Waterproof Pulse Induction Detectors Compared

[Joe Beechnut OBN]

22 hours ago, Tony said:

$999......according their website. I remember the Aquastar (Eric Foster) was just over $2000 back around the same time 1999-2001. Baracuda was well priced.

That is a great price... I seen Jimmy had this down on his notes.. interesting to see what went into putting all together. 

 

[Joe Beechnut OBN]

Tony that would have been great to test a Eric Foster.. WOW!

 

12 inches on a wedding band is good on the PI 3000. I know the old guy Bill at the club use to talk about how deep it was, I kind of humored him for I figured it was out dated. I know there were many used here then they all went to the CZ20, at the time I guess it was the New Hot machine to have and still holds its own with the right hunter.

[Tony]

2 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

That is a great price... I seen Jimmy had this down on his notes.. interesting to see what went into putting all together. 

What a great snapshot of the Cuda parts breakdown. I wonder if Jim was behind the original schematic or whether its origins were from elsewhere ? 100 units out there somewhere !

[Tony]

2 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

Tony that would have been great to test a Eric Foster.. WOW!

 

12 inches on a wedding band is good on the PI 3000. I know the old guy Bill at the club use to talk about how deep it was, I kind of humored him for I figured it was out date. I know there were many used here then they all went to the CZ20, at the time I guess it was the New Hot machine to have and still holds its own with the right hunter.

Can you imagine an AQ "brain" in an Ikelite "body"........

[Joe Beechnut OBN]

3 hours ago, Tony said:

What a great snapshot of the Cuda parts breakdown. I wonder if Jim was behind the original schematic or whether its origins were from elsewhere ? 100 units out there somewhere !

From the pages he sent to me I would say he did it all. I was surprised he sent what he did, I did make him a couple batteries but he was very kind in what he did.  

3 hours ago, Tony said:

Can you imagine an AQ "brain" in an Ikelite "body"........

I love the AQ but I'm not even sure that would be the fix, with all the returns they should have a good idea on what needs to be addressed. It has so much potential but its like a hit record ....... with a deep scratch.

[SABucks]

On 6/1/2020 at 2:50 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

Tesoro Sand Shark - Was not a bad unit but with Tesoro out of business - stay away.

 

I beg to differ. I’ve been using Tesoro since the early ‘90s (Silver Sabre II, Golden Sabre II, Bandido IIumax and the Sand Shark, which I still own and use except for the Silver) and never had one go down/futz out for any reason. Tesoros were always well-constructed and held up to all sorts of abuse. Tesoro going out of business had nothing to do with build quality, so I’d still be confident and comfortable with one of their detectors.

[Steve Herschbach]

1 hour ago, SABucks said:

I beg to differ. I’ve been using Tesoro since the early ‘90s (Silver Sabre II, Golden Sabre II, Bandido IIumax and the Sand Shark, which I still own and use except for the Silver) and never had one go down/futz out for any reason. Tesoros were always well-constructed and held up to all sorts of abuse. Tesoro going out of business had nothing to do with build quality, so I’d still be confident and comfortable with one of their detectors.

It has nothing to do with build quality. I was a 5 Star dealer for many years, so it was also not a dis on Tesoro that needs defending. It's simply a comment on the ability to get service. Old analog detectors have capacitors that fail as they age, waterproof detectors have seals that age. As long as a person is willing and happy to either fix it themselves or find a tech and pay them to fix it, it's all good. That was all my comment was really trying to do, warn people that fixes will not be quick and easy. Anyone that uses a waterproof detector in the water a lot will almost assuredly face service issues, despite any experience you have had to the contrary.

I would say they same thing also about White’s now that the factory is closed.

[SABucks]

True point taken. Still, I’ll interject that Tesoro was one of the few (mybe the only) company that had a full lifetime warranty - and their warranties were transferrable to used second owners and beyond. Which to me says that even tho things do get old, the odds that they won’t cause an issue even years down the line is rather low because things were engineered/built that way when you’re warrantying something for its lifetime no matter who owns it.

I’ll also say the Sand Shark is about a pound lighter than others in someone’s PI list posted in this thread. PI machines are weighty beasts, but having the lightest beast is a plus.

[Tony]

Having just rebuilt an old White's PI3000, I will say this.....many of the older analogue machines, "through the hole" circuit boards can be relatively easy to fix. Even without a schematic, a visual check of components can spot burnt, bubbled or discoloured parts. Capacitors, resistors, etc can be checked with a multimeter to see if they are holding their original values. Running a magnifying glass over the PCB can often identify breaks in the copper traces, weak solder points or broken wires.

Potentiometers can be checked across the wiper points. But as always, check old batteries first and their connectors as well as audio solder points. The amount of "dead" detectors where the only problem is audio and battery related is astronomical.

What makes things easy is the PCB on these older machines are usually very accessible and often slide out plus have a lot of physical space to work on with a soldering iron. My main caution is to know where the main capacitors are (especially the big ones) and to avoid shorting these out (typically on the back of the board where their solder points protrude)....some can give quite a shock if still charged up. Other components on the charge side can be damaged by shorting accidentally.

Modern stuff.......not for me. I can't even see the parts let alone work on them.

With underwater detectors.....replace all O-rings. You can very accurately measure an O-ring with a set of digital calipers / micrometer. 

Sorry, I'm a bit off topic but thought I'd write this bit.