Garrett Recon Pro advice

[finderskeepers]

Just my luck(?) Very New to MDing and am spending a good deal of time researching all different aspects and charting a course. Curiosity had me searching several places for resale value of a couple different machines I'm considering for purchase in the next few months. So, I come across and ad for this Garrett Recon Pro for under $700. So besides the obvious sort of generic caveats as with any internet transaction with a stranger...anyone want to comment on the pros and cons of this unit for me.

I'm in the Northeast US and was looking at the Infinium as a possible tool for relic hunting, locating privys/bottle dumps and occasional surf probing. I hadn't done enough research to make a decision yet, but also don't wanna pass up what may be an incredible deal.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

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[finderskeepers]

49 views and no comments C'mon everybody has an opinion on the internet

 

[gleaner1]

Very good land mine tecter. My advice it to get a good vlf hobby machine, something designed to find rings and coins and such.

 

[chrisplay2004]

I agree, a good VLF will go deep in all metal mode.
I understand you are buying it used, but Does Garrett even sell that machine to the public?

 

[Ace350]

That's for finding mines and IED's.
If you like the Garrett brand then save some money and get the Garrett AT-Pro.
It's waterproof to 10ft. and is more suited to the type of coin and ring hunting I assume you want to do.
Unless of course you live in a country that has a lot of unexploded landmines.
Call Bart at www.BigBoysHobbies.net. tel:405-206-9010 and tell him your story.
He is a great guy to deal with and is very informative and won't sell you some expensive machine you don't need.
He is a sponsor here and tell him you are a forum member and he will hook you up with a good deal.
Happy hunting

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Very good land mine tecter. My advice it to get a good vlf hobby machine, something designed to find rings and coins and such.

Agreed, Not a good coin detector.

 

[finderskeepers]

Thank you all for your feedback. For the record, even though I'm really new at all of this, I had no illusions of this being a good coin shooting rig. I have some interest in exploring old homesteads in my area and find myself drawn to finding and digging old bottles once again. I was led to believe this was/is an Infinium on steroids and that machine seems like a good candidate for my needs.

 

[gleaner1]

I use a 1984 garrett freedom II 6" coil for finding lost bottle dumps. It is infallible at this task.

 

[finderskeepers]

I use a 1984 garrett freedom II 6" coil for finding lost bottle dumps. It is infallible at this task.

Hi gleaner1...glad to hear you have such a great weapon in your arsenal. What is it about this machine that makes it so effective? Where do you hunt?

 

[Viddy]

Garrett puts out some great detectors, and that one is a great mine detector. I saw a few on Ebay before of that and their newer one, and that is a fair price for it. I'd go snag an AT Pro for about that price and a ProPointer and Lesche Digger and you'lll be set to hunt some serious stuff! (in and out of the water!)

 

[gleaner1]

Hi gleaner1...glad to hear you have such a great weapon in your arsenal. What is it about this machine that makes it so effective? Where do you hunt?

The old garrett is used for banging thru the brush along old abandoned roads and homesites looking for trash pits, its all I need for hunting bottle patches. No need to bring the big guns on an iron hunt.

 

[John-Edmonton]

The Recon Pro is built on the Infinium platform. It has obvious ergonomic characteristics and well engineered to be compacted into small a unit able to fit in a small space. Gotta love that telescopic rod. It has some improvements over the Infinium. Instead of giving the two high-low signals for low conductors, or low-high for the high conductor signals, it only gives one signal......low for high conductors and a high for low conductors.

Is it a good detector? Darn right it is! But, you must learn WHERE and HOW to use it. I was told by many before I purchased a PI that it would be a poor choice for freshwater lake hunting. I am glad I didn't listen to that crowd....my first year using my PI (Infinium) was my best gold ring ever. Below is my summary I wrote after using the Infinium.

Garrett Countermine / ERW Divisions | Mine Detector Manufacturer



"The Infinium does have some discrimination characteristics. It's not like an accumulative type or notch found on VLF type detectors. In fact, the Infinium is entirely different then any other type of detector. What the Infinium can do as far as discrimination is concerned, is give a tone HIGH-LOW for iron, aluminum and gold. It also gives off a LOW-HIGH signal for silver, copper and again iron. So iron and other junk is always the wild card in both types of signals, as it is a Pulse Induction type of detector. However, the Infinium also comes with an iron check, which again helps with getting a better probability of what type (iron or not?) target it is. Now the Infinium has a bit of a learning curve, and if you are new to metal detecting and lack basic theory on how the machines operate, don't buy one. It will be a lesson in frustration for you.

Now having said that, other little techniques are on your learning curve to be discovered. For instance, the smoothness/roughness of the tone gives a hint as to whether it is an iron rusted target or not. The "Sustain" audio length of time that the Infinium gives after reading a target gives you a hint as to its size. The Infinium gives a double bleep on bobby pins and wire. So......if you only want to dig gold, only dig the HIGH-LOW signals. That removes a lot of signals that you can leave in the ground. Also, use the iron check, which even cuts out more targets. If you want to dig mostly coins, including old deep silver, dig only the LOW-HIGH signals. Again....use the iron check.


Is the Infinium the holy grail of detectors? No it isn't. It's a PI and loves iron, like all PI's. Iron can not be discriminated out like a VLF detector. But it goes DEEP! It must be ground balanced and a proper frequency must be picked for maxamum performance. I have pulled rings out at over 14 inches with a nice strong signal. It is one of (if not the) deepest machines available. It was designed to get gold in some of the highest mineralized soils in the world. It works in all salt water/beach environments and is water proof too.


Is it a good coin shooter? Perhaps, but only in areas where there are few targets. It's not practical for park environments, as it picks up all metals, even those that your VLF will miss. I have had some success using it in the woods, digging only the LOW-HIGH signals. It should also perform well at relic hunting too.


Where it worked best for me was in hunted out beaches where most of the targets had been removed. The best beach hunters dig ALL targets. The Infinium isn't for everyone, and is not a do it all detector. But if you give it the time it deserves to learn it properly, and use it in its proper environment, it is a killer. I have my best gold ring year ever in 15 years using this machine."

John-Edmonton

 

[finderskeepers]

John...did you have any luck with the info I passed along?

 

[John-Edmonton]

Yes I did.........he is very expensive. I will have to negotiate with him. Thanks for that information.

 

[finderskeepers]

Good to hear you made contact. The original ad was for $700...would I have been a fool to go for it based on nothing but the price... or has the price changed?

 

[dnxa]

Garrett Recon Pro has selectable "salt/surf zone" mode: Eliminate false responses from surf action.
Does anybody know how to select "salt/surf zone" mode on the Recon Pro?

 

[romanf]

To use in sand/surf; hold down negative '-' threshold button while powering on.

To adjust sensitivity: Push and Hold the "Secondary Function Button" and Push the "Threshold Buttons". It has 7 levels of sensitivity. The default sensitivity level for Recon Pro is 7 (max), so when you want to set a lower level, Push and Hold the "Secondary Function Button" and Push the (-) "Threshold Button".

Garrett Recon Pro has selectable "salt/surf zone" mode: Eliminate false responses from surf action.
Does anybody know how to select "salt/surf zone" mode on the Recon Pro?