Finding My Invisible Dog Fence, How Much Detector Do I Need?

[Tron]

5 minutes ago, strick said:

Why not just use a rake…

You wouldn't believe how much the cable gets overgrown with grass and gets anchored really well. A rake is useless. 

[strick]

8 minutes ago, Tron said:

You wouldn't believe how much the cable gets overgrown with grass and gets anchored really well. A rake is useless. 

Ok then a weed eater and a really stiff rake…not trying to be a smart ass here just practical…👍

strick

[Tron]

I get it.

But no, not really that practical, you'd have to grind the turf down to zero to actually see it (not really beneficial to the turf) and I'm not sure if the cable insulation would withstand a weedeater string.

[Chase Goldman]

One other issue you might run into with the Vanquish (as well as the ML Xterra Voyager that was also previously recommended) is that it also does not have adjustable ground compensation (aka ground balance).  If you plan to run it in All Metal mode, that means that it if your ground has high ferrous content/mineralization then will likely find that everywhere you swing will sound like iron.  If you have mild ground it won't be as much as an issue.  Just another thing to watch out for.  If that becomes an issue and the lack of pinpointing feature is problematic and you feel that a pinpointer is simply too expensive for what it does (again the pinpointer I recommended could also balance out the ground) then I would recommend stepping up to the Minelab Xterra Pro at $260 or the Nokta Simplex BT at $250.  They both have the essential features of pinpointing and ground balance that will get the job done.  FWIW.

[Tron]

Thanks, very helpful!

[GB_Amateur]

Below is a recent classified value which is not only the right price but a member of the family (Fisher F75) of one of the best single frequency detectors ever:

 

[blackflag]

I have been running it hot with a 5” f75 coil and it’s hyper like the first f75 and one of the deepest small coils/machine combo.

[Chase Goldman]

Yeah, it's a nice coil too, for the task at hand.

[PimentoUK]

If you own / can borrow an electricians cable-finder / plumbers pipe-finder tool, you may find the staples are detectable.

As this is going to be an 'annual' exercise, perhaps intentionally bury a couple of dollars worth of 1 cent coins an inch below the surface above the cables, once you have their location determined. They will be easy to find subsequently.