Tommyt654 asked for a review of the Slickdeals $21 metal detector that we discussed back on April 14-16. We had two days of nice weather here and my salvaged redwood (April 17 post) dried out enough for me to want to clean it up. Here's my review.
The metal detector (MD from now on) looks like the old Garrett wand that security folks used to use. May still use, I guess. I'm sure the resemblance to that famous product is intentional.
The box and ad say it "comes equipped with ear phones...". No, it doesn't. It has a primitive ear bud that seems to work but it isn't flexible and it doesn't fit my ear. I threw it away. The directions indicate a separate "audio" function and the instructions suggest that you can just turn that on and hear the beeps along with the flashing red light when you run it over metal. Nope, no audio function either, and no evidence of a small speaker. I plugged my Sony noise-reduction earphones into the jack instead and the audio jack works like you might expect. No problems with it.
The MD has a generally cheap appearance, but for $21, it IS cheap. It's just lightweight plastic, enough to protect the innards a little bit. No qualms there. It come with a fitted cloth storage bag which will keep the dust out. It also comes with a third-world 9v battery ("Color" brand) that, to my surprise, worked.
I experimented with some old 1x pine that has some small visible nails. The MD repeatedly picked up each of them, giving a solid beep and a red flash. The pine has a small staple on the edge and the MD did NOT pick that up, even though I gave it plenty of chances. It might be that it doesn't work on non-ferrous metal (if that's what the staple was) but if true, that would lessen its appeal.
I rubbed the wand directly on the wood and I tried it from 1-2" above the wood. Above 2" or so it loses its effectiveness but up close it worked just fine.
Then I checked out 85' of my salvaged redwood. Never got a beep. I kept checking it against metal (pickup truck, just in case you find one buried in your wood) and it signaled fine. I guess the redwood is free of nails and metal scrap. The proof will be when I plane it tomorrow.
My summary: This cheap product isn't something you'll get a tool gloat for and you don't get everything they say you're getting. The thing is, it appears to work as advertised. It MIGHT not be effective on very thick boards, I don't know. I don't have any suspect boards to try it out on. Be wary until you're sure.
That's it. If you can afford to buy better, go ahead. For my $21, I think I'll keep this around. It's a heck of a lot more convenient than breaking out my full-sized metal detector and wrestling with it and it seems to do the job.
The metal detector (MD from now on) looks like the old Garrett wand that security folks used to use. May still use, I guess. I'm sure the resemblance to that famous product is intentional.
The box and ad say it "comes equipped with ear phones...". No, it doesn't. It has a primitive ear bud that seems to work but it isn't flexible and it doesn't fit my ear. I threw it away. The directions indicate a separate "audio" function and the instructions suggest that you can just turn that on and hear the beeps along with the flashing red light when you run it over metal. Nope, no audio function either, and no evidence of a small speaker. I plugged my Sony noise-reduction earphones into the jack instead and the audio jack works like you might expect. No problems with it.
The MD has a generally cheap appearance, but for $21, it IS cheap. It's just lightweight plastic, enough to protect the innards a little bit. No qualms there. It come with a fitted cloth storage bag which will keep the dust out. It also comes with a third-world 9v battery ("Color" brand) that, to my surprise, worked.
I experimented with some old 1x pine that has some small visible nails. The MD repeatedly picked up each of them, giving a solid beep and a red flash. The pine has a small staple on the edge and the MD did NOT pick that up, even though I gave it plenty of chances. It might be that it doesn't work on non-ferrous metal (if that's what the staple was) but if true, that would lessen its appeal.
I rubbed the wand directly on the wood and I tried it from 1-2" above the wood. Above 2" or so it loses its effectiveness but up close it worked just fine.
Then I checked out 85' of my salvaged redwood. Never got a beep. I kept checking it against metal (pickup truck, just in case you find one buried in your wood) and it signaled fine. I guess the redwood is free of nails and metal scrap. The proof will be when I plane it tomorrow.
My summary: This cheap product isn't something you'll get a tool gloat for and you don't get everything they say you're getting. The thing is, it appears to work as advertised. It MIGHT not be effective on very thick boards, I don't know. I don't have any suspect boards to try it out on. Be wary until you're sure.
That's it. If you can afford to buy better, go ahead. For my $21, I think I'll keep this around. It's a heck of a lot more convenient than breaking out my full-sized metal detector and wrestling with it and it seems to do the job.
LCHIEN
Loring in Katy, TX USA
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