Ordered a new Time Ranger

[supertraq]

Have a time ranger coming,thinking that it use to be the flagship model a few years ago that it must be pretty good.
Should have read up before as ibeen looking around and see it does not ground balance in disc.mode.
It's slow in trash,not good,and appears to be weak in the depth department.
Feedback welcome,regretting already,it was going to be my haul around unit replacing my other unit.

 

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[TheHunterGT]

Older BH's with the 8 inch concentric coil and LCD displays are not the fastest machines by any stretch. A mixture of digital and analog technology so to speak. My Sharp Shooter 2 is a fair bit slower than my newer Lone Star Pro that is all digital. However it is not speed demon itself...both use same 8 inch style concentric coils.

The fastest Bounty Hunters are the older pure analog types with no LCDs...just the needle meter that is useless. The BH Gold Digger for example is amazingly fast...and passes a nail board test with flying colors. Something the SS2 and LSP both fail at with the stock 8 inch concentric. BH Junior...Tracker 2 and 4 are also very fast in the recovery department.

I am not aware of any BH model that will GB in disc mode other than the Land Ranger Pro. They are all in AM mode.

The only models I am aware of that have manual GB are....Land Ranger Pro....Discovery 3300....LandStar/CamoLS....Tracker 2. Sure I am missing 1-2. Most of them are similar to my Sharp Shooter 2....a "Retune" button you press while in AM that will GB to whatever you are holding the coil over. Actually works quite well on a few hot rocks I have.

The smaller 4 inch coil that BH sells for $30 will improve the speed slightly. I love it so far on my SS2 in trashy areas the 8 inch struggles in.

As far as depth...my SS2 is good for a true 7 inches on a nickel and quarter in Colorado dirt. Air test to 8.5-9...so I lose 1.5-2 roughly. I would imagine your Time Ranger will be similar if not deeper.

IMO it is a decent older machine. Not the best by any stretch. Compared to many of the machines in your sig...I doubt you will be blown away sadly. Decent for the price (sub 200) and features it has.

 

[Phantasman]

@ Hunter.
The Gold Digger is a smaller coil, which is going to mask less than the 8" coils of the SS and LSP. Monte's nail board test is a masking test as well as a recovery test. A 4" coil would capture the coin and nails as much or as long as an 8" coil would. And a 6" is is not going to capture as much as the 8" but more than the 4". The idea of Monte's test is two fold. Disc out iron and see if the coin is detected or masked. Run the detector clean or AM, and find out what sweep speed allows the detector to reset between nail-coin-nail. The nails are at different angles to check different ways of hitting the nails during a sweep. My point: if you could put the Gold Digger coil on the other two, they would see an improvement in recovery and masking as well. It's why smaller (4"-5") coils are made. For trashy areas.

@Supertraq

The TR is old tech. For it's day, the Dave Johnson redesigned TR was a top model seller. But things like "sniff" and "zap" didn't take off. Nice little features though if you ever need them. The numeric ID is very small for older eyes. But I think they have lowered the $500+ price down to a few hundred dollars new. For that price it is a great bargain. Remember, the coils for them are a drop in the bucket compared to newer tech detectors. Some still swear by the abilities of the TR. Don't compare it to your other detectors, but see it's abilities and value for what it brings to the table. It's a fun and effective unit. I don't think it will disappoint you. But let us know your thoughts after you've had it awhile.

 

[supertraq]

Yea I already have the bh 4" coil,it will work on my alpha 2000 but not like it should,no surprise as its not meant for a Greek series.
I already have a 5" DD on my t2 and its a great,bad to the bone combo but I want a even smaller coil for this iron infested ground,chunks of old scrap iron on the ground and the ground is full of bits. The spot would never be considered detectable/practical but its old and high paid late 1800's to early 1900's workers worked there daily. So my beloved alpha haul around unit is going bye bye for the time ranger.
I need small coil and tid #'s combined with multi tones so I can run with iron not discriminated out so I can hear blips and chirps.
Tesoros might do good on a nail board but in the real world single tone won't cut it,disc.out iron and now you will miss things next to iron that are not on the same plain/level i.e iron above and to the side of a good target.
That why I have my own test with targets at different depths the way it is in the ground.
It's much more revealing than a nail board test.
Forgot that the golden sabre II does good because of the adjustable tone break,better if the tones weren't
so close together though.

 

[TheHunterGT]

Maybe I am getting hung up on the wording. I'm guess I am looking at "recovery speed" as how fast I can swing the coil before it starts missing targets?

For instance...."nail...dime...nail...dime" (although I suppose they can all be the same target). If I set it up like that on my floor with targets roughly as wide as the coil....the Jr and Gold Digger will allow super fast swing speeds before missing a target. Beep..beep..beep...beep...fast fast fast fast. While the SS2 and LSP will not even allow half that swing speed before missing a beep. 4 inch or 8 inch. They will miss a nail or a dime each swing as soon as my coil swing speeds get significant. I can explain in a video perhaps? Not sure my words are conveying my point.

I must be honest I have not tried (or considered) Montes test in AM mode...as I never looked at it as a recovery speed test as above. I always look at it as an unmasking only test to see if it picks up the coin while discriminating out the nails.

I will try it but know for a fact the 8 inch coils will not go dime/nail/dime/nail with targets that close together. I will try on all machines and see if they can see the the back-forth that close. I am doubtful..even for the 4 inch.

I know the 4in on SS2 will "unmask" the coin....so will the 7in on the GD and 5in on the Jr.....the 8's will not.

However IDK if it will separate them in any mode that close together in a back/forth reading on the ID or tone.

God I hope that makes sense....

 

[Terry Soloman]

...
Tesoros might do good on a nail board but in the real world single tone won't cut it,disc.out iron and now you will miss things next to iron that are not on the same plain/level i.e iron above and to the side of a good target....

This is misinformation. I am testing the Vaquero; Silver uMax; Tiger Shark; Tejon; and Lobo Super Traq, with the 11" x 8" Widescan coil. You will not miss anything due to masking with a Tesoro. The H.O.T. technology recovers faster than Whites; Fisher; Garrett; and Minelab. DO NOT TAKE MY WORD - Try it yourself!

 

[Phantasman]

I agree with Terry. My Compadre and even my Bandido II were extremely fast in recovery. Since non screen Tesoro's don't have to process screen info, they are slightly faster. Also the reason a Gold Digger would be faster. It's why Minelab high ends are slower to recover. There's a lot going on under the hood.

Anyone who has watched scannerguys test garden results can clearly see that the lower priced Tesoro's surprise even the best of detectorists.



As a hobbyist, my LRP/QDP is perfect for me. And as someone who has a little trouble getting up and down to dig, I need more info on whether to dig.

 

[supertraq]

:

This is misinformation. I am testing the Vaquero; Silver uMax; Tiger Shark; Tejon; and Lobo Super Traq, with the 11" x 8" Widescan coil. You will not miss anything due to masking with a Tesoro. The H.O.T. technology recovers faster than Whites; Fisher; Garrett; and Minelab. DO NOT TAKE MY WORD - Try it yourself!

Tesoro boys at it again,bug off.
I'm not arguing with and idiotic child like you because you'll drag me down to your level and beat me with experience.
Now go to the others sites and have your little hissy fits that I see going on with you.

 

[Phantasman]

Everyone has their favorites. I don't like to hear anyone cut down any detector. I try to point out the good points in all detectors as well as their "not so good" points. None are perfect, except to the individual. I've seen plenty of treasures and trash from all detectors. And not one can say that they are the best at treasure only. If the rule of thumb was that the best treasures were the deepest ones, then I would seek out the deepest detector. But the truth is that you find just as much trash deep as you do treasure. It's more about where to hunt than how deep you hunt. And in THAT respect, A Bounty Hunter is just as good at any at finding good treasures. I'd rather have my Bounty Hunter in a virgin field than the deepest detector in a well hunted park. DEEP digging isn't one of my favorite parts of detecting.

 

[TheHunterGT]

Everyone has their favorites. I don't like to hear anyone cut down any detector. I try to point out the good points in all detectors as well as their "not so good" points. None are perfect, except to the individual. I've seen plenty of treasures and trash from all detectors. And not one can say that they are the best at treasure only. If the rule of thumb was that the best treasures were the deepest ones, then I would seek out the deepest detector. But the truth is that you find just as much trash deep as you do treasure. It's more about where to hunt than how deep you hunt. And in THAT respect, A Bounty Hunter is just as good at any at finding good treasures. I'd rather have my Bounty Hunter in a virgin field than the deepest detector in a well hunted park. DEEP digging isn't one of my favorite parts of detecting.

Could not agree more. When I first started this hobby I had grand ideas of digging 14 inch holes and finding every 1800's coin Colorado had to offer. After a few 6-7 inch holes in this Colorado concrete hard pack.....I soon realized I needed a new game plan. I can literally jump up and down on my Sampson shovel and watch it go down barely a 1/4 inch in some areas out here. More power to all the deep diggers...it is just not for me.

Give me a good VID to 6 inches....overall depth to 8 inches....decent recovery speed and unmasking. I will do just fine.

 

[Terry Soloman]

:

Tesoro boys at it again,bug off.
I'm not arguing with and idiotic child like you because you'll drag me down to your level and beat me with experience.
Now go to the others sites and have your little hissy fits that I see going on with you.

Gosh SuperTraq, "idiotic child," "hissy fits?" Does this mean you are trying to say you like me and want to go out on a date? Do they allow that in Pensacola?

 

[Phantasman]

Pensacola is a beautiful sunny place. White Plains has better Pizza and hot dogs. Ya just gotta find what's good in both.

 

[Terry Soloman]

My Aunt was part owner of the Holiday Inn in Pensacola when I was a kid. We used to rent Honda 50 minibikes and cruise up and down the beach. Love that area! One of my daughters just bought a house near Tampa, in Lakeland(?) Anyway, I can't wait to get down there and hunt with SuperTraq!

 

[mtsheron]

My Aunt was part owner of the Holiday Inn in Pensacola when I was a kid. We used to rent Honda 50 minibikes and cruise up and down the beach. Love that area! One of my daughters just bought a house near Tampa, in Lakeland(?) Anyway, I can't wait to get down there and hunt with SuperTraq!

I think I may have to go along to make sure you two play fair!

BTW- Getting ready to buy the Compadre for my daughter! Just saw too many good things about it for me to pass up.

 

[Phantasman]

Compadres are fun for the young. They just want to hear a beep and dig it, and can easily adjust one dial.

I have found that there is a point when detecting crosses over from a fun hobby to a serious obsession. Bounty Hunters are fun for the hobby. When you get into serious hunting, you leave the sub $400 range to spend money on machines with higher tech bells, whistles, screens, filters that add weight and need a Bachelors Degree to understand screen antics. It can be as simple or as complicated as one wants.

In the end, they all detect metal and they all find junk. It's up to each individual where the fun ends and the seriousness begins. And with the advent of manufacturers coming out with more sub $400 units (Go'Find, TreasureMaster, F44), they are seeing that the fun factor outweighs the seriousness.

 

[Phantasman]

Maybe I am getting hung up on the wording. I'm guess I am looking at "recovery speed" as how fast I can swing the coil before it starts missing targets?

For instance...."nail...dime...nail...dime" (although I suppose they can all be the same target). If I set it up like that on my floor with targets roughly as wide as the coil....the Jr and Gold Digger will allow super fast swing speeds before missing a target. Beep..beep..beep...beep...fast fast fast fast. While the SS2 and LSP will not even allow half that swing speed before missing a beep. 4 inch or 8 inch. They will miss a nail or a dime each swing as soon as my coil swing speeds get significant. I can explain in a video perhaps? Not sure my words are conveying my point.

I must be honest I have not tried (or considered) Montes test in AM mode...as I never looked at it as a recovery speed test as above. I always look at it as an unmasking only test to see if it picks up the coin while discriminating out the nails.

I forgot to address this.

I talked to Monte a long time ago about this. The nail board is to simulate trashy areas, the reason for 4 nails 1 coin. He said the test isn't real world, because if the coin was 3" deep and the nails 2" deep, the test is much more difficult. On an even plane, the test equally tests the detectors ability to masking. Trashy area's are worked best with smaller coils. The test for recovery is using small coils on the same board (ala trashy area again). You cannot swing the XTerra 6in concentric coil as fast as a Fisher 5"DD. Or even the 4" BH concentric. The XTerra's larger concentric with slower recovery speed is not going to perform as good as, say, the Tesoro 5.75 concentric, because Tesoro's are faster electronics though the coil sizes are almost the same. A smaller (5") DD is even faster due to the sweet spot pattern.

So, what I was saying is that the nail board test shows how fast recovery performs in trashy areas with both coils and detectors. The AM statement was when someone requires more depth in trashy areas, and how the detector performs between two different signals of conductivity to VCO ratio and numerics like the LRP does.

 

[TheHunterGT]

I forgot to address this.

I talked to Monte a long time ago about this. The nail board is to simulate trashy areas, the reason for 4 nails 1 coin. He said the test isn't real world, because if the coin was 3" deep and the nails 2" deep, the test is much more difficult. On an even plane, the test equally tests the detectors ability to masking. Trashy area's are worked best with smaller coils. The test for recovery is using small coils on the same board (ala trashy area again). You cannot swing the XTerra 6in concentric coil as fast as a Fisher 5"DD. Or even the 4" BH concentric. The XTerra's larger concentric with slower recovery speed is not going to perform as good as, say, the Tesoro 5.75 concentric, because Tesoro's are faster electronics though the coil sizes are almost the same. A smaller (5") DD is even faster due to the sweet spot pattern.

So, what I was saying is that the nail board test shows how fast recovery performs in trashy areas with both coils and detectors. The AM statement was when someone requires more depth in trashy areas, and how the detector performs between two different signals of conductivity to VCO ratio and numerics like the LRP does.

Thanks for responding. I know my SS2 will ummask the coin on Montes test with the smaller 4 inch coil...but it does little if anything to improve speed from target to target.

It will never match the actual speed of the pure analog Gold Digger and Junior. They are just crazy fast going from target to target. I will assume that is why Tesoros are so fast and why my Scorpion was so fast....pure analog.

Not sure if it is the digital ID aspect or a slow processor. Changing to the smaller 4 inch coil will make it a better unmasker...but does little as far as speeding things up.

 

[Garrett424]

I never used a Time Ranger but I did use a Land Star clone for a while. It too does not ground balance in disc mode; only in AM.
Frankly, it was never a problem for me in my area. That thing also hits pretty deep in AM when it's ground balanced.

My overall thoughts are that they're great machines and do what they're designed to do. That being said, for the same money you can get a whole lot more detector for the money with newer models with better technology.

Regardless, you WILL find treasure. You may just miss some of the deeper or more ambiguous targets that other machines may see. Of course, no matter what machine you have there will ALWAYS be something that's a little better. I don't believe there is a "best" detector. What matters in the end is getting one that you really love and does what YOU need it to do. That's the "best" detector imo.