The Bill wyman signature metal detector review


This detector is manufactured by C Scope and marketed by Bill Wyman who has has a long term association with the factory. This particular machine is aimed at the younger detectorist offering simplicity, excellent build quality all wrapped up in a very lightweight package.
 I purchased my test machine direct from C Scope using E Bay where there is no shortage of "E Bay fodder" consisting of several machines around the £60 -£150 price range.

It must be very confusing for beginners to choose their first metal detector especially when confronted with so much choice.

 The machine arrived ready to use and just needed the two stems to be clipped together, a 9 volt battery was also supplied, the stem locking collar on my model did not lock them stem very well, even when fully tightened.

The stem in 2 pieces although connected by the coil cable

Stem locking collar


The battery compartment holding 1x9v battery (supplied)
 
There is a small headphone jack plug at the base of the box, small stereo headphones with a volume control will be more than suitable for a beginner to use with this machine.


There are 3 items on the control panel on / off sensitivity, a retune button and an inland or beach mode switch.


On / off sensitivity
Hold down the retune button and turn the sensitivity until you hear a faint hum, making sure the search coil is approx 1" from the soil you are about to search.

Retune button
As you operate the detector the faint hum known as threshold will quite often become louder, press the re-tune button to settle it back to the original audio level.

Inland or Beach mode
Basically as it says although when using inland mode iron targets will give a low tone and good targets will give a high tone...in beach mode the iron will not be heard and only good targets will give a sound.

This machine operates very differently to modern detectors it is known as a non motion machine I will try to explain very briefly the differences between motion and non motion as most people reading this review will be new to the hobby and I don't want to make things to confusing.

Non motion machines are a very old design and used on the very first detectors some 30 years ago, they require a background threshold for optimum performance, detected targets will cause the threshold to softly or loudly raise depending on depth and size, non motion machines can be very effective in the right conditions but can require constant tuning.
 Motion machines are more popular today because they are easier to use quite often with no threshold, a clear audio bleep is heard as the search coil is passed over a target, also the coil requires slight side to side movement to activate the circuit.

The stem length is adjustable the smallest position is 30" from end to end




The coil lead is fixed into the control box and the other end is also fixed to the coil, none of which can be removed.


Out in the field with the Bill Wyman signature detector
My first trip was to a perfectly flat rolled field, the machine took only a few seconds to set up operating in "inland mode" I found the threshold to drift quite often and required the retune button to be constantly pressed, these symptoms did ease off slightly as the evening moved on. This was possibly due to the rapid change in temperature from the warm car into the colder air.

The machine gave a low grumble on the large iron targets and a high squeak on the good targets such as lead and other large non ferrous items, the confusing part is that deep iron will give a mid tone which is the same as slightly deeper coins. I found this machine to work satisfactory but you need to be very dedicated and have a sharp ear to get the very best out of it.

After an hour or so I removed the headphones and operated it using the on board speaker the high pitch threshold started to ring in my ears and became a little tiring, I did manage to find some shotgun cartridges and lead my best find was a small Roman coin approx 3" deep which gave a faint threshold raise with no tone difference.
This was only my first time out, I will be posting more information in the coming weeks



Summary
It's not a bad little machine I would say best suited for youngsters 7-13 years, you will need to practice a little more than with a non motion machine but similar results can be obtained.
It would not be my first choice for searching in parks or woodland as there is no method of rejecting unwanted targets such as foil or ring pulls.
I am sure this little machine will give hours of fun to budding detectorists especially on the beach and farmland.

You can hear what the Bill Wyman metal detector sounds like by clicking the picture.
The first beeps are the good target sound.... followed by the iron target sound

Click this picture for sound clips

I have noticed that the Bill Wyman signature metal detector looks very much like the C Scope 770 XD

Spot the difference