logic behind using a pin pointer?

[digger27]

Took 3/4's off my time spent recovering targets which equates to more targets dug per hunt...and more treasure.
They have helped me recover literally thousands if dollars worth of coins and jewelry without damaging them, these tools pay for themselves many, many times over as far as I am concerned and even though I can hunt without them I won't.
I am as good at pinpointing as anyone with my detectors but these things make it even more precise from the top of the ground before I dig which lets me open very small holes to the direction I need to search in holes with multiple targets.
In rock hard dirt I went after a target once and chopped until I got 4" deep in about a 4" wide hole and one of these things let me know I was real close so I should be careful.
I thought it was going to be junk but I wasn't 100% sure so I did slow down and recovered a lifetime find lying flat that I know for sure I would have hit and damaged without that knowledge.
Just that experience on that one target made everything I ever spent on these things worth it...but there is so much more to these than that.

 

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[ToddB64]

Greetings PP fans !

Well, guess I have a right to post in this thread.....it was my suggestion to Neil and Jeff of Pa in March of 2016.....see excerpts below from our PM's.

:
Neil,
I'll check with Jeff of Pa.. I really think with all the different brands and models of pin pointers coming on the market in the past few years, that there is enough interest and need for a separate pin pointer forum on T'Net.

ToddB64

Todd...the request is in.
I asked them to put it between Metal Detector Brands and Beach and Shallow Water.
may be tomorrow Evening till it is actually up & running.
it depends on when they see the request.

Many thanks Neil, Jeff of Pa, et al !

ToddB64

Ok, enough waving my own flag .....couldn't resist !

Anyway, My first electronic pin pointer was one I made in 2007 by using a Gardner Bender GPD-902 "In wall Pipe & Wall Detector" for the electronics and revamping it into a conventional-looking pin pointer. If interested, you can see my post at that time with information and photos at this address: Home Made Pinpointer (With Pictures) - Friendly Metal Detecting Forums

I wasn't too happy with the operation of my homemade PP, as explained in my post at the above address, so in the Fall of 2007 I ordered my first professionally-made pin pointer, the Vibra-Probe 570, made by Treasure Products, Inc.. I used it for the next 10 years and when I sent it to the factory for inspection in June of this year, Mike in Customer Service decided to replace it with a new 580 model, free of charge, including return freight ! How can you beat that !

For my 75th Birthday May, 2016, my brother bought me a Garrett (Carrot) Pro-Pointer AT and I've been using it primarily; the Vibra-Probe is my backup and loaner to my brother when we get together for a hunt with our "dualing Compadres".

I really like the Garrett AT with all the adjustable features. On one particular hunt early this year at a basketball court, I was finding so many shallow coins from the edge of the asphalt and out 2-3 feet near the poles using my Compadre, that the came on in my head ! So, I began using the AT pinpointer on it's side, moving on hands and knees and just sweeping the barrel almost touching and over the ground. When I would get a signal, it was easy to use the tip of my Lesche to flip the coin out. With that method, I didn't have to deal with removing earphones and setting the Compadre off to the side. This was faster and easier under the circumstances and I really "cleaned up" that day.

Pin-pointers.....What a wonderful invention !

ToddB64

 

[SteveJJ]

I'm surprised no one mentioned a most useful feature of the Garrett carrot, once the target is close, tapping the button diminishes the sensitivity and I think can drop it 3 times. This is especially informative once you use it, for determining both depth and size.

I will not be without one now that I've used it. I started with a $15 one from harbor freight and even that was useful. I've kept it as a backup, somewhere... haven't felt compelled to look for it though.

 

[sprailroad]

What I do now is, I carry two pinpointers, the Garrett orange & the Garrett black, reason being, I'm lazy. I have the orange set at max. sensitivity pinpointing above ground, zeros in really well of course, after a plug is dug, if I still do not see the target, not in plug or seen in hole, I switch to the black, I do that because the Orange is very sensitive with the 360o around the shaft, and I really can't tell what side of the hole the target may be hiding, Yes, before it's pointed out to me that you can adjust the carrot by tapping the buttons, it goes back to me being "lazy". When digging many targets from small holes, say in a park, to go thru the sequence to adj. the sensitivity down, then up again, after awhile makes me a little crazy, I switch to the black, for the tip only, and can then really zero in on the target that may be somewhere in the side of the hole. Works for me anyway, the eyes and legs are not as they had been, pinpointers are a must have detecting tool, I mean if available, then by all means use them. Added note; With the "carrot" set at max, using it after pinpointing with the detector, I get nothing from the carrot, then the target is deeper, and I'm thinking, older coin in the park?

 

[Auba14]

Like many have said here. To me a PP is just another tool that helps me speed up recovery, do less damage to targets, and leave a smaller "footprint" on where I have dug. The higher end ones are the best but even a "cheapie" is helpful, though less limited, still helpful. Just my 2 cents on this.

 

[4x4x4]

Invaluable in between rocks ! Can point out a no see 'em in my palm ! Baseboards in cabins and stash stones in fireplaces, will work BETWEEN rows of nails !

 

[Minrelica]

P.S. I should say I detected for about 40 years without a pp ---but never again

I was going to say that once someone uses a pinpointer I highly doubt they will ever hunt again without it.