stetam said:
This afternoon at a local auction are a Whites classic IDX and a Tesoro Sidewinder in good working condition. As I'm looking for a back up machine what would be the value of each of them?
Of those two, it should be the White's Classic IDX.
I have owned most Tesoro models since '83 and have several favorites, with my all-time favorites being the Bandido II µMAX
(pronounced microMAX) and Silver Sabre µMAX. I always carry at least one with me along with one or more other units on any detecting outing, and own two of each.
I am a very loyal fan of several Tesoro models that work well. There were several models through the years, however, that had a 'glitch.' The Sidewinder µMAX was one of them, and I'm not sure if the one you refer to was the µMAX version or the original, and some of those might have even shared the same circuitry glitch.
I used and owned several of the earlier Coinmaster Classic models, and had very successful hunt afield with the Classic III SL, Classic ID, then the Classic IDX and sort-of revised IDX Pro. The only real 'glitches' with these models was that the manufacturer, White's Electronics, decided to keep them
"turn-on-and-go" simple instead of move up to a more versatile and enhanced performance upper-end model. Some of the engineers involved wanted to go a step further with the 'OK' to add an external Threshold control and external Manual GB control, but the powers that be didn't want to.
stetam said:
Thanks for the info. I ended up picking up the Whites Classic IDX for $110.
You made the better choice of the two. I don't know if you have any other detectors or what it / they are, nor how long you've been enjoying this great sport. I know there might be some folks who could make fun of your purchase and investing in an older and discontinued model. If they do, just ignore them. I know these detectors and their performance abilities quite well. Matter-of-fact, even with a current personal detector outfit of 10 detectors
(I've been thing down what I had), I just bumped it back up one because I ordered a creampuff condition IDX Pro w/KS's modifications and should have it along with my for my Saturday adventure to a difficult-to-find gold mining era ghost town.
When I say and "KS's" "modifications", I am referring to Keith Southern and his rendition of "Mr. Bill's" modifications to the White's Classic series. Something White's should have done on their own in-house .... but they didn't. Having a Classic unit 'modified' give the operator full control without any operational problems afield.
If you've never used a Classic IDX / IDX Pro before, here are a few things-to-know:
• It is a slow-motion/quick-response detector. It will not work well if swept fast, especially in a more mineralized ground environment such as black sand, pea gravel, smaller rocks such as in a parking lot, etc.
• It has a full-range or ED-180 type Discrimination range of adjustment, governed by the toggle selector that reads 'Normal' and 'Black Sand.' That toggle, by the way, has nothing to do with the Ground Balance adjustment. It is only related to the Discrimination circuitry.
• The Frequency Adjustment control should be set at the ▼ Factory Preset indication and, for the most part, leave it there. It is used to shift the frequency slightly in order to counter interference from some source, generally a nearby metal detector.
However, the internal Ground Balance trimmer should have been adjusted for your unit for best performance in the Discriminate mode in challenging ground mineralization.
Using the Frequency Shift can easily change the Frequency slightly, but doing so will also change the Ground Balance setting enough that it can cause falsing, from being too negative, or a loss of performance and good-target detection if it shifts the GB too positive. The best way to use the Frequency Shift is if you have a modification to add an external GB control to the outside of the control box. That would allow someone to use the Frequency Adjust to eliminate interference, and then quickly Ground Balance as necessary for the new off-et frequency change. Total time only takes about 5 to 15 seconds, if you have the modification and if you know how to manually GB.
• Most of the 6.59 kHz coils, like those for the Classic ID, XLT, XL Pro, and other latter-offered models, will work on the Classic IDX / IDX Pro. My preferred coil, that I keep mounted full-time, is one of the 6½"
(measured across the center) search coils. These could be labeled: Blue Max 600, 5.3 Black Max or 5.3 Bullseye.
Disregard the '5.3' labeling as all of these coils physically measure 6½" although White's called them a 6" coil.
• In way of performance, they come very close to duplicating the slow-motion and quick-response behavior of the Tesoro models, however they generally provide an edge in depth-of-detection over the Tesoro's by a little bit.
Believe me, you definitely selected the better of the two models.
Monte
