Reasons for buying a Probe

[Hardy]

I was just wondering why the use of probes is so common in the past 15 years or so ??

 

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[Digger]

I think it may be from two reasons.

First, I think the skill of pinpointing is becoming somewhat of a lost art. That and some of the newer DD coils, I've heard, can be hard to pinpoint with. Personally I've never had a problem. Even with my Silver uMax that has no pinpoint mode does fine. Second, I think more depth makes having a probe more convenient. Recovering targets at 8" isn't such a problem, but with the E-Trac, and V3, I found recovering coins at 10-12" on a regular basis can be a problem.

 

[watercolor]

I personally would be hard-pressed NOT having one in the bag;
Especially during the spring thaw when you're trying to find a
small target in wet & sloppy piles of mud

I bought my first probe about 3-months after I bought my detector
and have been spoiled ever since. It really does make finding your
target lot easier in the wet and among tree roots in the woods, which
is where I do about 85% of my hunting.

 

[turtlefoot13]

I'm not much of a coinshooter but I use a probe a lot, especially on larger relics. It helps me find the edges of the relic that I am digging so I know approximately how big to make the hole that I am digging.

Doug

 

[Iron Patch]

There's several reasons I use my Sunray and wouldn't think of using anything but.

The main reason I like it is it saves my knees.... and my targets too! When I get a signal in the field I quickly pinpoint it, cut the plug with my shovel, then hit the switch with my right hand and grab the probe as I'm dropping to the ground. Now down on one knee I yank the plug with my left hand and start probing with my right. If I need my hand digger I reach back to my pouch and get it. This might sound like a lot reading it, but when I do it it's all in the matter of a couple seconds. The button is switched and I have the probe before I'm even down to the ground. Now why is this my way of doing things? One reason is it saves my knees from having to get back up and pinpoint the target again. The alternative which I assume most others do field hunting is use their shovel to dig out the target completely. Sure that works, but there's no question there will be times where you scrape your find. My detector is very good at finding targets on edge which means they are difficult to pinpoint and often end up in the side of the hole. Without a probe all you can do is guess, and cut out part of the hole and hope you don't hit it. I'm not sure if I explained my process well but there is no question it saves my targets and my knees, and I think it makes my recovery faster too. Remember what I've just described I've been doing for about 8 years straight, so it's pretty automatic.

A couple other reasons I like it is checking iffys and getting a bonus find now and again. The iffys come when a site is getting very quiet and I'm down to digging the very low % sounds which are almost always smaller iron. With the X-1 all I have to do it cut the plug, stick the probe in to confirm good or bad target, then either dig, or in most cases move on to the next. When doing this type of detecting, aka working the hard targets out, it's even more of a numbers game than regular detecting is because most targets are bad. Without the probe I would have to spend much more time on each hole to determine whether it's worth more digging, and in most cases I would have to keep digging to be sure. The 2nd thing, the bonus finds is when you are hunting in very heavy iron, something like a cellar hole that's never been ploughed and the targets are very masked by iron. In a spot like that everytime you dig a target you probe the entire hole very well and sometimes will get another find which was probably masked from surface detecting. I usually don't hunt sites like that, because they aren't here, but I did on a trip once and found 2 or 3 extra targets just in the dozen or so holes I dug. Having finished those thoughts two more come to mind. One is it's very easy to lose small targets once you get them on the surface where heavy iron is around, and the other is there's been some real deep stuff I probably would have walked away from had I not been able to stick a probe down the hole. I do hunt some days without the Sunray mostly due to weather, and each time I do there's at least one target I lose that I know wasn't iron. It's a drag to think that could have be "the one," and makes me wish I had taken my probe.

Anyway, that's all in relation to an Explorer but think it probably applies to other detectors too, and maybe some probes. For people that don't think they need a probe that's fine, but if they think they are not a great tool for others than they are dead wrong. I'd pay 4 times the price for my Sunray if I had too because it's cheaper and less painful then getting new knees!

 

[Hardy]

I was wondering if it could be that the Double D coils and the new types of coils on to days market that enable the coil

to have a wider spread of detection of targets { a good thing} has sacrificed more accurate pin pointing that the older

style of coils that used a more conical field of detection

 

[Iron Patch]

I was wondering if it could be that the Double D coils and the new types of coils on to days market that enable the coil

to have a wider spread of detection of targets { a good thing} has sacrificed more accurate pin pointing that the older

style of coils that used a more conical field of detection

If we compared the footprint of my stock 10.5" Explorer DD to your 8" concentric I think you would be shocked at the coverage advantage I would have. That right there would find me more, at least at the type of sites I hunt.

 

[Hardy]

I don't care about Types of coils Iron Patch , just wondering why the use of these probes. My Knees are crap from Football and

Hockey. I dread some days of kneeling lots due to a rich patch of recoveries , All responses have all valid reasons as far as I can

Tell. But I do thank all for any responce of the benefits of the probe use. I do think that some coils dont Pin Point as well as

other models on the market.

 

[Iron Patch]

I don't care about Types of coils Iron Patch , just wondering why the use of these probes. My Knees are crap from Football and

Hockey. I dread some days of kneeling lots due to a rich patch of recoveries , All responses have all valid reasons as far as I can

Tell. But I do thank all for any responce of the benefits of the probe use. I do think that some coils dont Pin Point as well as

other models on the market.

I agree some probably don't pinpoint as well, but I in some cases believe that's because they see more targets. As I said my explorer is very good at targets on edge, way better than my GTI which was a lot easy to pinpoint with. I'd sooner find more targets and have trouble pp'ing, than find less and it be easy.

 

[luvsdux]

I think the two biggest reasons are 1. They've become available and 2. they are very useful in speeding up recoveries. I never detect without one. My two cents.
luvsdux

 

[Goes4ever]

The main reason I use on is because it speeds target recovery up tremendously

 

[Woodland Detectors]

In a nutshell Hardy.


Humans are lazy
And they are amazed by gimmics. Like toy story where the little toys in the cherry picker machine?
Where they go, Ooooohh, ahhhhhhh.




I'm guilty.

Besides, They work and give you another metal detector to play with in the field.

 

[Hosensack]

I was actually going to post a little on this topic so this has been a huge help. I am curious at what the average depth is for a decent probe?(more for relic situations or deeper small items in an under grade homesite foundation)

 

[Iron Patch]

In a nutshell Hardy.


Humans are lazy
And they are amazed by gimmics. Like toy story where the little toys in the cherry picker machine?
Where they go, Ooooohh, ahhhhhhh.




I'm guilty.

Besides, They work and give you another metal detector to play with in the field.

Gotcha! maybe we should see if we can kill some of these Sunray sales. BRB.... there's a guy named Bobby I have to contact right away... he's about to make a big mistake!

 

[Iron Patch]

I was actually going to post a little on this topic so this has been a huge help. I am curious at what the average depth is for a decent probe?(more for relic situations or deeper small items in an under grade homesite foundation)

Maybe two inches on a small button and 3 on a quarter size coin.

 

[Woodland Detectors]

OK friend. It depends. As always, you a gonna getta whata you pay for.
My Italian grandfather would appreciate the way I wrote that..
I own the detector pro pistol probe. It takes (2) yes two 9v batteries. It works really nice. And for 189.00 retail it should. I get 3-5 inches respectively. BUT BEWARE! If you're like me, and you don't like to shed all of your equipment upon entering and leaving your vehicle, then you have to be careful as not to sit on the unit. Seriously. That sounds funny. But, It will snap! Trust me. If you get one then take care of it. See the second photo how the guy has it attached? It's easy to sit on them like that. There, I just saved a bunch of you from disaster.
Now, I also field tested the sun-ray x1 for my minelab and That works sweet too.Because it uses the Explorer's powerful electronics, the probe has a depth capability of nearly 4" in Disc. mode, and a bit more in pinpoint. Not having to rescan the hole again saves tremendous amounts of time in target retrieval, and further reduces time spent on those deep, "iffy" ones. When checking less promising signals in high-iron areas, or simply because of lack of signals altogether, you can take an initial deep plug, place the probe in the hole, and if you hear no positive signals, replug and move on to the next target assured you didn't leave something behind.
Those two companies rock.

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?18,814695,814838

http://www.sunraydetector.com/testing_the_sunray_x1_target_probe-we.htm

 

[Woodland Detectors]

In a nutshell Hardy.


Humans are lazy
And they are amazed by gimmics. Like toy story where the little toys in the cherry picker machine?
Where they go, Ooooohh, ahhhhhhh.




I'm guilty.

Besides, They work and give you another metal detector to play with in the field.

Gotcha! maybe we should see if we can kill some of these Sunray sales. BRB.... there's a guy named Bobby I have to contact right away... he's about to make a big mistake!

He just bought one from me dude! lol

Youre killin me man.

"Besides, They work and give you another metal detector to play with in the field."

 

[Iron Patch]

In a nutshell Hardy.


Humans are lazy
And they are amazed by gimmics. Like toy story where the little toys in the cherry picker machine?
Where they go, Ooooohh, ahhhhhhh.




I'm guilty.

Besides, They work and give you another metal detector to play with in the field.

Gotcha! maybe we should see if we can kill some of these Sunray sales. BRB.... there's a guy named Bobby I have to contact right away... he's about to make a big mistake!

He just bought one from me dude! lol

Youre killin me man.

"Besides, They work and give you another metal detector to play with in the field."

I know, and is why I said it. But you asked for it with your gimmic comment!

 

[Woodland Detectors]

In a nutshell Hardy.


Humans are lazy
And they are amazed by gimmics. Like toy story where the little toys in the cherry picker machine?
Where they go, Ooooohh, ahhhhhhh.




I'm guilty.

Besides, They work and give you another metal detector to play with in the field.

Gotcha! maybe we should see if we can kill some of these Sunray sales. BRB.... there's a guy named Bobby I have to contact right away... he's about to make a big mistake!

He just bought one from me dude! lol

Youre killin me man.

"Besides, They work and give you another metal detector to play with in the field."

I know, and is why I said it. But you asked for it with your gimmic comment!

ooooh, aaaahhhhh

Besides, I give grrreat customer service buddy!

 

[Keppy]

Well i need a probe for there are times the coin is right out in the open covered in dirt and i can not find or see it. Then i turn on the pinpointer and i'll be darned there it is. It makes it lot faster and a lot more easy for me at times. I don't really find it to be a gimmic. I find it to be a help