Nautilus DMC 2 BA

A meterless believer

Reggie in Southeast Louisiana -
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.

Aug 10, 2008

11 Yes
0 No

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YEARS AHEAD IN DETECTOR DEPTH

Chris Powell in Linden, NC -
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

Jan 13, 2008

18 Yes
1 No

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Need the Nauty

Maynard Brown in Richmond, Virginia -
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.

Jan 29, 2007

11 Yes
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Nothing compares at any price!

John Samsky in Manassas, Va. -
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.

Aug 02, 2006

22 Yes
1 No

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Whites users are fooling themselves

relic8hunter in Prince William, VA -
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.

Feb 08, 2006

23 Yes
1 No

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Fantastic Brass Machine!

Rocky M. in Fairfax, Virginia -
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.

Dec 24, 2005

69 Yes
0 No

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