Well folks, as many of you knew from my earlier posts as EasyMoney that I'm not fooled easily by brand loyal chit-chatters and whopper-tellers. I put my money where my mouth is so... I prefer lower-end Tesoros, some White's, most Fishers, many of the old Compasses, zero Bounty Hunters, a couple of Garretts, plus Minelab PI's (NOT BBS) and Nautiluses - but only in certain situations. Newer Teknetics don't have a good track record yet so no comments. The aforementioned are where I would care to use my hard-earned electronics engineering background knowledge... AND my hard-earned money. Whites outsells every other brand of detector made and Garrett sells more security detectors than all the others, and when I worked in engineering and the designing of detectors (no brand name will be given) Whites has been the most problem-free of all brands, period.
Willee according to George Payne (Teknetics Electronics), Jack Gifford of Tesoro Electronics (and other engineers and techs too) the best way to prejudge a detector's depth potential is to do an air test. I agree. But it's only a guide. The radiating magnetic field of a detector can only create a pattern a certain size, regardless of how the circuitry is designed or how the coil is wound, because there are Federal limitations as to how far and how powerful and to what frequency electronics devices can be used or sold new. It is basically Ohm's Law put into play when it comes to detectors, and not much more than a magnetic field when it comes to coils.
I have no brand preference but I am partial to those with the fewest of inherent problems and those that work best in overall situations, those brands being the ones that everyone already knows about. And no, those detectors aren't Minelabs or Fishers either. Right now it is clear that most detector companies are lacking in not just good quality control, they are also clinging to so much antiquated electronics engineering designs - with a bit of experimentation tossed in - that it's not even a good time to consider buying ANY of them right now. The industry is at a near standstill when it comes to innovation and change. Sound familiar?
I see the Minelab brand of detectors as not really much different than any of the other brands, save for some older ones being some really heavy Mothers. But their powerhouse PI's do VERY WELL on larger nuggets, but one Garrett does well too, and so does one Whites, it designed by Erik Foster. The really tiny nuggets are found more easily though by those Fishers designed purely for nugget hunting. We all now that too, and all we have to do is type in GoldBug vs..(?) and we can see them outshining all the others, on video! The only thing even close to the Goldbugs for little nuggets are the Compass GoldScanner Pro, Relic & Coin (both the same detector but with a different name tag designed to sell them as relic machines.), and the Whites GMT, although maybe the GMT not (quite) as good.
And no, I do not prefer Fisher brand over any other brand, nor Whites, nor Compass. The old Compasses do very well at deep AND tiny 1-2 gr targets depending on which coil one uses, and they handle bad ground as well as the old Cadillac-operating CZ's. Minelab and Garrett can't claim that because it just doesn't happen. Even White's cant match them for good (small) nugget hunting, although they do get close.
Like always, I basically do not post my opinions on here because opinions cause quarrels among narrow-minded and biased people. I prefer truth over whoppers and opinions... ANY day!
HH all!
Larry
I echo this sentiment, reminds me of the old Chevy vs Ford opinions and all the quarrels that ensued over which was brand was better. For me I use what works for me in my situation but may not work for someone else in their specific situation. I think there is certain detectors we connect with and certain detectors that is like a foreign language to some of us. The key IMO being, find that detector that you are confident in and comfortable with and use it.
