Monty
Gold Member
- Jan 26, 2005
- 10,746
- 166
- Detector(s) used
- ACE 250, Garrett
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
I had read about the bargain price of the Harbor Freight pinpointers here on Tnet , so I ordered one just to see how it would do. It ran just over $20.00 after shipping and handling from wherever they are to my home in NE Oklahoma.
It came fully assembled with a battery and a good instruction booklet. and a cloth holster. The booklet was obviously designed for the guy or gal who would be using it for other than metal detecting. First off I discovered how small and light weight it was compared to most any others I had handled. But it did have a 6" barrel for reaching down into the hole. I found that if I dug my plug as big as my hand I could easily reach down a lot further. The Barrel was also sensitive on the sides as well as the tip. The unit stayed off all the time except when you pushed a tiny button switch to turn it on and it had to be held down while you were probing. Although the button switch was small I had no problem holding it down using the gloves I use for digging. The gloves are the Wal-Mart special cloth backed with rubber palms and fingers. Also when the switch is held down or on, there is a small but bright light that lights up the hole which I found very helpful. I didn't use it long enough to find out how long the single 9 volt battery would last, but with the way it is set up I expect it would last for days. I used it for about 4 hours while I dug up some pennies in a local park. But note that it of course was not turned on the whole 4 hours, rather only when probling. When it approached or touched a metal object it would let out a very high pitched whine. With earphones on I had a little trouble hearing it until I used it a few times. I tried it near a busy street and couldn't hear it at all with the traffic noise. It would be much better if it also had a vibration to accompany the tone. I couldn't find any adjustment to make it louder. Depth was about an inch and a half on a penny sized coin, a tad more with a larger object but not anywhere near the 2 1/2 " someone else reported getting. Maybe it was just peculiar to the particular one I received? The probe itself seemed to be fairly stout and I don't think it would break unless you was to try to pry with it. Just straight probing into loose soil should work fine.
Overall, for the money it was a surprisingly good little pinpointer. The only real fault I could find was the volume wasn't loud enough for me near busy traffic. I suspect if the manufacturer ever found out what it was being used for the price would escalate. It seems anything peculiar to our interest as detectorists is a lot higher than comparable prices doesn't it? I would recommend it if you want just a handy little pinpointer and don't want to spend a bunch of $$$. M
nty
It came fully assembled with a battery and a good instruction booklet. and a cloth holster. The booklet was obviously designed for the guy or gal who would be using it for other than metal detecting. First off I discovered how small and light weight it was compared to most any others I had handled. But it did have a 6" barrel for reaching down into the hole. I found that if I dug my plug as big as my hand I could easily reach down a lot further. The Barrel was also sensitive on the sides as well as the tip. The unit stayed off all the time except when you pushed a tiny button switch to turn it on and it had to be held down while you were probing. Although the button switch was small I had no problem holding it down using the gloves I use for digging. The gloves are the Wal-Mart special cloth backed with rubber palms and fingers. Also when the switch is held down or on, there is a small but bright light that lights up the hole which I found very helpful. I didn't use it long enough to find out how long the single 9 volt battery would last, but with the way it is set up I expect it would last for days. I used it for about 4 hours while I dug up some pennies in a local park. But note that it of course was not turned on the whole 4 hours, rather only when probling. When it approached or touched a metal object it would let out a very high pitched whine. With earphones on I had a little trouble hearing it until I used it a few times. I tried it near a busy street and couldn't hear it at all with the traffic noise. It would be much better if it also had a vibration to accompany the tone. I couldn't find any adjustment to make it louder. Depth was about an inch and a half on a penny sized coin, a tad more with a larger object but not anywhere near the 2 1/2 " someone else reported getting. Maybe it was just peculiar to the particular one I received? The probe itself seemed to be fairly stout and I don't think it would break unless you was to try to pry with it. Just straight probing into loose soil should work fine.
Overall, for the money it was a surprisingly good little pinpointer. The only real fault I could find was the volume wasn't loud enough for me near busy traffic. I suspect if the manufacturer ever found out what it was being used for the price would escalate. It seems anything peculiar to our interest as detectorists is a lot higher than comparable prices doesn't it? I would recommend it if you want just a handy little pinpointer and don't want to spend a bunch of $$$. M
nty
