Sierra Madre

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OzzieAu

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G'day all,
I have an acquaintance who is not a member here, has asked me to enquire if anyone has heard of or used a Whites Sierra Madre in Aus. ground. Apparently in the USA they are used to go deep on large targets like caches of loot and buried safes, etc. For the price (US $600), he thought if it handled our ground, it might turn up his kilo + glory lump at 4/5 feet !
I said I think ur dreamin' me old mate, but hey, I'm just the messenger....
Any thoughts from you knowledgeable Whites guys?
 
Well if that VLF (6.592 Htz) runs anything like my old Gold Bug in the GT....i'm calling rubbish..(benign ground excluded).

On a US board, ..."..They often used them with the 25" Magnum Force coil but as with all detectors there's drawbacks. Depth with the Whites 15" coil is not that great and it lacks sensitivity for most peoples coinshooting needs. Add that to the lack of discrimination and its not exactly an all rounder. Hot rocks can be a real problem..."

From;.. http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/white-s/285629-sierra-madre.html

The last sentence tells me it will be a flop over ironstone ground.

This unit is before my time, so ex owners may contribute more.

Gypsy
 
Boulders said:
Wouldn't that be a slap in minelabs face if a $600 detector pulled out a nice boulder at 4 to 5 ft deep. :D

Apparently, the target size at the 4-5' depth?......

:8 ...the size of a full size garbage can lid...per;

..."I use a 5900 di pro with 15" coil and the sierra Madre is the same thing with out filters for discrimination, and yes it is a very deep detector, I was told from a White's dealer up hear they use that detector in the gold Fields in Arizona, and it does really well. It will go down 5' on a target about the size of a full size garbage can lid or bigger..."

From the link above.

Advertising blurb is no different to switch & bait clicks.... :D

Gypsy
 
The Sierra Madre uses the 6.592 khz frequency and shares part of the electronics of the XL PRO, in it's final guise the machines use the same battery system and box as the Xl Pro, MXT etc. Coils that can be used range from the 25" Magnum Force, the White's 9.5, 800, 5.3 and Snooper 350, even the Bluemax 6x4 DD works as well as Bigfoot etc .. ALL Bluemax compatible coils work.
The Sierra Madre takes the surplus XL PRO circuit boards without ID meter, no Disc circuit, no TR circuit no SAT or hot rock reject modes etc. Just pure all metal mode remains and auto ground tracking with an option to lock. Gain or sensitivity are not dialled in, it's either a high or low switch.. The machine is used to locate steel pipes etc, it's an industrial machine. So it has it's limitations. Put the right coil on it and you've got an all metal machine with limited controls. No target id, something that is the VLF machines greatest asset.

Now I use the Xl Pro in Australia, to operate smoothly you really need to have control over sensitivity or gain, use the SAT mode and even the option of hot rock reject, none of these controls are on the Sierra Madre. It is limited to High or Low gain.. not ideal. as a detector it would be awkward and hampered for lack of fine tuning and control. Great as a pipe locator, which is what it was designed for. Just go to the White's website and download the manual for the Sierra Madre and you will see it's limitations. There are much better options..

In my experience the Xl Pro has a lot of power and so would the Sierra Madre, under the right conditions they can go very deep. Rarely will ground conditions allow you to use all the sensitivity or gain that is available. Use a smaller coil like the 5.3 or well shielded Royal 800 and sometimes I can get gain very high with spectacular results. It shines in low mineral areas, loves the dry beach sands, parks etc. You can run the Xl Pro in all metal with SAT and the meter will id iron and hot rocks accurately. No such option with the Sierra Madre.. Like all VLF machines hot rocks and iron stone, heavy mineralized soils are problems that can be managed but not completely overcome, again the lack of controls hampers such efforts with the Sierra Madre.. it is only a pipe locator after all..
1485870941_whites3.jpg


Four of five feet in the air using a 9.5 coil on a metal gold pan, yes. In the ground? You dig the hole and we'll find out.. but why bother.

Karelian
 
The MXT with the 15" MXT Max Coil air tests targets up to 8 to 10 feet, My MXT with the 14x10 picks up me swinging my Pick at 4 and a half to 5 feet away, That 15" coil has a bit more Horsepower and it can see bits as small as 0.02 grams so who ever said that it is not sensitive knows nothing and is just Parroting old comments about coils from 30 years ago.

If a person ever did find a big deep target with that 15" coil they won't want to find 2 Targets in One day, It is a Brutal SOB in good ground and you would need at leased an 18" round DD to keep up with it.

John.
 
Thanks for your feedback gents, just reinforces my advice to my colleague, who happens to enjoy digging deep holes !
I'll just tell him to persevere with his TDI Pro Oz and 20" coil, that thing can get you diggin deep enough IMHO. :eek:
 
OzzieAu said:
Thanks for your feedback gents, just reinforces my advice to my colleague, who happens to enjoy digging deep holes !
I'll just tell him to persevere with his TDI Pro Oz and 20" coil, that thing can get you diggin deep enough IMHO. :eek:

He might want to try the new Coiltek coils because they are sensitive and will give him better depth over the standard coils,

The Sierra Madre was basically made for searching for Pipes and manhole covers deep down and yes it will go deep on large objects but the rest of Whites products will hang with it and the Older 5900 / 6000 Blue Box machines will go just as deep and in the all metal mode they have even more power, No current VLF can match the 5900 / 6000s and they are Soooo smooth.

HH.

John.
 

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