Discriminator II

[mbmare5]

Hi bought a discriminator II, am going to try it out sunday when I hit the beaches of Miami, would love any helpful hints or anyones opinion of this detector. Thank you from a rookie. promise to let everyone know what I find. Mare

 

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[okdiggermark]

Hi bought a discriminator II, am going to try it out sunday when I hit the beaches of Miami, would love any helpful hints or anyones opinion of this detector. Thank you from a rookie. promise to let everyone know what I find. Mare

What is it? Is it new or used?

 

[Sandman]

Famous Trails Discriminator II will work on the dry sand but not in the wet. Depth will be about 4 to 6 inches with that coil. Dig everything.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

sandman is being ooooh tooo polite If you read between the lines of what he's saying (ID'ing the brand name, and that particular machine's capability), you can ferret out: "you have a toy". Hey, but they don't call me kill-joy for nothing :P

 

[mbmare5]

sandman is being ooooh tooo polite If you read between the lines of what he's saying (ID'ing the brand name, and that particular machine's capability), you can ferret out: "you have a toy". Hey, but they don't call me kill-joy for nothing

Thank you. Mare

 

[goldentruth]

Any $100 MD will hit Gold if on top of it, as well as coins. yea you could spend more and get bette preformance and sometimes easier. I had the same MD last year and got a lot of experience and I dig everything like on an adventure. I did recover a Brass Sabre like a military soldier model from a great fire here in the Gold Rush Town of French Gulch, County of Shasta, Norhern California. I picked up a vintage top of the line first production Golden Sabre II made by Tesoro in 1980 from a ebay auction. I plan to get a tesoro lobo super traq for the money value one of the best Gold Nugget finders in that price class.
Now when you get the swing of it and if interested in keeping it up do research on youtube "Gold" videos, they will wet your appetite from in the field finds.
Your MD is a good back up when you get another one but they pick up well after you learn the settings and tone sounds, A very dependable model. A good headphones make the difference on that model. I like any "Sony" brand Stereo headphones work fine. By the way I had no problem puting the coil in water!
(On a post here I read, a son with his grandfather in Alaska found a 1 1/2 Oz nuggett with a $100 MD! he was in a good spot!) The best MD won't help if the target is not there! treasure is where you find it! Every bodys experience varies from each others so do not get discouraged....
Good luck in the hunt friend.

 

[Roland58]

Kind words, goldentruth. It is easy to see you are a good man.

 

[okdiggermark]

Kind words, goldentruth. It is easy to see you are a good man.

I second that! GT is a good guy with a big heart! Tries to assist in every way he can. Keep it up G!

 

[Sandman]

Everyone has to start somewhere and most of us started with a MD that wasn't able to find a metal garbage can lid under a sheet of newspaper. We upgraded from there as we learned more about the hobby as we thought we were missing something. I think all of us do this for the fun of just finding stuff from the dirt or water and wondering what the history of the item. But I stand behind my signature.

TIME IS THE ONLY THING YOU NEVER GET BACK, WHY WASTE IT SWINGING A DETECTOR THAT ISN'T UP TO THE TASK."

 

[okdiggermark]

Everyone has to start somewhere and most of us started with a MD that wasn't able to find a metal garbage can lid under a sheet of newspaper. We upgraded from there as we learned more about the hobby as we thought we were missing something. I think all of us do this for the fun of just finding stuff from the dirt or water and wondering what the history of the item. But I stand behind my signature.

TIME IS THE ONLY THING YOU NEVER GET BACK, WHY WASTE IT SWINGING A DETECTOR THAT ISN'T UP TO THE TASK."

And I fully agree with your signature line. However, we all have different "means." not everyone has fifteen hundred dollars that they can afford to spend on a new detector.

 

[goldentruth]

Okdiggermark hit the nail on the head, he's right.
I never met a person who spent $1,500 to $2,000 on their frist MD.
Most are logical and get a modest low price working MD with claims of how it will do and the person will check to see if Metal Detecting is for them.
I do feel if a guy gets bit by the "Gold Bug" by seeing others finds and sees all the fantastic huge Gold found all over The USA & Austrailia... He might get the bug to invest in a expensive model or partner up & pool savings together for an expensive model.
Sure...you cant beat the best sometimes if used right but you got to do your best with what you presently have. Upgrades are always possible later after the research home work is done, Good Luck.

 

[Roland58]

Okdiggermark hit the nail on the head, he's right.
I never met a person who spent $1,500 to $2,000 on their frist MD.
<snip>

Well, you almost have. My first detector (just over a year ago) and the one I have now is a Fisher F75. This purchase was made because I have wanted a metal detector for as far back as I can recall seeing my first one and I did a LOT of looking and reading before making up my mind. I do, however, wish that I had gone ahead and bought a much less expensive one many years ago and worked my way up. But, I am old now, retired and had some "mad money" I made working on motorcycles......I bought the one I wanted and have never looked back. I have looked forward though and am considering different options for my next one!


Edit: Dang. I just looked up the Discriminator II on the Net and they vary in price (new) from $79.95 to over $170!! That is a LOT of difference and this is for the same, identical machine from different vendors. Shop around!! Oh yeah, and the cheapest price had free shipping!!!

 

[Sandman]

Everyone has to start somewhere and most of us started with a MD that wasn't able to find a metal garbage can lid under a sheet of newspaper. We upgraded from there as we learned more about the hobby as we thought we were missing something. I think all of us do this for the fun of just finding stuff from the dirt or water and wondering what the history of the item. But I stand behind my signature.

TIME IS THE ONLY THING YOU NEVER GET BACK, WHY WASTE IT SWINGING A DETECTOR THAT ISN'T UP TO THE TASK."

And I fully agree with your signature line. However, we all have different "means." not everyone has fifteen hundred dollars that they can afford to spend on a new detector.

You guys priced Bass Boats lately? Row boats float, but they are only row boats.

 

[Roland58]

Everyone has to start somewhere and most of us started with a MD that wasn't able to find a metal garbage can lid under a sheet of newspaper. We upgraded from there as we learned more about the hobby as we thought we were missing something. I think all of us do this for the fun of just finding stuff from the dirt or water and wondering what the history of the item. But I stand behind my signature.

TIME IS THE ONLY THING YOU NEVER GET BACK, WHY WASTE IT SWINGING A DETECTOR THAT ISN'T UP TO THE TASK."

And I fully agree with your signature line. However, we all have different "means." not everyone has fifteen hundred dollars that they can afford to spend on a new detector.

You guys priced Bass Boats lately? Row boats float, but they are only row boats.

You know we all agree with what you are saying, Sandman, but, you have to admit that not everyone has $1,500 for what could be considered a "big boy toy"......kinda like a bass boat. Your comparison is just a tad unfair, it is like saying "have you priced a three bedroom town home lately? A pup tent will keep you dry, but, they are only tents." There are folks living under bridges, you know.

I'm just saying it may be very difficult for some folks to justify putting $1,500 into a detector when the rent is due, the care needs gas and the fridge needs some food. That being said, if one happens to be a professional gold/relic hunter, then, yeah, get the best detector available for your needs......just don't go "bust" in the process. Tools of the trade are necessities, not toys.

 

[Sandman]

Guys, I understand times are tough and didn't mean you should run out and buy a $1,500 dollar detector for your first one. We all started with what ever we could afford. But you should upgrade as soon as you can if only you need too. There are many great detectors that are lots less expensive, and the skill is mainly in the operator. The cheapest ones work some, but the quality is poorer, but your mainly missing the options. You shouldn't stay with your POS when you again have the means and the fridge is full. Depends on how much fun you can stand. You can't hunt the wet saltwater sand with a Bounty Hunter it being a single freq.

 

[Roland58]

Sandman sed, "You can't hunt the wet saltwater sand with a Bounty Hunter it being a single freq."

Oh no! Does this mean I'm up the proverbial creek with my Fisher F75? Will it not work on wet saltwater sand? How about dry saltwater sand? And, I was looking forward to my first beach hunt this spring. Being freshwater wet behind the ears when it comes to detectoring, I just don't understand. How does more than one frequency help?

If it is too much to explain on here, I'll just do some research and figure it out (I am capable of that, ) Thank you, Sir.

Edit: I couldn't stand it and did a little looking. The AT Pro, that you seem to like quite well even for beach hunting, has only one frequency (15Khz). My F75 is also a single frequency running at 13Khz. However, the ground balance on the F75 is supposed to be capable of working from ferrite to salt, inclusive. Wouldn't proper ground balance be the drawback for single frequency machines in wet sand?

 

[Lakemonster]

Its kinda weird thing about single freq machines and wet salt sand.

My AT Pro runs pretty stable (Galveston) on it... but it doesnt get a good target lock as if I were off the wet stuff. VDI jumps a few more points on the spread on it. You do have to constantly GB.

My Tesoro running in the mid 14k....concentric coil.... forget it.... goes full on chatter.

Just guessing.... but you could be happily surprised with the F75 on wet sand.... disc out really low foil and run your filter as stated and it may run just fine.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

"Wouldn't proper ground balance be the drawback for single frequency machines in wet sand?"

Roland, the answer to your question is: Sure, you can ground-balance to a spot on the wet sand, and sure, you'll be balanced to that exact spot, and have no limitations on the machine's ability at that point. So long as you are standing right there, sure, you'll do just fine. The PROBLEM is, the moment you start walking around. Like: moving further away from the salt-water's edge, or closer to the water's edge, etc..... You simply CAN NOT ground balance fast enough to keep track of the changing conditions, to be worthwhile.

 

[Sandman]

Tom is right of course. The salt and black sand concentrations vary even within a few feet so the GB will always be off enought to make beeps when there is no target.

The Fisher F75's circuits are way different from what is put in most Bounty Hunters, filters not with standing. Some single freq machines can be used on the wet sand for only a short distance. Crossing over from wet to dry many don't realize they need to rebalance GB. Stay in wet or dry. The more freq you have the better it is able to handle the minerals all else being equal. This is why the Excal and Sov GT do so well along with the PI's.

An I don't care for the AT Pro as a main beach detector, at least not in the wet sand. Max isn't using his, but he hunts the lane (wet)

 

[Roland58]

So, I'm correct about the GB being the problem, however, I am still in the dark regarding the multi freq machines being better able to handle the beach.
If I stay in the wet sand the GB should pretty much remain stable, correct? Then if I move to the dry sand (or simply moist, then dry) and do another GB for each different situation, it should work, correct?

If a machine has three freq's, do you have to GB for each freq seperately? Whether or not, why wouldn't the three individual frequencies be affected in the same manner as one?

I wish to thank all of you for putting up with my ignorance on this matter.....I am trying to learn.