How far have detectors come?

[Keith67]

That comparison with original Silver Sabre that Gary made........

What you also have to remember is the SS only had a 7" narrow scan concentric coil when it came out, also wasn't very deep, so if we take a modern machine & put a small coil on it then turn sensitivity down, guess what, we have just re-invented the old machine again. Problem with these older machines, they simply couldn't handle higher sensitivity & depth as they were too unstable, & that's the area progress has been made with more modern equipment.

Is a lot of that down to digital technology and microprocessors?

[Nigel at Regtons]

I suspect so Keith, more stable components, tighter tolerances, better manufacturing techniques & of course they all have a lot more knowledge regarding what works & what's to be avoided.

Take coil construction as an example, disregarding very early wooden coils, they went foam to hollow then epoxy, back to foam & most have now settled on epoxy being the most stable long term with correct flexibility to withstand a fair bit of abuse, hollow can leak (& will) foam is great until it gets any flexing or knocks that collapse the closed cell foam, leaving behind a void that has no structural integrity & is now hollow, see above.

[Keith67]

Thanks Nigel, an interesting read.

[gonzo]

That comparison with original Silver Sabre that Gary made........

What you also have to remember is the SS only had a 7" narrow scan concentric coil when it came out, also wasn't very deep, so if we take a modern machine & put a small coil on it then turn sensitivity down, guess what, we have just re-invented the old machine again. Problem with these older machines, they simply couldn't handle higher sensitivity & depth as they were too unstable, & that's the area progress has been made with more modern equipment.

Is a lot of that down to digital technology and microprocessors?

I owned two Nautilus detectors and they could certainly handle high sensitivity settings.......these designs are over 30 years old.As for depth,they still spank most of the newer machines once set up correctly.
My favourite detector ever.......deep,sensitive,good in iron with the 8"coil......i found most of my good finds with this machine.
I'm sure there are other older designs out there that will keep up with modern designs........its just that older more simplistic technology does'nt earn the marketing men their bacon anymore......it's not that it does'nt work,more that it does'nt make money.

[Gary]

I have to agree with you that Nautilus was something special. The engineer was a genius but lacked design skills. And I think  that was it's downfall, out just looked ugly. People still laugh and comment when they see my Nautilus sitting in the corner of the office......Little do they know !

[gonzo]

Still got one of mine.......it's now got a problem in the fact you can't balance the coil......i think its way out of balance.I can actually still use it with the balancing knobs set centrally but obviously maximum performance suffers.
When Jerry pased away it all went to pot which is a real shame.
I know about having the mick taken out of it too lol........when the grass was wet people used to tell me not to put it on the ground in case it electrocuted everybody
Like you say,it looked like something out of frankensteins laboratory.......it would be good if the new owner got his act together and updated the design but with the same internals.

[Gary]

Dave at Pentechnic re tuned my coil, he did my mates too.
Top job I really noticed a difference.

[gonzo]

Blimey,i did'nt know they could re tune them......i'll drop them a line.Thanks for that Gary i genuinely thought i'd have to send it over the pond to get it sorted.
Thankscagain.

[Ghost]

Sorry for going back a bit.......

But I’d have no issues using an old lobo supertraq instead of my deus , t2ltd or xlt for the day.
Fantastic machine

I’ve still got my old laser b1 hi-power, never used it for years but could never part with it ,

[Nigel at Regtons]

As you get more use with Deus it will grow on you each time you use it, remember most of these machines first time out were 'what the hell have I bought' I've noticed especially with XP's it can be frustrating (as with any new machine) until you have that light-bulb moment & then it's easy.