SaginawIan
Hero Member
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2006
- Messages
- 679
- Reaction score
- 14
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Detroit, Michigan
- Detector(s) used
- Fisher F75, Tesoro Tejon, Tesoro Mojave.
- #1
Thread Owner
Hello All,
I just received a used Silver Umax in a trade and I have been really anxious to try it out. My goal in getting the Silver was to go back to basics, so to speak. What I hope is that I will be able to learn sounds and get away from VDI numbers and such. Sometimes I feel like visual target ID gets distracting. This is going to be my attempt to go from a Target ID machine to a basic one. I'm thinking at this point that I will miss depth reading, VDI #'s , Icons, and pinpoint. I'm hoping I will learn to do without it. I will tell it like it is.
The machine is $239 new and I've seen them used going for about $170. It apparrently has a lifetime warranty that may or may not be honored to a transferee, but that's at Tesoro discretion according to what I've read.
This machine is well put together. Takes about 2 minutes to break down and put together. It is very sleak. The balance seems perfect. It looks good. Nice logo placements. I love the colors of it: gold, tan, red, and brown. There is a nice sized arm brace - but it has no strap. I suppose that's because this thing is so light. The headphone jack is under the control housing, which is acutally nice because then the wire is out of your way and hangs down instead of drapes over the face of it. It comes apart in 3 pieces. The shaft parts connect together with spring pins and twist and lock sections so they don't wobble. It is EXTREMELY light weight, I was suprised that it was so light. It takes one 9-volt battery that fits snug with no battery leads to break. The only thing that looks out of place and weak in the whole construction is the bolt that connects the coil to the shaft - it looks like it will very easily break.
The Silver has a sensitivity control, discrimination control, and a toggle switch that controls the mode of operation- discrimination, all metal, and battery test. It comes with an 8" coil, which I think is a good middle sized coil that will get you some depth but also provide adequate target separation.
I ran some air tests. I did these my own way so take them for reference and not absolute fact. These numbers are the absolute farthest away from the coil I could get with at least a faint repeatable signal using headphones:
Here is the breakdown:
Sensitivity 6
Disc. just above iron
25c = 7 1/2"
10c = 6 1/2"
5c = 6"
1c = 6 1/2"
Sensitivity 10
Disc. just above iron
25c = 10"
10c = 9"
5c = 8"
1c = 9"
Sensitivity 10
All Metal Mode
25c = 11 1/4"
10c = 10 1/4"
5c = 9 1/2"
1c = 10 1/4"
I was overall really happy with the air test. Tone is easy to listen to, and very mellow. Volume is perfect for me. I was VERY happy about the fact that the machine was stable and ONLY made noise when it was over a target. No chirping, popping, humming. This is truly a silent search machine. Another VERY nice feature is the fact that the signal becomes more faint depending on the distance from the coil. So when you hear people refer to "whispers", this machine will provide "whispers" to help aid in depth ID. The discrimination on this machine seems to be calibrated very precisely and knocks out targets at exactly where the labels say.
So far my likes:
light/balanced well
looks/sounds cool
simple/powerful
So far my dislikes:
coil cover throws it out of balance
coil connector looks weak
gold pole shows scrathes/smudges easily
One final thing. The Silver picked up a dime directly under an iron nail with iron discriminated out. I was impressed with that. It treated the nail as if it wasn't there.
At this point I am impressed with the Silver. It is better than I expected based upon what I've read. I will test it outdoors this weekend and add to this. Here are some pictures.
I just received a used Silver Umax in a trade and I have been really anxious to try it out. My goal in getting the Silver was to go back to basics, so to speak. What I hope is that I will be able to learn sounds and get away from VDI numbers and such. Sometimes I feel like visual target ID gets distracting. This is going to be my attempt to go from a Target ID machine to a basic one. I'm thinking at this point that I will miss depth reading, VDI #'s , Icons, and pinpoint. I'm hoping I will learn to do without it. I will tell it like it is.
The machine is $239 new and I've seen them used going for about $170. It apparrently has a lifetime warranty that may or may not be honored to a transferee, but that's at Tesoro discretion according to what I've read.
This machine is well put together. Takes about 2 minutes to break down and put together. It is very sleak. The balance seems perfect. It looks good. Nice logo placements. I love the colors of it: gold, tan, red, and brown. There is a nice sized arm brace - but it has no strap. I suppose that's because this thing is so light. The headphone jack is under the control housing, which is acutally nice because then the wire is out of your way and hangs down instead of drapes over the face of it. It comes apart in 3 pieces. The shaft parts connect together with spring pins and twist and lock sections so they don't wobble. It is EXTREMELY light weight, I was suprised that it was so light. It takes one 9-volt battery that fits snug with no battery leads to break. The only thing that looks out of place and weak in the whole construction is the bolt that connects the coil to the shaft - it looks like it will very easily break.
The Silver has a sensitivity control, discrimination control, and a toggle switch that controls the mode of operation- discrimination, all metal, and battery test. It comes with an 8" coil, which I think is a good middle sized coil that will get you some depth but also provide adequate target separation.
I ran some air tests. I did these my own way so take them for reference and not absolute fact. These numbers are the absolute farthest away from the coil I could get with at least a faint repeatable signal using headphones:
Here is the breakdown:
Sensitivity 6
Disc. just above iron
25c = 7 1/2"
10c = 6 1/2"
5c = 6"
1c = 6 1/2"
Sensitivity 10
Disc. just above iron
25c = 10"
10c = 9"
5c = 8"
1c = 9"
Sensitivity 10
All Metal Mode
25c = 11 1/4"
10c = 10 1/4"
5c = 9 1/2"
1c = 10 1/4"
I was overall really happy with the air test. Tone is easy to listen to, and very mellow. Volume is perfect for me. I was VERY happy about the fact that the machine was stable and ONLY made noise when it was over a target. No chirping, popping, humming. This is truly a silent search machine. Another VERY nice feature is the fact that the signal becomes more faint depending on the distance from the coil. So when you hear people refer to "whispers", this machine will provide "whispers" to help aid in depth ID. The discrimination on this machine seems to be calibrated very precisely and knocks out targets at exactly where the labels say.
So far my likes:
light/balanced well
looks/sounds cool
simple/powerful
So far my dislikes:
coil cover throws it out of balance
coil connector looks weak
gold pole shows scrathes/smudges easily
One final thing. The Silver picked up a dime directly under an iron nail with iron discriminated out. I was impressed with that. It treated the nail as if it wasn't there.
At this point I am impressed with the Silver. It is better than I expected based upon what I've read. I will test it outdoors this weekend and add to this. Here are some pictures.
![:-\](https://www.treasurenet.com/smilies/undecided.gif "Undecided :-\")
.
