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Comparable machine to the Sand Shark is the the Garrett Sea Hunter which I picked up recently. I am really happy with it and the battery life seems longer than they say spec wise. Price wise it doesn't break the band and will pick up bobby pins just as well as any other pi :)

Quickie update, looking through parts I have/can make I started to work this out and rather than use an acrylic bar I thought it would be better to encapsulate the diodes in a frosty white silicone rubber which can act as a pad against the display. This should be much safer on the face of the display and not scratch it. Will have to work out making it water proof later on once I test the silicone and see if it transmits enough light to work. I think if this works out ok, I might be able to make it compatible with the Ace series and maybe other VDI machines that don't have a backlight.

I think back now on so many holes I dug and found a broken halo the lost the target and wonder if they could have been coins that been knocked on edge and I simply filled the hole back up thinking it was just a halo. Countless fringe targets I think I overlooked this way. For some reason I decided to dig a bit more even after the target was lost. This was on the fringe and being thin I had lost signal on it. Might hit the area again this weekend, ran out of bug spray Sunday and the mosquitos won.

Welcome to the forums.

Found these today in the same area, 1908 IH and a silver button of some sorts, think it came from a hat or something. Has a post in the back of it and is pretty thin. Was pretty deep and picked up on the halo and when I first dug I lost the signal then dug a bit more and found it. Probably had some iron pin/spring that rusted away.

Thanks, just tried both and doesn't seem to do any better than traditional gb on the Tejon. Thinking it's pretty maxed out anyways.

I read a tip on super tuning the Tesoro Tejon and didn't see any difference in depth at all. In the tip they said to do an regular gb with sensitivity @ 10, then turn the GB + 1/4 turn (approx. 8.33 on a vdi with scale of 100), then turn the sensitivity back just until the machine stabilizes. Did some quick depth tests and found id made no difference at all. I tried similar technique on my AT Pro and had a loss in depth of approx. 1". Am I missing something here? Is super tuning some sort of myth?

There was a post here on the Orx being blind to round objects like musket balls but can't find the link. I would try upping the frequency as that would give more sensitivity in the lower range. As you go up in coil size you lose sensitivity to smaller objects. There probably isn't a whole lot of difference in depth between a 9" and 11" coil. From my experience I have only gained a couple inches or so 20-30% depending on ground conditions on my Tejons coils 9" elliptical and 10x12 widescan. And only real noticeable depth jump is when you hit monster sized coils that can hit 16-17" on the AT Pro with more downsides than positives as the larger coils become not only too heavy and cumbersome. They become less and less sensitive to small targets and often difficult if not impossible to ground balance in some locations. The best I have done with the monster coil is a seated and barber dimes in the 15" range. I would think that frequency would be a better test. Lower frequencies give you more depth but lower conductors may mask items. The Tejon I favor and use the most runs at 17khz. Maybe try that as a starting point.

There are Lithium rechargeable AA's that have the same voltage as regular alkalines. I use them in my Tesoro and they perform phenomenally. NiMH run at 1.2-1.3 volts and I avoided them as Tesoro at the time said they would perform poorly. I am sure they are ok in a flashlight or something that can use the lower voltage. As far as the ProFind 35 it's ok. My first one died in 2 months. They repaired or replaced it and the new one would be incredibly unstable to the point I often thought of just leaving in the hole I just dug. About a month ago it fell out of the holster and hit the basement cement floor pretty hard and now works very good.... Thought for sure it was toast after being dropped.

Plan on going back, that area has almost no trash other than tons of 22 rimfire casings and old shotgun shells. Snagged a larger coil for my Tejon and plan to hit it in all metal mode.

Is that bronze? Looks old.

I started to dig through my parts and pieces. I have the plexi but short on an led and battery clip. Have to see what kind of rechargeable batteries around that are small enough that I can use. If possible I'll make it waterproof. Just bee occupied with slew of other projects.

Came across this link, seems someone else found one like it but in rougher shape. https://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=98998

Welcome to the forums!

Broke down and snagged a 12x10 widescan from Tesoro for the Tejon. Got a deal I couldn't pass up $80 delivered used but it's in brand new condition. Quick air test it does about 30% deeper than the stock 8x9 concentric. Little less sensitive to tiny tiny bits which is ok. Depth wise overall it falls between the stock AT Pro coil and Nel Big. I had a feeling another round coil would be tough in bad soil compared to an elliptical and to take a chance at $180 to have same or similar gb issues made me rethink my choices. Will try to take it through some old hunting trails here and see what I can find. Thanks for the advice.

Found this barber and a soap jar early 1900's from nearby hunting trails that aren't marked on maps. Lots of land to poke through but these were pretty much on the trails. The jar's info I found this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodbury_Soap_Company

I usually take a soft toothbrush clean water and some baking soda to take the dirt off the silver.

Is it brass?

Nice ring, never seen a yellow cz before. Up here find lots of low end/costume jewelry. titanium, tungsten and usually riddled with white cz's. Still far better than a bottle cap ;)

I soaked the old copper coin and was able to take off the patina with a toothpick pretty easily. Of course there is nothing really left. Based on it's size 22mm in dia., it was most likely a half cent. Good news in it's poor condition even today it's probably worth at least that.

I just happened to use my AT to test settings that I read. Happened to hit that old spot and realized the town did some trimming. Think these were so shallow and trash was so sparse could have used just about any detector there :). Just glad the little tweak really stabilizes the machine. The Nox didn't exist when I got my AT. At that time wasn't a lot of choices for all terrain machines out there. Any clue what that old copper might be? Scared to take a toothpick to it!

Went to one of my stomping grounds to try out my AT Pro with -5 clicks on GB and noticed the town had done some trimming revealing areas that weren't usually accessible. After an hour in just a small area I got these. The -5 on the Pro gave me more stable vdi numbers, the coins were pretty shallow <8" deep tangled in roots. The copper coin has so much patina on it that I can barely see a face of some sorts. Thinking of sending it out for professional cleanup.

Found a musket ball and junk ring and a lunch bag full of heroin in the large river here. Stopped detecting there. Small outlet river from one the nearby ponds I cut my finger on some glass and bent my scoop... Not exactly fun. Plan on going way up north and look for bits of gold and follow old trails that may have old coins/less trash.

Nice video, only cache I found was a 6 pack of Natty Lites 6" down at the beach with my SeaHunter and thought I blew out my eardrums.

The Coin Finder CF77 looks like a nice simple machine, has anyone here used one? Does it compare the Fors Relic? Nokta/Makro CF77 metal detector