You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.
Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.
Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.
They are an okay detector. I mainly liked the use of the European 'black' housing and rod configuration as a change from Tesoro's gold rods and brown housings. For daily "coin shooting" in low-to-mild ground mineralization, the Shadow X2's 'Coin Check' was a handy function at times, if you wanted to ignore recovering modern US Zinc Cents. The trade-offs were that in a more mineralized environment the target's conductivity could shift slightly causing you to miss some good targets. Also, many early wheat-back cents from 1909 to about 1920, have a lower conductivity reading, as well as the majority of the Indian Head cents, causing them to also be rejected similar to a modern Zinc cent.V3i/MXT Pro said:
No, not the same because the operator can increase the variable Discrimination to determine more specifically where a target is rejected, whereas the Shadow X2's Coin Check concept had it adjusted [size=small](with an internal trimmer)[/size] for the modern Zinc cent. A predetermined rejection point that might, or might not, be a proper functional setting based upon the ground mineral challenges where you search.V3i/MXT Pro said:
No, as long as the internal Ground Balance trimmer is set at a proper setting to handle the ground mineral content with the search coil selected. Changing search coils on many "turn-on-and-go" detectors that have a preset Ground Balance, especially most Tesoro's. It is just the way it is, and I purposefully try several search coils that I want to use on any of my 'preset' GB models to pick the ones that are closest in GB performance and assign them to that detector. That is usually just two search coils, being the stock coil and one smaller-than-stock coil which is what I would be using most of the time and keep mounted to that particular model.V3i/MXT Pro said:
That's really about it. The Shadow X2 is essentially a Silver Sabre µMAX at a slightly lower operating frequency, uses the same set of search coils, and only needs to have a functional internal Ground Balance setting. I personally prefer the Silver Sabre µMAX because it has the external Threshold control, doesn't have the sometimes not-so-functional Coin Check function, and keep in mind that there were far fewer Shadow X2's produced and that makes them more difficult to find on the used detector market.V3i/MXT Pro said:
I hope your "Dealer Friend" doesn't over-charge for all his used detectors.hardrockminer said:
That $425 dollar price tag is way over what any reasonable avid detectorist should ever pay for a simple "turn-on-and-go" model.Monte said:I hope your "Dealer Friend" doesn't over-charge for all his used detectors.hardrockminer said:
Fact: The Shadow X2 is a Tesoro Silver Sabre µMAX with a very simple 'modification' to relocate the external Threshold control to a small trim-pot inside the control housing, usually stuck on the back of the control face. Then, a push-button was added, labeled "Coin Check", and an elongated end-adjust trimmer was added on the back of the control face that was set to just reject the then-newer [size=small](in circulation only about ±15 years)[/size] US Zinc Cent. Not much difference than "thumbing-the-Disc." control to accomplish the same task and used by those who didn't want to recover targets that were possibly a modern, lower-conductive Zinc. Cent.
The idea was to please a typical "Coin Hunter" who didn't like the modern penny that often was eaten up by the chemicals and minerals when lost in the ground. Naturally the problem then is that using that high a Discrimination level you would also be rejecting the US 5¢ coins, 95% or more of the commonly lost Gold Jewelry, some smaller-size Silver Jewelry, and almost all Indian Head Cents and many of the early era Wheat-Back cents that date from 1909 to about 1920 because both those penny types also tend to have a lower conductivity read-out similar to the modern Zinc Cent.
I have an absolute pristine Tesoro Silver Sabre µMAX [size=small](pronounced microMAX for folks new to Tesoro because the µ symbol is not a letter u)[/size] I acquired in the past couple of months for $150 cash. I have seen several very good to very nice Silver Sabre µMAX models surface recently on the big auction sites that sold for about $160 to $185 plus shipping, so they have gone for half or less the amount your dealer friends is asking.
The only attractive thing the Shadow X2 had going for it, in my opinion, was the thin-profile 7" Concentric coil which was thinner and much lighter than the Tesoro 7" Concentric coil, but that still shouldn't command such a price. Besides, I have three of my Tesoro's, including the Silver Sabre µMAX from which the Shadow X2 spawned, equipped with Tesoro's currently offered 6" Diameter, thin-profile Concentric coil. Tesoro lists it with the name 5.75, but the physical diameter is 6" which is not much smaller than the Shadow X2's "Super 7-Inch" coil.
I'd definitely pass on the SX2 for that price.
Monte
[size=small]Matter of fact, if we stay alert we can get more for our money by shopping around. For $400 total I got both the pristine Silver Sabre µMAX and an equally choice condition Bandido II µMAX from the same fellow! That would still leave me $25 in my pocked compared to what your friend is asking, and I ended up with a lot more versatility.[/size]
thought white gold as disc was low but no banana today 925 but still I will take it and tomorrow is another dig session 
