WILSON-NEUMAN DAYTONA RANGAR

[Joe(TX)]

..............Just wanted to reply to some comments made on some previous posts about the Wilson-Neuman line!!..........They made some very good detectors for there time which was over 23 years ago! Even today the Rangar (and the GBDI or GBDII) gets about 7 inches on a dime which still isn't bad!! These detectors mainly used slide switches instead of rotary dials for their depth and I believe that many did not and still don't know how to set these!! As far as I know the Company did not split because they were in trouble for copying other brands of detectors!! The Company did not go Brankrupt! They just split! Neuman formed the Orion line while Wilson formed his own detector line which is still in business today! The Orion line folded after about 2 years or so!..........Wilson later on made some very good detectors especially the VLF710, ATD, the Relic and Coin Series(R&C) and the current Coin Select................Joe!

[Joe(TX)]

............The Daytona Rangar and the GBD series were some of the very 1st non-motion VLF Discriminators! No speed hunting or Whipping was necessesary to engage the discriminate mode! These units were light weight for their day and still are and were all stream-lined! Battery consumption was very low...............three-9 volt battery would last past 100 hours or so! Also since these were Analog Detectors the depth could be gaged by the intensity of the signal!! In other words, weak signals are either deep or very small targets while loud signals are either shallow or very large objects! This is very hard to do with the new age of motion based detectors!! Also since these are non-motion detectors............ pin-pointing is not a problem either!.....Most of the newer detectors almost require a pinpointer just to retrieve the target!! The only problem is the depth.........one can easily spend a lot of money to acquire a detector that will surpass the depth! Again these are not depth demons but they are a joy to use and in the rignt situation can be the tool to find all of the coins and lost jewelry that is mixed in with all of the junk especially at the school yard and i in the neighborhood parks!!..................Joe

[Joe(TX)]

.......Easymoney...........Wilson-Neuman did not make the Phantom! The only Phantom that I know about was made by A&H Electronics! Not sure where Westinghouse fit in all of this! The 1st motion discriminator as far as I know was either the Whites 6000D or the Bounty Hunter Red Baron! Also the the very 1st Discriminator period was probably the PRG.......Phase Read-Out Gradiometer............it came out in 1973 or 1974!!...............Joe

[hikeinmts]

I had a Daytona Ranger, and it was better than the White's and Garrett's, at that time. I was in the military, stationed
at Ft. Lee, Virginia. It was not off-limits at that time, so I hunted it some. Found two different belt plates, one Civil War,
the other Revolutionary War era.....at about 2 feet depth.
Then, I found a Revolutionary War era park in nearby Petersburg, VA. Had a great time there, hunted in the early morning hours, normally.
(I was crazy then......wouldn't do it again, for love or money.
Found the 1877 Indian in XF, several silver dollars, too many indian cents to count, and a beautiful 1927 Standing Liberty quarter in XF/AU.
All with the Ranger.
Found coins at depths up to my elbow, a good 15, 16 inches.
If you know where I could buy one that works, let me know. I'll buy it in a heart beat.
(Also used it here in S. Korea, and had great results.) Very, very easy to use.

[LX Kid]

Last week I had a "brain f**t" and won a eBad Wil-Nueman Datona that looked pretty nice. As usual you buy "there" and they don't work. After throwing away $40 bucks for it, I wondered if I should waste any more. Called Keith, at East Texas MD's, and he said usually it not the board that's the problem but the two pair wires. Just don't know if I should send it or not. Maybe just put it over the fireplace. It even has a beach mode with discrimination. Hmmmmmmmm!

[Joe(TX)]

...................That is a personal decision.......most of my repairs to Keith Wills are at least $75.00 or more.....you have to decide if it is worth it to you!!.........If you can repair it yourself you would be better off........Sounds like that you have a Daytona I.........some people prefer this model mainly for the salt water beach.......HH.........Joe

[detectorcowboy]

i had a Orion 2 i think it was called made by Mr. neuman after he and wilson split that was a good machine it found coins i know many many detectors missed. man i wish i still had that unit. i talked to Mr nueman a few years back about it, nice guy

[digluv]

Hey Joe your post brought back some good memories.

I think it was 1982 or 83 that I bought the GBDII. Prior to that date I had never dug an Indian cent in Michigan (got interested in the hobby early 60's).

I still recall the day I took my new GBDII to an old park in Michigan. I had been hunting it with an early Whites, several Fishers, and other brands.

That day I was hunting in discrimination mode with the GBDII and just trying to learn it. As I recall I dug a nearly perfect condition Barber dime which was my first ever. It was only like 2 inches deep.

Later I was visiting the park bathrooms and decided to detect by the building. I figured nothing will be here due to back fill dirt. I got no signals in discrimination mode so I decided to try all-metal ground balance. Right away I got a clear signal and dug my very first Indian cent at about 7 inches deep! In a small area about 4x6 feet I dug 5 or 6 as I recall. Later I learned that were the bathrooms were located once was the main entrance to the park.

But sorry to say the Wilson didn't hold up well for me. It developed problems and was never right after that. I've heard this was a common problem with the Wilsons. Some models even had the electronics sealed in epoxy so you couldn't get them repaired.

Anyway, the design was very cool and had they held up well they would have set all the other brands to shame.

digluv

[cavador del oro]

I owned the GBDII back in the early 1980's. As I recall it was about $360 new. I dug my very first indian pennies with that machine. I dug them all using the all-metal mode which was super deep. The discrimination modes on all machines back then weren't very deep. We've gained in that regard. But those are good memories.
--Snowy