Testing two entry level metal detectors
The Eurotek and the Eurotek pro
from
Teknetics
Teknetics eurotek pro review

garys metal detecting reviews and information
If you are new to metal detecting choosing the correct machine is very important, we were all in your situation once.
 I am assuming there is advice from every corner and you don't know which way to turn !
Here we have two new machines from Teknetics, called the Eurotek and the Eurotek pro.
visit garys detecting home page the Uk's biggest metal detecting web site
Teknetics Eurotek
Eurotek screen

ET Specifications
Clear Large target ID
2 tone target ID system
Store current settings in memory
Sensitivity Adjustment
Discrimination adjustment
6.5mm Jack plug for headphones
Use on dry sand and in land
On-Screen Continuous Depth Readout
On-Screen Battery Indicator
Switch on and go detector
8.5 inch Concentric coil standard
Stem locking collars
Takes 1x 9V PP3 battery
Search time 20 - 25 Hrs
7 Khz operating frequency
Priced around
 £133.00
Optional coils available :
8" concentric (featured), 5"DD, 10" concentric, 10" concentric elliptical
10" DD solid, 11" DD


Eurotek coil


The Eurotek has a two tone target identification combined with a clear on screen display telling you the target conductivity, Targets above 80 will give a high pitch sound I guess for big silver US coins, targets below 80 will give a VCO, which is a variable pitch sound depending on target intensity.
 Iron is between 1-39
Foil is 42-48
Copper coins 80-89
Large silver coins 90-99
Naturally other targets fall at different ranges, as a UK detectorist you should just be rejecting Iron and digging anything above this range.
Eurotek menu
I found the sound between iron and foil to be very close in tone, it was much easier to reject iron by eliminating up to number 37 so the only remaining tones heard were non ferrous, iron rejection is very precise on the Eurotek.
Large Iron can fool the machine, this is quite normal for most detectors, with practice you can identify most targets.

The pressure pad controls only required a gentle touch to operate, there was no need to be heavy handed with the function pads.
Sensitivity
Ranges from 1 to 10, if you get to many false signals or electrical interference, this is a sign of the sensitivity being to high, only use enough sensitivity required for your search area, more is less performance in some cases.

Tip : Be professional and use headphones !!
When buying headphones make sure they have a volume control as the standard Eurotek has no on board adjustment

This image is the property of garys detecting do not copy

The Teknetics Eurotek and Eurotek Pro information page
As you have probably gathered metal detectors all work on the same basic principles, over the years some manufacturers have advanced while others remain in the 80's, this is where companies like Teknetics really start to show their abilities with the most up to date weight saving materials and processor controlled electronics.

Eurotek pro and eurotek

The Euroteks are marketed as affordable entry level machines and are great fun for coin shooting and club digs. OK perhaps you won't get state of the art performance for under £200, what you will get is a very competent machine that is light weight and easy to understand.
What are the differences between the two models ?
Both machines have the option of different coils the popular 11" elliptical coil is my choice, The Pro has more menu features, build quality, coil plugs and cables are slightly better.
Neither of my test machines had coil covers, you will need to check if they are optional when purchased.

Eurotek coils

The coils are not interchangeable between the two models there are differences between the coil plugs and connectors

Eurotek Eurotek Pro

Eurotek coil plug Eurotek pro coil plugs
Tone ID
Both machines have tone identification, which allows the user to identify different target ranges by the machines audio tones, the standard Eurotek has 2 tones and the Pro has 3 which can be shifted depending on what discrimination level you are using

How would I sum up these two machines ?
The Eurotek
Is an entry level machine for those who are on a very tight budget, perhaps just looking for a few sunny days coin shooting in the park or on the beach, it's functions work well, build quality is very impressive for the price, iron rejection is adequate but not perfect.
Eurotek pro settings
Eurotek Pro
A well built machine with a good numeric display combined with the ability to change search coils making one machine into two, I think the additional features are worth paying the little extra for as it makes this machine more adaptable for a wider range of search scenario's.

Teknetics Eurotek Pro
Eurotek pro screen

ET Pro Specifications
Clear large target ID
*3 tone target ID system
Store current settings in memory
*Units can be displayed in Cm or In
Sensitivity Adjustment
Discrimination adjustment
*Volume adjustment with iron null feature
Pinpoint button
6.5mm Jack plug for headphones
*Headphone socket dust cover
Use on dry sand and in land
On-Screen Continuous Depth Readout
On-Screen Battery Indicator
Switch on and go detector
*8.5 inch Concentric coil standard, 11" DD coil optional
Stem locking collars
Takes 1 x 9V PP3 battery
Search time 20 - 25 Hrs
7 Khz operating frequency
Priced around
 £173.00
Pro with DD coil £253.00
Optional coils available :
8" concentric (featured), 5"DD, 10" concentric, 10" concentric elliptical
10" DD solid and 11" DD (featured)


Eurotek pro coil


The Eurotek Pro was very easy to set up, as well as the std Eurotek features it has a couple of neat additions to the menu.

Eurotek pro volume

First of all I would like to talk about the volume control, initially I thought it was just to adjust the audio level, but there is a neat trick associated with this feature. A volume of 1 - 10 will give the same volume range for ferrous and non ferrous targets...however if you increase it above 10 it changes the ferrous (iron tone) volume.

A setting of 11 will give a ferrous volume of 1 and a non ferrous volume of 10, as you increase the volume further the ferrous volume changes until it matches the non ferrous value of 10.

Using this method, the Eurotek Pro can be used with no discrimination, the operator can identify iron by the low audio volume. During my tests I found this was the best method to use.

Eurotek pro discrimination

Audio tones...cont
As with the Standard Eurotek there is a high tone for big silver, and a VCO for targets between 40 and 80, then a further low tone for targets between 40 and 1, which is the iron range.
 Also there are other tone shifts that can be achieved by raising the discrimination but I feel that may become to confusing for new users.
All your chosen settings can be saved by simply pressing and holding the Menu button for 8 seconds.

 

 

     

In the field with the Eurotek machines
 I decided to test them on one of my iron contaminated sites as so many sites in the UK have really bad iron, I knew these machines were entry level and aimed at general searching I wanted to give them a baptism of fire and throw them in at the deep end...sure they were not going to perform like the top end T2 but it would give me a good insight into their discrimination and target separation capabilities.

Both machines took seconds to set up, choose your discrimination range, raise the sensitivity and then back off until the machine is stable, with the Eurotek pro my preferred settings were, Disc 0, volume 11 and sensitivity 7, with a volume setting of 11 iron gave an easy to determine low tone. With the standard Eurotek I used sensitivity 7 and Discrimination at 39.
The deference between the two machines was quite noticeable, they both dealt with the iron very well but the Eurotek pro with it's additional iron tone gave much more feedback and information, making this a very confidence inspiring machine, I felt I was really in control of the Eurotek Pro.

Eurotek pro in the field

After taking these pictures the heavens opened and turned the freshly rolled field into a mud pit, I covered the control boxes and arm cups up with polythene bags and carried on putting the Eurotek pro through it's paces. I tried running the sensitivity a little hotter but it gave sparse signals indicating that 7 was the correct setting for this site.
I gave the 11" DD coil a good run and found some interesting targets, including a silver sixpence, a Crotal bell and the top of a Roman Fibula, then I swapped the coil for the round concentric and gave that an equal amount of time, the signals appeared tighter, a more precise sweep speed was required, I can see why park hunters like this coil as it really gets between trash with an accurate discrimination...however my preference was the 11" coil and feel it is worth paying the extra for this set up, especially if you are searching ancient sites.

Eurotek pro settings up the 11" coil

The standard Eurotek rejected most of the iron at level 39, with the odd sparse high tone signal for the mis-shaped lumps, I found some buttons, a buckle and some various sized lead, but as expected felt this site was a little to much for it's limited features, I would highly recommend this machine for juniors it will be ideal for general coin shooting in parks and woods.
 
Eurotek pro fibula Eurotek pro sixpence Eurotek pro finds

I found running at 7Khz made these machines very responsive on the mid to large sized targets as you can see by my finds, again when using the Eurotek's it's easy to forget these machines are "entry level" because they are so competent at what they do....They are good little workhorses and great fun to use !

User review !!!

Teknetics EuroTek Pro mini review
By Zigg Jinx

Introduction
When I was initially considering the Eurotek Pro metal detector there wasn’t many articles or reviews on this side of the pond but it seemed a hit in America.
The day came for me to make the purchase and with reluctant hands I passed £250 with the hopeful faith that I have made the right decision. Yes I know £250 isn’t the end of the world for a purchase that turns out to be a poor decision and I was not under any illusion that I was getting state of the art high end gear for the price.
I started silently to question myself why am I buying it in the first place ?
The reason was for park and pasture hunting and solely that alone, I have a ploughed field machine and this Eurotek Pro was a replacement for a machine that grinded on me to the point I had to sell and get it out of my mind for many reasons so let’s move on and start with…

Build quality and Design
Anyone that is familiar with the Teknetics brand comes to expect clean tidy looking machines with materials of high end quality and the EuroTek Pro follows suit with a high standard of build.
The machines fits together with ease and has easy to understand instructions if need be.
When you look at this fully assembled machine it looks lightweight and tidy and that’s just exactly what is.
With a weight of just under 1.2 Kg with the optional 11” DD coil attached on my scales I found swinging this well designed metal detector effortless, swinging for very long periods of time without my arm even feeling any signs of fatigue.
Teknetics have done an amazing job with the design and layout in respect of display and controls, a nice big uncluttered easy to see screen with bold displayed numbers that goes hand in hand with a no nonsense practical detector.

Eurotek control box

Controls are very practical and clear with a nice soft touch feel, there are no buttons sticking up to snag on gloves or for dirt to build up around as the display panel is flat.
The headphone socket is placed at the back left corner and has a slide cover that should keep dirt from entering adequately when not in use.
Two cam locks prevent stem wobble what in my mind is a must to make a detector feel more of an extension of your arm instead of a broken walking stick.
A padded arm cup comes as standard but without a strap to hold detector firmly snug in your forearm.
The power supply is a single 9v battery what some may say is insufficient for stamina or punch but I beg to differ, considering that good branded 9v batteries can be picked up in bulk for less than £10 these days so running cost shouldn’t be an issue.

One 9v battery should keep you going strong for around 15-20 hours I have found and maybe more if you use less sensitivity levels.
Volume control is a nice feature what works in two ways, either reducing general audio or just to reduce the iron audio that can save the ears from that constant iron grunting depending on the environment.

Testing
The tests I have carried out with the EuroTek Pro were the same as all with other detectors I have owed or borrowed.
Now I can say it performed very well indeed and well above its price range which gave me confidence when taking it out into the field for hunting.
The recovery speed was faster than other competitors that I’ve tested and owned, depth was adequate and it held its numbers well in my ploughed test bed.
I feel that this has one of the best big iron detection capabilities than any other detector I have tested before... but this is on-going and for people who know me will find out more in the coming months.
But we all know testing indoors or in a test bed is more for show and to ease the mind but I like to always to perform these tests so I get a feel for the sounds of a machine, in the field it completely changes so that’s where a detector shows its worth.

Field Tests
First ever outing, I was not expecting much in the way of performance, after digging a few junk targets, mainly cut can sections I knew it had the punch to get down on solid coins or artefacts in the soil, these cut can pieces were about the size of a modern ten pence coin but thin and crumpled and around 3-4 inches down and read around the 50 mark on the display.
Foil was jumping around the 39-42 at around 3 inches deep, misshaped items gave a prolonged audio with jumpy numbers and coins or clean small items give a sharp clean audio signal with steady numbers.
The audio also fades in pitch with depth depending on target ID so a shallow item will scream out and also you will hear a double tone as it passes the edges of the coil and deep items give a low pitch audio indication providing the item falls in the ranges of 40 to 69.
Coins, providing they are not near anything that will affect audio or numbers are very clean and precise even down to depths of around 6 - 8 inches depending on size, I had a 1921 half-crown that screamed out at me with high numbers like if it was just under the surface, dug and dug to about 7 inches until the lovely silver coin reviled itself.
I found the depth gauge to be accurate when combining audio into the mix and generally if it indicates deep and the audio is low pitched then the item will be at its indicated depth shown while pinpointing.
Every target I pinpointed was smack underneath the middle of the coil and never has it failed me yet.

Iron identification
I have dug  other items at good depth, a Crotal bell at around 9 inches and a strip of metal around the same depth, both of these items I thought might be big iron what brings me onto its big iron detection ability.
With these big items I mentioned above not once did it produces the iron signal on the display screen and the numbers didn’t jump around.
The big iron I have found and like said is an on-going test has always been indicated in various ways explained below.
1st  there is a symbol that flashes the word iron on the display that indicates iron content.
2nd the audio in every case I have observed is a high tone with a normal swing speed .

With both of the indications above it’s time to put what I call the EuroTek Pro’s party trick to work and that is to slow your sweep speed down as low as possible before you lose audio detection, its then I feel this detector puts its 3rd indication of big iron to work.
Instead of that good target high tone it turns into the iron grunt audio when passing the coil slowly across suspected iron, sometime it gives that iron tone both on pass and return of the coil or just one way but it lets you know that’s for sure.
In general its overall small iron detection is also spot, the detector will give you a real fast visual iron reading on the display on things like corroded badges and other likewise items that might be corroded slightly or next to iron.
I feel with this detector there is no need to use any discrimination as the iron detection is displayed clearly on the screen and in audio also when you do bring in discrimination I found your recovery speed will deteriorate.
When using any discrimination with any detector you might just lose good targets so avoid when possible or keep to a minimum.

Conclusion
I feel that Teknetics have a winner on their hands with the EuroTek Pro, it has everything a casual detectorist needs, I don’t feel they are aiming for the hardened aficionados of the detecting community but trying to
take the mid-market range and I feel they have gone in the right direction to do just that.

The Eurotek Pro is a sure footed detector that doesn’t give you any of those one-way signals that I’ve encountered with other detectors in the same price band.
I’ve  used this detector for around two months now and been more than happy with its performance on parks and pasture, as for hard ploughed farmland I haven’t done enough to pass judgement.
It has good depth and punch with steady display readings on good items what it a plus when detecting public parks.
EMI has never been an issue even under power lines for me also what is great with the amount of EMI around these days.
The audio is good and up there with the best providing you listen and learn the subtle changes with the three tones that it produces.
This is a lightweight metal detector with a lot going for it, fun and pleasant to use and if they pumped up the recovery speed even further it could mix with some of the big gun detectors on the market.
I give this detector a big thumbs up and would recommend it to any detectorist at any level that wants a fun lightweight confident machine along with peace of mind of a limited five year warranty.

Great package at a great price. 

Many thanks

Aaron (aka ZiggJinx)

Gary's Metal detecting web site is Copyright © 200- please ask if you wish to copy any minelab Teknetics Eurotek information and images
Find more metal detecting information and Teknetics discussions on our forum
Join our metal detecting forum here !