Good morning (USA time at about 7:00 am).
D&P-OR said:
Well now Monte------What's with that list of detectors of yours???---"Tag along buddies (with coils listed in order of preferred use)"----your words, not mine.
First, my signature is not up-to-date but will be later. My apologies for not correcting that before posting but I guess I was tired. I will have it corrected later. A couple of things to explain about my 'tag along' list. From '65 to early '71 I only owned one detector at a time. In May of '71 I bought a new detector to make my arsenal list two detectors, and since then my personal detector arsenal has usually consisted of at least two detectors and most often four or five.
Some people, like Carl Moreland, own a personal collection of detectors that could take a moving truck to haul them during relocation, but I don't have the space nor luxury of collecting them. I only keep detectors that I own and use. Let me clarify that by saying I only own detectors I have a use for. There is no such thing as a 'perfect' metal detector so I like to own a few to complement each other.
Also, I hunt a variety of sites and sometimes the locations are not really in the friendliest neighborhoods [size=small](in some big urban cities)[/size]. At times I make sure to hunt them very early of a morning before the rougher element awakes. I am always armed for my protection, but often remote from my vehicle. On those days some detectors are left home and I travel with less appealing and simpler [size=small](cheaper)[/size] detectors in case of a break-in.
I have listed detectors in my posts for a long time. Some of my personal detectors I have not listed at the bottom of my posts. Some might be a long-time favorite, such as a White's XLT because nobody is making a 4-filter detector like them today, and there are times I grab mine just to "
take a walk down memory lane" so to speak. It's a 'fun' hobby and I like to add to the fun factor from time-to-time.
Another one listed is my old Compass Coin Hustler. Fond memories of those early years of using one of the very successful straight TR detectors, back in the days when coins were very plentiful at city parks and schools, even before we had playgrounds developed with sand or wood-chips or shredded tires. Before Discrimination was popular, or before we had Ground Balance, motion Discrimination and all the 'fancy' stuff' that came along in a few shorts years in the early-to-late '80s.
These are detector models that have appealed to me with sufficient in-the-field performance at a variety of sites that I simply enjoy using them. Are they the best? No, but they can do a good job and they are 'fun' to use. Note, also, that you will see some older and discontinued detectors in my list. Those are there to demonstrate some of the abilities of models we have had and enjoyed.
Also glance and you'll NOT see many of the more modern detector models, or even a few manufacturers not represented in my list. That's because after using and evaluating many of those detectord, even current production, they didn't appeal to me in one or more ways and lacked the fit, finish, feel/balance and performance that I like to enjoy.
Finally, I started hosting metal detecting seminars in January of 1981, so this month I am starting my 35th year of doing seminars. These are either 1-Day or 2-Day events and I own a variety of detector models so that I can demonstrate what we have and how we got to where we are. Also it lets me show, in some cases, how some modern detectors fail to accomplish some tasks well that older makes and models could handle.
I always ask attendees to bring any of their own detectors and I work many of them into the demonstration and explanation segments, but in some locals they are very brand loyal .... and often blind to reality. I have a bunch of 'tag along favorites' that I can use, but are more helpful in what I do at seminars or presentations than they are everyday search tools. They are simply, 'favorites.'
D&P-OR said:
I thought you were always saying (at least of late) that the MXT All Pro & MX5 were right up there at the top for your preferred machines---now you've got them at the bottom of your list???
The 'W' in White's comes after the other brand names. On the list you saw, the MX5 and Omega are the two lighter- weight and quick-to-grab modes that I would often grab for some quick urban hunting, the Tesoro's mainly for quick tot-lot work in shady neighborhoods or in dense iron nail challenged sites, and others because I have a 1-ton van and room to carry them to play with.
The MXT All-Pro, formerly the MXT Pro, has stayed around as my #1 detector because it works, and works well. Also because I can use a 6½" diameter Concentric coil on it which has performed fine in almost any site I hunt. I still respect the MXT All-Pro and what it can do, but I also know I don't like to stay in the past. If something new comes along that looks like it would provide a different level of performance to any detector in my personal arsenal, I am always eager to get one in-hand and see how it compares.
Anyone who visits this Nokta/Makro Forum is obviously aware of the growing interest in their products, not to mention the apparent quality of workmanship and displayed performance they seem to provide, and being a very avid, long-time detectorist I am here for the same reasons. I like performance, and I'm not so 'brand loyal' as to ignore what comes on the market that might be a fitting challenge, or even superior in some ways, to what I have been enjoying.
D&P-OR said:
How many times have you insisted that concentrics are your favorite coils---now you've got a Compass Coin Hustler (w/6" DD) at the top of your list???
It is early in the morning but I will 'insist' as the day begins that a Concentric coil is most often my preferred search coil design. I do own and use some Double-D search coils, for varying reasons. My Compass Coin Hustler has the standard 6" Double-D search coil it came with, just like my Compass 99B [size=small](one not on the list before)[/size] which sports its stock 8" Double-D search coil.
When the now defunct Compass Electronics got their start ±45 years ago, they offered the Klondike series and Yukon series. The Klondike's were BFO's that were either single coil or enclosed dual-coil designs [size=small](to compete with Garrett, especially)[/size], while the Yukon series were traditional TR's. This series was based around the Double-D coil which Don Dykstra and Henry Gorgas introduced as the first popular commercial/hobby use of that search coil design.
That was a transition era and quickly the TR was overshadowing the BFO in performance and audio appeal, and the Klondike models were short lived as those early Compass TR's w/their DD coils became highly popular. I switched over and added a few to my personal 'tag along' arsenal back then, to include the 77 and 77B, a 94B, a 99B, a 99 Auto and 77 Auto and a couple of Coin Hustlers through the years. It was using those DD coil equipped Compass models where I coined the term 'EPR' for the technique to classify bottle caps in old littered picnic groves.
Oh, look further to a current production Teknetics Omega. It, too, shows I have and use a 5" Double-D coil. Why? Because it is smaller-than-stock which I use most often in the old sites I hunt ...
AND .. because Teknetics doesn't make a smaller-size Concentric coil.
I almost kept a new Fisher F19 with the stock 5X10 DD coil, but for me and the areas I hunted it was just a little under-exciting to hang onto. I have owned a couple of Tek. T2's and while I liked them in some ways, I disliked them more, plus I would have preferred a functional-sized Concentric coil.
I wandered away from all the city parks and schools and parking strips and other grassy places on May 4th, '69 to make my first ghost town hunt, and ever since that date I have enjoyed searching ghost towns, homesteads, dance hall and recreation/picnic grove sites, old rural church and school sites, pioneer and military encampments, stage stops and railroad depots and sidings, and all sorts of similar places that often abound in trash, specifically dense iron trash. Nails, mainly, plus rusty tin and other ferrous junk.
When I have compared many Double-D and Concentric coils of similar size, the Concentric coils have usually been the best performers. I choose to use what works best for me and on the detector in hand, and that's generally been a Concentric coil. Search coil size and shape can make a difference in how they perform, as well as the detector's electronic design, so I
generally prefer a good Concentric coil. With improved detector circuitry performance, that might change.
D&P-OR said:
If that list of "tag along buddies (with coils in ORDER OF PREFERRED USE"----is out of order -----it "would be helpful to many readers" (again, your words, not mine) if you would get it straightened out!----------Del
On this point,
cadman_us was correct. They are shown in alphabetical order, buy brand, so as not to confuse anyone or show an allegiance. In the smaller text, [size=small]
(coils listed in order of preferred use)[/size], I clearly specified the search
coil I preferred to use the most for each model, and the number of coils I like for that detector model.
Third, the list does NOT show other models that I own, such as a Compass 99B, Garrett Hunter BFO, or others I stumble upon from time-to-time that I have enjoyed in the past [size=small](or long-ago past)[/size] and want to have in my personal arsenal mainly for memory sake. I can also use them in a seminar, if I want, but many are simply to help remember 'the good old days.' I also tote extra detectors along in my van for in-the-field comparison, and to use as loaners for friends, family, or other to join in a search at some site. I like to have some that I can offer their use to property owners when I work to gain access to private property sites and it helps to get it granted by coaxing them to
'join in the thrill of the search.' I've used that tactic for a few decades now.
So, to help ease the confusion, if anyone else seems confused, I am going to trim the list down to just my regular-carry detectors. That will be three or four models, and from time-to-time I might let another one ride along just for fun. I need to down-size my vehicles as there's only me and my dog, Rikki, and she doesn't detect [size=small](does help dig, however)[/size]. Shop for a smaller vehicle that's more fuel efficient so I can get away and travel to more out-of-the-way locations to enjoy what detecting provides me ..... 'fun' and some worthy old keepers.
I noticed the temperature might be about 36° for a high under mostly sunny skies on Friday & Saturday at ghost town in Eastern Oregon. If the snow is off the ground, I might make a trip that way for some in-the-field evaluation. I'll honk as I pass through Baker City [size=small](although you're probably down south were it is warmer)[/size]. If it is still to wintry I'm going to head west for some hunting.
Monte
