What Machines Have You Had The Least Fun With, & The Most?

[Critterhunter]

It isn't always about the most expensive or powerful detector. Certain machines are just "fun" to use for some reason. What machine was that for you? On the other hand, which machine was the least amount of fun for you as well? Remember, not talking performance here. Just pure impressions of what was fun or not fun to you for some reason.

Many people say (probably more so than any other brand in my general experience) that they have great fun with their Tesoros. Never met a so passionate group of people who seem to truly enjoy the sport and the fun factor of just digging, regardless of what they find. Oddly, for me the two Tesoros I owned were probably the least amount of fun I ever had. Not having tone alerts or a VDI made avoiding a lot of trash a real hassle for me. I just felt "blind" when hunting. Other than that they sure were light machines, and in that sense they were very "fun" to just go out and use. I can see where people with the mindset of digging it all and having fun seeing what pops up would love those machines. Who needs a VDI or tone alerts when it's just plain old fun to see what the next target is. Not knocking them, just saying it takes different folks for different detectors. I owned the VLF Tesoro water machine (forget the name but they still make it) and it was the best constructive water unit I've ever seen in terms of the battery compartment and all that.

 

[matthias]

Ive actually had the most fun with my Bounty Hunters; Sharp ShooterII and Pioneer 505. Next would be my White's DFX. Lastly would be my Minelab Sovereign GT. Of course my most exciting finds have been with the DFX and GT. It is what it is. HH. Matt

 

[scampman_73]

I Loved my Bounty Hunter Red Baron! It was tons of fun... but the handle made it rather akward after a while. It was a fun machine to learn on.

 

[Thound]

I like my VX3 for all out fun. With 3 freqs it's like using 3 machines at the same time. Hard to top that. 3 times the FUN!!!

 

[Critterhunter]

I'd say I had the most "fun" with my QXT Pro. Light, constructed well, user friendly hardware, could sweep at any speed from slow to fast depending on my mood, and so on. I don't have as much "fun" with my Sovereign GT. The hardware isn't as user friendly as a Whites and it was heavy. I took care of some of those issues by building a custom light weight shaft, using a lighter Whites arm cup, running a lipo battery in it, mounting the meter on top of the hand grip where it should be on any real detector, and wiring up a remote pinpoint trigger switch hanging down from the grip like it also should be on any good detector. All those things and the weight savings dropped about a pound and a half from the weight and made the machine much more user friendly.

However, even with those mods I honestly don't feel the "fun" factor as much as I did with my QXT Pro. The GT is a serious machine with a serious powerful "feel" to it that says to me "Let's get down to business." Part of that is the slower sweep speed I have to use to compensate for it's slow recovery speed (not an issue so long as you do that). It kind'a makes me feel like I have to slow down and be more "serious" in my hunts. Sort of like being quiet when you enter a church, if you can even relate to what I'm trying to say.

All that being said, it IS a serious machine when it comes to performance, so I'm willing to sacrifice a little of the "fun factor" in trade for the great depths and unmasking this machine has done for me better than any I've ever owned. Hard to put into words....Maybe it's like the difference between driving a fast little cheap foreign car versus your dad's luxury car. The luxury car loses some of the fun factor in certain ways, but it's got so much more to offer you in a DIFFERENT way in terms of the total driving experience (or end results in terms of metal detectors). That's as good of an analogy as I can relate.

 

[tabman]

My Tesoro Bandido II uMax will get your heart to pumping really fast when it locks onto a good target. It screams DIG!.

tabman

 

[Critterhunter]

That's one of the Tesoros I used to own. Nice powerful light machine, but with no VDI or tone alerts as said I felt "blind" in my hunting. Hampered in a way. Not saying that those types of machines aren't VERY fun to the right person. Some people get more fun out of just digging and not worrying so much about trying to figure out what the target is going to be. I'm not one of those people, but that doesn't make it less of a machine to a lot of others of course. For some it offers more than a lot of other machines. Just depends on what you are looking for.

 

[joelogan25]

My least favorite was the pioneer Lone Star because it didn't have a pinpoint function, second least was the whites MXT only because I didn't spend enough time on it. Ace 250, GTI 2500 and Dual field round out the top 3, each equally impressive for different reasons!

 

[TerraDigger]

Least favorite....a top line Garrett from 1992. Favorite...my current Omega with 3 coils.

 

[Hombre]

My least favorite: Minelab Explorer ll will probably be in this catagory, it was heavy, made weird noises, would find silver dimes at insane depth, went into deep sleepy nulls in the threshold when hunting close to old houses where the yard was full of roofing nails. I should have kept it, because it was a deep silver finder, but my arms could not handle the weight for very long.

My recent friend for a couple of years, the old (circa 1990)) Tesoro Pantera with it's two tone motion discrimination mode is a killer in the aluminum trash, set the notch control to break tone or have a blended/high tone/low tone with a zinc penny. The ED-120 disc circuit at minimum disc takes care of the nails, the low tone for the low conductivity spectrum including foil, nickels, pull tabs, gold rings are in this mix of trash,on up to scew cap/zinc penny with the split tone warble. The notch control can be set at any place in the conductivity range, but I set mine at zinc penny. The high tone I set for copper penny and higher conductors. Yesterday, I was hunting in the local pounded park when I got a high tone and a few inches away I got a low tone, ended up with a clad dime about three inches deep and a pulltab at the same depth only two to three inches away. Try that one with a new digital detector.

 

[Dude]

I love my F2, it's simple to use, loves silver and gets real descent depth with the 11" DD coil
Next for me would be Bounty Hunter Platinum.

Most unlikeable for me would be the CoinStrike it thought ever piece of trash was a good target and the Whites V3i, that thing was as heavy as a boat anchor and had over a 160 settings. I spent most of my time screwing with the settings instead of detecting.

 

[Smudge]

Least favorite was the Teknetics Omega. That was the noisiest, chattiest metal detector I ever owned. The target ID jumped all over the place. And yes, I had it properly ground balanced. I traded that thing within 48 hours of owning it.

The most fun are my two Tesoro land machines: the Golden uMax and the Compadre. The Compadre is the tot lot/gold king in my book. My best gold and my most interesting finds have been made with that machine. The Golden I love for the tones and notching feature, especially when i just want to coin shoot.

The Tesoro's are really well built and I love their light weight. I can swing them all day and never and get tired. Love that brand!

 

[Deno]

I started out with the cheapest Fisher and loved it.

I got a GTI 2500 and kept it for 5 years.

I took weekly azz whippings from a XLT and a Nautilus for 5 years.

The 2500 was a cherry picker.

No adjustment for iron.

No adjustment for to many other things to mention here.

Poor design on the battery compartment.

The talking part is about the dumbest thing I can think of.

The only thing it had going for it was the bell tone and the size thing.

I almost forgot, it did have a fantastic all metal mode.

Its a yuppie touch and go machine.

I talked to a guy at Garrett's and he told me to adjust the frequency.

I knew then and there it was time for a new machine.

I bought a XLT.

The XLT and GTI 2500 seem equal on depth, about 6" to 7" for quarter.

The first night out with my XLT I found a old coin in some real trash.

I knew I had a weapon in my hand, and I have never looked back.

My finds increased dramatically.

There is no beating the tone id, vdi and signa graph along with all of the other adjustments.

 

[gobum62]

Positively the Tesoro Golden Umax, sooo light weight and very precise on pin pointing!
Minelab Quattro a little heavy and slow recovery, not the machine I expected but maybe I don't live in the ideal location. Any research on this machine is hard to come by

 

[crabby]

Owned a Bounty Hunter Land Star,,,,,big mistake. Lots of valuable time wasted.

Whites XLT and currently my MXT.

Crabby Ron

 

[larryk56]

My least favorite was the Whites V3 and the
Minelab Explorer. I felt they were too heavy and
complex not to mention costly.

The minelab Safari was ok but just wanted to
try something different.

My favorite machines include the Tesoro Compadre
and the Tesoro Cibola.

Right now I am on the AT Gold bangwagon and find
that the machine provides alot of information and
pinpoint is dead on!

This is a very addicting hobby that makes you want to
try all kinds of machines. Eventually, we all find our
keepers!

 

[skookum]

High,
My 1270 has no tone ID and no meter - thus I dig a lot of cr(xx) as it loves iron to boot.
The 6000 is a heavy bugger.
I

 

[skookum]

Sorry,posted twice.

 

[vanstheman3]

[size=medium]I'm fairly new with only 6 months. I started with a Minelab 705 GP, It had several Defects from the factory but being a newby and knowing many newbies think they Got a defective MD, I worked very hard and spent massive time trying to learn a defective machine! So It's easy to guess what detector has been my least favorite! It has now been Repaired and works perfectly, But It's still the first of my 3 MDs I would sell! Unlike a previous poster, I really like my Coinstrike. It is heavy and I'm not wild about the numerical depth and pinpointing, But it's depth wont be beat by many detectors! My favorite and most fun detector is my Tesoro Deleon! It provides what is probably the least amount of information of any TID detector But I have found mine to be Dead On In depth reading, and if the combo TID and graphs Match Its is Dead On the target! It's very well made, Very turn on and go, very accurate, and very light weight! Oh and its depth is better than many higher priced MDs! GL & HH Pat
[/size]

 

[sandnsea49]

My most fun machine was the first one I ever had. It was a Bounty Hunter Big Bud. Found lots of silver and indians etc. loved the blanking feature and it pinpointed great. Of course it was my first love so it has many good memories. My least favorite was the Tesoro Tehon. I could not get used to not having a meter. Started with one so I guess I was spoiled. Today I have an Etrac and am in love again. very accurate ID, depth meter and sounds. I have owned an XLT, CZ3D, Explorer XS, Tehon, Big Bud, the Etrac and now have the Deus. The jury is still out on the Deus. Have thought about selling it but I love the light weight and fast recovery and wireless features, especially when it gets hot in the summer and I like the idea of changing frequencies with the push of a button.