What hand-held pin-pointer should I buy?:poke:

[Dyna_Willie]

I am researching to buy a hand-held pin-pointer; What is the best value/quality without spending a fortune? Willie

 

[Mike from MI "Iron Brigade"]

The best is just that! Expensive! (The Sunray probe) made specifically for each detector, but worth every penny. However there are others that will do a great job for less money. My favorite but hard to find was the Merlin. Many like the Whites, but if I had to get another one it would likely be a Vibraprobe.

 

[Pete in MI]

I have the Merlin when I use my ACE 250 (if I had the cash I would have the Sunray on it). The Minelab Explorer II has the Sunray X-1 probe and it works much much better than the Merlin ever could. I had one of those pinpointers that Kellyco seem to throw into every package deal (can't remember the info on it) It was too long and bulky to be useful to me so I sold it. The Merlin fits nice in a pouch paramedics have on their belts.

If you can affor the Sunray model for your detector you'll wonder how you got along without it...even if you used something else before.

 

[Greg from Mi.]

I'd go merlin for the money. I have both at this time. As said the sunray is great as any setting that you set on your detector works on the prob as there connected. The one thing I dont like on the sunray is it detects about 2 1/2 to 3 inch's. I like a pinpointed that detect 1/2 only so I know when it right there. I carry both while detecting and use the sunray to narrow it down but the merlin to tell me exactly where your target is.
Dont get me wrong I'm not saying buy both. I had the merlin for years befor I got the sunray. If I had to do it over I'd just stuck with the merlin
Just my thoughts
Greg from Mi.

 

[gvanvekoven]

Sir - I have a vibroprobe (the water proof one). Cost me about 150.00 new. I find the battery life is not that great, likely because it goes on automatically whenever it is flipped upside down. When I am not wearing it on my side and carrying it in my car / detector bag, I think it goes on by itself and that is running the one 9v battery down. I can fix that problem myself by not putting in the battery until I reach the hunting site. I do wish it had a regular on and off switch on it instead of the flip - it - switch, or perhaps a combination of both. I thought about putting a mini toggle switch on it myself - but that would ruin it's waterproof feature. At times, I would rather have a tone machine instead of just the vibrating feature (both would be cool). Especially when it's cold and I am wearing thick gloves. That makes it hard to feel the vibration some times - especially if the battery happens to be low. When the battery is low, the strength of the vibration is less, as well as it's depth detection ability. It does have a automatic low battery feature, but it's hard to tell if it is telling me to replace the battery, or just a fluke. All in all - it has saved me a heck of a lot of digging and kept the size of the holes I have to dig a bunch smaller. My eyes are not that great and my hearing is diminished due to years of working with ammunition and explosives. Thats the main reason I went with the vibroprobe. You can find something much cheaper - for around 80 bucks, that will likely be just as suited for most purposes than the vibroprobe. If you need to use something in the water - the vibroprobe would be the best choice as far as I know. Could be wrong however. I have used it completely submerged in shallow creeks and it never leaked.

A rice burner rider. Hope that doesn't count too much against me.

 

[jassenmacher]

I have a Sun Ray on my Explorer and love it. However, I've found that nails and and small iron may pick up on the coil but then not pick up with the probe. For this reason I carry a small probe (Vibraprobe). Found this sames me time for some of the presky small iron. I do not care for the Vibraprobe. It is long an bulky. Also when it is on, it remains on for a while. Sometimes it will vibrate of portions of my clothing or find bag. My next hand held we be smaller with a manual on/off button.

If I had to choose only one, I would go with the Sun Ray. I use it heavily.

 

[Dyna_Willie]

As long as it has two wheels, that works for me!

 

[Ralph Sun Ray]

Jassen,

If you switch to pinpoint mode the X-1 will pick up small nails and anything else metal that the coil picks up. Sometimes, if the aura is large enough the coil will pick up a small nail which can fool the detector electronics in disc mode. However, when the plug is cut the aura (halo) is destroyed and the probe will null on the nail giving the correct ID. Push pinpoint and you will pick it up. Hope this helps.

Ralph (Sun Ray)

 

[Hotcz70]

my xlpro...my cz70pro...and my SE. There is no way I would ever want to hunt without one. They save me countless valuable minutes in the field.

 

[jassenmacher]

Ralph,

I'll give that a try, thanks for the tip.

 

[Mike Chgo area]

n/t

 

[SEMPERFI61]

n/t