Ed in SoDak
Member
I called Tek/BH today and got to speak with Maggie. Nice people at BH! She was familiar with my unit being in for repair of an intermittent coil and installation of the newest upgrade. She also knew a little about the Revision 6 (R6).
I asked to speak with Dave Johnson, but was told that he was on vacation till April 12th. Once my questions got technical, she asked if I wanted to speak with one of the techs and would I hold - Yes, for sure!!
The tech I spoke with was the one who personally worked on my bum coil. He said it was a hard-to-find intermittent in the shield connection that was difficult to make repeat, but that was verified as the problem I'd been seeing with my coil.
I then quizzed him on the "R6" revision. This is what the tech told me. While I kept notes, he talked quickly, so I hope I got it all down correctly! My revised T2 was shipped yesterday, so with luck, I can verify much of this by this weekend, maybe sooner.
The revision has added a NEW tone mode, called "DP." This is in addition to the other modes, it does NOT replace any existing tone mode. It places nickles as a low tone and handles bottlecaps the same as the "revised" 3b mode, which has been modified to help with bottlecaps.
ALL the other tone modes remain as they were with no changes.
I had a hard time getting my question across, they didn't seen to 'get" the implications that are so apparent to us. But the answers I got indicated that now we will have a CHOICE between nickles as a high tone and also as a more traditional low tone. Not a one-way street, the user will be able to choose between high or low nickles.
That's MAJOR news. I recommend waiting till I can verify exactly which modes read nickles as high or low before we all get too excited one way or the other. But, thus far, it looks good for both sides of the "nickle camp."
I forgot to ask if nickle TID would also change between high or low tone. It was tough enough to phrase my other questions properly, we may have just confused each other further! I was happy to get what info he did share.
The bottlecap issue is dealt with in both the "revised" 3b and "new" DP tone modes by altering the "raise coil" message to include rusty bottlecap signals. Raise the coil, and bottlecaps should ID better. It did not appear as though they changed the detector's basic response to bottlecaps, they just programmed in the "raise coil" message. Again, I'll try to verify this with the actual unit in hand.
By the description given to me, it looks like those who may be concerned about the existing performance being altered need not worry, since the mods are restricted to the 3b and the new DP modes.
Another very interesting new mod is the addition of a sensitivity adjustment for Pinpoint mode. While holding the switch to Pinpoint, if you turn the knob, it will increase or decrease pinpoint sensitivity. I think I will like this addition!
Besides all this, the battery level indicator has been revised to more closely track actual voltage drop. This was done to address some customers' comments.
That was about all I could get out of him. I thanked him and Tek for producing such a great machine and let him get back to work. This would seem to be what's included in the "R6" revision, or at least it's the major stuff.
Once I have my T2 back, I will attempt to verify as much of this as soon as possible. My machine was shipped out yesterday, so there's a good chance I'll have it back either tomorrow or on Friday. I should be able to do a quick check right away, and we're planning a full day on Sunday to go on a hunt with it.
Hope this helps dispel some of the mystery!
--Ed
I asked to speak with Dave Johnson, but was told that he was on vacation till April 12th. Once my questions got technical, she asked if I wanted to speak with one of the techs and would I hold - Yes, for sure!!
The tech I spoke with was the one who personally worked on my bum coil. He said it was a hard-to-find intermittent in the shield connection that was difficult to make repeat, but that was verified as the problem I'd been seeing with my coil.
I then quizzed him on the "R6" revision. This is what the tech told me. While I kept notes, he talked quickly, so I hope I got it all down correctly! My revised T2 was shipped yesterday, so with luck, I can verify much of this by this weekend, maybe sooner.
The revision has added a NEW tone mode, called "DP." This is in addition to the other modes, it does NOT replace any existing tone mode. It places nickles as a low tone and handles bottlecaps the same as the "revised" 3b mode, which has been modified to help with bottlecaps.
ALL the other tone modes remain as they were with no changes.
I had a hard time getting my question across, they didn't seen to 'get" the implications that are so apparent to us. But the answers I got indicated that now we will have a CHOICE between nickles as a high tone and also as a more traditional low tone. Not a one-way street, the user will be able to choose between high or low nickles.
That's MAJOR news. I recommend waiting till I can verify exactly which modes read nickles as high or low before we all get too excited one way or the other. But, thus far, it looks good for both sides of the "nickle camp."
I forgot to ask if nickle TID would also change between high or low tone. It was tough enough to phrase my other questions properly, we may have just confused each other further! I was happy to get what info he did share.
The bottlecap issue is dealt with in both the "revised" 3b and "new" DP tone modes by altering the "raise coil" message to include rusty bottlecap signals. Raise the coil, and bottlecaps should ID better. It did not appear as though they changed the detector's basic response to bottlecaps, they just programmed in the "raise coil" message. Again, I'll try to verify this with the actual unit in hand.
By the description given to me, it looks like those who may be concerned about the existing performance being altered need not worry, since the mods are restricted to the 3b and the new DP modes.
Another very interesting new mod is the addition of a sensitivity adjustment for Pinpoint mode. While holding the switch to Pinpoint, if you turn the knob, it will increase or decrease pinpoint sensitivity. I think I will like this addition!
Besides all this, the battery level indicator has been revised to more closely track actual voltage drop. This was done to address some customers' comments.
That was about all I could get out of him. I thanked him and Tek for producing such a great machine and let him get back to work. This would seem to be what's included in the "R6" revision, or at least it's the major stuff.
Once I have my T2 back, I will attempt to verify as much of this as soon as possible. My machine was shipped out yesterday, so there's a good chance I'll have it back either tomorrow or on Friday. I should be able to do a quick check right away, and we're planning a full day on Sunday to go on a hunt with it.
Hope this helps dispel some of the mystery!
--Ed
Now on the bottle caps I will reserve comment till I can get mine in have it upgraded and try it out. Sounds great though. The low battery thing I never even realized there was an issue. I knew that the indicator read differently on straight Alkalines vs rechargeable type alkies but I never saw that as an issue. If we're talking about how fast the battery life will drop after you get to a certain drain then yes I have witnessed that. In any case I really appreciate how FrstTx
stepped to the plate to get the users what they wanted in such a timely fashion.
