Can you tell me anything about these vintage detectors?

[wainzoid]

I went to preview the stuff at an upcoming estate auction and seen these. They are from before my metal detecting era. Was just curious about them. Thanx in advance for any info

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[DonDigger]

The internet is your friend: https://lendellblosser.wordpress.com/2015/01/02/wilson-neuman-daytona-metal-detector/

The "compass coin magnum vlf detector" has been discussed a lot but you will need to just google the full name since a lot of that discussion is on forums.

 

[Slingshot]

That Wilson Neauman Daytona was VLF with great iron trash see through ability, though the components are cast in some kind of epoxy and I understand they are practically impossible to repair because of that, and the Compass kind of looks like a Judge II, which I hunted with for about 5 years, good see through iron ability, a basic non motion TR, and not as much depth as a VLF, I used to have to scrub the coil against the ground in an effort to get more depth, but still found a lot of silver with mine. Both from the late 70's to mid 80's, and with the life of electrolytic capacitors being what they are it's a crapshoot on either machine, or any from that far back. Might last 20 more years or might be gone tomorrow morning. On eBay I see the Daytona's going from $50 to $150 if they are working. and the Compass Relic Magnums, 77's, and Judges going for $50 to $100 if they are running. Just depends on your taste, neither could probably out hunt a BH Tracker IV, just my .02 worth.

 

[DonDigger]

The compass detector is a "Compass Coin Magnum VLF Discriminator". I used one for several years and it was a good machine but was hard to learn. Took a lot of practice to tune properly. Nice collector pieces but just about any modern detector will out perform them.

 

[wainzoid]

I have no interest in buying them, just thought they were cool. Especially the Wilson Neauman. I can't imagine them bringing more than a few dollars each. I was at the auction house previewing some local history books when I came across them. I hope to get the books.
Thanx for your help

 

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

The Compass detectors are still sought by many users. Great machine in its day. There is an active Compass Forum on the net.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

you have a lot of great answers so far. Those are very early 1980s machines. And ... yes .... both dinasours right now. And probably not even much nostalgia "vintage" value either. Since from the mid 1970s to mid 1980s there were MILLIONS of detectors sold. Ie.: there was boon in the market/hobby in those years. Thus no shortage of those things showing up at flea markets, garage sales, ebay, etc....

 

[woof!]

I have no firsthand knowledge of the Daytona but am old enough to know that it was a respected machine in its time. That was then and this is now.

It's not an antique and isn't competitive with an entry level machine in the $200 range nowadays. So what's it worth? Cant say, but not much. If you think of as "hobby", and not "return on investment", maybe it was a bargain.

 

[Dagger Woods]

Maybe it's just the pack-rat in me speaking, but I think it'd be kinda cool to have a selection of those olde tyme detectors on display, providing you had the space and the proper room (think "man cave" or "hobby room") to house them. To have one corner devoted to your finds displays, some old maps, a few "antique detectors", and such.... it'd be quite an interesting display. If you could get them for under $10 and they actually still worked, that'd be even better!

 

[McHall]

Wow! I don't believe it! My mother use to have a Wilson Neauman Daytona ll! her & 2 of her sisters each bought one back around 1980 from my brothers hobby shop. seems like they had 3 different models from around 150.00 up to 350.00 maybe. I used it a lot back then & when my mother died it was mine. by then it was pretty old & I lost interest so it just sat in my closet for years then I sold it about 8 yrs ago on Ebay.

Whats funny is I hunted one time with a guy from Lansing Mi who had a Compass just like that one in the picture! it was 100x better than the Daytona ll it was like night & day. he'd find stuff like Lincoln penny at about 8 to 9" that the Daytona ll couldn't see. after that I wanted a Compass lol Dadgum!...Talk About Deja Vu!!