Having Judy start detecting was a matter of her swinging the machine with me tagging along behind helping out in whatever way I could. When she became proficient enough to go solo I realised that I would have to do my homework and find a suitable machine for her. And so I set out to find one that would suit myself...
I know that may sound mean spirited but really, I did not think about it that way. My thinking was logical. Because she does not want to cover large tracts of land (which is my preference until I find a concentration somewhere) and would prefer instead to concentrate diligently and thoroughly upon one area of choice, then I thought a deep-seeking detector would suit us best. We would then have a happy division of labour. I find the hotspots — she works them.
And of course, it would suit me too because I already own the best tool for the job of taking out surface finds — the Laser B1 — and so a machine that was deep-seeking and very adjustable would be a useful alternative that I could employ under conditions that would defeat the rather shallow-seeking B1.
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| The Laser B1 set up as I usually would. Maximum sensitivity and minimum discrimination! |
The B1 may be a beast where rapid recovery of objects from the top six-inches is concerned and a peerless tool for extracting tiny objects from the top three-inches, but when I waved a cartwheel penny across the coil and it gave me a faint signal at just ten inches, I thought that a future problem. We have only about 70 acres of land at our disposal (so far as I know...) of which half is permanent pasture. The B1 will struggle to do well there once the surface finds are cleared and if older finds are way down in the ground then it's only going to be good for clearing modern trash...
My decision was to go to Regton in Birmingham and take a look at the Nokta Makro Multi Kruzer. I'd seen a few videos and the air and in-ground tests performed were impressive, with the machine picking up signals from various objects at almost twice the depth that the B1 could achieve. A cartwheel penny would have come in at probably fifteen inches or even more! This seemed suitable.
Unfortunately, Regton had none in stock and apparently, there are none in stock anywhere because of a fault with the machine. And so we came away with precisely what I did not want but exactly what a beginner really needs which is an ultra-simple, one-tone, switch-on-and-go detector — the XP ADX150.
Of course, we also needed some extra kit. Judy liked the idea of using a probe and so we also bought a Garret Pro-pointer AT 'carrot' while we were there. I have never used a probe myself because it seems like an extra operation to perform when the speed of recovery is of the essence. I will just divide the clod by hand and wave each half over the coil until the find is located. But I can see why it would prove essential on pasture land.
I also purchased two bum bags and two neck pouches from Decathlon. These neck pouches are where valuable finds will be stashed and they hang inside clothing where they cannot be seen, snagged or lost. Finds are dropped in and never taken out again till I reach home. I have good reason to employ them because through bad storage (trouser pocket!) I once lost a 17th-century pendant crucifix from the Thames Foreshore that I had only picked up an hour before. I vowed to never lose a good find ever again.
We also needed another spade but my preferred tool was out of stock at the store nearby home and so we had to make do with a puny trowel in the meantime, or rather I had to!
In the house, her pristine new machine, made my old Laser look like some kind of antique! However, looks can be deceptive and out in the field, it was soon apparent that the Laser outperformed the XP on a number of scores, the first of which became apparent when I saw Judy creating an ever-widening spread of soil. I went over to help her and she said that she'd lost the signal somewhere and could not find it again with either the 150 or with the carrot. She swept both across the area and sure enough, neither registered a signal.
And so, I asked her to remove both the detector and the probe from the area while I swept the B1 over the same. The signal it gave was loud and clear and was certainly a 'digger'. Having located the item I then set to work with the 150 which utterly failed to locate it. And then I went to work with the probe which also failed until I had spotted the target by eye which was a tiny scrap of aluminium. I had to push the tip of the probe right on top of it before it beeped ...
The second problem was that when a target was located which was actually a large chunk of iron that it could not screen out completely then it would register as a perfectly positive signal no matter how close the coil got to the target. This is because of the way the 150 works. It seems that a signal is either a good one, or it does not sound at all. It's either there, or it's not.
Judy was having trouble digging such a target at depth. One pass of the B1 dismissed it as the junk that it certainly was by means of a cracked signal. Of course, there's no point in leaving such junk in the ground on your own fields and so it was removed. However, at a detecting rally, I would want to pass such junk by as quickly as possible, not have to dig for ten minutes and then cart it around with me! The 150 would demand that it be dug ...
The third problem was that I always run my detectors without headphones. This is because once I was using headphones with a threshold tone detector — the C Scope 770D — and could have easily lost my life to a very angry bull who I did not hear approaching me from behind. I have been averse to the use of them ever since.
The loudspeaker tone of the B1 is loud, high pitched and very insistent. When you get a signal you are aware of it even near busy roads and motorways. It says "Dig me!" The tone of the loudspeaker of the 150, by comparison, is mid-pitched, rather too quiet for my liking and somewhat vague to my ears. It says "You can dig me if you like...'
It's too early to dismiss the 150 and the carrot. I will have to use them myself and experiment with settings (and God forbid! headphones!) to establish how best to use them both. For Judy's first outing I had set up the 150 'wide-open' just as I would usually set up the B1 for my own use — maximum sensitivity and minimum discrimination. This may not be the best way with the 150 on this land and it may have cost her a few targets.
I don't know as yet and I am keeping an open mind, but I will report back after my own field test is completed.
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