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Help on older Garrett

I

IndianaSmith

New member
My dad had a previous interest im MDing, and he currently has 2 older machines, one Garrett and one Fisher (I will post on that forum regarding it). Neither has seen the light of day for years, outside of the couple times I got them out to "play" with them before I developed a more serious inetrest in the hobby. When my new Ace 250 came, I could see that little twinkle in dads eye (he's 85, and still in good health). He couldn't wait until I unpacked it so he could see it. My step-mom is in bad health, and he's very limited in the time he can be away from her (which I've expressed my "concern" over with her own kids helping-out to give him alittle recreational time). He also likes to golf, and I'll stay with her so he can play golf roughly one day a week. Anyway, I'd like to offer him some help using these machines, even though they were his, he can't recall the operation of them, and has no idea where the manuals are. I'm hoping to get him out for some MDing come spring.

Garrett Coin Hunter :
Garcntrl.jpg


There's a tag on it that says "Factory updated August '76", lol....I said it was OLD :surprised: It also says " TR Discrimination, Hybrid Twin Circiut, and Faraday Shielded Coils.

I have a number of questions about it.

1- Is this a decent machine to use in this day & age?
2- Was the "Factory Update" a recall situation, or would he have had something additional done to it?
3- Does anyone know where I can view (or get) a copy of the operational manual?
4- This takes 4-9v batteries. The battery tray still functions, but is in need of replacement (bad contact points where the tray receives the batteries). It has a Part # of 23095.

This unit has the factory 8" coil:
IM002249.jpg


I have a couple questions about this as well.

1- The "ears" that fit on either side of the stem & hold the coil via the bolt are alittle "loose". They aren't molded into the top cover of the coil, they simply protrude through it. This leaves it alittle "loose", question is, can I epoxy it to strengthen it, as well as seal it from the elements?
2- In the event this is still a decent/reliable MD, are there any coil options available for it?

The owners manual is the most important, and availability of the battery tray second. Any info, advice, direction, is much appriciated!

Thanks
Smitty
 
You can go to garrett.com and possibly download a manual for it. Contact Mary Penson ( maryp@garrett.com ) and she can help you out with the other problems. She can probably tell you whether it was recalled or just sent in for an update. You should still be able to find some coins with it but it may not have the depth of the new ones and TR's didn't do well in mineralized ground.

What kind of Fisher does he have. I've owned a couple including one from that era. Can you post a pic of it?

Bill
 
Thanks for the info Bill. However, I had already searched Garretts website, and didn't have any luck finding any info on this one. I will however make use of the contact info you included & see if Mary can be of any assistance.

Only having my 250 for a few months now,and being new to the hobby, the controls on this Coin Hunter have me baffled. What I mean is how to even go about adjusting this machine to coinshoot. In relation to the 1st pic, left (bottom) to right (bottom) is a small discrimination knob, a switch that says "Twin Circuit Selector" DISC <--- o ---> NORMAL, a sensitivity increase knob, and the battery test switch (obvious to me on this one). On top right the 2 large knobs, left one (in red) is Tuning-metal to null adjustment, and (in yellow) volume, lol....that one I can figure out.

This also has a large meter on top with a needle, and goes from BAD (left) to GOOD (right) and under the needle says DISCRIMINATOR.

The FIsher is a 1265-X, and is posted on the Fisher Forum.


Thanks again
Smitty
 
Bill, I want to say "thanks" again. I emailed Mary yesterday, and received a reply from her today. Though it sounds like parts & repairs are no-longer available from them on this unit (which doesn't really suprise me), the battery tray is still availible. She is also sending me an owners manual for this unit. She was extremely helpful in her reply!

Thanks again, to both of you!
Smitty
 
I didn't think they would still have parts but figured they'd have a manual. You might try Keith Wills at brokendetectors.com for anything else you need.

Bill
 
From what I've been told, I probably won't put anything ($$) into it. It's still an old/outdated MD. I forgot to mention, Mary is retiring this month, so if anyone has had dealings with her, you might drop her a line & wish her well, she seems to be a very nice lady, and wes very helpful.

Thanks again,
Smitty
 
I used a Coinhunter in the mid seventies.The Garrett Coin Hunter I thought was a head of the competition the Compass and Whites units.The deepest coin I found with mine was two silver Franklin Halves about seven inches at a park in Albuquerque.I won a 2 1/2 Pecos coin with this unit in a seeded coin hunt.Very simple to tune sensitivity,threshold,and discrimination control.Like the rest of the metal detectors of that era you lost depth the higher you discriminated.The push bottom auto tune was nice.This unit wouldn't compete with newer metal detectors lack of depth and sweep speed.The Fisher 1265x is still a force to be reckoned with. I hope this helps.
 
[quote Uncle Willy]Yeah she's leaving the 18th. Gonna miss her. I sent her a little something. Hope everyone else does.

Bill[/quote]

Already got it covered :thumbup: This was the only occassion I'd had to have any contact with Mary, but it was obvious to me she was an extremely nice person.

Smitty
 
With experience, I have recently began sensing targets much deeper than when I originally started using my vintage unit. Can not wait to use my 2500.
[attachment 75030 IMGP0176.JPG]
 
Hi Rob. Do you still currently use it on a regular basis to hunt? And do you prefer it for any particular type hunting (or feel it has an advantage in one) say relic, cache, jewlery, etc? Out of curosity, what vintage machine is that?

Smitty
 
This is aprox. 1985, it's all I have since I got back into detecting,(GTI2500 in box till B-day) and I really have learned to use it. It is like a musical instrument, you can't just pick it up and play, unlike the ACE from what I understand. I have found jewelry, relics, old silver coins and a lot of clad. I have only detected for 30 days and get out for only less than an hour sometimes as I am very busy. I will definitely keep it as back up since it will find just about anything.
 
Got it in a garage sale, had all kinds o stuff in factory case, even some ol' white's coils, no manual tho, finally figured how to use it and it worked fine, eventually traded it for something or the other, don't member what, but it worked good, was round 10 yr back i guess, get ahold o Wills, he can fixer up i bet , good luck and HH :)
Bugar
 
I always had a like for old things, I guess that carries over into about everything. It's good to see some "vintage" MDs still out there doin' what they were built to do.

Also, I wanted to post the contact info Mary (from Garrett) passed along to me, it's the name & email for the contact once she (Mary) retires.

Melinda.harper@garrett.com

Smitty
 
Smitty, the Garrett TR Discriminator would be considered obsolete for today! I wouldn't sell it tho cause it would have many nostalgic feelings associated with it! Since you already have an Ace 250 you may want to give your dad something else! One of the other posts show a Master Hunter 7 although from around 1990 is still highly competitive with the current line-up! Other models to consider would be any of the Groundhog models, Freedom 2, Freedom 3, Master Hunter 5, Master Hunter 6, and Master Hunter DeepSeeker just to name a few!.............................HH........................Joe
 
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