Can I make it through my first season without a pin pointer?

[Marvin]

Getting excited about the longer days and thawing ground. I can't wait to get out to places other than my backyard. The question is, how critical is an independent pin pointer? Is it truely a time saver? Are there targets you'll miss without one? If you're using one and swearing by it, which one is it?

 

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[DKinPA]

Can you.....yes! Should you?..........NO! When you find that first silver coin and it comes out of the ground with a gash across the surface you will be kicking yourself for not having one, it can happen even with a pinpointer but you lessen your chances if you use one.
My personal choice is the Garrett pro pointer. Good depth, small in size, good battery life and built like a tank.
Get one...........any one............even if you start with the Harbor Freight model you will be better equipped.

Good Luck and HH

Dave

 

[kimsdad]

Hi Marvin,
See this post from a couple weeks ago:

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,378569.0.html

 

[Lowbatts]

I made it through 20 years plus without a pinpointer. But I spent a lot of time with each and every machine I've had working on the pinpoint function, or lack of, built in to the machine.

So get out there and try my favorite method. Glue some targets on a large piece of cardboard. Space them well enough apart so they won't confuse you, but also have a couple near each other, within two inches.

Turn it over. SWING BATTER! Not to worry, no fast balls here. Take your time. Zero in on where you think the target is. Keep the coil 3-4 inches above the targets.

Okay so you think you're on target now? Punch a hole in the cardboard where you've made your "X" marks the spot with a pencil or marker over the various target indications.

Did you hit the targets? Go right through the middle of the pull tab ring?

As Yodabatts once said, "You will. You will."

 

[Gimmie The Loot]

start with out the pin pointer and after 20 hunts or so, go get one. That way you will really appreciate it and wonder why you waited so long! Its a no brainer. Not only does it save time, but you can also find multiple targets in the hole that you may have missed after you pulled out your penny. I was surprised when I dug a plug once and the pin pointer found 3 coins in the hole. Withouth it, I would have recovered one coin and moved on.

Also with a pin pointer, you can wave it over the coin before you even dig. If it beeps, then you know the coin is on the surface and you don't need to dig... just probe it out.

HH!

 

[JGRDHS]

So my Whites detector coil (Blue Max 950) has a pinpoint function on it already. The coil has a 3-4 inch hole in the middle which is where the target is supposed to be once the "pinpoint" button is pressed. The function seems to work pretty well, as all the clad coins I found the first time out where registering in the pinpoint opening when found. Do you all think this coil, and function on my machine will suffice without the added benefit of another separate pin pointer?

-James

 

[watercolor]

To me, the most difficult detecting conditions WITHOUT a pinpointer is trying to locate
a small target in a pile of "soupie" mud (the gooey kind that sticks to everything) or
when it's near snarly roots.

When I got my first pinpointer, I wondered how I had gotten along without it.

 

[MR Senior L4S]

Getting excited about the longer days and thawing ground. I can't wait to get out to places other than my backyard. The question is, how critical is an independent pin pointer? Is it truely a time saver? Are there targets you'll miss without one? If you're using one and swearing by it, which one is it?

///////// On trashy area PP is MUST!!!! ( lots of digging ) , I was detecting for 20+ years W/O PP . and my Minelab EX II ( from Australia ) in 92 have one , and I Will not since go W/O , now I use Garret Pro.( For change ) , All works great for me, I have experienced leave S/R in on position ( time OUT ) , or turn ON some how., so fo save time U have to use one of them. Thi is only time saving tools. ------- !!!

 

[kimsdad]

So my Whites detector coil (Blue Max 950) has a pinpoint function on it already. The coil has a 3-4 inch hole in the middle which is where the target is supposed to be once the "pinpoint" button is pressed. The function seems to work pretty well, as all the clad coins I found the first time out where registering in the pinpoint opening when found. Do you all think this coil, and function on my machine will suffice without the added benefit of another separate pin pointer?

When you are digging deeper targets, cut a plug, look down and don't see your target, you can stick your pinpointer in the hole or up to the plug and know right where it's at. Oherwise, you'll be swinging that coil over the target and plug again and again or grabbing handfulls of dirt and waving them by the coil one at a time until you find the target. Even a cheap Harbor Freight Cen Tech pinpointer will save you a bunch of time! I used one for 2 years until I got my Sunray, and still use it when I take my BH clad machine out. Less than $20, and sensitive enough to find a staple in a dirt pile.



Nothing wrong with the more expensive ones, but if you just want to see if they're nice to have, the price is right.

 

[fistfulladirt]

Inline probes are killer. Must have a pinpointer. When you get a silver hit next to iron, at 8-10 inches, sometimes the pinpoint is skewed. Nice to be able to probe the silver on the edge of the hole, to avoid gashing it.

 

[Lookn4Seated]

Save up your clad you dig on your next 10-15 hunts, depending on how long you detect, and buy yourself a GarretPro PP. You will be glad that you did. It's an all metal PP, and you can dig out the iron in the hole that's masking that sweet silver. This past year it's happened to me numerous times. Some people wouldn't believe me if I told them, and luckily I was with someone to witness it, and on a few occasions, TreasureFiend even got it on video.

Definately worth the investment, will pay for itself very quickly in the season, and save you a whole lot of frustration and time. Good Luck!

 

[JGRDHS]

Man...I feel like the slow, new kid here but...

Probably because I just started this metal detecting endeavor, but if you scan and find iron and junk, clear that iron, then re-scan with your detector, doesn't that do the same thing? I meant, with a pinpointer, you could just place that in the hole after clearing the junk, that would save you the effort of standing up, and waving the detector over it....right? Or am I just ignorant?

 

[Lowbatts]

A separate pinpointer is not an absolute necessity. Worked many years without one at all. If you practice pinpointing with your rig and get very good at it, you will be happy and wonder what you're missing.

I've had many times where I got a signal and knew exactly what coin, how deep, and where it was depending on which one of my machines I was using. I could very often cut a small plug down 6" and pop it over and there's the coin, either sitting on the end of the plug or in the bottom of the hole.

Then there's them other times. Like I said, one of the modern pinpointer options is not an absolute necessity. But it is in my view, without a doubt, the best metal detecting accessory ever made. Better than headphones, better than the best digging gear. Maybe not better than batteries, but batts are not optional until after 2016 and the advent of the low power circuitry that will be powered by bio-inductive coupling.

Of course that's going to come after the 2015 multi-point PI scanning cellular coil breakthrough. That can sample literally hundreds of signals a second from a multi-dimensional array to build an exact image of the target with depth and orientation accuracy within +/- 4%.

So for a couple years you have to hope you have the biggest, most powerful tool array at your disposal, one that can blow coins clean out of the ground. I know what you're thinking, did I dig all the targets or didn't I?

Well did ya, .....

 

[marinedad]

deep thoughts tim.

 

[Marvin]

So if I buy a pinpointer I should be prepared to dispose of it in 2016 as it may interfear with the beeping in my mind?

 

[Lowbatts]

So if I buy a pinpointer I should be prepared to dispose of it in 2016 as it may interfear with the beeping in my mind?

Skeeters aren't too bad this time of year!