Shadow x5 or Red Heat xd 17 micro- ever heard of them ?

[MD Dog]

been looking around alot at all the possibilities when it comes to buying the ultimate MD. I first saw the Red Heat xd 17 micro on a youtube video. It was impressive with an air test of a dime at 10 inches and a copper plate at 24"
It also has what the builders called a see through feature that allowed the person in the video to filter out the response to iron and yet let the machine see through the iron to silver even at depth. I'd give a link if mods ok it. I searched for the manufacturers and found out they have no web site but I did eventually find them through e-mail and they tell me they custom hand build these detectors over in the UK I don't yet know the price in U.S. currency but from what I saw might be worth quite a bit.


The other MD the Shadow x5 I found while looking for info on the xd 17. These are also custom hand built right here in the good ol'e U.S. of A.
and are also very well built with unbelievable depth.

So I'm just looking for third party independant info from anyone here who might have seen either of these machines in action.

 

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[TonyinCT]

Do you have a link to the Red Heat ?

 

[MD Dog]

I don't want mods mad at me so feel free to do your thing.

 

[U.K. Brian]

I've still got an X3 and X5 but sold the previous model to the micro.
The Red Heat built by Vic Fiveash has better iron discrim. than either Shadows. Early versions you may see for sale were developed from a similar circuit to the Silver Sabre. Deeper and more sensitive.

Two versions, one with a notch, one with an iron switch to allow easier identification of iron. If you had poor hearing you need the iron I.D. help.
Later models came in the Lightning range which I never tried.

The Shadows have the drawback that they might not be supported in the future. Either the X7 will arrive which should be better and I think will have to have tone I.D., or the company will disappear which would be a shame.

Vic on the other hand is in the U.K. so you would have to be without the machine for some time if it needed repair and he could drop dead tomorrow and you won't be able to get it repaired. This happened to me with my Ixis thats similar/a bit better than the AquaSound. When it breaks it becomes an expensive paper weight.

If you read the Shadow reviews some think its the worlds greatest, others found the performance no better than a much cheaper Tesoro. Part of it is down to the level of discrimination used. Great depth, especially on small items, up to a point on the disc. scale but not if you turn it a fraction more. Build quality is better than say the Tejon and I can get more depth on most sites. I also think the Shadow picks up items of the whole range of conductivity better.

If your looking for 10" plus on a dime you could look at the XP range. Even the 200 and 250 models, which are one up from the bottom of the range, manage that and if you go up the range you can have all metal with three tone discrimination.
Nexus have recently brought out a cut down version of the Nexus SE for £500 ($1000?). Very deep machine but another U.K. one man band. www.nexusdetectors.com

I haven't got a Nexus at the moment because they don't cope with the wet beach or the highly mineralised soil I have. Coils are very expensive to!
I've two XP's. One high frequency and the other low.
Two Shadows but they pick up coal/coke very deep which is a pain and you really need the seven inch polo , nine inch spider and the elliptical coil to get the best results.

If you can hang on Dave Emery's Pulse Devil is deeper than any of the above. The prototype three years back was air testing a hammered silver penny (similar size but half the thickness of the dime) at 16 inches.

Brian

 

[Gribnitz]

The X5 is not made anymore. You would have to find someone with a used one for sale, and then hope you can find someplace to service it if it breaks since the warranty is only for original owner. Never heard of the red heat.

 

[U.K. Brian]

No trouble getting Shadows repaired at the moment and Troy has a set (cheasp) price.