May not be a Scorpion..................

[Sven]

but, it's as close as I'm going to get............
picked up a classic Garrett Gold Hunter ADS Groundhog.
I have been looking for one of these for sometime now and found this at a super good price.
Unlike the standard Groundhog that came with a concentric search coil, the Gold hunter comes with a DD coil.
Just like the Scorpion but is round.

Gold Hunter came out in 1985 and replaced by 1988 with the sleeker looking A2B and A3B Gold Hunter.

 

[Bugar In. USA]

Congratulations=Had one of those years back, don't remember what i ever did with it, probly traded it off=good luck

 

[KevinH]

Sounds good. Always a bargain to shop around. With all the new technology the older models sometimes do pick up more.

 

[Sven]

Was excited to open the box and see what I recieved.
Guess I expected a bit more but, will take what came as -is.
Overall in very nice shape.
Pulled out the battery tray and found 3 original Garrett brand 9 volt batteries....that's not good, one leaked. Will have to replace the battery contacts.
Not a big deal to fix, just will take a bit of time.
Came with the 10.5" DD widescan coil, was hoping it had the 7 1/2" or 8". Took a bit of plier power to turn the connector ring to remove it from the control box housing.
Peeked inside the battery tray door into the housing and the circuit board and innards look sparkling clean.
Assume now that it has been stored in a dry place since the 1980's.

Hopefully after the battery tray is repaired, the Gold Hunter will fire up.

Anyone have a spare 7 1/2" co-axial, concentric or 8" DD 5-pin 15mhz searchcoil? Do you know if the Scorpion searchcoil will work?

 

[Occupant]

Hi Sven,
I've been following your acquisition of the Gold Hunter and wondering how it might be different from my trusty Groundhog ADS. I see that it has a Tone control not on the older Groundhog, and the DD coil could sure make a difference. I imagine the electronics are otherwise similar.

Too bad about the battery tray. I know you are accomplished at repairs/mods, so I hope that turns out to be an easy fix for you.

I do have, but not for sale, several coils for the Groundhog, a 4" sniper, 8" co-axial, 7.5" & 10.5" co-planar . All 4 pin, but I bet the 4 pin variety would work on your Gold Hunter with a connector change. I found several of the coils on the big auction site, and also from Mike in Iowa, who sometimes posts as MadJack or Use-It. He comes up with the neatest stuff, sometimes.

I continue to be surprised at how well the ole' Groundhog works, especially on low conductors. It will be interesting to hear how the Gold Hunter does, once you have it beeping along.

And, a big THANKS! for your great website at TreasureLinx.com. I appreciate all the great info.
HH,
Roger in Va

 

[Sven]

Battery fix went great, easy. I used contacts from a 9 volt battery clip, pinned in place and soldered.
Found a concentric 5 pin 8" coil, hopefully get it before the ground freezes.
Not sure if the 4 pin can be converted to the 5 pin. I did inquire about it, only came up with the answer, it hasn't been done on this model Groundhog.
It has been done on the Master Hunter units. Scorpion coils will not work.

I do have a International now with a 4 pin. I will have to measure the pin values and compare them to the 5 pin. I know there is a capacitor built inside the coil for tuning.
Also from what I have found is the Gold Hunter circuit board is a bit different from the Groundhogs...............also been told the Gold Hunter was the best of the Groundhogs. They still use the Groundhogs in Australia for gold prospecting, one of the most successful and favorite detectors ever used there for that purpose. Imagine that old technology still kicking butt.

If I can find an actual Garrett schematic for the Groundhog ADS I could compare whats inside the GH. Only schematic out there is a reverse engineered schematic as Garrett will not let out the actual schematic.

The GH works great bench testing, love that adjustable tone control...............just ordered a new meter directly from Garrett. They had them in stock.
For those that need a meter it's part number #9400000 $19.95 + shipping. They no longer have any 5-pin coils.

 

[Sven]

This particular detector, like many older machines found for sale had a few problems. One I already fixed was the contacts on the battery tray.
Once that was taken care of it was time to see if it would work properly. Popped in some 9 volts and noticed some audio drifting in manual mode but, stabilized in auto mode.
Picked up a 5 pin 7 12" Groundhog searchcoil apparently with a coil connector problem, that will be totally rectified when the 5 pin plug is replaced. The detector is still functional with the connector problem. The meter was also replaced, Garrett had them in stock.


I proceeded with an air test in both all metal and disc modes. The results were ok but, knew from past experiences the GH should perform better. When they came in at my local dealer you would always have to search thru at least 12 units to find one that is somewhat hotter than the rest. Some where kind of cold.......

Decided to change out 3 electrolytic capacitors. Reason being after 26 years they will tend to dry out. Performance suffers as well as other problems surface such as the audio drifting.

Two air tests were made, before and after the capacitors were changed. If you look at the chart, you'll see the improvement and no more drifting audio.
Identical batteries and settings were used.

May not be a Scorp, close as I'm going to get.

 

[parrott]

Great... it anyone is still looking for old Garretts like this, my non-ADS 'groundhog' is gathering dust (as are many other oldies") in the back room of Pedersen's Metaldetectors now in Stanton California. If anyone is interested in such an oldie, reply to this thread and ask; I'll post Pedersens email as reply for all to see,,, hope this is okay with the forum webmaster? js.