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Field Test Report White's Classic 5 ID

Well, here it is late August and school is about to start up again. The summer has been especially hot and dry and activity at many local park and school playgrounds has been rather minimal. Just too hot! Annually, I try to hunt as many of the local schools and any nearby park playgrounds to get a good idea of where some potential might be after a week or two of school. I have recently hunted most of the local play places heavily when I evaluated my Titan 3000-XD, and after pulling over 1596 coins in six weeks time I had a pretty fair idea where I did NOT want to head out to with my new Classic 5-ID.

Actually, I had two tasks I wanted to address when I went last week. One was to go hunt with my youngest daughter (26) who uses a White's Classic III (which we did for about two hours on Friday afternoon), and then to spend some time Saturday with friends who use a Classic ID and XLT. Anyone who has the slightest idea who I am and what detectors I have preferred for many years can tell you that I am a very devoted White's Classic series fan! The problem is that I have promoted these excellent detectors to close detecting friends and family, and since they have all operated at 6.59 kHz, just like the XLT and XL Pro, it has been a challenge to hunt these confined playgrounds and keep a reasonable distance to prevent crosstalk between different units. Other than compare performance and make sure the interference issue isn't an issue anymore, I also wanted to see how much end-of-summer coinage I could pull with the Classic 5-ID. Other than the two hours I spent hunting with my daughter, including driving time, I hunted four different playgrounds on Saturday during a total four hour period. My overall results were quite satisfying!

For those not familiar with the White's Classic series, they have been providing exceptional performance and value to both casual hobbyists and serious detectorists for over a dozen years. The drop-in battery tray holds 8-AA batteries, and a fresh set of quality alkaline batteries will easily provide 50+ hours of detecting, and up to 65-75 hours if you wear a good set of headphones. The detector breaks down into three sections, if desired, for easy and compact transportation. The Classic 5-ID appears very similar to the Classic ID model it has replaced, and it features the excellent 8-segment Target ID display that incorporates "flash technology" to provide the operator with very quick and very accurate visual Target ID. There are only two external operating knobs and one toggle switch, making this a great "turn-on-and-go" detector for all sorts of detecting applications.

One control lets you set the Discrimination level to deal with the most offending type of trash. The other control governs the Sensitivity on the receive end. While each control has factory 'preset' markers, I prefer to set my Classic units up at full Sensitivity and then set the Discriminate level at about the 9-o-clock position. This is usually enough rejection to deal with most common iron nails. I very seldom use any higher discrimination with any make or model, especially when there is a very reliable visual TID system. The other control is very familiar with longtime White's users. It is the mode-change trigger toggle. With the Classic 5-ID this "trigger" in located in White's custom designed rod section just ahead of the handgrip. This makes it very easy to access and use it with the operating hand. As with the other White's models, the centered position is the Discriminate mode, and if locked in the forward position the detector is operating in an All Metal mode. If you pull the trigger back and hold it you are in a momentary All Metal mode that is handy for pinpointing, and upon the release of the trigger it springs back into the motion Discriminate mode.

Hunting with my daughter and her Classic III we were able to be literally back-to-back, or side-by-side within 3' of each other, and didn't experience the slightest bit of interference as long as the coils themselves were not moved any closer than that. Comparing the new Classic 5-ID with my friends on Saturday, and both their Classic ID and XLT, it was very apparent that I would no longer have to deal with a 'spacing issue' to hunt a crowded playground. Crowded, that is, by a few detectorists.

You can hunt typical playgrounds where you can find a good chunk of modern change as long as the kids (and adults) are active, and if they have a good wood chip or sand-filled medium. The Classic 5-ID is supplied with a standard 8" coil. While I usually prefer a smaller-than-stock search coil, I wanted to evaluate this new Classic model with some of the competition and they almost all come with an 8"± search coil. The slow-motion, very quick response of the Classic 5-ID is just the same as the former Classic series models. It does NOT have the delayed response time that many popular makes and models have, to include the new Prizm series. Due to the quick response, it is especially easy to pinpoint with the Classic 5-ID in the silent-search Discriminate mode. This is important when hunting very trashy areas and especially if working near metal pipes, such as can be seen in the playground photo. There is no interference from the 6.59 kHz models from White's because this new models was designed to operate at a higher frequency of 8.1± kHz. The 5-ID has very nice audio response to all the different target metal types, from the lower-conductive gold rings and US 'nickel' (5¢) coins on up thru the larger halves and dollar coins. With the Classic 5-ID I am able to hunt right along with my friends and not bother them, nor have them bother me, and the results show what this unit is capable of. Here is what I was able to recover from those late-summer playgrounds in about 6 hours total time (driving & detecting, that is): To give you a better view of the coins I recovered with my new Classic 5-ID, you can see them in an attached photo:
39 Quarters, 53 Dimes, 15 Nickels, 140 Pennies.This photo shows that these 247 coins still need to be cleaned, but when they are I will have another $17.20 to add to this month's total. I was pleased when I heard White's Electronics was going to keep their XL Pro Classic series model in production a few months back, but saddened to know that the Prizm series models were going to replace my long time friends. Oh, the Prizm series are good detectors, but I personally prefer the quick response performance of the Classic's electronics. The Classic series have been very popular models for many dealers, and with their end in sight there was an agreement with White's to 'custom make' two Classic models for Kellyco. The Classic 4 and Classic 5-ID. Both of these models operate at the same frequency as the Prizm series and share the Prizm series coils. Both appear very similar, and their performance is. The differences are that the Classic 4 is a non-metered unit and comes supplied with a 950 coil, while the Classic 5-ID has the same TID display and circuitry as the former Classic ID and current Classic IDX Pro, and comes standard with a thin-profile 8" coil. With three 6.59 kHz models already in my personal battery, I just had to add one with a different operating frequency so that I can hunt with others. Yes, I use my MXT quite a bit, and with the 5" EXcelerator coil I can go to that unit if the amount of trash gets to be really bad. But to hunt the wood chip& sand-filled play sites, and to enter a competition hunt or two, or just enjoy the quiet operation of the White's proven Classic circuitry, the new Classic 5-ID was a definite "must have" that is now a "have got!." Since having that fun Saturday we have been drenched here in the NW and I haven't had a chance to get out more. Our weekend is supposed to be back up into the low-to-mid 80's, however, and I set my goal to hunt up at least 400 coins this weekend with the Classic 5-ID. I have some relatives from out of town who will be joining the fun and now I won't have to be concerned about any interference when I am around them since they'll be using my other Classic's. Detectors I know. These blasted computers I don't but I will try and include both photos with this post so you can see one of the playgrounds I hunt here, and my 6 hour take with my new 5-ID. Just thought this might be of interest to those who are loyal to White's quality products, but are looking for something so as not to have the interference problems.
-Monte In my 40th year of having FUN with detector in hand!

This Metal Detector Has A 5 Star Rating.