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White's TDI SL

   (2 reviews)

Steve Herschbach
  • Price: $1189 Freq: Pulse Weight: 3.5 lbs Waterproof?: No Current?: No

The White's TDI SL metal detector was introduced in 2011 and was still in production when White’s closed up shop in 2020. It is a pulse induction (PI) metal detector aimed primarily at relics, gold prospecting, and beach detecting.

"The TDI SL provide serious detectorists with affordable pulse power. Initially developed to meet the demands of gold prospectors searching for extremely small and deep nuggets, the TDI has evolved into a detector that has proven itself as an effective detector for relic hunting, beach hunting and, under the right conditions, even coin hunting. Many of the surface relics and nuggets have been found out there, leaving a layer of even more valuable treasures that other detectors couldn’t reach. That’s where the TDI’s pulse technology comes in. This is one deep-seeking unit - especially in the harsh grounds - where other detectors just can’t compete." Source: White's 2018 catalog

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White's TDI SL metal detector

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White's TDI SL control panel

  • FULL-CONTROL GROUND BALANCE - Quickly balance out the iron mineralization of hot rocks, black sand and other tough grounds
  • ADJUSTABLE PULSE DELAY - Settings from 10 microseconds (best for finding gold nuggets) to 25 microseconds (for relic, coin and beach hunting)
  • VARIABLE AUDIO - Select with Ground Balance “ON”.
  • 3-WAY TARGET CONDUCTIVITY SELECTOR - Allows variable audio to hear either only low conductive targets like most gold nuggets, or high-conductive targets like silver coins and large relics, or both. Unique ability to aid in identifying trash
  • THRESHOLD CONTROL - Accurately adjust the audio to hear the smaller, deeper signals
  • FREQUENCY CONTROL - Adjustable for hunting near power lines, microwave or other interference
  • GAIN CONTROL - Maximizes sensitivity and depth
  • BATTERY L.E.D. INDICATOR LIGHT
  • NIMH RECHARGEABLE BATTERY PACK - Up to 6 hours of hunting. Backup “AA” pack included.
  • WATERPROOF 12” SPIDER search coil
  • TWO-YEAR Parts and Labor Warranty

Official White's TDI SL Product Page

White's TDI SL Owner's Manual

White's Pulsescan TDI - Steve's Review

White's Metal Detector Forum

 

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Mark Gillespie

   5 of 5 members found this review helpful 5 / 5 members



More than 10 years ago I started inquiring about some old locations I hunt. Most of the locations are old, shut down schools where coal was used as a heating source for decades. Before the EPA was birthed most people did whatever pleased them when it came to disposing of waste, regardless of what it was and these old school sites are no exception. The burnt coal waste was spread over many acres of school property which created some extremely harsh ground conditions. Grass and weeds find it hard to get a start and most areas are void of any vegetation. Most of the school grounds look like Martian landscapes with small BB size or smaller pieces of coal waste everywhere. This material attracts to a magnet with little effort and can reduce depth of all VLF detectors by well over half. In fact until recently maximum detection depth was actually 2-3”, any target deeper would give a solid iron audio report if any sound at all. After many years of hunting these areas all but completely unsuccessfully I finally purchase a White’s TDI SL with the stock 12” coil.
It turned out the SL opened up these old sites and many nice coins and relics were unearthed, but not without many trials and numerous adjustments. Case in point: one particular area had been, in my opinion hunted out with many different VLF machines over a 10 year period and I was certain there were no good targets left. I had been hunting about 15 minutes and all the SL was giving were very short audio reports, which sounded more like chatter or EMI and not targets. This prompted me to increase the time delay to about 15 “which increases the time before a transmitted signal is analyzed” thinking the small pieces of coal waste were the short reports I was hearing. Continued hunting another 5 minutes and noticed the short audio chatter continued but not to the same magnitude. Stopping and increased the delay to around 17 and off I went hunting again. Suddenly I noticed the machine was running very quiet, to quiet. A minute or two later and a very loud low tone, which on the SL means a high conductor, I stopped and reduced the delay to 10 and found my definite answer. The coal waste was causing all the ground chatter and false audio reports. Increased the delay to 17 and recovered a wheat penny around 4” deep. Now to be honest I had to stop for a moment and think about what just happened. Decided to start over I returned to where I began hunting and discovered I had passed right over many good targets. After digging a few more wheat’s I decided to start checking these targets before digging and discovered if I decreased the delay most of these targets became the short sounding audio reports I had heard earlier. The PI was just the trick to discovering some nice coins deeper than 4” in these barren areas. I must add the SL is not the best choice to make if there is an over abundance of nails because of the very limited discrimination capabilities of this particular machine. As a final note I must admit this machine has opened up a lot of hunted out harsh ground sites.  This machine is a specialty machine, by that I mean it’s not a cure for all hunting situations but for me has allowed me to hunt my harshest areas.  Then a year later I found the largest class ring ever found and with the SL, in one of these same coal waste yards, amazing for me because this area has been hunted by many friends and the very best VLF detectors in the world yet not detectable until the TDI.

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Jeff McClendon

   5 of 5 members found this review helpful 5 / 5 members

For the most part, I really enjoyed using the TDI SL special edition with the Miner Johns coil. It was well balanced and had almost enough features to satisfy me. Where it was lacking the most was in audio nuances and basic power. I could not hear enough audio information for me to distinguish target characteristics easily. Coming from a GP3000, I loved the TDI SL's simplicity and light weight but not its limited tonal deficiencies. The biggest problem though, was its lack of power. I tried different battery scenarios including the RNB product for this model. It helped some but not enough for me to trust that the TDI SL had the raw power to detect effectively past 5" in high mineralization on medium to smallish gold targets. At least that was my experience.  In milder soil conditions or in really bad serpentine with shallow targets, it would be great. In my opinion it cannot compete with the GP/GPX series as a gold prospecting PI in the vast majority of detecting environments. As a relic or beach detector it would probably really do well.

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