Monday, January 5, 2009

Another Alternative Detector


Here is another detector that can be very handy when treasure hunting. I have mentioned this one before but I thought it warranted a little more coverage.

This is one of those machines that wasn’t made for treasure hunting but can find some very useful applications in what we do. The machine I am talking about is the Schonstedt Magnetic Locator. Surveyors and companies needing to locate pipes and cables routinely use these.

The company makes several different instruments but the one I use and the one I think is the most useful and cost effective for what we do is the GA 52CX. http://www.schonstedt.com/index.cfm?page=GA-52Cx

These are limited in their use because they will only located steel and iron but a lot of treasures are hidden in things made of these metals and if you hunt Spanish treasure you may be helped by using this to find any iron tools that they may have left in the hole before they filled it up.

The GA 52CX runs on two nine-volt batteries and is exceptionally light, weighing in right around 2 ½ pounds. The machine is only 42 inches long and only has two switches, an on and off switch that also adjusts the sensitivity and a volume switch.

You may be wondering why you would want to mess with one of these if it will only locate steel or iron. The biggest reason is that it will locate steel or iron at very deep depths. The factory manual, and this is the factory manual and not some retailer trying to sell you something, states that the machine will locate an 18 inch long piece of ¾ inch steel pipe at NINE feet deep! There isn’t a two-box that I know of that will come any where near close to that. I can tell you from experience that this depth doesn’t appear to be an exaggeration at all on the part of the manufacturer. You can even use it to estimate the depth of the object giving you the reading.

You can’t rely solely on this detector if what you are looking for isn’t connected to steel or iron but if you hunt outlaw treasure you have a better than average chance that the treasure has some type of iron with it, such as an iron pot or box.

The GA 52CX is something that can be strapped to the side of a backpack and carried without problems or any noticeable added weight and makes a great way to start your search or verify what might be in the ground. I take mine with me to every site I work along with one or more other detectors.

The machine itself can be a little pricey, a new one from the factory runs about $900.00, but you can find used ones around quite often. The first one I bought came from e-bay and I snagged it for $350.00 from a surveyor that was going out of business. The older models ran off of C size batteries but worked just as well. I had one of those too. You can still find these floating around and they are even cheaper because they are the “old” model. All of these are painted a bright yellow so you won’t loose it if you lay it down in the grass. I covered my with camouflage tape so it wouldn’t be so obvious when I was carrying it around.

This machine is something to keep in mind when you need to look deep into the ground, don’t want any false signals and what you are looking for is or might be part of something steel or iron.

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