Any of you Old Timers remember one of these??

Dave N Japan

Bronze Member
Mar 31, 2006
1,192
540
Japan
Detector(s) used
CZ-3D, CZ-20,CZ-21, F-75 LTD, AT Pro, F-44
Fisher Impulse 8 and 10,
GTA 750 CTX (new)
ADS Master Hunter 7 (Retired)
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Not sure what year I bought this Garrett ADS 7, The picture was around 1990. This was a big move up because it had a meter that gave you a idea of what you had plus depth. The ADS 5 I had before this just had depth, but the depth worked well for knowing if it may be old or not.

Boy, I wish I looked like that now" This was in front of a cave and I did fine one bronze coin in this area dating to the early 1600's
Ginoza Cave Circa 1993 (1).jpg
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
ADS 7 dates to the mid 1980's. I had the predecessor, the ADS 2, which dated to 1983.
 

DeepseekerADS

Gold Member
Mar 3, 2013
14,880
21,725
SW, VA - Bull Mountain
Detector(s) used
CTX, Excal II, EQ800, Fisher 1260X, Tesoro Royal Sabre, Tejon, Garrett ADSIII, Carrot, Stealth 920iX, Keene A52
Primary Interest:
Other
ADS 7 dates to the mid 1980's. I had the predecessor, the ADS 2, which dated to 1983.

Tom, I think it was earlier. I know I had my ADS III in '82. Got that receipt here somewhere in these boxes behind me. One of these days I'll get to that!
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
You're right. The II and III were available by 1982. Because now that I think of it, I was using it during the storms that break down Coast in the winter of '82 - '83.
 

against the wind

Gold Member
Jul 27, 2015
24,797
24,977
Port Allegheny, Pennsylvania
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
E-trac, Excalibur, XP Deus, & CTX 3030.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I had an AT 3 in the 80's, no meter, but it would give you different tones. Beep and Dig. I did well on the beach with it.
 

OP
OP
Dave N Japan

Dave N Japan

Bronze Member
Mar 31, 2006
1,192
540
Japan
Detector(s) used
CZ-3D, CZ-20,CZ-21, F-75 LTD, AT Pro, F-44
Fisher Impulse 8 and 10,
GTA 750 CTX (new)
ADS Master Hunter 7 (Retired)
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I had a At-3 yellow box, first time I took in the water I cleaned up....got the bug for the water and then got the Fisher impulse.
Notice the Hot Head coil on the ADS -7
 

Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
19,422
30,105
White Plains, New York
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1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Legend// Pulsedive// Minelab GPZ 7000// Vanquish 540// Minelab Pro Find 35// Dune Kraken Sandscoop// Grave Digger Tools Tombstone shovel & Sidekick digger// Bunk's Hermit Pick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Here we go..
 

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NWMP

Hero Member
Nov 20, 2009
591
503
Riding a unicorn in the Saskatchewan mountains
Detector(s) used
Tejon, AT Pro, Simplex, Legend, and I still go home with a hand full of clad and junk some days.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Was there some truth to the stories I"ve heard. That back in the 80"s etc. guys would easily come home with half a tea cup of silver coins from untouched spots ?
 

Jim in Idaho

Silver Member
Jul 21, 2012
3,320
4,698
Blackfoot, Idaho
Detector(s) used
White's GM2, GM3, DFX, Coinmaster, TDI-SL, GM24K, Falcon MD20, old Garrett Masterhunter BFO
'Way Too Cool' dual 18 Watt UV light
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Nice list, Terry. I've got a master hunter BFO. Bought it in 1973. Have two different dual-coil setups, too.
Jim
 

Jason in Enid

Gold Member
Oct 10, 2009
9,593
9,229
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The ADS7 was my first "big boy" detector! I used that thing for many years. The one aspect I loved the most was that you really could HEAR a difference to silver targets. I could predict when the target was silver and be right about 90% of the time. After moving to a newer (computerized) machine, I could never get that kind of tone difference again.
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
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2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
Terry Solomon, thanx for the list. That puts the ADS II and III at 1982 introduction. I recall having just gotten the ADS II when the winter storms of 1982 started on our coast. So it must have just come out earlier that year.

Those 2 machines were Garrett's foray into the motion discrimination market. Ie.: their "answer" to Whites 6000's, for instance. They were several years late in doing that. Stubborn to move away from TR disc I guess :) Red Baron had it in 1977, and Whites in about '78. So as you can see Garrett was about 4 yrs. late to that game . And those II's and III's never really measured up to Whites 6000's of that era, IMHO. I always got my b#tt kicked in the turf and on the wet-salt beach, when hunting along-side Whites guys. :BangHead: But it was definitely better & deeper than the VLF/TR Groundhog I'd used up till then !
 

franklin

Gold Member
Jun 1, 2012
5,036
7,168
Detector(s) used
Garrett ADS-7X, Fisher Two Box M-Scope, Mother Lode Locator, Dowsing Model 20 Electroscope, White's TM808, White's TM900, Inground Scanners
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Not sure what year I bought this Garrett ADS 7, The picture was around 1990. This was a big move up because it had a meter that gave you a idea of what you had plus depth. The ADS 5 I had before this just had depth, but the depth worked well for knowing if it may be old or not.

Boy, I wish I looked like that now" This was in front of a cave and I did fine one bronze coin in this area dating to the early 1600's
View attachment 1364626

Hi Dave,

I bought my ADS-7X in 1990 and I still use it. You can get a two box attachment for that if you want to hunt deeper for larger targets. Great machine.
 

Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
19,422
30,105
White Plains, New York
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Legend// Pulsedive// Minelab GPZ 7000// Vanquish 540// Minelab Pro Find 35// Dune Kraken Sandscoop// Grave Digger Tools Tombstone shovel & Sidekick digger// Bunk's Hermit Pick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Was there some truth to the stories I"ve heard. That back in the 80"s etc. guys would easily come home with half a tea cup of silver coins from untouched spots ?

It is true. I used to find fist fulls of old silver with my Red Baron. Capped, Walking, Standing, silver was almost as common as clad in many areas. :skullflag:
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
It is true. I used to find fist fulls of old silver with my Red Baron. Capped, Walking, Standing, silver was almost as common as clad in many areas. :skullflag:

Which Red Baron model did you have, and what year did you get it ? What was the most silver you got in one day back then ? :)

The first guy in my town to swing a 6000d (1979-ish) would routinely get 3 to 5 silvers any day he wanted, plus all the wheaties and clad he cared to, any day he went to our town's central park. In a years time, we estimate he pulled 200+ silver from there. But now, I pity the poor fellow who tries to pull silver from this park now. Even me with all my experience and tricks will struggle to find any more silver from here. But back in the late '70s to early '80s, it was routine, even for beginners.
 

Tradertom

Sr. Member
Jul 20, 2016
349
241
South Central Georgia
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800, XP DEUS, AT PRO plus several older detector going back 45 years.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
IMG_1941.JPG
Just thought I would post a picture of one my old detectors. Still works well. It also takes a box full of batteries to fire it up.
Sorry for the upsidedown picture. Doesn't look like that on my iPad.
 

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fyrffytr1

Gold Member
Mar 5, 2010
7,500
11,870
Southwest Georgia
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, White's DFX
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Was there some truth to the stories I"ve heard. That back in the 80"s etc. guys would easily come home with half a tea cup of silver coins from untouched spots ?

Not only did we find silver coins with our detectors back in the 80s, we still got them in change frequently. I can remember walking construction sites back in the late 60s, early 70s in Hagerstown. Md. eyeballing civil war relics. I and my friends would only pick up the lead bullets because they made good skippers at the creek. The buttons were too light to throw!
 

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Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
19,422
30,105
White Plains, New York
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Legend// Pulsedive// Minelab GPZ 7000// Vanquish 540// Minelab Pro Find 35// Dune Kraken Sandscoop// Grave Digger Tools Tombstone shovel & Sidekick digger// Bunk's Hermit Pick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Which Red Baron model did you have, and what year did you get it ? What was the most silver you got in one day back then ? :)

The first guy in my town to swing a 6000d (1979-ish) would routinely get 3 to 5 silvers any day he wanted, plus all the wheaties and clad he cared to, any day he went to our town's central park. In a years time, we estimate he pulled 200+ silver from there. But now, I pity the poor fellow who tries to pull silver from this park now. Even me with all my experience and tricks will struggle to find any more silver from here. But back in the late '70s to early '80s, it was routine, even for beginners.

I want to say 1977-'78 on the Red Baron. The best Silver day I ever had was 1979, in Yonkers, New York. 33-silver coins at Tibbits Brook park.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibbetts_Brook_Park
 

Mackaydon

Gold Member
Oct 26, 2004
24,115
22,888
N. San Diego Pic of my 2 best 'finds'; son & g/son
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2
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Minelab Explorer
Primary Interest:
Shipwrecks
Back in the day, I had a Teknetics 8500. I would sweep the Venice (Ca.) beach and stop each night after finding $1.00 in face.
No need to search more since I never saw any competition--and there was always tomorrow--till I moved.
A virgin area trumps a technically 'so-so' machine any day.
Don......
 

Honest Samuel

Banned
Sep 23, 2015
8,814
4,969
Connecticut
Detector(s) used
Minelab
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The first detector that I had purchased was a White with a wooden coil with a hole in it, from the great Karl Von Mueller around 1965. It did not worked. We do missed him.
 

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