Cortes battery life

[Dan B]

I now have 40 hours of use on my Cortes, and the battery indicator is still showing life in the batteries. I'm amazed at the battery life I have seen, because I have used the back light a few times. I would have thought that would kill the batteries faster, but apparently not. The battery indicator has dropped a bit, but it's no where near the bottom. How low can you let that indicator go before changing the batteries? I checked them and they are all around 1.37 volts each. Am I loosing any performance by running with the battery indicator below max?

Thanks,

Dan

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

How to Research for Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting From Lead Generation to Vetting - Grab it through Amazon!

[JOE(USA)]

Dan,

Your sure doing super with the battery life. You must have good quality of battery in there. Yes, the backlight shortens the life of the batteries. You can let the indicator bar go as low as it can without losing performance. From a practical perspective you should change the batteries when the bar gets very low because you don't want them to run out while you are hunting. Joe

 

[Dan B]

Hi Joe,

The batteries are Panasonic Oxyrides. I will keep using this set for a while still, but I have another fresh set with me when I hunt. I'm curious to see how much life I can get out of these. The indicator is still only half way down the numbers (I would guess about 1/8 inch high still).

I should add that the Cortes has performed beyond my expectations. It is the first ID machine that I have owned that handles Canadian coins without a problem. I have never dug so many quarters, nickels, dimes and loonies ($1) with any other machine, including the Tejon and Golden. I think the way the ID was engineered is brilliant as it doesn't limit the machine to US coins. The "bar graph" as I like to call it is great because, unlike some other makes, it's not all or nothing. There will be a spread of indicators on at one time which indicates the conductivity of the coin. I look at the pattern and ignore the labeling. I also noticed a trend that even though a lot of our clad is plated steel, the ID number will almost always show a 95 on one or two swings, even though it may settle on a lower number. If I see the 95 at all I will dig. I have regularly found dimes 8" deep using this method. I hunt with the disc very low, so I am getting maximum depth. It takes a bit longer to cover an area, but I'm pretty confident I'm not leaving the good stuff behind.

It will take an amazing machine to make me give up the Cortes. I know a lot of people are critical of the Cortes but it is a great detector. I am very interested to see what Tesoro comes up with next.

Dan

 

[JOE(USA)]

Dan,

Yes, the bar graph is the key to the ID. If you don't get a match from the bar graph with the number it's an odd target. I hope you are also using the "SUM" mode. In the case of iron nails which will read a mixed 95 and 0 , with a smear on the bar graph, by toggling in the Sum mode it will eliminate the 95 readout and also give a low tone which tells you that the target is iron. Joe

 

[Dan B]

Closing in on 50 hours on this set of batteries! Thanks for the tip about the SUM mode Joe. I do use it occasionally, and I did actually come across some rusty old nails that did exactly as you described.

Dan