Whites TM 808

[Templar09]

Helllo,

Did anyone find treasure with this unit? I mean coin hoard?
I also dont understand depths. Machine doesnt "see" small items, single coins, rings etc. but only object larger than fist.

So, all objects (larger than fist) will be identified after 3.5 feet?
If a potencial coin hoard, big as fist, is in the ground on depth 2 or 3 feet, machine will not see it? Can anything be detected in area 0 - 3.5 feet?

What about ground mineralization? Can a hot rock fool TM 808, so the machine respond a positive target? I hunt in area where mineralization is a problem and its full with hot rocks.

I found this depth chart on Whites home page. I hope someone will help me here.



Best regards

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[kaloy]

I also have similar problem with my gemini-3.

 

[Functional]

Based on that chart, the 808 appears to have a very narrow cone shaped detection area that penetrates deep. (See White's website if you don't have an owners manual.) Personally, I'd have to go by the orientation of the handle grip to know which is the front and which is the back. I don't own one, but I'd love to have one here, where the soil is highly mineralized. If nothing else, I could hunt for compact cars. If anyone wants to trade an 808 for my old coinmaster 1000, I'd consider it.

Maybe you just bought the wrong detector for your needs? Doesn't mean you can't enjoy it though. It's just that you might need a backhoe to dig for some of your finds. Sure wish I could afford one of those. Even if I sold off my old car, my Husqvarna forestry brush cutter, (the husky is my most valued toy at $1000), and both my old MD's, I'd still be short a few hundred to buy one. Oop's, I just saw how little they sell for, only $649.00 USD. Maybe I'll keep the car and the MD's after all.


F.

 

[Templar09]

Check out this guy!!! I just cant believe it!!!

http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_3937636

Signs seemed so promising ...
Digging for gold in Montclair
Montclair man's optimism fueled dig for riches


MONTCLAIR -- Henry Mora began to realize his search for buried treasure was getting "totally out of hand" around the time a hole in his front yard had grown deep enough to swallow 10 men.
Still, the signs seemed so promising.

Fine gold dust had been turning up in excavated buckets of dirt. His high-powered metal detector was still beeping like crazy.

A chunk of gold, it seemed, was just another shovel strike away.

"Once we started finding gold dust, we just got carried away," Mora said Wednesday, a day after Montclair officials fenced off his 60-foot-deep hole at 4307 Granada St. and ordered an end to the digging. "Before you know it, we're down there digging like 14 days and we're at 60 feet. It was getting totally out of hand. I knew that."

 

[Templar09]

Full story...

Now, his search finished, all Mora has to show for his efforts is a massive pile of dirt and orders to hire an engineer who can safely pack it back into the ground.

Officials initially wrongly identified Mora as Norm Enrique.

It all began innocently enough, when Mora, a 63-year-old semiretired musician, decided to take up a new hobby about a month ago.Wanting to get into treasure-hunting, he bought the metal detector -- a White's TM 808 -- off the Internet for about $600.

The machine is geared to find items larger than a coffee can and is specifically designed for gold, Mora said. A company Web site boasts of its ability to track down deeply buried finds: "treasure chests, coin caches, hoards of gold."

Eager to make a find, Mora began scouring his property. Near his front porch, the machine went wild.

"I figured, well, maybe there's something down there -- you would logically conclude, right? So I started digging."

Realizing he would need some help, he enlisted the help of two workers from the Pomona Day Labor Center.

Day after day, one worker would hack away at the bottom of the hole while another used a bucket and pulley to empty out the loose dirt. Mora kept watch.

As the anticipation built, one of the men told Mora that he and his father had done this before in Mexico.

"They said that digging a hole like this, they had been witness to finding gold," Mora said. "He was positive there was something there. It wasn't just me."

Once the hole reached about 25 feet, Mora's ladder wouldn't extend any deeper. The men dug sideways a bit, then down again, making a shelf for the first ladder, and room for another to lead them deeper still.

All the while, the metal detector continued to hint that they were getting closer.

"It was still beeping, and that just gave me the idea to keep digging," Mora said. "I think it's a normal human reaction, especially when you think there might be gold down there."

But after seeing the mound of dirt growing on Mora's lawn and his hired workers descending into the ground for two weeks straight, a concerned neighbor called the city Tuesday to report the odd behavior.

Stunned employees from the city's fire, police and building departments showed up late in the afternoon, amazed at what they found. Code enforcement officials posted a red "stop work" ticket near the hole, citing a code violation for the "hazardous excavation."

"It was an obvious life-safety issue," said Troy Ament, deputy fire chief. "Anytime we come across that, we need to cease that operation."

Mora remained extremely cooperative and friendly throughout, Ament said. He won't face any trouble, other than the orders to hire the engineer and reimburse the city for the fencing around the hole, Ament said.

On Wednesday, neighbors stared at the TV news vans lining their quiet cul-de-sac, some still surprised that the dirt mound on Mora's lawn was part of a search for gold.

"I have seen the digging, but I thought they were probably going to construct something," said Carmen Verdin, a Pomona woman who visits her mother's home at the end of Granada Street each day. "I had no idea."

Jordy Bolanos, who lives across the street from Mora, said he had been following the treasure hunt's progress from the first day his neighbor started shoveling.

"He told me he was going to dig because his metal detector was beeping there," Bolanos said. "Then he just kept digging."

Mora said he has no plans to give up hunting for treasure. But next time, he'll venture farther away from home -- Peru, perhaps.

Just recently, he saw a story on the Internet about a robot tracking down an underwater cache of gold coins and jewelry in South America.

"When you see stuff like that, you go, `Hey, I may have something. Maybe I've got a few gold bars,' " Mora said. "I took a chance."

 

[Functional]

Good story Templar09.

I think I have the same sort of neighbors here. A little clueless and nosey.

Hope I never find myself that obsessed that I destroy my own property trying to find a cache. I'm still wondering though, what it was that was making his TM 808 keep beeping? Maybe he had an old subway line under his property?

I think that before I dug like that, I'd check to see if there wasn't some old structure down there.


F.

 

[gflores71]

The TM 808 is a good machine, but also requires that you back up your signals with other machines before performing such an excavation. It takes practice to learn to size an object using the signal strength etc. It will only pick up big objects, meaning fist size and larger.
Remember, once you have a good size hole in the ground, two box units like this one are worthless for detection since they reacto to the surrounding walls and the mineral contained and cause the detector to give a false signal.
When digging you should also always look at the layers of ground on the side walls, previously dug areas are never the same and have disorganized layers or rocks.

A fist size target will not be detected any deeper than a foot and a half, specially if dealing with noble metals.

Mineral does affect this machine greatly, but that is when practice comes into play. Lear to recognize how the machine reacts, practice, practice. Bury your own targets and run your own tests. With mineral usually the increase in signal strenght(NOT SOUND) is progressive where a true target reacts quicker and then drops off. Give your targets shape by running in different directions and measuring the highest intensity reading on the meter as the start and the beggining of the drop as the end.

to answer a question above, yes I have found buried things at a good depth, the same goes for this guy in the picture (1000 silver coins in the clay pot)

 

[Tim Williams]

You can get more depth from the 2-box and have records of your site using the Arc-Geo Logger. Read about it on my site. Look at the field test report using the tm-808 from Dan Woods. The 9" pipe casing was detected at 13". You can see the plot in the report. Read the detector reports also.

Tim

 

[Templar09]

gflores71: "to answer a question above, yes I have found buried things at a good depth, the same goes for this guy in the picture (1000 silver coins in the clay pot)"


I have seen this Mexican guy on Whites homepege. What did you find and at what depth?

Regards

 

[Tim Williams]

Are you asking me that question?

Tim

 

[gflores71]

Templar09:

an object about 12" x 12" at about 4 feet. The main advantage is you cover a lot of ground without hearing all the small metal objects in the ground. Once I mark the possible spots, I go over them with my loop detector for more info. I can get similar depth with my loop detector, its just a pain to cover a lot of ground with it since it will pick up small targets as well as large.

 

[Tim Williams]

This is a test on a mikw can @ 6 feet using the Xl500 and the logger.

Garrett XL500 Pulse Induction Detector
Discrimination Tests
Over milk can plot
(Milk can buried 6 feet deep)

Using ARC-Geo Logger to record Data
Between each reading threshold was set with coil on top of a tent stake, 5 inches above ground.
There was no metal reading from detector below this tent stake.


This data taken using 18 inch coil 5 inches above ground

Discrim, Threshold Setting, Data Reading above milk can
E=0 10-21 399
E=1 10-14 361
E=2 12-17 327
E=3 11-14 254
E=4 10-17 247
E=5 10-16 170
E=6 10-14 123
E=7 11-16 118
E=8 9-13 94
E=9 10-15 90
E=10 10-12 90




Garrett XL500 Pulse Induction Detector
Discrimination Tests
Over milk can plot
(Milk can buried6 feet deep)
Using ARC-Geo Logger to record Data
Between each reading, threshold was set with coil placed in same place on ground.
There was no metal reading under this spot.

This data taken using 3 feet x 3 feet coil on sled 6 inches above ground
Discrim, Threshold Setting, Data Reading above milk can
E=0 10-17 951
E=1 10-15 947
E=2 9-17 940
E=3 9-16 908
E=4 11-17 827
E=5 10-15 727
E=6 10-16 642
E=7 10-17 587
E=8 12-18 541
E=9 15-20 526
E=10 10-16 525

Templar09:

look at the 14x18" coil data reading on the mike can @ 6ft! The data value on the 3x3 foot coil is like the can being on top the ground! Even with the discrimation @ 10 the data value was still 525 on the logger.

The 11"x11" @ 4 ft was done using the 14x18" coil. But you can see the data on that coil above over the mike can. This is the same mike can that is in the Garrett 2-box report.

Tim

 

[Jason_05]

Hello,

Does the White`s TM808 able to discriminate between metals ?

p.s : someone had claimed that when using the tm808 in cave mode, the device will ignore any IRON metal targets !!!


Looking forward ....


Best Regards

 

[gflores71]

Jason_05:

The TM-808 in cave mode tunes itself to the ground mineralization in a similar way as in metal mode. The difference is that it performs in a totally opposite maner than a metal detector, meaning that when a Fe+ signal is under the loop it becomes quiet instead of giving a positive signal. This way when it sounds it means there is less dirt with less Fe+ in it = cave or loose dirt. This can be used sometimes to tell if it is an iron target or non Fe+ target. If it is an iron target it will go quiet, if it is another metal sometimes it will give a positive signal, again this is sometimes.

 

[Tim Williams]

In the cave mode the TM-808 is looking at ground density changes. Small ferrous will not be seen while non-ferrous objects will be seen like silver, gold and copper. If the iron is large enough the detector will sound. I have plots showing iron targets both in metal and cave mode. You can see the responses. If I can find them I will post them here if you want to see them.

Tim

 

[Jason_05]

Hello :

Gflores71,Tim thanks for the information .

I have a question in my mind :
Which is the best 2-box MDs ? due to : Depth, Ground balance, Discrimination, ....etc

Tim, will you be kind to post your plots of iron target with explainations with notes too.


Best Regards

 

[Tim Williams]

Jason_05, I will look for them saturday and post them this weekend.

 

[gflores71]

Jason,

I think most two box detectors work in a similar way, I would personally get a TF-900 , I think that is the best unit out at this time. Two box units can not be used for discrimination in a useful way. You will need different type of machines for adequate searches.

 

[Jason_05]

Hello Gflores71,

You are right, i did a deep search about 2-box MDs, i think TF-900 is the Leader !


Any Two-box is not for the average person, One must have patience and willing to learn how to operate them to it's full potential.

Alot of ups and downs, "Research and Patience" are the key words here.
Use them wisely and in time your hard work and effort will reward you.

The discovery TF-900 2-box detector is supposed to be great for this kind of searching(large targets).

It will detect objects at great depth, plus it has a cave mode that allows it to detect caves, tunnels and wells, etc. anyway, keep us posted on your adventure!


Best Regards

 

[Tim Williams]

Sorry I did not get to post the plots. I forgot! I so much going on. I will try to post them this weekend.

TIm