Ok , I usually reserve myself from posting opinions but since I just got one and put it thru the paces I figured some uncertain hunters looking to buy one will appreciate this review.
Pro : lightweight , rigid rod assembly , fantastic battery life
( 9 volt battery ) , 2 audio jacks for headphones ,
Large LCD meter , auto ground balance , disc. and
All metal mode , multiple tone responses, non motion
Pinpoint mode, easy learning curve
Parks : I took to a local park and discovered a few things about this machine , less is more when it comes to sensitivity. There is no reason to run this at full.... You can easily with a slight thumb move adjust power, a slight chatter beyond the smooth can hit deep. I pulled a nickel at the EXACT I'd as stated by the manual and other hunters. ( 55/56)
Some hunters complained that this unit is not hot on nickels but I say otherwise. Target I'd is dead on ... When you get numbers only fluctuating between two numbers you can be sure of type of target. Pretty awesome ,......
On the fly ground balance adjustments have won me over, with plus and minus touchpad buttons.I used the supplied 10" concentric coil for this review......
Pull tabs are id very accurately , but remember gold hits in this range and decide whether to dig.
Disc. Function is very precise and knocks out what you don't want... Notch function works well to eliminate or notch in a target type .... Very nice...
found a standing liberty at around 7-8"
Zinc penny's at 6 - 8" ( power setting at 60 setting)
Sinker ( teardrop) at 10"
This is a very capable detector for the park type hunter.
Con : this detector will not function smoothly ( regardless of settings ) around any high power lines.... It will give off a strange cycling sound ( I thinking it's the 60 hz rfi ) ..
Anyways it was very unstable from the get go when around high emi..... But once I moved to another area it worked fine... It is from my discovery that it originates from the coil and cable. I removed coil from box to see whether it was something wrong internally but when coil even 5" coils attached ..noise was pronounced .
Cable I would think would be better shielded , I fixed this problem with a rfi choke filter on cable.
Beach : fair to good performance.
Forget wet sand .... minerals will overpower detector.
Even at the lowest settings , you get a chatterbox.
Dry sand is mixed ... Detector has amazing fast target response , you can sweep in a direction and literally count how many targets it passed over without stopping , very nice feature . It allows me to stop over a target between other targets so I can investigate further.
Depth is adequate , not the deepest but workable.
Other machines are better suited here.
All metal is the preferred mode in dry sand , target visual I'd still works in this mode so you can make better decisions about digging..
But detector is still a bit chirpy , wish it had a silent mode.
Cons : not much other than over sensitive to electronic interference , any high power interference. Machine won't even settle down enough to operate when hit by emi .
No volume control.
It's a great overall machine ,easy to master and use ... Just remember to bring your other favorite detector when you run into operating difficultys in the area you are detecting.
Great detector , great price ....
