Advice on a pinpointer

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My SD2200V2? , i just hit the tune button, let it do its thing and the Garrett and the Minelab dont bother it at all.

I have both pointers and i have to say the are much of a muchness, although the Minelab i have seems to have outlasted the Garrett.
 
I bought a minelab pro 25 last week and tested it over the weekend in the local park and on the beach this is what i found with it:

Pros
It did assist in pin pointing the target in the hole reducing time needed to locate it with the detector.
it assisted in determining the depth of the target and where to dig next
once target was out i could let my partner locate it with the pin pointer and i could move on with the detector to the next target
its light and easy to use

Cons
sometimes it just kept beeping for no reason.... or maybe there is? i just turned it off and on again to reset it and it worked fine.
everybody wants to play with it....

i find its a valuable acquisition to my kit and very useful, great investment :)

Rod
 
i am disappointed with my minelab pinpointer

i get about 1 inch of range which as far as i am concerned is sh1thouse

i also find sometimes it blips continuously regardless of how far away it is from anything , even 6 feet up in the air when my GPX5000 detector is turned off it makes its blipping noise continuously , and this is in the bush with no power lines within 10 km

is there fake pinpointers out there now too ?

i purchased it from a shop near Dubbo , not from ebay :|
 
There's fake everything these days :mad: so I s'pose its possible that there are fake pin pointers coming through?

Was the shop a Minelab dealer?
I would still be wary buying Minelab products from anyone other than an authorised dealer (or any brand products from unauthorised dealers as seen with the Whites GMT thread regarding buying in S.A). Have you contacted Minelab about the fault? From all reports their service team are very good to deal with.

My Garrett Pro-Pointer has done it a couple of times too, beep continuously, but it is after it has been near a fairly large metal object or inadvertently placed too close to the coil & I have put it down to some kind of circuit overload. It has never done it on smaller objects like coins, buttons etc. Once I turn it off & back on again it works fine.
The Garrett can also have a pretty ***** range too depending on material & size. Might have to try that mod out on it. Pretty ordinary when you have a very strong signal on the detector then put the pin pointer in the hole & get nothing so end up using the coil to pin point anyway which kind of defeats the purpose of having it but in saying that it has also saved me from digging a bigger, wider hole too when it picks up straight away - I'm still 50/50 on using them & with a small coil like I use on the GMT would probably not need it as I find I can pin point fairly accurately just with the coil + your usually detecting fairly shallow depths anyway. It can have some benefit with larger coils like the 14" I'm using on the SD at the moment (especially for finding those boot tacks in a 1 foot hole :lol: ) & can definitely see how it would be handy with 18"+ size coils.
 
The minleab will start beeping if you leave it on, as this is built in as means to find the thing if you leave it laying around.

Both pinpointer will false, best way to work them is to turn them on in with tip in the soil that they are going to be working in, this ground balances them. The Pro find can be adjusted to different depths, at it most extreme i find its on par with a Garrett Pro pointer that only has one depth setting.
 
I've had my Garrett Pro-pointer since they were released and I can't fault it. I use all Minelab detectors and have never had any problems. As there's nothing wrong with the garrett I don't seen a need to change to the minelab at this stage. I think you need to remenber that they are "pin pointers" and there fore they only need to be effective for about 50mm. If you're any further away from your target you probably need to sharpen your detector 'pin pointing' skills.
 
Scoopa said:
I've had my Garrett Pro-pointer since they were released and I can't fault it. I use all Minelab detectors and have never had any problems. As there's nothing wrong with the garrett I don't seen a need to change to the minelab at this stage. I think you need to remenber that they are "pin pointers" and there fore they only need to be effective for about 50mm. If you're any further away from your target you probably need to sharpen your detector 'pin pointing' skills.
Click to expand...

I would be happy with 50 - 75 mm of range but 25 mm is not in my ballpark of expectations

I have been frustrated recently by hot ground that gave a signal before digging , but once the ground was disturbed the signal disappeared

I think some of those were rusty items that had rusted completely away just leaving brittle soft iron oxide in the soil that breaks up and disappears when dug , and others probably hot rocks affecting the minerals around them

I am going to try the trick above of turning the probe on when its touching the ground and see what that does , and maybe try getting a new quality brand battery in case the one I got from the shop was old stock
 
Yeah Headsup, I've had my fair share of those items that are completely corroded and the pin pointer picks up the remnants. Here's an idea for Garrett & Minelab. A pin-pointer with discrimination! You heard it here, first on this forum!
 
I carry my garret on my belt in a home made pouch made of PVC tube wrapped in alfoilthen covered with tape to stop the alfoil tearing then my wife made me a sleeve from some old material with a belt hole. Hey presto no interference with the 5000 :D
 
Unfortunately, I think there are a few expectations of a pin pointer over and above what it is was designed to do.

When you have a sizable target in a large hole often your coil (even a small one) will overload to the point it is almost impossible to tell where it is, in the side wall? the bottom? left? right????

The pin pointer was designed to produce a very limited field that needed to be in very close proximity to the target to produce a response. A larger field and it too will probably overload.

Often we see people using a pin pointer to retrieve a small sub gram nugget from the spoils they've dug from the hole. We try to teach them that it is far quicker and easier to use either your hand or a scoop and let your coil find the target.

A draw back of a pin pointer is they can react to highly mineralized ground. But as for a tool to pin point an overloading target in cap rock or a large hole they can be invaluable.
 
I use the Minelab Profind 25 and have had no troubles with it. An excellent tool but it is also most popular with my mates. Never on my belt when I need it.
 
Hi,

I have been looking for a waterproof pin pointer. Read about the metalprobe (TMP) from a mob in WA - Don't know much about em. I do a bit of snorkling...Any suggestions?
 
So I guess no one is really big on these pin pointers. How about the general pin pointers - the Garrett?
 
They're great if you're chasing coins, but not really much use if you're chasing nuggets. I have one, but it spends most of its life in the cupboard.

Cheers Wal.
 
Yes have to agree coils and beach stuff very good but nuggets just use a pastil spade or you hand on PI detectors .

Zakman

In fact i really like the plastic soup lay-dal some hunters extend the handle so they don't have to bend down so much very clever.
 
I've snorkelled at the bottom of rapids and found some good stuff. Poor buggers that flipped over and lost some gear. Mainly fishing stuff but that was ok as I'm an avid fisherperson....but after reading a lot of posts on google etc, I thought why not find out about underwater pin pointers for gold? Yep, you can tell I'm a real green newbie....I want to do it all and I want to do it now lol - god help me. I will really try and contain my enthusiasm and keep up the research. Please bear with me....and thanks Wal for your response
 
Thanks Ramjet, that is the sort of thing I am after - Vibra Tector 730.

OR Vibra-Probe 580 Pin Pointer $129

Waterproof - Unique sealed design allows the Vibra-Probe to be used in the rain, mud, or under water to a depth of 100 feet.
Automatic tuning - The state of the art microprocessor controlled design requires no adjustments of any kind.
Tilt On and Off - No push button switches. The Vibra-Probe 580 turns on and off when pointed upward or will automatically turn itself off one minute after the last detection.
Pulse Induction (PI) - This technology allows hunting at the beach in salt water or in any type of soil, including black sand.
Detection depth stability - New advanced circuitry maintains the unit's detection distance throughout the life of the battery.

Anyway, I have time and will continue checking it out....will let you guys know what I end up with
 

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