Who has a detector they DO NOT like???

U.K. Brian

Bronze Member
Oct 11, 2005
1,629
153
Detector(s) used
XLT, Whites D.F., Treasure Baron, Deepstar, Goldquest, Beachscan, T.D.I., Sovereign, 2x Nautilus, various Arado's, Ixcus Diver, Altek Quadtone, T2, Beach Hunter I.D, GS 5 pulse, Searchman 2 ,V3i
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I always try before buying so don't have any bad un's but as a brand I don't like Garrett which were my favourite brand back in the 80's but directly they went to motion we parted company.

To many gimmicks that didn't really work, very expensive in Europe. For years the cheaper models had very poor performance. To much hype with the more recent models that don't really work that well. O and "belltone" "sound of money". I shudder.
 

Detector Wars

Sr. Member
Nov 26, 2008
299
38
Garretts are getting a hiding. :laughing9:

Here's another one. Infinium. When I first got it I thought I liked it, but after a short while it drove me nuts. No, it's not a tough beast to tame (it's easy to use actually), it's just a sħit detector. I have used many detectors, PI's and VLF's over the years, I know what is tough to tame.

It's no good for land or sea.

Stay away, this is a warning that will save you $$$.
 

Mzjavert

Silver Member
Oct 7, 2011
2,780
2,747
Indiana
Detector(s) used
Bounty Hunter Mark IV
Garrett Ace 350
Garrett Carrot
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
White's Classic II: First machine. Didn't keep it long enough to learn it. Thought that I'd be happier with a display machine. So...

Bought the low end Garrett display machine (circa '97 or '98) that I ended up hating because I got all sorts of false signals and I didn't like the touchpad. This got traded in for...

White's Quantum XT: Loved it, loved it, loved it. But folks told me I should really get a Spectrum XLT so I traded my QXT in for...

Spectrum XLT: I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it. I had much, much better luck with the QXT. Eventually sold this on Ebay.

Now one of the two above machines was what I took to my first seeded hunt. The machine had multiple frequencies so you could adjust it so you could eliminate interfereance at contests. Nice idea except "EVERYONE HAD WHITE'S MACHINES".

So I bought a used Sidewinder for contests. Then discovered it was a great machine when I had time to drive 3 hours to the beach and spend all day detecting. I primarily used it as a freshwater beach machine for 12 years. This summer I started using it in the year, tot lots, and parks. I went from liking this machine to LOVING IT.

After reading lots of good stuff and see lots of videos on U-tube I bought an Ace 250 as a back-up unit. Don't love it. Don't hate it. I don't like how the display and tones are all over the place on anything that isn't a nice, pretty coin. It doesn't pinpoint as well as my Sidewinder, but that's getting better with practice. I did buy it when areas have so much trash that I need to be more selective or I might as well till the soil and run it through a sieve. For that purpose it does reasonably well as long as I don't try to go after nickel signals.
 

shanegalang

Bronze Member
Oct 31, 2007
1,379
641
Island of Mozambique
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
XP DEUS, X 35 coil, 11" LF coil, Deteknix headphones with WS4 puck, Fiskars steel D-Handle Transplanting Spade
Primary Interest:
Other
The Bounty Hunter Lonestar I started with :-[. Sure am happy with my Tesoro Cortes I own now ;D
 

stringmo

Tenderfoot
Jan 6, 2012
5
0
west coast
Detector(s) used
Teknetics T2
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
The Minelab Quattro that I am using now is very disappointing. Most "good" targets can be scanned in such a way as to make them sound "bad". The depth out here in the California soil is pretty pathetic if searching in the discriminate modes. I have owned older Whites and Teknetics machines and found them superior.
 

MrSchulz

Bronze Member
Mar 29, 2012
1,540
314
DeWitt, Iowa
Detector(s) used
Ace 250, Bounty Hunter Tracker IV, Custom Recovery tools, Nupla Prb4t Soil Probe 60 IN,
Primary Interest:
Other
I have a Bounty Hunter Tracker IV and I can say that I do not have any issues with it. I did however have a cheap $30 metal detector I bought some generic one, that I used when shallow water detecting, and it broke after the first few uses. The plastic handle broke..
 

joetanner

Newbie
May 13, 2012
4
0
Northwest Alabama
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Compadre
Fisher F5
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Had a Micronta from radio shack years ago. Looked cool and would find a few things but basically sucked. But any metal detector is better than no metal detector at all!!
 

Chips

Full Member
Jun 1, 2012
177
40
Wellington
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75 Ltd, GTAx1000 (Coil Died), AT-Pro (died), Tesoro Sand Shark,Ctx3030, Whites V3i.
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I like my AT-Pro, except for a few issues,
where mine seems stable enough for me in my cluggy soils;; (though I hear that there can be some real dud ones out there !)
I find after swinging it for 3 hours I get a sore arm.
I really hate the proprietary head phone idea, but not as much as I hate the price of the head phone adapter plug.. Over $65 for two plugs and a bit of wire!!! What a &%&$&^##@$$$ profit !!

My Tesoro I like a lot and can swing it all day though, for me,, it had a bit of a learning curve.. I find the discrimination frustrating .

GC1019 a Chinese machine.... Lets just say, I'll never make that mistake again !!

this is a good topic, I too am saving hard and trying to decide on a new machine for Christmas. As I can only afford one so it's a race between
the 705 or Sarfari and the F5 or F70 and the Cortés or Tejón...
Its not an easy choice..
 

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Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
3,992
In Michigan now.
Detector(s) used
Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I ordered an AT Pro last year not long after they came out. It falsed all the time ever at a couple bars sens while holding it still. I sent it in to be fixed and falsing continued at every location I tried it and I have +30 years experience. Doctor Detroit a good friend and TH'er herself bought me a Brand new AT PRO this spring. While it is upgraded the electronics still squeal like a stuck pig at any sens setting. I tried to use it but time is too short to play with a water detector when I have so many great detectors to use at beaches and clean swim areas to earn my fees. None of my crew will used ATP's anymore to clean beaches.
 

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Chips

Full Member
Jun 1, 2012
177
40
Wellington
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75 Ltd, GTAx1000 (Coil Died), AT-Pro (died), Tesoro Sand Shark,Ctx3030, Whites V3i.
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I ordered an AT Pro last year not long after they came out. It falsed all the time ever at a couple bars sens while holding it still. I sent it in to be fixed and falsing continued at every location I tried it and I have +30 years experience. Doctor Detroit a good friend and TH'er herself bought me a Brand new AT PRO this spring. While it is upgraded the electronics still squeal like a stuck pig at any sens setting. I tried to use it but time is too short to play with a water detector when I have so many great detectors to use at beaches and clean swim areas to earn my fees. None of my crew will used ATP's anymore to clean beaches.

Sounds like that ATP really doesn't suit, I recommend dumping it on eBay, though doing that to something that was a gift may prove a bit of a "political" rough spot.
I want to dump my GC as well as some others. But the GC is soo bad it could put other enthusiasts off the sport haha.
Am thinking that if I sell some of my detectors I could put that money towards getting a gruntier beast too..
 

AC1955

Bronze Member
Apr 22, 2012
1,149
350
New Hampshire & Maine
Detector(s) used
V3i, Excalibur II, White's M6, Coinmaster, Teknetics EurotekPro, White's Surfmaster PI
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
GTi2500 (Garrett) - hate it. Heavy machine. Slow response time. Wish I never bought it. Anyone want to buy it from me?

Anita
 

norbyx

Hero Member
Jun 3, 2012
837
163
San Jose
Detector(s) used
Actual: Whites MXT All Pro, M6 and Tesoro Sand Shark

Ex: BH Platinum, Tesoro Lobo, ST & Tejon, Teknetics Delta, Whites MXT, V3i, Dual Field, MX5; DP Wader, Garrett At-PRO, Fisher Gold Bug 2, CZ-70Pro
Primary Interest:
Other
If you sell it for $300 I might.

Sent from my iPhone using TreasureNet
 

knarf44

Jr. Member
Sep 9, 2012
37
20
Washington State
Detector(s) used
Minelab X-Terra 305
Home brew digging tool, Garrett Pro Pointer
Rapoo H6020 wireless headset and TS-BT35F01 BT transmitter
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I once owned a Fisher CZ5 that I had a love hate relationship with. It loved deep rusty nails and I hated digging them. :BangHead:

Sorry couldn’t help myself.:laughing7:
 

Rick60

Jr. Member
Oct 24, 2012
23
3
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I hate Minetrash products flute music is really irritating, my Garrett GTI 2500 is a great machine,it is only heavy if you are a whimp.I really like my Fisher coinstrike and Goldstrike and my Whites TDI love P.Is they work great. I have owned a Minetrash Eureka gold HATED it had no real power missed alot of gold my Fisher Gold$trike nailed, an X-Terra 70 minetrash I just do not like the way they were designed or function. Really reminds me of a BH Pioneer 505 with manual ground balance actually my 505 finds everything my X-trashmaster 70 unit finds. say it loud MINETRASH SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS
 

sonofadigger

Bronze Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,201
783
SOMEWHERE
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
MINELAB E-TRAC MINELAB SAFARI TEKNETICS OMEGA 8000 GARRETT AT PRO GARRETT PRO POINTER VIBRA PROBE 580
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I hate Minetrash products flute music is really irritating, my Garrett GTI 2500 is a great machine,it is only heavy if you are a whimp.I really like my Fisher coinstrike and Goldstrike and my Whites TDI love P.Is they work great. I have owned a Minetrash Eureka gold HATED it had no real power missed alot of gold my Fisher Gold$trike nailed, an X-Terra 70 minetrash I just do not like the way they were designed or function. Really reminds me of a BH Pioneer 505 with manual ground balance actually my 505 finds everything my X-trashmaster 70 unit finds. say it loud MINETRASH SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS

so tell us how you really feel lol
 

Rick60

Jr. Member
Oct 24, 2012
23
3
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
are the Garrett AT PROs really that bad? my GTI 2500 had some programming problems when I first purchased it, after the repair it did work like a champ, then on the beach I thought I was getting false hits but after using my trusty rare earth magnet I found the source of all my false signals small pieces of rusty iron picked up by my magnet,with the 2500 in the coin mode the GTI should have ignored those small targets but then again none of my other detectors ignore rusty iron, my 2500 never stops amazing me at the extremely small targets it finds, and small pieces of placer gold that my Minelab Eureka gold missed no matter what setting it was in.But Garrett does have some quality control problems at there plant, I have read numerous complaints about there products having the same prob time after time!:occasion14:
 

sonofadigger

Bronze Member
Apr 22, 2012
2,201
783
SOMEWHERE
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
MINELAB E-TRAC MINELAB SAFARI TEKNETICS OMEGA 8000 GARRETT AT PRO GARRETT PRO POINTER VIBRA PROBE 580
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Rick60 said:
are the Garrett AT PROs really that bad? my GTI 2500 had some programming problems when I first purchased it, after the repair it did work like a champ, then on the beach I thought I was getting false hits but after using my trusty rare earth magnet I found the source of all my false signals small pieces of rusty iron picked up by my magnet,with the 2500 in the coin mode the GTI should have ignored those small targets but then again none of my other detectors ignore rusty iron, my 2500 never stops amazing me at the extremely small targets it finds, and small pieces of placer gold that my Minelab Eureka gold missed no matter what setting it was in.But Garrett does have some quality control problems at there plant, I have read numerous complaints about there products having the same prob time after time!:occasion14:

Depends on who you are talking to ive had absolutely no problems what so ever with it I think for the price its one of the best out there
 

sekypaleo

Sr. Member
Jan 24, 2010
412
137
Cincinnati Ohio
Detector(s) used
Teknetics G2 with 13" Ultimate coil, AKA Sorex Pro, Eurotek Pro, Garrett Pro pointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Man, I have owned so many machines through my 30+ years detecting. Most had some redeeming qualities and I can't say I ever owned one that I downright hated , but disliked:
Minelab Soveriegn
Sorry, hate to say this but EVERY Garrett I have ever used
Fisher CZ-5 (loved the target ID and depth...loved iron and deep nails too much
Teknetics Omega...good machine except half the places I would try and hunt with it EMI problems made it practically unusable

Now, the machines I love:
First and foremost...my Teknetics G2...best detector for me EVER!
Tesoro Sidewinder...great little machine made some outstanding recoveries with that bugger.
 

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