muleskinner said:
What's the difference between the Bandido umax and the Bandido II? I noticed the II's have a threshold knob. The reason I ask is I just purchased a Bandido umax.
Are these as good as the II's? I bought it because I was looking for a detector to use primarily as a cherry picker.
I do not claim to be an expert, but I'll try to explain the BD's. First, the difference in the BD II and the BD umax is primarily the electronics. The umax series of detectors was Tesoro's introduction to large scale, board mounted, microcircuits. That means that the circuits of the older BD IIs were improved with better designed filters, but also built into solidstate microcircuits that not only simplified construction, but also provided smaller boards that allowed them to produce smaller-sized control boxes; thus lighter weight detectors. Tesoro was the pioneer in this area.
Some of us BD II owners prefer our older units with its underslung box because we are used to their excellent response to targets. The umax may be better, but not enough to swap.
Now, as to the threshold control. If you remember how we used to listen for those little "whisper" sounds of deeply buried targets you will really appreciate what Tesoro has done. The Threshold adjustment allows us to adjust the PITCH of the sound that the detector produces AND also the level of constant sound heard in All Metal Mode. It is NOT a volume control, but does operate kinda, sorta in that way because you don't get that "whisper" of sound from the old days. The Threshold control sets the minimum STRENGTH of sound the BD will produce for any target that is sensed. In escense, you can set the strength of the "whisper".
i hope I haven't confused you. Sandman, Michigan Badger, and Joe(USA) could probably explain things clearer.
