White's new TDI is out!!!

[Goldman]

I just looked at one at Miner's Creek store in W. Wickenburg. Price is $1595.00. If you are local, they close at 4:00om and open tomorrow 10:00-2:00pm. Don

[fredm]

I expect whoever gets to Rich Hill and surrounds with that will do very well...assuming they understand how to use its unique features....I wonder if Reg has had his out nugget hunting yet????

fred

[nuggethunting]

Hello Fred,

I seen and used the TDI at Moore Creek for a bit. Wasn't real impressed with the depth ability, but the detector was very stable and quiet. I seriously doubt it will find anything in the old patches behind the big Minelab, but there are a lot of trashy areas where the White's TDI might really do well.

Steve H. found a nice 1.93 ouncer that he raffled away during the second week with the TDI. Not sure on depth, but it didn't sound like it was real deep when he mentioned it. However, the stability, discrimination and price of the TDI will be it's biggest selling points.

Take care,

Rob Allison

[sdf527]

I overheard Steve H talking about the TDI at Moore Creek. He doubted the discrimination would serve for goldhunting purposes. It was designed more for the coin/relic hunting arena. We Minelabs had real interference trouble when 4 TDI's were fired up in close proximity. I could not find a quiet tune channel to work in. Had to be at least 100 meters away from them. If you got surrounded it was all over, no chance of getting a quiet threshold. Of course they would often stand around and point the coil right at us, not aware they were killing our ears. One complete amatuer found two nuggets with the TDI, but he worked real hard at it. For them it was merely swinging the coil and waiting for a solid signal to blast through the garbled audio. They cleaned up a lot of trash targets for us. I tried to help one of them, but there was no decent way to fine tune the TDI threshold audio.

The price might be attractive, but I can't imagine making those kind of control sacrifices.

[Goldman]

I think I will wait for Reg to write a comprehensive report. The two prior post, one said it was quiet and stable and the other said it has garbled audio!!!! Don

[nuggethunting]

Hey Goldman,

I'm sure in the near future Reg will write up some type of field report on the unit. Would like to see how the White's TDI runs here in Arizona over some of the very mineralized ground conditions, hot rocks and basalts. That would be the real test for most people. I used the TDI for a bit when a user was trying to locate a target we heard with the GPX-4500's. The targets, which was a small 0.1 ounce gold nugget sounded pretty good on the GPX's. However, after playing around with the TDI I couldn't make the detector hear the target. Now to be fair, we were using a larger coil on the GPX-4500's, but the signal was very obvious and non-existent on the TDI. After removing about 3 inches of material the TDI started to pick up on the gold nugget.

I noticed the TDI to be smooth and quiet with a lower sensitivity setting, but at a higher setting the detector made more background noise. This is pretty much typical of any metal detector. The more you crank it up, you will notice more background and threshold noise.

For $1,595.00 the White's TDI will attact its own market for an entry level PI and fill a certain nitch. If I was going to purchase a White's TDI, I would make sure you purchase it from someone that has a good amount of experience with the White's metal detectors. My recommendations would be Digger Bob in California or Gerry at Gerry's Metal Detectors. Both have many years worth of experience.

Take care,

Rob Allison

[Goldman]

Thanks Rob. I knew your comments were correct. This is Don from Peoria, I left and am back and live in Wickenburg now. Not knowing how detector was setup on gain, pulse delay etc would make a difference in senstivity on target. I am not looking to buy, I have my GS4 that Reg modified, has same controls almost. I was just leting people know it was out, since that has been the question as always on new dectors with all the pre-release that seems to leak out!

You found some nice nuggets in Alaska! congradulations. Don

[Guest sandtrap]

Hi Goldman,

I was just talking to Dutch John, before he left for high school reunion. Jim said he tried to buy the machine you had for sale , on a differant forum. He had the cash, but I guess you changed your mind. It was a modified version of Regs.

Dutch John and I are out, finding shallow nuggets. He is currently using an Exterra 70, and I am using a 4000, with small Commander loop. Jim is still interested in purchasing a modified version of Regs.

[Reno Chris]

I wish I was in a position to comment on this, but I have no experience with the new whites unit.

However, this last weekend I got a chance to see a GS5 (modified) in operation. It was just recently received back from Eric after modification, but I have no idea if it constitutes a GS5 b,c,d,e,f or g or something else. Anyway, I was very favorably impressed with its operations. It did a good job handling a spot with low soil mineralization, but a lot of hotrocks and trash. The tone discrimination system worked well. He picked up a 3 dwt nugget at about 10 inches no problem with a mono Joey coil.

If the Whites unit is similar, it will be a real valid lower cost alternative to ML. Will it be equal to a 4500 in all respects? No, but it will have many great strengths of its own and certainly be a very good alternative for the price.

My one issue with the GS5(x) and perhaps the White's unit as well may be the ability to punch deep for large targets. I was working a flat area where material had been spread out with a dozer with my minelab GP Extreme and came across what sounded like a deep, good target. I raised my coil 6 inches off the ground and the target was a little weaker, but still sounded good (a quick test to see that it was not a big hotrock). I dug down a foot and the target was definitly much louder but still deep. I estimated it was down another couple feet. Because I was digging loose material spread by a bull dozer, I was hesitant to continue because I was now thinking it was just a deep trash target (and this was an old timer site with plenty of trash). Since this site has produced nuggets to 50 ounces, I had my partner with the GS5 come over to have a listen with his discriminator and see if he could give me an indication. He came over and could not hear the target in the hole at all - he heard nothing. Now I was using an 11 inch mono coil, and he was using a 9 x 6 mono coiltec Joey so it was not a good scientific test, but I was really suprised he could not hear the target at all, because it was plenty loud and strong on my GP Extreme.

Chris

[nuggethunting]

Hello Reno Chris,

Had a similar experience back in the early 2003 when I found a very faint target with my Minelab GP Extreme. I dug down about 6 inches before it actually became a good target. I continued to dig down, but the target still wasn't screaming, but was getting a bit louder the deeper I went. A good friend had a Garrett Infinium and swung his unit down into the hole. He heard nothing, so it really had be puzzled if it was mineralization. I balanced the Extreme on the pile and around the hole to make sure the ground balance was correct, but still got a good target down in the hole. Luckily, I continued to dig down to 28+ inches and recovered a real beautiful 9+ solid ouncer!

There is no doubt in my mind if you're looking to get the best overall depth on targets, you need to stick with the Minelab PI's. The Infinium, GoldScan's and the new White's TDI will all have their nitch, but it won't have the ability to find targets at depth like the Minelab's.

Talk with you later,

Rob Allison

[Digger Bob]

Hello Reno Chris,

Had a similar experience back in the early 2003 when I found a very faint target with my Minelab GP Extreme. I dug down about 6 inches before it actually became a good target. I continued to dig down, but the target still wasn't screaming, but was getting a bit louder the deeper I went. A good friend had a Garrett Infinium and swung his unit down into the hole. He heard nothing, so it really had be puzzled if it was mineralization. I balanced the Extreme on the pile and around the hole to make sure the ground balance was correct, but still got a good target down in the hole. Luckily, I continued to dig down to 28+ inches and recovered a real beautiful 9+ solid ouncer!

There is no doubt in my mind if you're looking to get the best overall depth on targets, you need to stick with the Minelab PI's. The Infinium, GoldScan's and the new White's TDI will all have their nitch, but it won't have the ability to find targets at depth like the Minelab's.

Talk with you later,

Rob Allison

Robb and Chris,

You are both right about the depth limitations on the Whites. We've known from the beginning we would not be able to compete in that one area. And I have stated that here and other places. I wish it weren't so, but the really deep ones are Minelabs biggest asset. However, as a recent poll on one of the forumsj shows, the average depth most nuggets are found is around 6 inches. That is well within the range, and deeper, of the Whites. So, that means that roughly 85% of nuggets are within it's range. Add in it's other advantages over the big Minelabs and we have a winner for many people who want to nugget hunt.

Now, I'm not gettting rid of my Minelab or my GM3 either. Each has it's place for different circumstances. But it takes experience to know when to use which and how to interpret signals. And that takes time. However, for the beginner or part timer, I think the Whites is a great compromise for most situations. But, like all machines, it takes time to learn everything it can do. For nugget hunting though, I've found it to be pretty straight forward once you have it set up. There is not a lot of fiddling with the controls; set it up, hunt, and dig.

More time will establish it's limitations and advantages as more get out there in the field and real time feedback comes in. And you can bet there will be upgrades in the years to come, just like Minelab or any other machine.

Digger Bob

[dutch john]

Howdy all... I have subscribed to Lost Treasure magazine for many years.

I'm adding more input regarding the White's PulseScan TDI.

It was field tested by Andy Sabisch. The October 2008 Lost Treasure

magazine which is now just hitting the newsstands.

According to the article Mr. Sabisch mentions the PulseScan TDI lists

for $1,599.95 which includes the 12" Dual Scan coil, two Lithium Ion

rechargeable battery packs and the standard White's two-year

transferable warranty.

Mr. Sabisch also adds a 7.5" Dual Scan coil is available and additional

coils and accessories are in the works.

Jim Straight

[nuggethunting]

Hey Jim,

I used the White's for a very limited amount of time in Alaska this year. Most of the guys that I know sold their TDI's, it just wasn't what they expected. However, I'm really hoping in the next couple of generations we will see something running against the big Minelab PI's. I'm glad to see White's making a step into the PI's for gold hunting.

Take care,

Rob Allison

[dutch john]

Howdy Rob... It is Friday night... why aren't you out dancing and

having a great time? (Today is our 54th wedding aniversary. Gloria and

spent a quiet evening out to dinner. And earlier today while we were

waiting to pickup our oldest great granddaughter Bella from school,

I detected a flagstone curb and recovered a 1902 Barber dime.)

No question about Minelab being the leader as a prospecting detector.

However, with continued interest by Garrett and now White's, there will

be more emphasis by other manufacturers to develop ground canceling

and pulse-type machines.

As you know the Garrett Infinium was badly bashed in the beginning, but

now it has strong and loyal supporters. It still is the poster-child as a wet

salty sand beach detector with ground balancing and tracking ability. Just

check out one of the two Infinium forums and you will see guys like

John (Edmiston) consistently finding jewery items.

As you indicate in earlier posts as time passes, those using any particular

machine will become more familiar and proficent with it. Eventually,

the TDI as well as the others will find a nitche (especially

as an entry-level machine)--- as have the big Minelabs as gold machines---

Be it relic, coin, meteorite, cache, or gold.

Especially if they have a wider-range "DO-ALL" ability. Improved discrimination,

simpler, lighter weight, and less costly are also important parameters then "raw"

depth to detect a deeper and smaller (hopefully) low-conductive nugget within

the trashy areas on most oldtimer placer areas. (

Off subject Rob.... I really appreciate your continued support over the past

many years regarding my books and articles! While, I can feel "time is running

out for me;" the managing editor at Lost Treasure has just informed me that

one of my freelance articles will be in the next issue (November) of LT.

[dutch john]

Howdy Goldman... To add to your post; Rob just posted more

information on the TDI on "Carls forum." As everyone knows

Rob has become most knowlegeable on the innard workings

of Pulse's.

He made a "youtube" video which I cannot access with my

limited capabilites...

Also, Digger Bob has added information on the TDI in earlier

posts.

My interest in the TDI is just academic... As the pulse technology

improves it will be a "win-win" for all of us as "new" areas will

become fruitful. This also includes new developments in the

VLF-type technology. But everyone knows this... so I'm just preaching

to the choir.

Actually, it has been my experience that most of my poke of

"meager" nuggets that I have recovered are in the upper zone of

overburden. Most any detector could make the trip... depending

upon the skills of the detectorist.

However, out on the pediments some nuggets lurk deeper within

the bedrock which is PI-territory... recoverable if'n the detectorest uses

a slow even sweep speed and is tuned to non-repeatable "ghost-

like" whispers. But then as I have mentioned everyone knows this.