The Pirate Black Devil II pro
design and features
The Black Devil 2 pro is a very easy to understand machine, all Pirate machines can be supplied with a range of search coils and frequencies. The coils supplied with my test machine were the 12 x 10 13Khz and the 9 x 7 17Khz, as you can see the coils are the butterfly style.
The coils are very well constructed and resin filled, with good quality heat shrink around the coil plug to eliminate wire fatigue
Menu and set up
The pirate black devil 2 is very easy to operate, once you understand certain principles for example, we must accept these machines were originally designed for finding deep relics in Bulgaria, therefore they are very powerful, quite often the power must be tamed for use in the UK
Features
I will start from the top left which is the threshold control, this is not like the threshold on a conventional machine, the threshold here is the ultimate power control...if you run the machine with a slight threshold it will give you superb depth (the Bulgarian way) however our sites are far more iron contaminated so I would suggest backing off the threshold just a little in order to keep the machine stable....Threshold will control the power of the machine.
Bottom left : The ground balance, you can flick the switch into manual and ground balance your self, or use auto and eliminate this function, I prefer to use auto for most of my inland searching.
Bottom Right : The discrimination control, the area's marked in white are the suggested settings related to what tone function you choose, when 2 tone is enabled you can run a lower discrimination as the iron will give a low tone.
With single tone enabled the machine will give just one audio sound so a higher discrimination level must be selected.
Coke is rejected around the number 6.
Middle Right : The sensitivity control, this control is used in conjunction with the threshold, it determines how sensitive you make the machine to small targets, if the sensitivity is to high you will hear lots of false signals.
Controls
The potentiometers had a very nice quality feel to them, adjustments were very smooth with no circuit noise.
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Pirate detector information
All Pirate machines are supplied with a rechargeable battery pack which will give approx 12 hours continuous detecting. The charger supplied has two functions, it is a standard EU 2 pin plug in charger or can be used as a 12 volt car charger so you can charge the machine while driving.
Located on the fascia panel is a low battery warning light.
The arm cup has a Velcro strap fitted, I always use the strap with every machine, as it makes the detector so much more comfortable.
The arm cup is made out of metal so can be squeezed together to suit your arm size.
Build quality and appearance
The Pirate detectors are not the prettiest machines I have seen, neither are they the most expensive, the stems and plastics are on par with most other Bulgarian machines, the coils are built to a very high standard, it's nice to see serial numbers on Bulgarian machines.
The Pirate frequency can be changed simply by fitting a different search coil, the manufacturer tells me he can make and supply custom coils to suit your requirements.
The 9 x 7 coil is a great little performer, I found the machine to be very responsive to small targets amongst iron, with a precise sharp sound.
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The Pirate Black Devil 2 in 1
design and features
The Black Devil 2 in 1 is very simlar in design and performance compared to it's bigger brother the Black Devil II pro.
What is the difference ?
Well importantly it is around 100 Euro's cheaper, it still uses the same search coils and basic functions.
The coil on my test machine has an 8Khz 12 x 10 Butterfly, the bigger coil did add a little extra weight but I found it to be acceptable.
There is no tone option on the 2 in 1 it operates on a single tone , however it still has the fixed or adjustable ground balance control.
Again the batteries and charger are the same as the Black Devil Pro II
The machine operated well, and was very stable on wet grass which again is a sign of a good coil construction... as with all these type of relic machine deep iron can catch you out, it is normally a good signal one way and a broken signal the other, I am sure with a little more time in the field I can set the machine to work perfectly on most sites.
Good targets were loud and clear both ways, pin pointing was also very precise, I used the draw back method and the target was always on the front edge when the signal disappeared.
The Depth I achieved on targets in the field and on my test bed were on the same level as high end machines so no complaints.
Taking everything into consideration....comparing performance and price I think the Pirate range of detectors represent good value for money, they have good depth and faultless performance.The 2 machines I tested retail at :
Pirate Black Devil 2 in 1 = 300 Euro's
Pirate Black Devil II pro = 400 Euro's
The search coils range from 120 - 180 Euro's
Shipping not included
They are available direct from
www.pidetectors.com
Here you can see some video tests and see more products |
