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Pinpointer Question


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I still have the first and only pinpointer I ever bought. A black Garrett ProPointer that still seems to work as well as it ever did. My question is whether I should upgrade or just keep using it, and if yes then what to get? 

I like to hunt fresh drops in turf with just a pinpointer and screwdriver for recovery tools. I intend to spend more time doing that this year and wonder if a more sensitive/stronger/better pinpointer might get me a better recovery rate. Currently I do not know what it does not find, and whether or not something else would be better.

I know very little about pinpointers, have never used them much. Of course that is why one has lasted me so long. Searching the web, and even this forum, reveals a lot of different options and opinions. It would be nice to find one immune to emi and bad ground and hit small gold at over an inch. Sensitivity to small is the most important thing, checking some of my finds it seems apparent that my current pinpointer needs to be almost touching some of the really small things to indicate. That may be as well as any of them do for all I know. Anyone have thoughts?

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If it works keep it!

I have an old Whites Bullseye one that has the long sensor and wore the button out. I ended up putting a toggle switch on it and it works great. I also purchased a Minilab pro find 35 because it was waterproof and wanted to try out Minelabs products. The speaker on the Profind died in less than 2 months and they weren't all that nice about replacing it. I did get a new one back but the sensitivity is wacky and this one interferes with both my AT Pro and Tejon. Often I have to keep turning it off then back on to get it to work right so it doesn't freak out when I point it down. May have to send this one back and it has less than 4 hours on it. 

If you need to replace it then get the Garret AT one. 

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It is all a question of sensitivity. The question is meant to be more specific, sensitivity to small gold targets. I read every thread I could find on pinpointers and am not seeing the answer. Maybe what I have is good enough, I just do not have enough experience with these things to know. Testing my own targets shows some are small enough they almost have to be touching the probe to sound off. Perhaps that is as good as they get.

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Higher frequency would be more sensitive to gold but I believe that in general pinpoints run low so they don't conflict with the detectors. There are pi pinpointers out there that might do the trick. The Minelab Profind 35 is sensitive and goes deep but I don't find it stable and quality is questionable. 

I would ask Garrett how the AT finder compares to what you have, it might be a good upgrade. Just about everyone I know uses those and they have various detectors from Whites to Minelabs.

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It seems the world of pinpointers is much different than standard detectors.  It's hard to find a comprehensive review of all models, even though there aren't nearly as many.

I wonder if the PI's (e.g. red Fisher F-Pulse and it's green sister -- Teknetics Tek Point) might be the solution you seek.  I don't have either but some here do.  Deeper and immune to mineralized ground *should* be pluses for them.  I don't know about their EMI sensitivity.  If I were you I'd wait for more replies here.

 

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15 minutes ago, kac said:

There are pi pinpointers out there that might do the trick.

 

5 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

I wonder if the PI's (e.g. red Fisher F-Pulse and it's green sister -- Teknetics Tek Point) might be the solution you seek.  I don't have either but some here do.  Deeper and immune to mineralized ground *should* be pluses for them.

This is exactly what I am thinking. Wondering if it makes a difference or not, so thought I would ask. PI in general is going to be important to me this year, possibly a PI pinpointer will be a better choice for the same reason. In truth I had not ever considered whether pinpointers were VLF/PI or what, and sort of thought they were all some variation of the same thing. The PP I am currently using has always been good enough and I never gave it a second thought, but this year the PP matters more.

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I would guess that there is probably not a huge difference in sensitivity with the one you have and the newer AT model. I would ask Garrett, they are usually really good at responding back. I thought of getting a PI one but figured it would only be useful at the beach and I use a sand scoop there anyways and think I may have used my pointer 3x there where I had a screaming target from a beer can < 2ft down and used the pp to check depth before digging to China.

I kick myself for getting the Pro Find, soon as it dies again I'll RMA it back and then ebay the sob...

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35 minutes ago, kac said:

I kick myself for getting the Pro Find, soon as it dies again I'll RMA it back and then ebay the sob.

Sorry to hear of your difficulty with the Pro Find. Of the reading so far, I am seeing some issues with virtually all the pinpointers for some people while others swear by them on the same thread. The black Garrett I have has been good for years, the Carrot looks good too, but am after more sensitivity if I can get it. 

The F-Pulse looks good in regard to power and depth. It also has had issues, especially in the earlier models, but is from a company I know will stand behind it. Will likely give that one a try if something better does not come along.

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Hi,

like Kac, I have heard that the Minelab Profinds are very sensitive and are also very iffy quality wise. The same goes for the early Fisher F-Pulse/Teknetics Tek-Point. The version 1 models had lots of bad printed circuit board problems. I sent my version 1 back after struggling with it and it works great now with the version 2 board. I bought a second one and use them both for gold prospecting and deep coin shooting. Being PIs they will go 3 inches easily and will hit tiny (I mean 1/4 inch long hair-like) screen wire, iron, foil and of course gold targets as in sub .5 gram nuggets and pickers. As long as you get the version 2 new or an updated version 1 you should be fine. I like the Quest/Deteknix X pointer for depth (an inch deeper than any Garrett I have owned) but not for sensitivity on tiny targets. I have always heard the Whites TRX is the deepest and most sensitive VLF pinpointer. I have never used one.

 

Jeff

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17 minutes ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Being PIs they will go 3 inches easily and will hit tiny (I mean 1/4 inch long hair-like) screen wire, iron, foil and of course gold targets as in sub .5 gram nuggets and pickers. As long as you get the version 2 new or an updated version 1 you should be fine.

Thanks so much for this information Jeff. Exactly what I am looking for.

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