T2 vs Time Ranger?

[Ed in SoDak]

Hi gang! My first post here!

Cool to see a forum dedicated to the T2. It looks like a very promising machine.

Owning a TR, I'm curious how it stacks up in a few areas against the T2. Some differences are apparent from reading Mike's copy of the manual and the posts about it. On others, the difference may not be clear unless you have a chance to compare the two units directly.

The T2 has manual GB, while the TR is auto/semi-auto. Winner: T2

The TR has notch and selective custom disc settings versus T2's more simple incremental disc with no notch. Sometimes it's nice to disc out a lot of trash and still keep nickels. Winner: TR

TR 3 tones, T2 up to 4. T2 wins

T2 has Motion Disc, Motion All Metal, No-Motion pinpoint. TR has No Motion All Metal and Motion Disc. T2 wins with apparently three modes.

The TR reads iron at either end of the numeric range. No ID usually means a nail or small iron, while a 299 reading is either a pop can or rusty tin can, both are easy to ignore as trash. The T2 seems to have a problem with the rusty cans coming in as something better. Is this correct? TR tentative winner in the rusty can department.

The T2 seems to have easily won the depth contest, probably due to the DD coil. Best I can do on a quarter with my TR is about 8 inches, maybe a bit deeper.

One big question remains, that of the VDI range. The TR has a 0 to 299 range while the T2 has to fit all targets into a 0 or 1 to 99 range. Does anyone feel the TR is better at ID due to the much greater numeric range? Or do targets typically span more numbers on the TR, making ID actually more vague, or is it about the same accuracy as the T2?

Target masking from nails is an issue with the TR, but I feel I might be getting a handle on dealing with that, since discovering it can detect coins near nails, but the ID is lowered and more varied to where a quarter might read as a pulltab, dime or a penny. If the site has mostly nails and little modern trash, dig all signals above iron. So, does the T2 seem to correctly ID coins found in nail beds?

Finally, coils. Haven't heard of anything but the DD coil for the T2. I'm also wondering if the T2 coil would interchange with any of the BH models?

As usual, it's never a clear path to make it easy deciding between two machines. I'd probably have to sell the TR to get even close to affording a T2, and I'd hate to give up the nice wide ID range, the better disc options and the rusty can ID. Plus 4 or 5 years of hunting experience with it.

I think the TR also has difficulty reading bottlecaps, but they tend to jump around in ID more than a coin. But even with iron disc on, they still bounce on in often enough to irritate. Fortunately, not too many sites I hunt have that problem here.

But overall, it's looking like the T2 is a definite upgrade in about all other aspects.

How do those of you who own both machines feel about them? If you had to choose just one, would you sell the TR? Or the wife's nice China? (Just kidding, honey!)

Thanks for any input!

-Ed

 

[Rick(ND)]

HI Ed,

Where in SoDak you from?? I have a new T-2 coming in and maybe we can figure out how you can try this detector and compare to your Time Ranger.
I am 35 miles southwest of Fargo, ND in a small town of Chaffee.

Rick

 

[Ed in SoDak]

Wow, that's a very generous offer, Rick, thanks! I'm on the other side of the state in the Black Hills, though.

Someone that has both machines might have made some comparisons and formed an opinion. Hopefully they'll post some thoughts. I'm mostly interested in the VDI question of resolving targets. The T2 seems to have several features that would be mighty useful out here in mining country.

Thanks for your reply!
-Ed

 

[Bill W.]

Pineapple on these forums own a Time Ranger and a T2. He's been using the TR for quite awhile.

-Bill

 

[Anonymous]

Rusty cans? You should be able to discern those simply by the size of the signal. I don't remember anyone stating this is a problem with the T-2.

 

[Ed in SoDak]

Thanks Bill,
Haven't seen any posts from him lately. I know there's several people who own both machines, maybe they'll notice the thread and chime in. I just haven't seen many comparisons between these two, just between the T2 and other brands.

I feel the Time Ranger is an oft-overlooked, yet capable detector. I'm pretty familiar with it and using it is still fun after 4 or 5 years. I'd have to sell it to afford the T2, but don't want to give it up if it has a few key features the T2 may lack. I'd sell some cameras, my '67 Jeepster or something else first!

-Ed

 

[Ed in SoDak]

Thanks, Vlad. Good point, one I hadn't considered. Just going by recall, the rusty can comment was from an earlier thread over at the BH forum. One of the testers noted that cans rang in as a high coin signal in disc mode. I'll have to dredge up the thread and refresh my memory.

On the Time Ranger, rusty cans reliably show a 299 TID, while good targets come in below this number. So any 299 reading is pretty certain to be either big rusty trash or an aluminum can. I don't recall coming across any exceptions to this in the field. Nails and "clean" iron have no numeric ID at all, the display is blank. Might be gold hits here, too, but all the gold I've tested displays some small ID number. A trash item might hit on the edge of the coil but centering up shows it as iron.

So, iron discrimination is one thing I've always felt the TR does well. Other trash items can be more variable, but I love the iron and rusty can reject.

-Ed