Well, I considered the X pointer but decided to go for the gusto and order a TRX. Bart at BigBoys hooked me up and got it here fast. Ordered thursday night, and it was in Monday's mail. Thanks Bart!
Haven't had time for serious hunts with it but some short testing sessions revealed the following...
It is quick on and quick off. I thought that might not be the case but a tap on gets you a confirmation beep followed by two quick beeps and it's ready to go, in one second at most. Hold it down to shut off and within half a second it starts a quick two-tone confirmation and it's off. I can totally live with that.
Solid construction. Loud enough and and vibey enough for me.
Air testing detection pattern is very much like the graphic in the first post in this thread. I got less to the sides than that orange line, but still plenty. Out of the box on default (level 3) sensitivity, I got just shy of 3" on a copper penny to the front and about 2 1/2" on the sides. Adding in the width of the shaft, and it's just shy of 3" from the centerline of the shaft. The front detection lobe has no detection behind the tip except for maybe the first 1/4". The detection area is very hemispherical in shape -- imagine a 6" nerf ball cut in half and stuck to the tip, and that's pretty close.
Tried "supertuning" by sliding a dime laid on the side of the handle, just forward of the button, and got another 3/4" to 1" out the front. No real increase on the sides. Not sure it needs it, but the option is there if you think you do.
Another thread explained how to change the starting sensitivity. That works. Also was able to swap main menus so the sensitivity is easier to access than beep/vibe/beep+vibe menu. Useful? Meh. Did not succeed in finding a menu option for audio frequency adjustment. Did succeed in getting the "master reset" menu option to work.
On level 4, I tried to locate coins in my fresh coin garden, penny through half, all at 4", and it did not sniff any of them. Actually I just tried the half and gave up. I need to run the test again, I was sure it'd see at least the half.
On level 4 it is pretty falsey, and even when I "ground balance" it, after a bit of time it seems to drift off and starts chirping again. I was turning it off and on between uses, maybe left on it reaches a happy place and settles down. No biggie, though, a quick tap of the button while holding it near the ground rebalances it and shuts it up for a while again. I need to test it more on levels 3, 2, or 1 and see if it misbehaves as much. Not a deal breaker if it does, but a minor annoyance. If it's gonna drift, better towards more sensitive than less sensitive, especially if you plan to leave it on.
Looking forward to more real world testing...
Does anyone know what TRX stands for? Totally Rules the X-pointer? lol
