What is your favorite older low tech detector?

MuddyMo · May 25, 2020

What is your favorite older low tech detector(s) that you won't sell or wish you hadn't and why?
For me:

The White's Classic II SL- great balance, quiet, switchable coils and trigger all metal pinpointer.

The Fisher 1235X- deep and no motion pinpointer.

GKL · May 25, 2020

Bounty Hunter Tracker IV

It simply works pretty good for the amazingly low price !

While it doesn't get any use right now since I now have a Nox 800, I still want to keep it as an emergency back-up IF I ever have to send in the Nox for repairs, or eventually I might be able to get my wife to very occasionally join me on a hunt.

shellhouse · May 25, 2020

Good idea for a thread. Only have the old style Lobo so not much to add unfortunately. Looking to upgrade it to a Lithium Ion battery pack and Bluetooth audio for various reasons.

waltr · May 25, 2020

I built a Tesoro Golden Sabre and like how it works.
Did also build a VDI graphic display that raises it to a new level. The display shows an X-Y graph of the two synchronous signals that provides a lot of information about the target.
The audio out goes into a Blue tooth TX and I am using APX headphones.

Soil Surgeon · May 25, 2020

I'm keeping my White's M6 .It has good depth and separation , durably built , nice balance and uses either double AA batteries or a rechargeable power source .It also has a great selection of coils available and I'm also still able to get it repaired by White's if need be . I like the knobs and switches also .

Silversmith45 · May 25, 2020

My all-time favorite detector is my Teknetics 9000B. It was ahead of it's time when it came out. I need to get it tuned up because it doesn't have the depth that it used to have. I would never sell it.

Bowtie1940 · May 25, 2020

Love my Groundhog!

Exhausting in a trashy spot dealing with pull tabs, bits of shredded beer/soda cans, etc.

But on virgin soil, I found my only seated silver many years ago (1889 dime) at least 8" down!

Had to scrub the signal to be sure it at least matched the two modes.

Groundhog has a toggle switch at the end of the handle you must toggle to switch between ground cancel and discriminate modes.

Tom

DIGGER27 · May 25, 2020

My Compadre...as a primary jewelry hunter it has paid for itself 10 times over, or more.
Also have a Mojave and that seems to be just as good or better.

And I still have my old F2, don't pull it out anymore for myself but I keep it around for guests.
I was massively and shockingly successful with that one too.

shellhouse · May 25, 2020

waltr said:
I built a Tesoro Golden Sabre and like how it works.
Did also build a VDI graphic display that raises it to a new level. The display shows an X-Y graph of the two synchronous signals that provides a lot of information about the target.
The audio out goes into a Blue tooth TX and I am using APX headphones.

That sounds awesome! The Golden Sabre II looks nearly if not identical to the Lobo & LST housing. Looks like the original Golden Sabre was a little different.

Interested to learn how you constructed the VDI unit. Have you made any write-ups about it?

Martin_V3i · May 25, 2020

Soil Surgeon said:
I'm keeping my White's M6 .It has good depth and separation , durably built , nice balance and uses either double AA batteries or a rechargeable power source .It also has a great selection of coils available and I'm also still able to get it repaired by White's if need be . I like the knobs and switches also .

If the M6 can be old tech, I vote for it 100 percent also.

Tinhorn3 · May 25, 2020

bought a Compass RM 6 around 1970's - it "Never" lied LOL but it died ~1995 or so, I miss the old guy

SkiWhiz · May 25, 2020

I had a Tesoro Toltec II that I really liked. Also a Tesoro Conquistador uMax that was real enjoyable to use.

waltr · May 25, 2020

shellhouse said:
That sounds awesome! The Golden Sabre II looks nearly if not identical to the Lobo & LST housing. Looks like the original Golden Sabre was a little different.

Interested to learn how you constructed the VDI unit. Have you made any write-ups about it?

It was a multi-person project on GeoTech with Board available from a guy in England. Being my first VLF detector build I bought the PCB but built the coils. Now have a 10" DD coil which is great for general use and an 8" concentric which is great for trashy or iron riddled places.
Here are the project links to the TGSL (my user name is the same on GeoTech):
https://www.geotech1.com/forums/showthread.php?15710-TGSL-Complete-Details

and the VDI display:
https://www.geotech1.com/forums/showthread.php?23823-VDI-RODERICO

Picture showing display- note the circle is AC Mains interference inside my house. This goes away when nor near AC Mains.

mh9162013 · May 25, 2020

Garrett AT Pro

Stiffwrists · May 25, 2020

mh9162013 said:
Garrett AT Pro

Haha. Those are fighting words! My congrats to an instigator.

shellhouse · May 25, 2020

waltr said:
It was a multi-person project on GeoTech with Board available from a guy in England. Being my first VLF detector build I bought the PCB but built the coils. Now have a 10" DD coil which is great for general use and an 8" concentric which is great for trashy or iron riddled places.
Here are the project links to the TGSL (my user name is the same on GeoTech):
https://www.geotech1.com/forums/showthread.php?15710-TGSL-Complete-Details

and the VDI display:
https://www.geotech1.com/forums/showthread.php?23823-VDI-RODERICO

Picture showing display- note the circle is AC Mains interference inside my house. This goes away when nor near AC Mains.

That's really impressive. I read some of the posts on the links and it's like a whole other world. Looks like you guys have done a lot of development to pull off those feats of engineering.

waltr · May 25, 2020

shellhouse said:
That's really impressive. I read some of the posts on the links and it's like a whole other world. Looks like you guys have done a lot of development to pull off those feats of engineering.

Yes it is. I work as an electronic engineer and all this suff is fun. Another great part is that the people are all over the world and collaborate on these projects.

My other detector is a PI that I designed and built. It has GB so works well in highly mineralized soil and black sand. Bad part is no iron disc so always dig all rusty things.

Sven · May 26, 2020

We took Carl Morelands Barracuda PI on Geotech and redesigned it into a PI dedicated as a gold machine. See more on my website.

https://www.treasurelinx.com/projects.html

https://www.treasurelinx.com/mirage_pi_2.html

It's a blast to use.

Built one for my friend in Australia in red to match his motorcycle.

hanoverdigger · May 26, 2020

The Nautilus 2b. I'll never let this one go. It has paid for itself with MANY civil war relics. I still use it from time to time.

hoser · May 26, 2020

My Garrett AT3. I found a lot with that machine, and regretted selling it shortly after. Funny but that seemed to be the predecessor to the AtPro.

What is your favorite older low tech detector?

MuddyMo

GKL

shellhouse

waltr

Elite Member

Soil Surgeon

Silversmith45

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Bowtie1940

DIGGER27

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shellhouse

Martin_V3i

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Tinhorn3

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SkiWhiz

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waltr

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mh9162013

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Stiffwrists

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hoser

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