Coimaster 5000 D GEB

[Gunny71]

About 7 months ago my Garrett GTAX 550 was stolen. I havent been able to replace it yet. My grandmother brought me her old detector. Its a Whites Coinmaster 5000D and it appears to work. Was kept in a case and looks brand new.

I dont know anything about this machine, but I think after reading the manual I have it ground balanced right and have beeen able to find pulltabs and Iron in GEB (all metal) mode. My problem, is that when i run in discriminate mode, I have to turn up the descriminate control almost all the way before it will cut out a pull tab laying on the ground. Does this sound right, or is something not working right?
Also, can anyone tell me what kind of depth I can expect out of this machine?
Pretty cool to see a 32 year old machine working!

[Tom_in_CA]

Question for you: Is your 5000 a "series I" or a "series II"? If it's a series II, then that was actually a good machine for its time/era. But you say "32 yrs. old", so I suspect yours is a series I. If so, it's a dinasour by all means. A VLF/TR. And not a very good one, as there were competitor's of that era/day that outdid Whites VLF/TR's at the time.

As for the dial benchmark for where tabs are nixed out on the ascending/descending scale, it's going to depend on the calibration of the machine, and the size/thickness of the pulltab. Yes some ascending/descending scales had it so that the entire 1/2 of the TID #'s/coordinates, read only in the final 1/4 of the dial. So for example: if a tab reads 45-ish, you would *think* that would be "half way on a dial that represents 0 to 90-ish, right? But it just depended on how the machine was calibrated. You simply memorize the various points on the dial, for where certain items fall out at, on your particular machine.

[Gunny71]

Thanks for the reply. I believe it is a series one, no other markings other than 5000 D.
As for performance, well it's better than nothing and airtests as well as my Garrett.
One thing I noticed is that it sounds alot better than my old one. Kinda sings, no irritating gong noises.

[Gunny71]

Here are a few pictures of the machine. The paperwork with it was dated 78 or 79.

[Tom_in_CA]

Yes that's a series I. The Series II (which came out in about '82 I think) would have said "series II" on the box. Whites was selling less and less of the 5000d's by that time, as the newer-fangled motion machines (6000 & 6db) were much more popular, deeper seeking, etc....

[U.K. Brian]

Whites first motion machines retained TR discrimination because the SPD (motion) mode was just not that good and required a much faster than normal sweep speed. When motion was added to the Series 2 GEB all metal detected a British copper 2 pence (fraction bigger than your quarter) at 9" in air, in motion discrim. 6 inches and non motion discrim. at 9 inches. (GEB and Disc. set at 5). Ground effect will reduce TR discrim. depth more than on a detector with motion discrimination.

All metal depth in the soil as you will have found out is fairly good. Don't worry that the pull tab discriminates out at such a high setting thats just what should happen with discrimination running from small iron up through silver foil then to pull tabs.

Thing to remember though is you should not try and discriminate out pull tabs. Even with the latest machines on the market if you run discrimination that high you will cut depth and miss many wanted targets. Its even more important with older detectors.
Run the minimum you can put up with. For land sites it could just be where small iron is just cut out. Really you should go a fraction lower so that the iron still sounds but sounds broken.
Run a slight threshold to maximise depth and try detecting at least a few sites in all metal and dig everything. You should find you can I.D. much iron by the all metal audio if you cross sweep each target.

Rare to see a detector of that age in such good condition. Best of luck it will keep you going until you can get another machine.

[Gunny71]

I used it quite a bit today. No keepers, but I know it works. I was getting very small iron nails at 6" and found pull tabs galore. I also found and old silver plate spoon at 6-7"
One reason I want to discriminate some is one of my sites is an old country church, and it is absolutley loaded with pull tabs. Some times four or more in a two foot area.
I need headphones for it though. It is mono, and when I tried my stereo head set on it the machine went haywire.

[baywalker]

I have one just like it just remember to let to let it warm up the old ones like we us to turn on and let it sit in the sun for fifteen min before we used it.

Jonnie

[U.K. Brian]

Mono headphone output is what all detectors should still have.

One thing about that old church. The old coin level is going to be way deeper than the pulltabs/foil one. If you discrim. out the modern rubbish then the deeper stuff will be masked out. Difficult if its a public area that has to be kept looking nice. Notch and depth masking features don't really help.

[deepskyal]

If you can figure out your machine, you'll be able to use almost any machine once you get the learning curve down.

My first machine was a 3000D series 3 (still have it) and I also own a 6000D series 2.

My first tip for ya......ignore the meter...it really doesn't tell you squat. It helps to pinpoint a target and that's about it. Use your ears and learn what the different sounds are for different finds. Dig everything until you know with a high percentage of certainty what the crackles, beeps and whispers are.

Second....ground balancing that machine is critical in the performance of it. If it's not balanced good, your finds will all be shallow and different targets will all sound similar.

I see in your pic the sensitivity dial is set to max. Crank that baby to about the halfway point or less. Slowly turn it up as you go until you start hearing your threshold tone become eradicate, then back it off a bit from there. You want that threshold set at barely audible and steady.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of ground balancing your machine. It'll make a world of difference in your finds and your ability to discriminate.

Maybe try your machine in the GEB (ground exclusion Balance) mode for a bit. Figure out your soil mineralization.

I learned on the 3000 which was a bear to keep balanced but I ran it for a couple years and found silver with it til I was able to afford the 6000Di Pro, which is an awesome machine.

The 6000 series 2 is simply a step up from your machine, the intensity meter is a graded scale for depth but the knobs are almost identical and manual ground balancing is a must.

Practice, play, have fun....don't take life too serious....you'll find some stuff.

Al

[Gunny71]

If you can figure out your machine, you'll be able to use almost any machine once you get the learning curve down.

My first machine was a 3000D series 3 (still have it) and I also own a 6000D series 2.

My first tip for ya......ignore the meter...it really doesn't tell you squat. It helps to pinpoint a target and that's about it. Use your ears and learn what the different sounds are for different finds. Dig everything until you know with a high percentage of certainty what the crackles, beeps and whispers are.

Second....ground balancing that machine is critical in the performance of it. If it's not balanced good, your finds will all be shallow and different targets will all sound similar.

I see in your pic the sensitivity dial is set to max. Crank that baby to about the halfway point or less. Slowly turn it up as you go until you start hearing your threshold tone become eradicate, then back it off a bit from there. You want that threshold set at barely audible and steady.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of ground balancing your machine. It'll make a world of difference in your finds and your ability to discriminate.

Maybe try your machine in the GEB (ground exclusion Balance) mode for a bit. Figure out your soil mineralization.

I learned on the 3000 which was a bear to keep balanced but I ran it for a couple years and found silver with it til I was able to afford the 6000Di Pro, which is an awesome machine.

The 6000 series 2 is simply a step up from your machine, the intensity meter is a graded scale for depth but the knobs are almost identical and manual ground balancing is a must.

Practice, play, have fun....don't take life too serious....you'll find some stuff.

Al

Thanks for the help. I don't seem to have any problems ground balancing so far, and Ill try turning the sensitivity down in all metal mode. Instructions stated maximum sensitivity gor all metal and 5 or half for disc so thats what I was going by.
Thanks again

[treasurehound]

The White's 5000-D was the very first machine I bought in 1979. I found a ton of stuff with it. It was a great machine for its time. I very seldom used the discriminate. One thing that I found was the more you discriminate the less depth you get. I taught myself to listen to the tones and after a while I could tell the difference between a coin and a pull tab. Once you aquire the ear for good targets you will be digging less trash and more good finds. And I still have my machine. Kinda hard to part with your first.

[goldentruth]

Set it at All Metal, Dig everything!
Pull tabs have been found to be gold rings! Good luck.