Pinpoint And Depth: Necessary Or Not?

[californiagold]

I thought I would see how much pinpoint and depth is actually used with different detectorist. or are these features even needed for every day detecting. maybe without them, manufactors could even cut the cost alittle. personally, I have rarely ever used these features. most anyone, including myself have developed an eye to coil coordination and usually are near spot on when digging out a target. even after awhile a novice detectorist seems to develop this skill. after that pinpointing just seems to slow you down. and for depth, is it really necessary to know how deep your target is. maybe it is needed, maybe not. and for some detectors including the fors line. the button does bother some. it kinda cuts down on your options of how you can hold the joystick. anyway it would be interesting to see what other detectorist think, and their uses for these features. or are they a real deal breaker in considering a detector purchase.

[Norvic]

Agree, whilst I have a pinpointer, very rarely carry when gold hunting. But have found it is a good tool when chasing coins, it helps ensure one doesn`t dig large holes in sensitive lawns.

[DDancer]

Yah know if the information is available, pinpoint and depth *well a general idea of it*, why not integrate it?  In the end the user will figure it out for themselves if its something they want to use or will rely on alternate methods. *screwdrivers say ;)*  In some machines with certain coils depth and pinpointing are very useful to me and as a user attractive features.  To a newbie they are just confusing but to some degree, if they stick with it, these things become the standard for other purchases... ya think?

[californiagold]

16 minutes ago, Norvic said:

Agree, whilst I have a pinpointer, very rarely carry when gold hunting. But have found it is a good tool when chasing coins, it helps ensure one doesn`t dig large holes in sensitive lawns.

I was mainly talking about built in pinpointers on detectors norvic. But yeah, handheld pinpointers are definitely a good tool for situations like digging big deep pi holes or gpz. especially just to make sure you didnt dig 2 feet past the target, when it was in the side of the hole all along. and some also want to see where the target is before they destroy it will the pick. 

[californiagold]

17 minutes ago, DDancer said:

Yah know if the information is available, pinpoint and depth *well a general idea of it*, why not integrate it?  In the end the user will figure it out for themselves if its something they want to use or will rely on alternate methods. *screwdrivers say ;)*  In some machines with certain coils depth and pinpointing are very useful to me and as a user attractive features.  To a newbie they are just confusing but to some degree, if they stick with it, these things become the standard for other purchases... ya think?

Yeah if a detector comes with it all ready; some might use these features. But if they dont, maybe they can sell them cheaper. do some detectorist find that they have to have these for what they detect for. I know nowdays even with cars. Every little feature just makes the car more expensive.  For instance,  a car that will parallel park it self. I think everybody can do that themselves. would people pay for something like that or save a little money. same with detectors,  what features are absolutely needed for their line of detecting. 

[Steve Herschbach]

Nugget detecting I never use either feature. I can eyeball targets well enough, and depth indications are calibrated for coins and meaningless for gold nuggets. A pinpoint mode is usually just an all metal mode anyway and lots of nugget detectors are running in all metal all the time.

Turf detecting coins in parks? I always always use a pinpointer as a first check to see if I can just use a screwdriver to pop the target. I assume you mean the detector pinpoint function however. Again, in a park when employing a silent search disc mode, the pinpoint function can allow you to easily size a target that might otherwise just be a beep like everything else. A sprinkler head may make a nice coin type beep, but triggering pinpoint reveals instantly it is way too large a target.

Depth reading can provide similar clues on coins. Most machines are calibrated for a dime size target. If it says 5" to the dime, and you are at 7" and no dime or penny yet, you have nearly always found a deeper larger target mimicking a penny/dime. You can keep going if you like but I have learned time to fill the hole back in and move on.

Reality is I don't use either feature a lot, but it would save virtually nothing if left off the detector. I prefer to have a feature I may not use as opposed to wishing I had it and it was not there. Again I am talking general purpose machines. You can leave the features off any nugget detector I ever use and I will never miss them.

[deathray]

Im with ya Calgold, pretty much never use pinpoint feature on any detector. Actually forget they even have them.

[tvanwho]

I often use pinpoint to size the target and detune it to a sharp point, at least on my Tesoro Lobo anyway. Depth is not very accurate as often I recover a 4 inch target reading  in the 1st 2 inches, 6 or more inches seems more accurate on my Ace 250 or MXT.

[californiagold]

1 hour ago, DDancer said:

Yah know if the information is available, pinpoint and depth *well a general idea of it*, why not integrate it?  In the end the user will figure it out for themselves if its something they want to use or will rely on alternate methods. *screwdrivers say ;)*  In some machines with certain coils depth and pinpointing are very useful to me and as a user attractive features.  To a newbie they are just confusing but to some degree, if they stick with it, these things become the standard for other purchases... ya think?

Once in awhile on fors plus I try to use pinpoint button to ground balance. so far it is not working out for me. ive ground balanced the fors plus a hundred times. but I think I get that left brain right brain thing going on and hit the wrong button

[Norvic]

Californiagold, realise you were talking of pinpoint ability on VLFs, but although the Deus has this ability, have not used as prefer(read- got used of) dedicated pinpointer, as per last post. Having said that I could not say whether pinpointing built into a detector has advantages, will have to give it a shot on the Deus. It should be of use as it is a non-motion mode.