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Garrett 150 ace field test
By a complete novice Having watched another re run of Hidden Treasures on sky Andrew my son asked if we could have a go at metal detecting,this was not the first time he had shown interest, in fact with so many repeats of Time Team on the telly who could not resist a chance of finding lost treasure.With a little internet research we decided to go for the Garrett treasure ace 150.

The controls
First impressions looking at the Garrett Ace 150

For complete novices like Andrew and myself the Ace 150 looked a little complicated ,once explained the functions are quite simple. Gary offered to take us to a local park and demonstrate the machine, but we decided to have a go ourselves and write a short review to earn our free headphones and pin point probe.

Assembling the machine was really quite easy, my only advice would be to watch out for the coil connector it can only fit into the control box one way so take care not to force it.
Gently pressing the power button awakens the machine from it's slumber, it quickly runs through a check sequence and settles down. During the check sequence a battery symbol appears with a cross in it then disappears, we automatically assumed the battery's were flat, so  installed another set, but still got the same symbol. I called Gary in a panic, he said don't worry explaining, the Ace 150 has no battery check, this feature was only for the Ace 250,so the icon is in the software.

Returning back to the machine we investigated the Mode button, there are 3 different search options available, all metal,jewelry,and coins, by pressing the button once it switched to the next mode, it worked on a continuous rota so if I pressed the button 3 times it would scroll through the other 2 search options and return to the original position.
Testing at home with some old pennies, modern coinage and a ring pull we soon got a feel to what the different search modes offered.

Position 1 All metal : This picked up every target including Iron, however the Iron gave a much lower tone than any other target. Small coins gave a short clear tone and large coins gave a bell tone. I guess this is what's known as tone ID.

Position 2 Jewellery : The Iron was now rejected, it gave no signal at all, even when a large pair of pliers was passed over the search head. All coinage and large pieces of foil were still detectable.

Position 3 Coins : Ring pulls, Iron, foil, and some modern coins like a 20p, 10p, and 50p's were now rejected. In the coin search mode the Ace 150 easily picked up most pre-decimal coinage,sixpences,pennies,half crowns and modern £1, £2,1p's,and 2p's.

 Our first trip was to a local riverbank where we had seen an old chap metal detecting whilst walking our dogs, we assumed it was a suitable place to start, feeling confident about the new machine and hoping to find something interesting. Andrew had the first go while I walked along side with the spade, I kept commenting on his side to side sweep, it appeared to be a long way above the grass and it raised even higher at the end of each pass.

I didn't realise until I had a go myself that how difficult it was to make an even sweep with no upward movement, with a little more concentration and a slower walking pace our technique started to improve. The first signal we heard was a low tone, very strong and precise, when we dug the sound it was large square nail. In fact there were quite a few low sounds some we investigated but all turned out to be Iron. We agreed to try the machine in the jewellery setting, the machine became quieter and the low tone had disappeared altogether.

We were suddenly alerted to a sound we had recognised from our testing at home, it could only be described as bell type sound, a dding-dding every time the machine swept over the area. The depth indicator had illuminated the 6" sector so we dug approx 6 inches down and recovered a Victorian penny the date was visible 1868, our first real metal detecting find fantastic!.

This penny was not to be the only one as we had a further 6 in the space of half hour. Ring pulls were a pain we dug a handful just for the experience ,they gave a different sound, it was a much shorter tone, plus the indicator block on the bar graph fell directly under the pull tab marker at the same time the machine gave a bleep.

Another way of checking to see if the target was a ring pull was to press the  mode button once, switching the machine from jewellery to the coin setting and checking again, if it was a ring pull the target would be eliminated, however would I be ignoring a gold ring as the graph indicates some gold will also fall under the ring pull category.

One particular signal gave a short tone, the bar graph could not make it's mind up, it bounced between the pull tab and the ring marker. The depth indicator displayed the full 6 inches, we dug down to find a near perfect sixpence. We were to busy admiring our first silver coin and didn't notice the stranger closing up on us until the last minute, we looked up as he raised a spade to say it's ok I'm friendly, in his other hand was a metal detector, it was the old chap we had seen here in the past,

He looked at Andrews machine and commented how important it looked, then started to tell us about the old days and how they used broom sticks with transistor radio's strapped to them, which I'm sure is quite interesting in the pub, but not when you have just unearthed your first silver coin and eager to find the other 50 buried next to it.

Eventually we parted company and started detecting again, then we heard a shout "oiy", it was the old boy again," come and try this one" he said sweeping his coil on the grass, politely we obliged, there was a patch in the grass where he had dug his heel in to mark the spot, I tried our machine over it and got no reaction ,"nothing there sorry" I replied, and tried again "that's it, no back a bit,no,yes,there" the old boy was whittering on,"try it in all metal" he said, its deeper, ok so I tried it in all metal and the ace gave a low tone with the bar graph pointing to Iron.

"I think it's Iron" I said to the man, he shook his head saying something like if that's iron he would eat his underpants and proceeded to dig, he finally unearthed his trophy half a plough shear, silence fell, only to be broken by the sound of rain falling on the water, we parted company for the second time and headed for the trees, while our friend turned on his heels and marched towards the car parking area.

We waited for a while for the rain to stop and searched a little longer even more confident with the Garrett, our search technique had without a doubt improved, this was reflecting in the amount of targets located on the way back to the car, almost re-tracing our original footsteps.
Here are our best finds in one afternoon(our first outing) on the riverbank.

Sorry about the bad pictures

To be continued....

Tesoro Tejon
The Tesoro Tejon Pro field test specialy adapted for the Eurpean metal detecting market.

Yipppeeee the pro upgrade is here just what the doctor ordered
First of all I must mention that the Pro Upgrade has no drilling involved,changes are made to the internal components,the face plate looks exactly the same as the standard Tesoro Tejon.
My first outing with the new Tesoro Tejon pro was on a flat field ploughed and drilled ready for seeding the soil was still very fluffy.
Roman occupation has been well documented in this area, this was also apparent by the contamination onthe field I was about to search.I set the discrimination exactly on the iron position, the Ground balance fully anti-clockwise until it clicked into the new 'fixed' position, sensitivity to nearly full and started my search.
As usual I was using my favourite coil which was the 10x5 elliptical, I feel this is the best coil to use on any high frequency machine in badly mineralised soil.
The Iron sound in my headphones was a distinctive click and easily identifiable, a positive signal was clean and repeatable, at this point I won't rant and rave about what I found as this is irrelevant to the  test.
I dug a nice collection of shotgun shells.22 air rifle pellets were teasing me again then at last a Sestersis,in poor condition but at very respectable depth, the smaller Roman coins I recovered during my search gave a good response and were easy to pin point without the use of the trigger, just simply X'ing the target was perfectly adequate.
With the Tejon Pro it is possible to reject coke and still locate a small hammered coin, which is virtually impossible with any single frequency(s/f) machine. Without doubt the PRO UPGRADE, it has made the Tehan far more tractable for UK conditions.
Large mis shaped Iron is always a bugger to reject,especially on pasture, the Tesoro Tejon will give a positive signal as will most other s/f machines, but then sometimes it will omit an overload sound which is a longer bleep, this is a plus point and can be a real advantage when large Iron is present, also large lead will give this overload signal, so it is up to the user to define whether to dig or not.When using this machine on grass I tend to investigate the quiet deep targets,anything loud and large in pin point will normally be Iron,another good tip for Iron identification is to whip the coil quickly over the target and listen to the audio change.

Trust the audio,if its slightly broken or loud its probably Iron,on very bad sites lowering the sensitivity will help a lot, you cant run this machine hot all the time,sometimes you need to compromise,dont  unleash  it when it is not required, turn it down and slowly sift through the iron shhhhh,some of you may remember the "low power sifter program" for the XLT's, when we were all digging Iron on full AC gain the low power guys were pulling out the goodies from under our feet.
 Laser B1's B3's,Silver sabre's etc deal with large Iron well but they are low power machines compared to the Tejon,you can't compare apples to oranges,if you want B3 power turn your Tejon to around 6 on the sensitivity.
Inexperienced users may not enjoy using the Tesoro Tejan at first as Iron Identification can take some learning(as with all high frequency machines), after taking a little time and mastering the auidio sounds the novice will soon be enjoying this machine. The Tejon will be best suited on worked out sites where all the shallow targets have been found,if you have a slow sweep speed and a keen ear the Tejon will reward you.
The fixed ground balance is another feature of the Tejon pro  and is ideal for people who just like a switch on and go operation,and perhaps master manual ground balancing at a later date.
Tejon footnoteSept 04
I have now been using this machine for7 months and its time to update things,looking back at my field test,it looks like I have been a little hard on the machine,picking fault with the tiny niggles etc.Now I dont even notice them, its a cracking machine and I have 100% confidence in it,I have been blessed with some nice finds including a bronze age spear head(dont worry it been declared)hammered and Roman coins and lovely artefacts. I can honestly say yes its the next step up from the Lobo.

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Laser Hawkeye
 

FIELD TEST REPORT   Laser Hawkeye   Gordon Bailey
Whenever a new metal detector comes onto the scene that seems to be of interest, I try to arrange an opportunity to try it out. If it is better - or can do different things from the machines I have been using - I will buy it. Getting to find your way around a new machine can prove something of a challenge and at the time (June) any small fields that did become available to search did not stay that way for long. However, I knew that the detector had a good pedigree, and my arrangement with the dealer was that if I felt it was not up to my expectations, I could return it and receive a full refund. I am not sure who thinks up the names for detectors, and some have had some pretty strange names in the past. The detector concerned has the rather unusual name of the Laser “Hawkeye”. But I have never had much interest in the name of detectors or indeed their cosmetic appearance (provided they are light, well-built, and comfortable to use). My only concern is how a machine will perform in field conditions. Control-wise, the Hawkeye seems to have returned to the way that detectors used to be, having been equipped with only essential controls. It also has a nice large display, which I found easy to read at a distance (without having to put my reading glasses on!).
Even before I took the Hawkeye out onto the fields I was impressed by the battery check system, that tells you exactly how much life is left. This may seem a trifling concern, but if your batteries are not up to scratch then performance will go down and targets will be lost. The box is of the Tesoro/Laser small MicroMax style, with the batteries being housed in a box at the top of the armrest (helping to balance the machine nicely). The Hawkeye is a very light detector and comes fitted with a 9in x 8in web-type coil as standard.
As with earlier models in the range, the headphone jackplug is still under the control box whereas I would have preferred to see it in the armrest battery box area. This is a minor point, though, and just results from the fact I do not like leads hanging near the controls. The problem was soon rectified with the aid of a right-angled jackplug lead that I had purchased some time ago. On the plus side, however, situating the jackplug socket under the control box does have advantages, for on rainy days water cannot travel down through the jackplug socket and into the electronics. I should stress at this point that I only use good quality headphones, and recommend that all readers do the same. It is no good paying for a top-of-the-range detector, and then being let down by cheap headphones that break down in the field or that are incapable of producing a full range of sounds. The only land available to try my new machine was an out of the way stubble field. I felt this would yield little and would mean I could not properly put the machine through its paces. I was also a bit concerned about the overhead power cables passing over one part of the field. However, as stated, I had nowhere else to search. Initially, I set the Hawkeye up to the basic settings shown in its instruction book. I felt that it would be sensible to try the manufacturer’s settings first and then, depending how well or not they worked on this site, “tweak” them to my own preferences. I have buried various objects (both junk and of the “wanted” type) in my garden at known locations, and over the years these have had time to properly settle in. It therefore makes a basic but very good test site. Before taking the Hawkeye out in the field I had tried it on these targets, and its response had been perfect for those it had rejected and those it had accepted. As a precaution I still felt that for the first hour or so it would be wise to dig up all the targets signalled, so that I could then continue in confidence knowing that the read-out would be correct. While conducting this exercise I made a mental note of how the detector reacted to iron. I found that small pieces were ignored while large pieces gave a response but were identified on the screen. The only time the detector gave a positive then negative response was on an iron buckle. This was pleasing, for there is a saying in this hobby “When in doubt, dig it out” and I was at least presented with that option. The only average-sized ferrous objects that can cause confusion are iron washers, which have a known tendency to be seen by most detectors as a non-ferrous target. But even then, the presence of one of these can be seen on the Hawkeye’s screen for the numbers tend to be unstable and jump about. Before setting out, I had also carried out some experiments with small pieces of lead. This may seem strange but I know that some detectors are preset to ignore this metal (within reason), and our ancestors made numerous items of lead, especially during the medieval period. The read out on small pieces of lead was low, sometimes barely reaching double figures. Small hammered coins, together with cut halves and quarters also fall into this level of read out, so having a large display screen proved a blessing. My first natural target proved to come from an 18th century bayonet frog. It was not a large item as part of it had been broken off, but even so the signal came through nice and clear and the detector’s pinpointing was spot on. There is little more frustrating than digging a large hole for a small item, especially when the ground is hard as it was on this occasion. These frogs are normally associated with military activity and having found some on a Georgian military site I had searched some time ago, I hoped that such might prove the case here. The next target did support my hope, although its response was not so high on the scale as the copper alloy frog. My find was, in fact, a very small military button that had started to flake away. These are difficult targets and I have used a number of detectors in the past that have rejected them or at best given an “iffy” signal.
Various sized buttons of the 5th Dragoon Guards
I was encouraged by this find, but two targets do not prove the identity of a site or, indeed, how a detector is performing. My third find gave a good response both in terms of audio and on the meter. As stated, the ground of this field was hard but a signal like this was worth digging and I could only hope that it not be just a lump of scrap. I have glad that I had decided to bring and use my field spade, for if I only had my conventional hand trowel the best part of the day would have disappeared on just this one find. Getting through the first few inches of soil was difficult as it consisted of a combination of hard soil and stone. After digging 5in, 6in, 8in and then 10in down I decided to widen the hole to avoid the risk of damage to my find. This proved to be a wise move for the target eventually revealed itself at 12in depth and proved to be a large dagger chape of 16th century date. This was the item that eventually gave me full confidence in the detector, for if it can locate such items at such a depth and with a good read out then it certainly has my vote. I know that some detectorists are of the opinion that depth is not everything, for what you miss one year you may well find the next, but on the other hand you may not be able to search the same field the following year as a result of a change of ownership or some other unforeseen reason.
Musket and pistol balls
The Hawkeye is an easy-to-operate detector and I soon gained familiarity with its controls. It soon seemed that I had been using the detector for months rather than just a few hours. It would be wrong to state that none of the various items I eventually recovered from this field would not have been found had I not been using the Hawkeye, but I do believe that a great many of them would still remain undiscovered. Whenever I search a new field I try to keep all the items together (although bagged separately) over the course of a season. This will often provide a picture of past activity, and indicate the period that such activity occurred. After several searches my initial suspicion was confirmed that the field had been used by the military in the late 18th and early 19th century when Britain was under the threat of a French invasion. The military buttons included regiments from various parts of Britain, together with militia and local volunteers. Although I knew they had been stationed in this part of my county, locating any trace of them has always been difficult for the camps and troops themselves were often moved, and the officers normally billeted in private homes or inns. Quite a selection of buttons eventually came to light, and I have shown some of them with individual groups and captions where relevant. As an experiment just before leaving this site I turned the control down to “all metal” and decided to use the detector in this mode just to see how much iron and ferrous fragments were present. Within a few minutes I was back on discrimination again, with my ears still ringing from all the signals. However, this can be a very simple way of determining how much activity a site has seen in the past; nails etc are man-made and are actually alien to what should be in the soil. During my first search of this field I recovered a total of 80 non-ferrous finds. About three-quarters of these were in a recognisable condition, being in the main buttons and copper coins. At a time later in the year, and with crops and ploughing permitting, I intend to extend my search area from this obvious campsite. If nothing else, there would have been occasions when the men would have been allowed to leave the camp for a visit to the local inn. Prior to going out I had checked the condition of the batteries, and I did the same on my return home. The read out showed that very little battery life had been used. After only three outings with the Hawkeye I knew with reasonable certainty by listening to the audio whether a target was one that I should dig or leave and walk on; and if I were unsure the meter would soon show me. The Hawkeye is one of those detectors that would suit a beginner to the hobby, but also be appreciated by the old hands. However, don’t underestimate this machine: it may have less controls and be easier to use than others, but if you buy one be prepared for a lot of digging and an increase in your finds rate. Printed with kind permission from Treasureworld

Laser Rapier

The Laser Rapier is very much like the Tesoro Silver Sabre M/Max apart from being black, it is powered by a 9 volt battery which is reported to give 16 hours of use, for optimum performance we have found it must be changed after 8 hours or less.

The machine is very light and strips down into three parts so it can be carried in a small rucksack, standard with most modern Tesoros. A simple turn on and go set up with a pin point button which is hardly ever required. The audio response on the Laser Rapier is  sharp and honest even on very small targets. Depth is good but not earth shattering these machines work very well on loose dry soil where many other machines fail.
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The XP ADX 100

The ADX 100 is supplied with a coil cover,headphones and box cover are optional extras.

The controls are really easy to operate, pictured left is the sensitivity, this allows the user to adjust how much power the machine puts down into the ground, in most cases this will almost certainly affect the depth, so run the machine as high as you can without false signals and erratic operation. On my field test model I could easily run the machine at full power with no problem.

On the right is the discrimination setting, this is used to reject unwanted targets, fully counter clockwise will allow the machine to give a signal on any type of metal, including Iron, this is known as "all metal" as you turn the control clockwise you will start rejecting unwanted targets.My machine rejected most Iron at the no1 position, further up will reject foil. Ring pulls can not be rejected, even at maximum, this is because valuable targets like small ancient coins and some gold fall in the ring pull range.

The control box is made from tough robust ABS plastic.

In the field
This machine surprised me, it is very smooth to operate and gave a good strong response on coins, the depth was excellent and Iron rejection second to none. It is so light and well balanced you can use it all day with no fatigue.
Although this machine is really aimed at beginners, it packs some punch, good enough for any site. Recent reports say it even works well on the beach, so thumbs up for the xp adx 100.
This must be one of the best serious starter machines available on the market today, even professionals should consider this as a back up machine.

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Tesoro Compadre
 

Tesoro Compadre customers field test

Late last year  I called at a farm we once had permission to search, it had produced the odd Roman find in the past but sadly nothing in any great quantity, we put this down to the land having not been ploughed since the war. We rang the door bell and a stranger answered, he explained that Mr Jackson the old farmer had retired 5 years ago and he was the new owner. Search permission was granted and sealed with a handshake, we marched off to the fields behind the farm yard. Expecting to find the normal pasture fields it was a real shock to see two of the five were in rotted down stubble,obviosly ploughed and seeded last season, we looked at each other in amazement, words were just not needed.
 As we walked across the field we could see tile and the odd oyster shell, Colin found the first coin within the first ten minutes, a small Roman very close to the surface, it wasn't long before I found one, steady finds carried on for the rest of the afternoon, altogether we had 15 coins, one fibula and a pocket full of what I can only describe as metallic blobs. Although we had a great afternoon something was troubling me, I felt this field was badly mineralised the machines were not happy due to the constant blanking of the threshold even with a very low sensitivity, Colin was using a similar machine and experiencing the same problem. I called Gary and asked for his advice, told him about my finds and my very tight budget, I needed a back up machine for this type of site, he replied without hesitation Tesoro Compadre,light simple to use, great value for money, excellent on junky sites and loves small targets, this sounded to good to be true. We drove down to look at one the next morning, Gary runs his busines part time from home,mainly mail order he has no objection to visitors,providing they call first. Although we felt a little uncomfortable turning up at someone's house we were soon put at ease with a cup from  Lyn, it was a very pleasant and relaxed atmosphere.
 The Compadre was simple indeed, just one switch which operated the power and discrimination, we tested some targets the audio sound was very sharp and clear and Iron discrimination worked well. Gary explained about searching in bad soil and demonstrated the effects it had on machines.Originaly we decided to get just one machine and share it as a back up, but having seen what it was capable of Colin decided to get one and pay the consequences later when his wife finds out, it would be an ideal starter machine for his lad.
 The following weekend we called at the farm to test our new machines and theorys,our hopes were high as always with a new purchase, set the rejection to eliminate nails and search, I felt the need for more switches, what would I do between signals?. The little Compadre was working it's heart out, almost like a Jack Russell sniffing out targets, desperate to please its owner, I recovered several small coins and coin fragments in a very short time, Colin was on the other side of the field backing on to the woods, every time I looked over he also appeared to be digging. We met up after an hour or so and compared finds, Colin had 5 Roman and 19 shotgun cases. I had 7 Roman and 3 fragments plus a pocket full of foil and scrap. We are both very impressed with our Compadre's, honest little machines and great value for money,  if I was to sum the Compadre up in one word it would be "Thorough".
Colin took his lad Alex to a local park for some coinshooting, Alex had not shown much interest in detecting up until that point, they returned with a pocketful of coins approx 29, mostly modern but a nice half crown, three threepenny bits, a sixpence and two Victorian pennies, what a great way for a father and son to spend an afternoon, now the young lad is hooked.
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