nickelNdimed

On 12/31/2022 at 4:37 PM, Geezer said:

Really good hunting with a very reasonably priced outfit. I am curious about the the trash you dig with it, could you have avoided the iron if you wanted to? 

I see also that you can go surprisingly close to the metal playground equipment and still find coins. That is almost amazing in a coil that large!

That Simplex/Arrow combination looks like a winner. Thanks so much for sharing your experience.

I have the iron on so it will give a grunt. I could have avoided those but figured I’d dig it all since mulch and so shallow.  The ID is also fairly accurate for shallow finds. 

1 hour ago, kac said:

For a long time I had an old Whites bullseye that ran at 36khz. It wasn't any more sensitive than other pinpointers out there.

My guess the 18khz might be friendlier with more machines than the lower khz. Not an issue with wireless pinpointers as they don't run the same time on the headphones.

Coil wiring probably and power to the coil in the tip probably makes much more difference in sensitivity and depth than the frequency.

I own a Pulse Dive pointer. Very well built, runs great but it is not sensitive to small targets ie foil, gold chains, tiny earrings so I only use it where there is a lot of coal/coke and black sand where it shines. Not that good for the jewelry hunter and certainly not for a prospector.

I forgot about the Bullseye and think I had read somewhere of its high frequency. Good datapoint on that one. I imagine if they were some sort of magic on gold or jewelry people would seek them. 

44 minutes ago, phrunt said:

You make a good point, I didn't know they'd changed the pointer to 18kHz but they have.

It should be more sensitive to small targets you would think?

Has anyone got one that can run a few pellets or tiny gold nuggets over it and see how it goes? If it's more sensitive I most certainly want one.

I was hoping you would chime in. I think in past you did some evaluation of various common ones. Again, I think intent was minimizing interference with the Simplex but I recall he gold detectors having around 19kHz or so and figured this might transfer to pinpointers. 

On 12/22/2022 at 10:23 AM, kac said:

PI pinpointers in general seem to struggle with small targets in general. Maybe because the pulse delay is too long on them. If that was adjustable I think they would be excellent.

My guess, just a guess is the new 18khz would be on par with other pinpointers like the Carrot and Profind.

There are rechargable lithium 9v batteries out there. I use them in my Carrot and one my Tesoro's. They work great and last really long between charges.

Yes, I was wondering if at 18kHz it would be any benefit or better.  Seems most other VLF are around 12kHz mark like the ones you mention. I was thinking about another PI like the PulseDive but then started looking into he VLFs. I had a TRX for a bit and although deep, AAs, and tip only, I found it a little quirky/unstable so I sold.

I am running EBC lithium AAs and those have been nice so far. I suppose the 9v lithiums are a good compromise. AA would just be more ideal to me.

I don’t really need a spare. The FPulse has been very reliable.  Just looking to try something else but not under any pressure to push me one way or another.   

Anyone have experience with this pinpointer?  

I think the old one used to be closer to 12 kHz and they changed it due to interference with Simplex.  I think that was the intent anyway. 

Since a lot of the VLF detectors marketed for gold are in that 18-19 kHz range I was wondering if this would be more sensitive to those pesky small foil and maybe gold items when trying to pinpoint. My F Pulse is great other than it seems to struggle with foil.  Not a show stopper but if I were to get a different back up, was curious if this might be more sensitive to pesky foil. I’ll still have to get over its use of 9v but that is a different nitpick. The buttons are on back of cap which also seems like odd placement. 

I can’t comment on the Coiltek specifically but…. I have used the 6” on Equinox and Vanquish with 10x7.

I have used the 6” to re-grid areas that produced goodies with 11” and also to re-grid entire areas in trashy park after gridding with 11”

The 6” did squeeze out a couple more things but not a lot compared to the 11”. I also was able to find micro jewelry I feel I missed with the 11” but also felt scanning a huge are just in hopes to recover a small silver earring back or small hollow gold earring is not worth it to me.  It takes a lot of patience and time for me to use as primary.

The 10x7 on the Vanquish is likely not as deep as 11” but it feels better and should separate better and allow me to get closer to playgrounds equipment, etc. Also allows similar coverage as 11” without the patience needed with the 6”

So, what I have found is that I like using a 10x7 (and likely a 10x5) for most general hunting/primarily. If I feel it is worth it, I might still use the 6” or I might use the 11” for more depth once most of the easy stuff and some of the trash has been removed with the 10x7.  If I had the 10x5 on Equinox, I would likely not swap out much for the 11” or 6” unless I really felt there was something else there worth it to me like old coins.  I basically end up mostly using the Vanquish with 10x7 (which cost me less than just the Coiltek) and the Equinox is a specialty tool with either the 6” or 11”.  

Really just multiple detectors for different types of hunting. 

Most recently it has been the Simplex with The Arrow coil and the Vanquish 440. I can sweep the surface with the Simplex/Arrow and, if it makes sense on the site, follow up with the Vanquish to ID deeper stuff without worrying about surface stuff masking.

The Vanquish was supposed to be backup/long-narrow coil option for the Equinox 600 but it is just simple to use and finds the goods. I really need to get the Equinox out soon and put more time on it with the nice carbon S shaft from Steve. Maybe once I cave in and get the Coiltek 10x5 for it 🤔 

I suppose if internal battery dies on Simplex or Equinox, the Vanquish is a good option with its replaceable AAs I can keep handy.  

Beach is my SeaHunter at mom’s and I think my ACE300 will end up there as a backup for dry sand. All I need is to bring my rechargeables or buy some AAs for either or and I’m in business. Wired blue heaphones on SeaHunter and wired MS-2s on Ace.  No charging of headphones.

Pinpointer, F Pulse with backup batteries. If I had to have a backup for that it would probably be another F Pulse to be honest. 

2 hours ago, Tom Slick said:

The Bigfoot with the thin cable was made for the 6.59 kHz detectors like the Eagle, Spectrum, XLT, 6000 Di Pro, and the Classics. The later version with the heavier cable was made for the DFX, M6, and MXT. ( It will also work but a little wonky on the V3i)

 There is much less demand for the earlier BigFoot so it won't fetch nearly as much on the secondary market. Probably looking at $150 - $200 for a good condition earlier model and $400-$500 for the DFX model. 

That’s a good to know to ID these. He thickness of the cable is clearly different in the comparison picture from the buyer. 

39 minutes ago, YK253 said:

Sorry, slipped my mind, it came with the Classic I.D. detector but have no idea if that even is able to work with the BigFoot

I think those were the 6ish kHz ones that may not work with MXT, DFX models and likely less sought after.  Probably still someone out there wanting one for their Classic for surface find hunting. 

This might be a good place to start looking for an answer:

So basically no updates is the answer to your original question.  You would think that the interest in this size and shape coil  for other machines would motivate the manufacturer to prioritize this over a 6” round. Seemed it took a while for the Simplex and Equinox as well. 

2 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

He who sits on his hand and does nothing accomplish nothing .

 Chuck 

Didn’t the inventor work for Fisher at some point and develop and manufacture this thing on his own?  I wouldn’t say he has done nothing, probably more than most of us have. 

Was it risky? Probably.

Also doubt his price point, volume, and manufacturing ability warrant tons spent on marketing. Kind of a niche detector no? Maybe it needed more creative marketing.  

Anyway, answering the question with blanket self quotes, what does that accomplish?

Kind of surprised it has not been already moved to the retired forum. Maybe the mourning is over. How long before Tesoro was moved?

I’m kind of more curious as to what else Garrett might do with what they bought other than the 24k. And really what new stuff they might come out with in future to keep them relevant, Whites related or not. I’m not a gold prospector but the Axiom sure looks like a nice detector and the Apex is a nice form factor. Not sure seeing some posts about “I put batteries in my V3i and took out for old time sakes” makes sense in the Garrett forum. 

Just my two cents. 

Did Garrett ever put Z link on any of the Ace models?

 Noticed this icon in the bright sun recently but the screen doesn’t appear to be shared with the AT Max.  Was just curious if any of the US or international models had it or if maybe they thought about it at some point and built in the icon.  I believe the 400 has Iron Audio so they may share a screen where that icon is used.
 

Forgot to share here:

Here’s another short video of this coil on the Simplex for what I like to use it for the most so far, playgrounds. Just sweep till something beeps, back up and analyze if needed with the tip, pinpoint, retrieve, and repeat. 

On my next hunt I think I’ll try collapsing the shaft on the Simplex when I’m crawling around under equipment (limited by the pivot pin in the lower shaft lock).  Really where I am finding most stuff is under and close to poles.  but not all the stuff.  Hope to try it at the beach soon, open up the sensitivity a bit, and hit some towel lines.

It is a relatively cheap hobby. What if sales were better as people looked for more economical hobbies than others they might have?  

Also, I’m probably wrong but, detectors come in all price points. Flagship detector buyer might not be as affected by the economy but lose a few sales due to some not being able to stretch their budget up there.  Hard to say where the bulk of the sales go or the demographics.

Someone who has sold detectors through ups and downs may be able to shed some light on that.

Possibly but there are Teknetics and  Bounty Hunter equivalents for less money probably. Guessing they only keep the Gold Bug version for the name. 

I’m sure my Seahunter PI is deeper than my other detectors. I don’t take it to the park. 

On my Simplex, this coil is my latest obsession…. I’ll probably never use the stock 11” round coil on it even though it should be deeper than the 18x4 Arrow. But the Arrow is deep beyond the limits of Simplex target ID stability and way more efficient in coverage and separation in trashy parks or even the beach when covering large areas for recent drops.  

If I want more depth at an older site and better ID capability at depth, I’ll use my Equinox and it’s 11” round or the 6” if I have the patience.

If I want raw depth at the beach or less trashy wet areas, I’ll use my Seahunter (plus it likely won’t leak).

Interesting 🤔 

I’ve found that when I am quickly scanning for surface finds, I like to hold my Lesche and F Pulse together in one hand rather than in and out of my finds bag (Omega Mill Minuteman). 

One issue that this would resolve is that because of the offset on the Lesche, this feels kind of awkward in hand.  Also turning on and off the pinpointer which I feel I am going to wear out. 

I wonder it it is any more sensitive to foil/gold than the F Pulse?  The detector coil is super sensitive to foil but the pinpointer seems to struggle sometimes if foil is not balled up. 

On 5/18/2022 at 8:54 AM, kac said:

Been thinking of getting a small coil for it, not sure the 6.5x9 concentric or the 5x8 dd. DD probably better for coin shooting and the AT Pro isn't a depth demon. Coil I used was the stock one I had cracked then repaired.

Have you considered the Arrow by Detech for it?  So much coverage but still seems to separate well. I’ve not investigated what kind of real world depth I can get with it yet but probably as good as a smaller coil with more coverage. Mine is on a Simplex but I bet it would work well on an AT as well. 

They did have those Vanquish videos smashing an Ace detector that stirred up a little talk kind of feeding the trash talking and social media marketing. 

They have other products I believe?  Maybe not focused on hobby detectors at the moment? Short staffed in that department?  Maybe nothing is coming soon?

From what I have seen they don’t seem to engage too much with the customers, at least not in US. They do seem to have presence at detector events.  Also, others like Nokta Makro  seem to be the other extreme of engagement and maybe gives folks different expectations that there should be some social media face to Minelab?  

9 hours ago, phrunt said:

It never crossed my mind it'd be OK on the Simplex as the Simplex target ID's are quite reliable for shallow targets, I bought it for my AT Gold and avoided the Simplex due to the poor target ID on the Simplex but I didn't think about the coil's focus is shallow targets.  I quite like it on my AT Gold though and it's very sensitive to small gold considering the detectors frequency.

You did well with the Arrow and you've perfectly used it for and demonstrated it's strong points.  It's a really nice coil.

Thank you. Yes, since not available for the Equinox or Vanquish, it will probably stay permanently on my Simplex and gave me a reason to keep it for exactly this type of hunting!  I’ll be hitting up some more playgrounds when ground is too hard. I also can’t wait to try it on the beach towel line sometime and sand scoop. 

12 hours ago, JCR said:

That is a lot of targets.

That was only 2-3 hours hunt!  With the coverage of the coil and easy digging in mulch it is very efficient hunting.