First thoughts about the Omega 8500

Bought one from Craig at showmetreasure and it arrived today. We did test one last week but did not really play with it much. I only had a short amount of time today and took it to a local park for a quick run. I can tell you right off it seems prone to EMI, more than all of my other detectors. I could not get rid of it without turning the sensitivity down quite a bit. I tried all the deep settings and it did not seem to help. I switched frequencies but that didn't really help much either. One plus was that it still got fairly good depth even at 50 sensitivity.

It has 5 different tone options. I can't figure out why they put the zinc tone the same as the foil and tabs. In all the modes there is no option for it to have a different tone. Would have been nice to at least have it at a medium tone like the nickel. If you are running no disc you will have to watch the display if you don't want to miss targets in the zinc zone as they sound the same as the trash. Or another option is you can turn the sound of the trash targets down and have the zinc segment hit with a higher sound.

The tone produced when you go over a low tone target, including zinc, seems real short. You could probably mistake it for EMI if your not careful. Same way with the VCO, almost does not even sound like VCO but a short choppy signal.

The quick switch is a pretty cool feature and with the small coil I did seem to dig quite a few targets that were partially masked. in test garden targets it was not the deepest. Probably could get 8 inches on a dime. I will try to put up a short video.

Yes D0 Mode is fast but looses depth like the FA mode on the F75..

Machine is sparky..

I can akin it to the Gold Bug Pro Vs the F19.. the F19 is slightly deeper and more digital..

the 8500 Vs the 8000 is the same...yet its also got alot of features for the modern trash hunter...


Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2015 03:10AM by Keith Southern.

Regards, EMI, the Omega has two setups, one with the coil held motionless, and one with the coil in motion over the ground. But one thing about the newer Fisher/Teks that use a ground signal to help mitigate EMI.....if you have no ground minerals, or not enough ground mineral signal, it doesn't work.

Finally theres a draw back about mineral free ground. HA!

HH
Mike

You must have been using the 11" Biaxial coil? The 10" elliptical concentric is quieter from what I experienced. The EMI issues were the main reason I bought and sold 2 different version omega's within a month. I had to go down to 40 on sens to even attempt to use them in an urban areas, but away from any EMI they were great machines.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2015 01:27AM by Fletch88.

Is it still radio shack built?....had a 8000 and was afraid it was going to fall apart if I swung too hard...Light is one thing but rugged is another and detectors do take a beating depending on where you are hunting...no one mentions this quality and one wonders why....

Dan-Pa. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is it still radio shack built?....had a 8000 and
> was afraid it was going to fall apart if I swung
> too hard...Light is one thing but rugged is
> another and detectors do take a beating depending
> on where you are hunting...no one mentions this
> quality and one wonders why....

I used a G2 quite a bit since May, 2011 and now a G2+ since May of this year. I believe the 8500 uses the same housing/rods, etc as the G2+....
I'm pretty hard on my gear and do break things in passing....but I've never had a problem of any kind with either of my G2's....

Seems pretty well built to me and a good tradeoff between strength and keeping the weight down....I'd have no hesitation going with an 8500 with what I know....

+1

I've spent a lot of hours detecting and most of them with First Texas built units and never had a problem that I did not cause. I am not saying there is never a flaw or construction issue that was not detected, just that I don't see the problem.
I have had 2 Omegas and a G2 specifically and never felt they were not well designed and constructed. I've had 3 digital CZs that were sound and had many years of use on them before I got them. I am sorry some have had issues, but it seems to me they are clearly exceptions that could happen with any detector or for that matter any product.


Past(or)Tom
Using a Legend, a Deus 2, an Equinox 800, a Tarsacci MDT 8000, & a few others...
with my beloved, fading Corgi, Sadie

Unit is without a doubt a good unit workwise but for the bucks poor cosmetic quality...To each his own....

Dan-Pa. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Unit is without a doubt a good unit workwise but
> for the bucks poor cosmetic quality...To each his
> own....

FTP metal detectors are certainly not of the build quality of the aircraft aluminum that White's uses on their metal detectors BUT they weigh ½ as much.

Hombre Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dan-Pa. Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Unit is without a doubt a good unit workwise
> but
> > for the bucks poor cosmetic quality...To each
> his
> > own....
>
> FTP metal detectors are certainly not of the build
> quality of the aircraft aluminum that White's uses
> on their metal detectors BUT they weigh ½ as
> much.

yes, I wouldn't imagine it would survive being run over by a truck but I really don't think that should be a requirement....maybe I'll buy some lipstick for my G2+, give it a real snappy update, haha...

We are talking one detector my friend....your G-2 is much superior build and quality along with most of the higher end detectors that they manufacturer...Personally check the shade of the lipstick you buy as it might clash with the color of your unit....

I put a ton of hours on my old Omega 8000, and never felt it had a radio shack build quality, not only that but it held up fine to a lot of use and abuse without skipping a beat. I like it for sniffing out silver in a demo site, I didn't really have EMI issues with it in motion, but it wasn't the deepest machine in town for me (mine was an early build Omega). It was a great competition hunter, super light, could swing it all day long with the 11" DD....it was my go to competition hunter....until the Racer.

Thanks for the toughts Bill. Wonder what was EMI at your park. deep 2 shuts a lot of power interference up in my experience. When we were testing I was running 84 sens in default deep 1 process and it only made noise with coil in the air while digging. Look forward to more in depth testing.

Wow I had a late 8000 and dug 8 inch dimes with little or no EMI and my hunting areas varied so indeed we all face different conditions..Don't remember my settings and goes to prove read the detector tests and watch the test video's with a grain of salt as what works in one state or area might not work for you...

Wow, sound like a "What is wrong with the Omega 8500", outside of the Quick Switch feature.

I had an Omega 8000 and just loved it. Never had EMI issues but I mostly hunted just outside the city, but even in the city I could run her at full blast.
I'm curious about positives as the machine looks really nice from early reports.

Albert

Dan-Pa. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is it still radio shack built?....had a 8000 and
> was afraid it was going to fall apart if I swung
> too hard...Light is one thing but rugged is
> another and detectors do take a beating depending
> on where you are hunting...no one mentions this
> quality and one wonders why....
Never have been built by radio shack,bounty hunter/first Texas did rebadge some or their machine for radio shack.
The discovery line,radio shacks were micronas or something like that.
Dan you should know that,lol

Also my gamma 6000 has none of these porblems.
With the stock oval 10" x5" I can run at 90-92,with the nel sharpshooter I can run 97-99 pn the sens.
It is still my most used machine now.

canslawhero Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dan-Pa. Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Is it still radio shack built?....had a 8000
> and
> > was afraid it was going to fall apart if I
> swung
> > too hard...Light is one thing but rugged is
> > another and detectors do take a beating
> depending
> > on where you are hunting...no one mentions this
> > quality and one wonders why....
>
> I used a G2 quite a bit since May, 2011 and now a
> G2+ since May of this year. I believe the 8500
> uses the same housing/rods, etc as the G2+....
> I'm pretty hard on my gear and do break things in
> passing....but I've never had a problem of any
> kind with either of my G2's....
>
> Seems pretty well built to me and a good tradeoff
> between strength and keeping the weight
> down....I'd have no hesitation going with an 8500
> with what I know....


I swing my G2 with 13" coil through soybean stubble and it doesn't miss a beat. Even with the longer lower rod it is nice and strong