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kac

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Posts posted by kac

  1. I'm on the east coast here and we live in a rust bucket so the Garretts do pretty well here with the extended iron tone. I assume the vdi readouts would be similar if not identical between the gold, pro and max. I use the pro, my buddy has the max and gold here is dead on with nickels 51-solid 52's. Hefty square tabs will be the same as platinum or slightly under. There are many times when beaver tail of a pull tab that is curled over will hit in the gold range.

    I think the big difference on the AT Gold vs the Max and Pro is the higher frequency that it runs giving it more sensitivity to gold range and little less on silver. Lower frequencies >15khz get a bit more depth and less sensitive to gold.

    If your getting erratic numbers just slow your swing and swing at a steady rate.  The AT series do have fast recovery but if there is a lot of trash around and your swing is too fast the machine won't settle and lock on the target. 

    Lastly Ground Balance often, I always do a quick bob over quiet areas as I go along just to keep the machine on track. Easy enough to toss on Iron Audio and if your machine is quiet then GB it. 

  2. That helps a lot. The concentric I have now can pick up tiny bits of foil so I shouldn't be too far off. Will check out some my old stomping grounds where I used to do tons of flyfishing up towards the white mountains and north of that. There is supposed to be flake gold up there, guessing the Tesoro probably won't pick that up but never know.

    I believe the Tejon is all metal motion.

    Thanks

  3. I have a Tesoro and as good as it is, when you hit the salt there just isn't enough range on the GB to make it stable. Though the I believe the Compadre has a fixed or no GB it think it would be even more unstable. I wouldn't recommend a Tesoro anyways since the company seems to have closed it's doors.

    Take a look at the Sea Hunter, it is fully waterproof to 200ft and you can mount the box on a hip belt so there is no weight on the poles.

    I have used it just a couple times so far at a local beach and it is so easy and stable. Only issue I ran into is on the cruddy river side of the beach I hit has a lot of nails. In general the open beaches are surprisingly clean. I even went over some hot rock areas and had no issues where both my AT Pro and Tejon went bonkers on. Battery life seems longer than they spec it out to be. They say 5-10 hours and I have close to 10 now and they are still at full. Guessing they probably hit 15-20 hours.

    • Like 1
  4. Nokta has the Simplex that just came out. Not sure how good it is but looks pretty nice.

    If there isn't a lot of trash out there like nails and screws the Garrett Sea Hunter is nice and he can put the control box on his waist. I just picked one up myself and it is super easy to use. It does have discrimination on it but I don't think it really does much so I leave it at the lowest setting.

    I think VLF's for the most part are tricky to use in the salt and if someone is new at it then they can become frustrated.

    • Like 2
  5. Not to go too off topic and not to make this about just XP but only using XP as an example since they seemed to have done this first in a production sense is having the brains in the coil only really adds to the cost of the coil. Any performance gains are probably negligible.

    If my Tesoro dies then I will consider an Deus or Orx as machine wise they are more similar than an all terrain machine.

  6. I would have snagged the Orx but the biggest reason I didn't was it wasn't fully submersible as my AT is. I really liked the idea of the machine being so lite and ability to change frequencies. The stock 9" coil is also bit of a downside though probably a better choice for relic hunting in the woods. I tend to lean towards larger coils if possible.

  7. After looking at different machines and for the price I ended up buying the SeaHunter mk2. Finally got a break in the weather and gave it a run in the salt and it really does very well. Definitely picks up small bits crap and goes fairly deep, deeper than I can dig in the surf without the sand filling.

    Overall it for myself it is a huge upgrade from my vlf's and much more fun to run as it is super simple to operate. I did consider the Beach Hunter TDI but for the price and limited use around here (cannot use a tdi in the ground here without going mad from trash).

    Just as Steve said, the discrim is the pulse frequency and does very little to discriminate so just keeping it on lowest setting works best so far.

    The stock 8" coil is probably more than enough and not so big you can better judge the targets size and shape. I can easily tell the difference from a penny or coin vs a piece of fence wire etc. Overall pleased with the purchase and now need to find more than 28 cents my next run.

  8. I am sure the Deus and Orx are fantastic machines, just not a good upgrade for me as I tend to use more all terrain machines. I even looked at the Anfibio, Equinox and AT MAX. For any water hunting the XP machines fall short for my use unless I pick along the shoreline.

    I really considered the Orx but the stock 9" coil is a little small and as soon as you go for the larger coil then the Equinox is more competitive and better performer in poor soil conditions where it is a true multi frequency.

    XP has their niche and great innovations, just seem a little pricey when compared to the latest lineup of machines out there.

    • Like 3
  9. You probably have better luck finding a gold reale than a split window :0

    If you have never used a Tejon you may notice it will detect your hands if you swing them over the coil. That's pretty sensitive!

    I can also detect a nickel silver lapel pin nail. Something my AT Pro and Sea Hunter can't do.

    • Like 1
  10. My thoughts and some of the reasons I didn't buy an XP: 

    EMI with wireless everything is an issue where I live and detect. Even running my pinpointer on full sensitivity causes it to fault in some areas.

    Putting all the guts into the coil makes the coils too expensive and limit the options other manufacturers have with choices in sizes and even 3rd party brands ie Nel, Coiltek etc.

    Display is too small. (in the case of using a cell phone then battery life is an issue)

    XP specific having the coil battery in the lower shaft I assume limits how deep it can get wet.

    I think it's a novel idea that needs much more refinement. If I were to have a dream machine I would put the brains in the shaft shielded from EMI with coils that snap in using the shaft as the conduit for the wires. Have the display that can used remotely or clip in for underwater use. Headphones should be the same unit with the ability to plug into the display box or upper shaft for undewater use or retract the cord and go wireless. And lastly all using a rechargeable battery system.

    • Like 1
  11. Trash usually gives erratic signals maybe from the odd shapes or the alloys used or combination of the both or in many cases there are other objects around that can mask the target such as iron rust, nails, can slag and even halos from zinc pennies.

    I don't dig everything but rather take my time to try to isolate the target by slowing and shortening your swing so just the overlap of the DD or in case of a concentric just the inner coil passes over on either side of the target. The machine should settle down on the target and start to give a more stable number. You can also get an idea how big the target might be by the distance it takes for the signal to start and end.

    • Like 1
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