Mike_Hillis

That 11" DD was the first DD coil First Texas Products had ever made and it took a little effort to get it approved as they had only made concentric up until then. I had written a little piece about coils and posted it on the old BH forum. Dave Johnson told me he used that post to get Tom to buy into a DD coil design. I ended up getting to help prototype both the coil and the T2 detector he/they designed around it. I've been waiting to buy this new 12" DD coil for a very long time. I think I still have one or two of the early prototypes lying around here somewhere. The finished product is a very nice looking coil as you saw in the video. It looks good, it feels good on the end of the detector and it performs great in the ground. They got away from the ribbed design by using a sole (like a shoe) design as a base bottom support. It's actually more rigid than it looks. Due to how much time has passed since I had this 12" coil in my hands I suspect they have designed another detector around this coil and are close enough to also market it for their other models. Anyway...I've been standing around with money in my hand ever since I saw the coil was ready for market. HH Mike

Hi Cathexis, Hard to tune all the junk out. Correlate mode allows the tightest discrimination. It basically requires the strongest signal to correlate with the mid 7.5 frequency to generate a response. You get to pick how much it it has correlate to respond. Basically, set your disc to around -25, 3 Frequency Correlate on, Start with your Span limit at about 10 and tighten up from there as you need to. 10 kHz band pass filter. Multi tone and dig what beeps. I tend to use this in Mixed mode just so I can hear the stuff that didn't correlate and give me a disc response. Beer cans.....they will probably sound off, but you can size them in Mix mode and tell they are large targets....but...if you are relic hunting...you may want the larger targets anyway and will have to dig them. Concentric will give you tight correlations....the DD coil will have a tiny fudge factor. Good luck! HH Mike

Hi Gerry, My point was simply that rather than rush out and buy something to hunt for something he doesn't seem to have any experience hunting, if he currently has a detector, even if it was only the little lowly BH Tracker IV, he should spend some time hunting his desired targets with it and figure out what he would really want to be different in his detector. He might find he doesn't need anything more than what he already has. Or he will figure it out and create a wish list of the features he wants in his dedicated gold detector and then go shop feature sets. Course if he doesn't already own a detector, then I recon a Nox 600 is a good starting point. Not trying to steer him to a BH, not trying steer him away from a Nox , not trying to block a sale from you. Just giving some honest advice. Good luck. HH Mike

What detector do you own now? Its not really the metal detector that makes the difference for most jewelry finds. A cheap Bounty Hunter Tracker IV would find almost everything in the displayed pictures above. You only need something special for the tiny gold jewelry items. Why don't you hunt for a while with what you own and spend sometime figuring out what you really need. Good Luck, MIke

nice bunch of pendant nuggets in that group. bet it was a fun trip! HH Mike

That is a sweet ring right there! HH Mike

Hard enough to do in the daylight, much less at night. Glad you got out safe and sound. In my youth, jeeps must have given me and my friends a false sense of security as I never recall walking for assistance more for any other vehicle than I did jeeps. Mostly due to no winch or mechanical jacks on board, or a flat spare. HH Mike

Amazing that two of Dave Johnson's old school designs are still relevant and in production today after all these years...Gold Bug II and the CZ QuickSilver (CZ-3D). And it is directly related to the fact they do what they do very well. Tom Dankowski was and still is heavily involved with Minelab's Multi-IQ development and next generation development at the moment and he made a statement on his site recently that caught my attention. He basically said that in his mineral free dirt, the Fisher CZ with the 10.5" concentric coil is still the deepest and most accurate detector at depth in production today. That garnered a lot of surprise but it emphasizes that the real development in detector technology hasn't lead to more depth of detection, just better separation among co-located targets and better iron discrimination. If you read much of Tom D. development posts you will also find that the F75 is his benchmark that all others are measured against. So while the F75 package may be outdated, its abilities are not. Of course much of his work is performed in mineral free ground. I'll try to resurrect an old mineral post lying around here somewhere. Anyway...I've this thread and the discussion. Been a bit thirsty for it since I haven't gotten to beep in a while. Waiting for the new 12" coil to release. HH Mike

I wonder how many people worked their way up through detectors like I did, starting at the bottom and gradually buying and trying their way up to the flagships of the various manufactures? I think when you do it that way you have a different perspective on the various mfg's and models, as I had to learn each one's strengths and weaknesses and how to make it perform for me, warts and all. I had to learn how they actually worked and did what they did. And along the way I learned what I liked and what I didn't like. And after a bit of that I learned how to read operating manuals and marketing speak which saved me a bit of money as I didn't have to buy and try so much anymore. I don't think First Texas is in danger of following the path of Tesoro or Whites. Tom Walsh likes metal detectors, so its not likely he'll quit making them as long as they make money no matter what people say in an echo chambers. I think the one thing that most affects Fisher is that their success in the gold market has led them to become the most counterfeited metal detector manufacture in the world, and in addition to that, you would be surprised where you find their T2 DNA. Personally I think its the right time to go to direct sales with advertising and steer away from dealer networks entirely. Dealers are no longer needed. Nice to have, but not needed. But they need to increase their presence in media and advertising to really make it work. Do they need a new model, yes. Do they need to keep up with the trends and times, yes. Do they have to be a market leader all the time to succeed, no. HH Mike

My first metal detector was a Bounty Hunter Tracker IV. I had a gift card for Dicks Sporting Goods at the end of 2003 and after I got the new reel I wanted I was browsing to see what else I could use the remaining balance for, I happened upon the metal detectors. The BH Tracker IV intrigued me, and fit the remaining balance on my card. Only they were out of stock, and after a month I got tired of waiting and used up my card balance on more fishing stuff. Only I was still intrigued with the detector and bought me one from Kellyco. 99.00 shipped with extras in January of 2004. Turned out to be the start of an obsession that is still with me today, and my jumping off point into treasure hunting. The Tracker IV is a great detector for what it is, and knowing what I know now, for my urban situation, I would still have chosen it to start this journey on, and it is a very capable detector if you understand and work it within its parameters. I still like using it even today. guess what I am saying is that without the By Tracker IV I might have never gotten into this. low end models have there place and purpose. HH Mike

oops.....I thought it was a 12 volt battery. Ok...stand corrected. Mike

You only charged the battery to 8 volts? Fully charge the battery and try again. Metal detectors do not like low batteries. Good luck, Mike

HA! I can confess to being a little over pressurized in public spaces at sundry times in my past, to other's merriment and my embarrassment. I'm still trying to live down the un-expected outburst at the CPR/First-aid training event. HH Mike

Thanks for sharing that video, Phrunt. It's enjoyable watching someone use the F75 that is familiar with it. Especially in dP audio which I use often myself. You should pick one up someday when you get the chance. It's not a T2. I think you would like it. Very capable on both High and Low conductors. I prefer the DST model over the non DST model personally as my EMI is quite high. I think the performance difference between the two is only 0.2 tenths of an inch, although listening to some people talk you would think it was a foot. It is designed to be a true treasure tool. HH Mike

El Nino77, Do you think the high gain/sensitivity settings you showed are possible due to the coil itself or just your low EMI environment? HH Mike

Sorry, man,....but there are not any coils what will work with both the XLT and V3i. Lots of people seem to like the 6x8 SEF coil for a small coil. I've never ran it. I liked the coil in El Nino77's video. HH Mike

That would be great, GB. Let me see if I can get a picture taken and attached. I'm air testing with concentric coils about 4- 5" from the coil. Thanks, Mike

I hope it offers something besides just basic phase shift TID numbers for target identification purposes. Already got a closet full of those. Didn't buy a Nox, Didn't buy an Apex, won't buy a Nokta/Makro either if that is all they offer in SMF. HH Mike

I have to say those were painful vids to watch. EMI tip...When you get into a situation like that with moderate settings, see if you can walk out of it. I have some rally bad spots that I can walk 50 feet away and get out of it and be perfectly stable. 2nd vid....I don't know what the point of that one was. Sorry, don't mean to offend, but .....It really was a tough watch. Mike

It only came with 7.5 kHz coils. I'm looking into what 18.75 kHz coil I want to get. 7.5 kHz is 7.5 kHz and matches expectations on small gold pickup....however iron mask in prospecting mode seems limited in 7.5 kHz. I have a rusty iron staple: 0.5" wide x 1.375" long x 1/16" diameter I use to set my iron disc with and it accepts on iron mask setting of 1 and rejects on 2. I'm hoping the 18.75 kHz coil would accept it at a higher iron mask setting. Anybody know if this would be true before I spend more money? HH Mike

I'd give up all my other models before I'd give up my F75 Ltd with DST.

Thanks, Chuck, yes, but not for the price I paid for the 705. GB, More than likely I will. She likes a little more discrimination. HH Mike

I just used a Tesoro extension cable. Cut the female plug and off with about 4" of cable and soldered it to the board. While it doesn't look stock, it works just fine and I run my cleansweep coil on it all the time. Good luck, Mike

I'm in a bad way.....when I can't detect I look at detectors and when I look at detectors I end up buying detectors. Now I've got an Xterra 705 on the way. I told my wife I was buying something light weight for her.....we will see if she remembers and gives me the normal big eye roll when it shows up at the door or a chewing out. She does like to detect, so it will be a fresh air outing, even if we don't detect very long or find anything. Not always been a fan of the Xterra but it will do what I want it to do, which is give me a nice powerful all metal mode with a iron mask option. HH Mike

Once I started using a electronic pin pointer I never looked back. Greatly increases recovery efficiency. HH Mike