Mark Gillespie

Actually thinking about getting one and hitting some of the mountain streams here in southwestern Virginia. Wonder how it would do for ring hunting?

Yes, it's Steve!!!!!!!!!!!! https://web.archive.org/web/20130508060926/http:/www.troycustomdetectors.com:80/reviews/x5-herschbach-review.html

Very impressed with your compilation of information Steve, thanks, yet again.

No offence taken Steve. This is my favorite forum site. Keep up the informative posts.

I agree.

You are correct Steve, I am not past buying something beside the F75 I just kind of wanted it for my F75. I have either owned or were loaned the following detectors in the past 15 years. Stated off with the cheap "low cost" finger hut detectors in the early 80's Garrett Ace 250, Tesoro Vaquero, Tejon, Fisher F75, F75 LTD, Gold Bug Pro, Minelab Explorer, Etrac, CTX 3030, White's XLT, MXT, DFX, V3, V3i, TDI, XP Deus, EuroTek Pro Etc. Had the great privilege of field testing many detectors from two manufacturers too.

I have used over 15 different detectors since 2003. These range from low cost $100 to $1500 per unit. I can say I've found a lot of good targets with each machine. Some I like better than others, but all have attributes that were both good and not so good. Early on I realized a solid ID at depths greater than 6-7" was hard to obtain because of the mineralized ground where I live. That is why I opted for the true motion all metal function on the F75. And my request was to add only 2 tones to this mode. 99 tones at depths greater than 5" or so will be nothing intelligent to listen to ( Deus, V3i etc), but having one tone for ferrous and one for non ferrous would be sufficient for me. Hope this makes a little sense. The above statement might help to explain why I opted for a TDI SL (very good relic machine in bad ground) at some of my sites where nails are few and far between. Two tones, one for low conductors and one for high.

Your statement above is exactly what I'm thinking. I had the Deus for 2 years and the gold field program didn't provide the true motion all metal mode I was looking for. It was not as deep as the F75, but a nice light machine to swing. The F75 and gold bug provides the kind of audio I am looking for. But like I stated 1st Texas never replied to my request over 10 years ago, way before these other machines came on the market. Thanks for all you hard work and research. I just keep holding on and hoping they will release another flag ship detector, like the F75, before the market is flooded with all these other detectors. Sometimes timing is everything.

Thanks Steve, as always a very detailed answer to questions.

For over a decade I've ask for one small feature to a good detector. Say for instance on the Fisher F75 detector or another machine of comparable abilities. Add a two tone function in the motion all metal mode. Nothing fancy, just one tone for ferrous and another for non-ferrous. Being a computer programmer for several years I can't imagine this would be very difficult. Now on the F75, while in motion all metal mode the machine gives better depth and also gives an ID for detected metal objects. So since nothing is really needed except assigning a tone to the ID number scheme why is it so hard to acquire a unit with that feature. I know the V3i has a feature similar, but it lacks the depth capability of the F75 in my ground. Now I've ask again. I'll check back in another decade.

Very interesting releases. I've been waiting for one feature for over 10 years, still waiting.........

Well after several days of thinking and pondering on the article I must say I'm 100% guilty. I've been swing a detector of some sort since 1985 (wife bought me my first detector from Fingerhut) and can say, once I've learned or rather became comfortable with a detector I speed up and get sloppy with my swing. At times the truth can be a very inspiring tool.

An amazingly true article.

I'll have to have a machine that has that capabilities. Can't imagine a machine with performance like a pulse combined with target ID and discrimination to boot.

For this site I tend to prefer a smaller than 12" stock coil, but this discovery was made with the stock 12" dual field coil. I use both the 12" and 7.5" dual field coils from White's

To start with I must confess and hope the following information doesn't give the wrong impression about the TDI SL. It has a lot of potential, but only in certain locations not loaded with a lot of nails. 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 what ever 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. 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.

Very interesting information on a new detector. I remember when the Fisher F75 first came to the dealers and an excited Gene Scullion called me and stated, "Mark this new F75 is a game changer, you have to get one", then he said, "If you buy one you'll never look back." At that time both Gene and I were using the Tesoro Tejon, well anyway I jumped on and ordered a F75 from him. And yes it was a game changer, found more silver in places where I had completely hunted out. I actually hope the machine becomes reality..............

Longer delay to prevent the machine from giving false audio reports on the coal waste. This ground is the worst in my area. Most places like this have shut down every VLF machine I've ever used.

Steve anyway to send you a PM on this subject?

Recent discovery of the conductivity switch on my White's TDI SL. The video shows what I've found. It also works the same with the 7 1/2" dual field coil. Just the opposite happens if you run the machine with the conductivity switch to high, low conductors are also heard. These results are the same as in ground targets to about 4" deep. More information to follow......

I have been so intrigued about this find I had to know what ID numbers would be on my other detector. The F75 gives a solid 28 which is just below a Jefferson nickel. Amazing for such a large chunky ring. Now I must admit, I've found a new jewelry hunting machine.

I now have to rethink, not only this site but many others I've hunted over the last 20 years.

My bad lands are comprised of tiny coal waste pieces that attract to a magnet. This waste has basically shut down every VLF machine I've ever used. I was very shocked at finding these two rings.

Revisited the bad lands today. This time settings were a little different. Still a lot of nails in this area, but this time I opted to hear only low conductors and it paid off. One 10k GF and a nice 10k class ring. And of course the double handfuls of beer tabs, beaver tails and pencil erasers. All in all a pretty good hunt. Todays settings were: gain 6 GB 6 delay 18 low conductors

After all the excitement and comments about air test I decided to do several test using my TDI SL with stock 12” coil. First off I charged the battery pack (11.35v). Set the machine in a very good area with the coil elevated with the following settings: Gain max Ground balance off Pulse 10 Conductivity switch, all At these settings, using a US nickel I got a solid 12 to 12 1/4” air test, light, but repeatable audio. I checked the machine every half hour and there was no change in air test distances. After four hours still no difference. I turned machine off and checked the battery pack voltage (9.63). Amazing discovery, the machine must have a very good voltage regulator, for the machine to perform the same as with a full charge pack. One notable observation: Gain of 7 to max gave the same results in air test, no difference, even after 4 hours of continues running. Drop the gain to 6 and the nickel could not be heard at 12”, but around 11 ¼”. Fast forward: Installed a fresh set of Rayovac batteries in my battery pack These measured a total of 12.8 volts. Did the same set of air test and the results are as follows: Air tested a nickel at 13 1/4”, faint but repeatable audio. This distance was continues for around an hour, then dropped to 12 ½”. After 2 hours the air test was the same as the stock rechargeable battery pack. Shutting down the machine and checking the voltage indicated 11.35 volts. I know you can buy a battery pack with 14.8 volts which will obviously increase the depth performance, but I wonder what the maximum voltage that could safely be used in my unit!