Nautilus DMC 2BA
Price: $600
Avg. Score: 
5
Based on 9 reviews
5Based on 9 reviews
Avg. Durability:
5.00
Avg. Ease of use:
4.50
Don't judge a detector by it's looks
October 28, 2015
This detector won't win any beauty competitions, but after getting used to
it for several weeks, this machine is unbelievable in relics. The
Discrimination is extremely accurate, and I can easily detect a dime over
10 inches in hot ground. It is a match with the Deeptech Vista Gold, and
was my main detector until I got the Deus. The Nautilus can still pick up a
few bullets that the Deus leaves behind. I love this machine, and is for
sure staying in my arsenal for a long time.
Max Depth: 13 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Rexy from
Dana Point Ca
51
One great relic hunter
June 16, 2013
A FANTASTIC RELIC HUNTER!
Great on Brass, Forged Iron and all other metals.
It is important to remember not to OVER POWER the site that you hunt with high voltage that this machine can offer. Some sites can take the 44 volts and some sites cant, the site that I am working on allows me a setting of 25 volts and a desc setting of 30 for hand forged Iron and still I can get small buttons at 9 inches or better.
I use a 6 inch and 10 inch coil. Learning curve is not bad, just read the manual and follow the directions to a more productive hunt.
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Northern Relic Hunter from
Canada
60
Gobsmacked
June 12, 2012
Detected since 1978, used almost all the big brands from a - m, including
multi freq.
First time out on a worked out beach (dry / damp sand, it don't like the wet) which may produce 2 coins per trip, and within 45 mins had 9 coins in half the time, COINCIDENCE? Maybe, but just went back again today and pulled out 11 coins.
Seems the 11ba gets more coincidental each time its used! More powerful than other machines, worked out sites are now worth a visit, this is by far the deepest machine I have ever used, and no mistakes on target I. D. At real depth, how can this be, for a machine that looks like it was built on blueprints thirty years old! But its easy to use, a real depth monster, and its not made of plastic. Nautilus totally rocks. Worth 10 stars,
Overall Rating
Lord baltimore from
North East England
122
A meterless believer
August 10, 2008
I've been detecting for 30+ years, mostly with White's and Garrett
machines. This Nautilus DMC IIBa is the deepest, best relic machine I have
ever found! It found a steel b.b. at 6" with no trouble, two lead bullets
and 4 wheat cents, all of which I had missed with the Garrett 2500, and
targets were popping up everywhere. This is a very good machine for coin
hunting, and I believe it will be even better for relics. It hits hard and
deep in both discriminate (silver dime, clads and even nickels at
12"--which I never believed possible). It hits in discriminate mode deeper
than all metal mode. How neat is that? I now Believe! No meter necessary.
Overall Rating
Reggie from
Southeast Louisiana
181
YEARS AHEAD IN DETECTOR DEPTH
January 13, 2008
I have one of the first DMC IIb to come off the assembly line in Coats, NC,
and one of the last models that Jerry Tyndall designed, prior to his
retirement. It is over 10 years old and I have not found a detector that
can out perform it in the real world. A friend has been shopping for a
detector and knows that I have one, he came by my house and I gave him a
demonstration of the IIb and a detection range test comparison to his
current detector. Needless to say he is going for a factory visit this
week. The marketing forces behind the other detectors are very strong.
However do not be fooled by slick advertising and the gang of sheep who
push those brands. If a detector could be classified as a "professional"
model, the Nautilus is, it is made with MILSPEC components and is 100% made
in America, unlike the mass produced foreign made stuff. Like any professional grade equipment the IIb requires some familiarity to tune for the conditions. The importance of tuning the coil to the box cannot be over stressed, herein lies the secret to the fantastic depth in all soils. By the way,No detector works better in highly mineralized soil than a Nautilus. I plan on testing the DMC IIBa (automatic tune) soon, my buddy will probably buy the automatic version. I will probably stick with the IIB since I am very comfortable with using it, and I manually control it. The automatic will appeal to newer users.
Nautilus owners don't necessarily want everyone to find out just how much better they perform for fear of more competition. Especially the serious civil war relic hunters. Nautilus has dominated this area for almost three decades, and these guys only use what works.
I have found and dug silver dimes regularly at 12"-16" here in NC. I dug several hundred copper roofing nails scattered at a depth of 20"-24" on a hill side (erosion buried them that deep)while looking for the location of an old court house. Quite a few people with detectors and some archeologist searched this site previously and could not locate it. Someone told them I knew where the building site was located and I presented them with some copper nails, they then asked me to show them exactly where I found them. This site was from the early 1800's. There are still copper nails to be found and I like the look of people's faces when their detector finds nothing and mine gives a good signal. I save this site for brand braggers, a few have bought Nautilus. LOL
Overall Rating
Chris Powell from
Linden, NC
244
Need the Nauty
January 29, 2007
After hunting with a friend that owns a 20 year old Naut, and my having a
Minelab Explorer, there is humiliation on my part. Let's put technology in
the trash can on this one. The old Naut out-performs incredibly. And the
Naut owner had never been to this site before, but the Minelab had hunted
it about 50 times. Simpler just may be better.
Overall Rating
Maynard Brown from
Richmond, Virginia
190
Nothing compares at any price!
August 02, 2006
I've had the IIb for about three months. Even though I have a lot of
detecting experience, I was reluctant to buy the machine at first because I
had heard the sounds were confusing. I couldn't have been more wrong. You
have a threshold tone in one ear, and a disc beep in the other. Couldn't
be simpler. Set up time, once you get used to it, is about 30 seconds, if
that. While the machine is super deep, it's the two different tones that
set it apart from all others. After a little experience, you will know
what's in the ground before you dig it. No need for a meter. A little
heavy with the 15 inch loop, but you don't pay much attention to that after
a while. Past hunting sites suddenly come alive with signals. While this
machine is a good coin hunter, it is unsurpassed as a relic hunter. All
others just don't compare. And it's built like a tank.
Overall Rating
John Samsky from
Manassas, Va.
292
Whites users are fooling themselves
February 08, 2006
I was a dedicated Whites user, and admittedly, I found many nice targets
over the years. I was repeatedly told that the Nautilus was superior but
always shrugged it off as I always found good targets. Once I finally broke
down and bought a DMCII-BA I kicked myself over and over about all of the
good targets I had left behind over the years while hunting with the
various Whites machines. No specifics are necessary, just rest assured that
if you are looking for a machine that has few bells and whistles,
consistently finds better, deeper targets in tough mineralized soil, and
despite it's looks is very rugged, then it will serve you better than any
whites ever manufactured. Ok, I lied, some specifics/comparisons anyway: .58 Cal minnie with whites = 1 to 7 inches, nautilus = 1 to 11 inches. Eagle coat button with whites = 1 to 6 inches, nautilus = 1 to 10 inches. Silver quarter with whites = 1 to (maybe) 7 inches, with nautilus = 1 to 11 inches (easy!). VERY stable in mineralized ground, the whites is just no competition here. In very ferrous house sites the whites drops off at 2.5 inches, the nautilus will still penetrate 6+ even with a 10" search coil.
Overall Rating
Relic8hunter from
Prince William, VA
342
Fantastic Brass Machine!
December 24, 2005
I purchased a DMC IIBa about a month ago, and finally decided to give it a
try yesterday. My regular machine is a White's DFX, and I think it's a
great detector, but for some reason, I don't find a lot of brass with it.
I heard that the Nautilus is great for finding brass objects, and that's
what prompted me to buy one. Plus, I got a great deal on it off ebay.I went digging near my home in Northern Virginia at the site of an early war Federal camp which I have searched dozens of times before. The finds are now few and far between, but it's close and there's always something I missed. Within minutes, I found a near perfect General Staff button, followed quickly by a N.Y. Coat button. I hunted for about an hour and a half, and my finds also included a bayonet scabbard tip, 2 plain eagle buttons, a .32 Smith & Wesson complete cartridge, a knapsack hook, and 7 dropped minies. All of the objects were 5" - 8" deep. There is no way in the world that I should have missed these objects in the past, but it convinced me that the Nautilus is truly a better deep seeking detector than my White's. It was also very stable, and I hunted with the power near maximum without any false signals or chatter. All in all, I may be selling my DFX in the near future! I don't see how anyone could build a better machine than the Nautilus.
Overall Rating
Rocky M. from
Fairfax, Virginia
803