I thought I would share my Compass Collection

[john37115]

L-R Goldscanner Pro w/6 & 8" coil, X-100 w/8" coil, Auto Legend w/8" coil, 77b w/8" & 12" coil, 77b automatic w/8" & 12" coil, My Custom modified 77b with 8" coil. Woohoo> Now if I can find time to use them all. LOL

[Gary]

Hi John, nice assortment of Compass machines there, you've got some good ones in that lineup! Thanks for posting the picture.

Gary

[Paul (Ca)]

Hi John,

That is a nice line-up there!  I know this sounds crazy but believe me you'll eventually find time to use them all within a years period.

I've scaled back my Compass collection and now down to five working models,  

(1) Compass Au52...In which I recently acquired and it's in the mail as of today.
(2) Compass GoldScanner Pro,
(3) Compass 77 Auto Legend,
(4) Compass 77B Automatic,
(5) Compass 77B,

When the Compass Au52 arrives,  Going to try and mount an Analog meter on the unit.  I believe it should accept the meter,  If it does I'll post a pic of the Au52 with target ID.

Congrats on the six amigos
Paul (Ca)

[john37115]

Paul I own a fence company which is a seasonal business in Tennessee, so in the winter time I get alot of time to detect and since Tennessee has little snow all I have to deal with is the cold. No snakes, ticks, mosquitos perfect detecting. So look out compass's winters acoming LOL. Paul did you get the Au52 that was on Ebay? That was a good looking machine should work good out there in the gold country and I would think at the high operating frequency it would be good in iron, couple that with the meter ( if it's compatible ) and you will have a killer there. Gary don't feel bad about your son cleaning your clock on the Compadre. I would have to say that machine is dollar for dollar the meanest machine I have ever used, I love mine. I have some sites that the Compadre is the only machine I own that will run stable on.

[Paul (Ca)]

Hi John,

Sounds like you have some spare time to detect during winter time and rest in the same process,  Then carry on with the fencing business again in the spring.

Yes,  That was me that bought the Au52 on eBay.  I know who the seller is and he is trust worthy and he actually sent out the detector yesterday and it should arrive today.

I read somewhere the Au52 & Au2000 are vari-filter so maybe the circuitry boards are the same or similar as on the GoldScanner Pro with the only different being the kHz & minus the ID meter?  So I'm anxious to see if an analog meter will work.

That would be a cool detector,  Compass Gold nugget detecting abilities with target ID.  Plus,  I like the elliptical coil feature

Enjoy the winter time off John!
Paul

[JOE(USA)]

John,

       A real nice Compass collection. You should be very proud of it, way to go!        Joe

[Paul (Ca)]

John,

The Compass Au 52 arrived this week,  Sad to say but it is not working correctly.  So the eBay seller is going to refund me my money,  Was looking forward to using it...Well,  Maybe someday another one or even the Au 2000 will surface on Bay or the Classifies.

HH, Paul (Ca)

[john37115]

Dang Paul I was so looking forward to hearing about the meter mod you were planning on doing. Well like you say maybe the AU 2000 will show up in the near future and you can try you hand with it. I'll keep my eyes open for one and if I see it I'll let you know. Do you think Keith could repair the AU 52 he's very reasonable and works magic with these old machines, or is it too far gone?

[Paul (Ca)]

Hi John,

The Au 52 arrived on Tuesday or Wednesday but didn't get a chance to try her out until the next day,  From the get go it wouldn't ground balance and all other features did not work correctly.  

In all-metal mode couldn't maintain a smooth threshold as the detector kept going into a silent mode in and out for long periods,  Had to continuously flip the all metal mode switch to bring back the threshold and when going into disc mode that didn't work as the machine was completely silent in disc mode couldn't even detect a target let alone a hub cap if it's life depended on it.

I did call Keith Wills and Keith even said over the phone it didn't sound right and needed work,  With this information I relayed this back to the seller that I would be willing to pay for half the repair having Keith go over the detector.  After a couple of messages to the seller finally spoke with him on the phone yesterday,  He said rather than get the detector repaired he would rather refund me my money which is fine.

Well,  I guess it wasn't meant for me to have the Au 52.  Honestly, I was looking forward to having one and boy did it feel so well balanced with the elliptical coil mounted on it didn't feel so top heavy,  Maybe one of these days another one will surface or who knows maybe even the Au 2000.

Thanks John,
Paul (Ca)

[Gary]

Paul, from what I heard about those machines, besides being hard to find, is that some of them had problems with the coils. I'm not telling you what to do but if I were you I'd keep it and send it off to Keith to fix, you got a good price on it. Hard to tell when another one will surface.

Gary

[Paul (Ca)]

Hi Gary,

That's an option that didn't occur to me (Keeping the Au 52 and sending it in to Keith),  I just accepted what the seller had offered (send back the detector for a refund.)

I'll put more thought on this today and see if I can call Keith Wills tomorrow,  During my conversion with Keith the other day I did mentioned maybe it's the coil creating these problems so I'll have to see what Keith has to say in say to make this judgment call and get back with the seller if I do decide to adsorb the problem and keep the detector.

You're right,  These type of detectors are so hard to find and maybe it is the coil creating these problems.  Thanks for the advice I'll put some series thought into this today,  I really do like the balanced feel of the detector especially with the elliptical coil.

Thanks Gary!
Paul (Ca)

[Gary]

Hi Paul, here's an interesting thread I found on another forum, the last post is interesting.
http://www.nuggethunting.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php?t5233.html

Gary

[keppy]

John, You do have a real nice collection there nice... I have a collection of one now and it does not work right. So i am going to ship it to Keith.......Looks like Paul had the same luck with his Au 52 as i have with my GSP..........Was thinking of selling it but i will keep it................... Jim

[john37115]

Hi Jim,
Thanks for the compliment on the collection. I have put alot of time and patience into building it. I hate to hear your GSP was not working right. I can tell you soon after I got mine I sent it off to Keith to be fixed also. I had a real hard time ground balancing it. When it got back from Keith the machine ground balanced fine. The GSP is a little tricky to ground balance which is perfectly normal, it is a bit finnicky as to where it likes to balance. In other words sometimes when I scan the ground in all metal for a clean place to balance it is difficult to find a place completely clean of mineral or small iron deposits. I have found that by lowering the coil no lower than 2" to the ground makes for a much easier balance. I have had my GSP since Feb 2008 which Keith had it for a couple months of that and I feel like I am finally starting to get a grasp of how it is suppose to work and what it is trying to tell me. Don't be quick to get down on the machine it is a very good machine. Don't rely solely on the meter, listen for good solid repeatable sounds just like you would with a non metered machine then check your meter for conductiveness. I dig all conductive signals on old sites. If you set the DISC higher than 4 then your GSP becomes just another same ol machine. It really shines in iron laden sites being able to pick between the conductives/ferris targets. I know you will love it when you get it back.
Good Luck
John

[Paul (Ca)]

John,

You're right that's the key for successful relic or gold jewelry detecting,  Don't extend over (4) on discrimination otherwise the tiny good conductive or weaker signals are masked out by iron or discriminated out using too much disc.

I know many feel operating between 4 and pre-set with discrimination appears to be a low disc setting but it's really too much for serious relic or gold jewelry detecting,  Sure more larger pieces of iron will bleed through but you won't miss the masked or weaker signals.

Paul (Ca)

[Gary]

Hey Paul, sounds like good advice, thanks for posting!

Gary

[sipala007]

      I SAW IN THE PICTURE,THAT YOU HAD THE SAME COMPASS GOLD SCANNER PRO THAT I HAVE. SINCE  I DON'T PRESENTLY HAVE A USER MANUAL FOR MINE, I WAS HOPING THAT YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO SHARE YOUR MANUAL WITH ME IF YOU ARE ABLE TO MAKE A COPY OR SCAN IT INTO YOUR COMPUTER. JUST LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU WOULD WANT FOR YOUR TROUBLE.      THANKS,          [e-mail]

[john37115]

Sipala007 I do have the original manual for the GSP I will have to find it though. When I locate it I will post it here on the site if that is OK with Gary. I think it is about 10 pages if remember correctly.

[Gary]

That's fine with me John, I'm sure it will come in handy to others in the future. Very nice of you!

Gary