Well folks, as I've always said, there is seldom more than 2" difference between a $200 detector and a $1200 detector save for a few extra toys, and in some cases the cheap and flimsy ones even work better than the ones built like a Sherman tank too. The more power (gain) one has the bigger problem it usually has working in harsher or higher mineralized soil too, often, but of course not always. That Tesoro Tejon was really deep in light ground for example, but sucked in this super-high iron ground here, and so does the Garrett 1250 through 2500 too, as it's also true of the disapointing "depth" of most Minelabs here too.. The same is true for all the Nautiluses in bad soil too. However, the Silver uMax, Vaquero and Golden, and the Compadre do a very nice job in the bad stuff. It all depends on what the detectors were designed for, in other words, what kind of soil they were designed for and to which market they were targeted..
There is good reason that I primarily have settled for using various Compasses and only two Fishers in my soil, and that's because they work the best, the smoothest, and go the deepest without having to spend a lot of of my valuable time messing and guessing with them all the time. One of my neighbors just told me yesterday that a "White's can tell you exactly what is in the ground before you dig it up", "just like the woman says in White's ad". I told him that that was basically BS, but he replied saying; "no, if it's a knife or a key or anything, White's detectors will tell you EXACTLY what it is, even before you dig it up".
Isn't that about as funny as it gets?
And we actually think we are at the top of the food chain.
This detector game is a learning game as Joe, Badger and myself already know. Every time I turn one on I get a new surprize, and after all these years we all know that there isn't one made regardless of how much it cost or how much talk there is about it - that will guarantee our success with it. There is no formula, only a fair grasp of it's capabilities, and those are usually only a little different than the capabilities of another one completely different than itself. For me though the Fisher cz3d, the cz-5 and cz-70 are the cream of the crop, and so are all the old Compasses. A well-known detector engineer (name withheld) took a cz3d and whipped everybody's rear-ends in all-out depth in a big field with a cz3d and it's 10.5 coil. He tested it against several Minelabs, a DFX White's and a Garrett 2500 all in medium soil all having the equivalent sized and same type coils. Who would have ever thought so?
Oh, and that new White's PI TDI is one MEAN detector! And I mean vile like a rabid pitbull. I got the feeling of holding an Oozie in my hot hands when I tried one out. It goes deeper than an F-75, any Minelab PI, the Infinium, and even has fairly decent discrimination too, better than any Minelab or any other White's or Garrett PI, by far.. And Erik Foster designed it.
Time for a good cup of Hawaiian and maybe a cookie or two.
EasyMoney
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