Vintage Garrett Relic Hunter

wygold

Jr. Member
May 21, 2016
54
118
Chula Vista, Ca.
Detector(s) used
Minelab X-Terra 705 Dual Pack
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
So a few weeks back a member of the church I attend pulled me aside to tell me he had a gift for me and that he was thinking I would like to have it. He goes another member had moved out of state and wanted to give away some things that they didn't want anymore. So he ended up with a bunch of mining equipment and a MD. His brother in law wanted all the mining equipment and the MD, but the guy told him that the MD is going to someone else. The brother in law was furious as he wanted all of it and didn't take the fact that he was lucky to get anything at all.

So when my friend told me he was giving me the MD, he said it was about a 10 year old MD and he thought I would enjoy it. I was glad to receive this gift and told him "sure bring it over when you can". He then Stopped by that Friday afternoon and handed me the MD. But before he stopped by I was thinking through out the week, okay what kind of MD would it be. Would it be something that you can get from Big 5 or Walmart or something in the lines of being a cheap machine because of the family who had given him all of the mining equipment were the less fortunate type who scrape by with very little income. I know it's was wrong to think of that about someone like that because I'm in the same type of boat. So my thinking changed and I said to myself that "at least I'm getting something for free".


My friend dropped the MD off and I thanked him again. The bag that held the MD was a heavy duty canvas type bag and as I placed the bag on the pool table in the family room and left it there for a couple hours to take care of some other stuff. When I returned to the family room starring at the bag, I decided to open the bag and check out the MD. The first thing as I pulled it out of the bag was, Wow would you look at this thing. It wasn't some cheap MD from Big 5 or Walmart but a Garrett. I scanned over the machine and realized that this is one very old MD, so old that it was as old as I am.

The Garrett MD is the Relic Hunter BFO and it came with the original instruction book and the bag is the original one you could buy from Garrett during that time frame. I basically just gave away my age. A few hours later I found some batteries and plugged them into the MD and what do you know, it works. I took it out into the backyard, tossed a few coins on the ground and made sure that I had my Minelab with me incase the Garrett didn't pick it up. Trying to tune it was a challenge but I did manage to get the MD working the way I wanted it to per the instructions and it signaled all 6 coins. I also tried a portion of my front yard that I didn't detect with my Minelab and found a couple of coins.

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Packing the Garrett with my Minelab during my last camping trip into the mountains
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So what does anyone think about this particular MD and has anyone here ever used this one machine?
 

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cudamark

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Cool wall hanger! Your 705 is a much better machine though.
 

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wygold

Jr. Member
May 21, 2016
54
118
Chula Vista, Ca.
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Minelab X-Terra 705 Dual Pack
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Oh yeah I know the 705 is a better machine compared to the vintage Garrett. I never thought to use the vintage as a wall hanger thou
 

Tom_in_CA

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Mar 23, 2007
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Love the pix ! Love vintage detectors. Thanx for posting. I'm guessing that would be mid 1970s at the latest. Because by 1976-ish: VLF and TR-disc. was coming into vogue, and BFO's were being phased out. I think Garrett might have continued offering them for a little of the transition period. Because there were some old-timers that actually liked them .

Despite their inferior depth and lack-of-sensitivity to smaller things, they actually made decent cache hunters. Because while they might have had a dickens of a time getting a coin beyond a few inches, yet they could get a hubcap or jar sized signal JUST FINE ! :)

So if you think of it: Those older machines that basically only got big targets with ease . While struggling for smaller coin-sized targets. Hence they were actually superior cache hunters. Today's "more sensitive" machines are great for coins, but we tend to pass up those "durned can" and "durned hubcap" signals. Which were the ONLY targets the machines of yesteryear got. Hence you read of lots more caches being found then, versus now.

Anyhow, loved the pix !
 

Tom_in_CA

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A closer look at the pix of the manual: I see that it's a hybrid cross with a TR. I recall that rare beast. And there weren't many of those cross-overs made by Garrett or anyone. Because very quickly the demand was for VLF/TR, not BFO/TR. Interesting piece.
 

Carl-NC

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Mar 19, 2003
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No, not a BFO/TR, just a BFO. Probably had an off-resonance circuit in it for disc, which is why they call it a dual circuit.
 

ecmjamsit

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Dec 2, 2007
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I liked the the old analog machines. I could sort of tell what the target was by the sound. The new digital based machines seem to all have the same tone. Remember digital circuitry can really only be 1 or 0. There is no in between. I had a Whites 5000d GEB in 1977.
 

DiamondDan

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Apr 21, 2016
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Sweet. I would love to get my hands on a vintage machine like this at some point in time. A different animal altogether.
 

Tom_in_CA

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Mar 23, 2007
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No, not a BFO/TR, just a BFO. Probably had an off-resonance circuit in it for disc, which is why they call it a dual circuit.

What is the "TR" shown on the pix of cover of his manual referring to then ?
 

Carl-NC

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What is the "TR" shown on the pix of cover of his manual referring to then ?

Most likely marketing gimmickry. The coil is a non-IB mono coil so a TR mode isn't possible. I have the exact same model, the coil is driven by a crystal oscillator instead of the normal free-run configuration of a BFO. Ergo, it's probably not even a BFO, but rather a pure off-resonance design like the A.H.Pro detector. That's the only way I'm aware of to get discrimination from a proximity-type design.

The only TR-BFO combo detector I'm aware of is the Bounty Hunter Outlaw, and I'm not sure it had a true TR mode, and wasn't just an off-resonance design like the X-3 Eliminator.
 

Molewacker

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Feb 9, 2015
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Love having a bit of a hobbies history in hand (or on wall) Nice Gift!
 

cudamark

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Mar 16, 2011
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🥇 Banner finds
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🏆 Honorable Mentions:
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XP Deus 2, Equinox 800/900, Fisher Impulse AQ, E-Trac, 3 Excal 1000's, White's TM808, VibraProbe, 15" NEL Attack, Mi6, Steath 920ix and 720i scoops, TRX, etc....
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I liked the the old analog machines. I could sort of tell what the target was by the sound. The new digital based machines seem to all have the same tone. Remember digital circuitry can really only be 1 or 0. There is no in between. I had a Whites 5000d GEB in 1977.

You just haven't tried the right machine yet. Most have multitone capabilities in the higher end machines. No way I'd go back to the real old machines (BFO's and TR's for sure). It would be like going back to my old 286 PC! :BangHead:
 

junkhunt

Sr. Member
Feb 21, 2017
314
349
North Central Arkansas
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white's eagle spectrum , White's Spectra V3i, Garrett AT Pro. Garrett AT Pen pointer
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It looks to be a lot older than 10 years. But a nice old unit to play with.
 

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wygold

Jr. Member
May 21, 2016
54
118
Chula Vista, Ca.
Detector(s) used
Minelab X-Terra 705 Dual Pack
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks guys for your responses. As for a hall hanger that would just be it. I really don't have any uses for it and I really don't want it.
 

junkhunt

Sr. Member
Feb 21, 2017
314
349
North Central Arkansas
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Why don't you want it? It's an nice old unit and in good condition.
 

Mudflap

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Mar 31, 2012
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Looks in excellent physical condition for its age. Something to play around with.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

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wygold

Jr. Member
May 21, 2016
54
118
Chula Vista, Ca.
Detector(s) used
Minelab X-Terra 705 Dual Pack
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Oh it is in great condition from what I've seen on eBay and I've used it too. I guess I got so use to using a more modern machine. Thanks for the comment
 

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