I'd planned on getting an Arrow for my F75 for sweeping sports fields last year, but never did it.   All of my time out, which was limited,was with the Equinox.   Maybe I'll just order one and wait to see how all the new Minelab offerings work out:  Manticore vs 900.  Still not sure I want to spend $1600 for incremental performance improvement.  F75 is just sitting, and I always liked how it swings.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, sodbuster said:

I'd planned on getting an Arrow for my F75 for sweeping sports fields last year, but never did it.   All of my time out, which was limited,was with the Equinox.   Maybe I'll just order one and wait to see how all the new Minelab offerings work out:  Manticore vs 900.  Still not sure I want to spend $1600 for incremental performance improvement.  F75 is just sitting, and I always liked how it swings.

I am with you on that one Sodbuster. The idea of trying something new and cheap for a change is awfully appealing. If it would end at the $1600, that would be one thing, but there is always more, an extra coil(s), headphones, tax, etc etc…… It never stops at the sticker price. 

By the time you tally it up and get out the door, somebody else releases a new detector.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

I would avoid dropping coin on the expensive eTrac depth monster if the intent is to simply provide a platform for this coil.

How right you were on this one. I did a CraigsList search for all detectors in a 500 mile radius and came up with one E-Trac only, and they wanted $1,000 for it. My goodness, excuse me while I go find some pearls to clutch.

[GB_Amateur]

8 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

First of all, the Gold Bug Pro and G2 are basically the same detector (as is the Bounty Hunter Time Ranger Pro and the Fisher F19) so I would eliminate either GB Pro or G2 off your list and simply go for the cheapest of any of the following: GB Pro/G2/Time Ranger Pro/F19.

Might be a bit late for my comment since it sounds like the decision has been made, but there is a small difference between these four (well five or six actually) which might be relevant for Geezer's applications.  The F19, G2+, and  TRP allow the silent discrimination lower VDI level and the tone break (low tone to high tone) VDI level to be set more/less indepently while on the Gold Bugs (and I think the G2), when you adjust one the other comes along for the ride.  For example, on the Gold Bugs if you make this setting as low as possible then all VDI's give a sound and the low tone to high tone break is at 40 (which is the nominal ferrous --> non-ferrous breakpoint).  Let's say you want to eliminate 0-20 from sounding off.  As you increase the threshold the tone break goes up in unison (but not by the same amount, BTW -- I think the tone break is at 50 when the threshold of silent --> low tone is at 20, for example).  Now, if the priority is to eliminate sound from the lowest part of the scale while still wanting to hear everything else then you have to accept both low tones and high tones coming through, and you don't get to decide where the tone break is.  That's not the end of the world.  But if you want to only silence the lowest VDI's and allow everything else to give a high tone, or you want to independently set the two breakpoints, you can't do that with the Gold Bug (nor G2?) whereas you can with the F19, G2+, and TRP.

Here's the relevent page in the Gold Bug owner's manual that illustrates what I just described:

If you look at the illustration you see a speedometer-like display which is actually always on the actual detector screen (whether in discriminate mode or all metal mode).  When you are in discriminate and adjust the breaks, the lowest VDI segments are white in the diagram (and although not white on the actual screen, the gray scaling shows similar contrast/delineation).  Targets with those lowest VDI's will give no tones.  Next up is the low tone region which is indicated by gray tickmarks in the above diagram.  To the right of that are the darkest tick marks indicating that targets in that region will give a high tone.

As you increase the (silencing) discrimination level, every two ticks advanced corresponds to one tick higher tone break upper end.  Eventually (at 80 as the manual says) the low tone region will have shrunk to nothing and you get only high tones.  That is as high as you can set the discrimination level.

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Might be a bit late for my comment since it sounds like the decision has been made,

Never too late for good information. The ground will not thaw here for months, there is no hurry at all for me. A good discussion benefits everyone, thanks for your excellent contribution.

[Redneck]

I ordered an arrow for the Simplex I have  in storage. I ordered it from Bulgaria , Its cheaper that way, and will take about 4 weeks to get it. Everything is frozen here so I can wait .