BHID 300: First Impressions

So having the new detector, and being curious about it's dual purpose use, I decided to take my new White's BHID 300 behind the house to Tallwood Elementary, where I usually hunt with my ACE 250 and X-Terra.

I went straight into the playground and was amazed at everything I was finding. Nearly everything you see pictured above, most likely has been there awhile, as I've hit the place up many, many times before.

This outting was really just a familiarization event. Learning how to ground balance, listening to the tones, and understanding what they mean in conjunction with the lights.

I've pretty much made it a rule of thumb to dig ALL Yellow and Green lighted signals. These generally identify any and all coins and/or jewelry. Accept for the pennies, and the one nail shown above, everything in that image was hitting as a Yellow light. Glad to see those nickels show up! Only 8 coins, 3 nickels and 5 pennies.

My initial thoughts of the BHID300 are that it's heavy, but balances very well on the arm. Not sure how deep it CAN go, but only found items up to 6". The lights and tones are much more difficult to read than VDI, but pretty accurate. Though the yellow light (Jewelry) is the most deceptive and you really never know what will come up when digging a Yellow signal. In the pic, everything was a Yellow light except the pennies, and the one nail (yes, the nickels came up as Yellow, not in Green for "coins") Depth is pretty easy to tell by the intensity of the beep.

I just hope it does well on the beach like everyone says.

Anyone else have insight into what finds match up with color?

Let the MDing Commence: Back Home!

Made it back home in the early evening on Wednesday, and couldn't think of anything else other than getting back to digging holes and finding stuff.

Thursday afternoon I drove out to Hampton to meet up with a fellow named Reid, who I purchased my two newest detectors from (the ones pictured above with the yellow coils). Now armed with some beach machines, I'm hoping to up the quality of my finds.

Anyhow, last night I went out for about an hour to the school behind my apartments. I took the X-Terra with me and started swingin'. You can see in the image there was no shortage of targets, and I'm glad that my recovery time with the X-Terra is quick, or else I wouldn't have bothered with all of it.

Managed $0.56 out of 23 coins and also what appears to be a nice silver ring with a ping heart, but I don't see any type of marking on the inside other than a recangular stamp with what could be a .925, but I'm not positive.

Neptune TLP

Today was a pretty neat day. We've been running around and passed the BHP Neptune TLP for the past month, but this time we got much closer. So to remember the occasion, i thought I'd share a good pic from this afternoon as we passed it and the Western Neptune and Kylie Williams passed on the other side.

Offshore Drilling, WOOHOO!

President Bush has lifted the ban on offshore drilling. The map above shows where current drilling can be done, and where it is being done, in the blue/green areas. The light green are protected areas... and the yellow... well that's all black gold waiting to be found, YEE-HAW!

Not only would it help with out with foreign dependence on oil, but it will make me more money searching for it... so I support it all the way!

Not only 1 new MD, but 2!

Good afternoon all. A few of you might have known I put myself in the market for a beach detector. There were a few to consider. Both the models you see above, from White's... as well as the Excalibur II from Minelab and even the Sea Hunter Mark II from Garrett.

For the past month I have really been researching all of the machines, and I really had decided from the beginning, that after my success with my X-Terra 30, I was going to continue on with the Minelab brand. Only thing that stopped me was the $1200 price tag.

I had also started reading lots of reviews of the Beach Hunter ID 300 and how well it was performing. Many reports even hinted to it going deeper and overall being better than the Excalibur! So my interest had been grabbed. I started looking at the BHID300 more and more, and just kept reading more great things. Even people I correspond with on a daily basis and had recently purchased it were going on and on about it.

But...

Then came the new Surfmaster Dual Field PI PRO from White's. Seeing thread after thread of this thing in action online, really started to make me a believer. Sure you can't discriminate, but results are what matters!

I shopped around online and called a few places. I wanted one of these detectors, but man, the price tag wasn't cheap either. But after a month of looking, calling, talking, researching... I found my deal after placing a Craigslist ad saying how much I was willing to pay. Not only did this dealer contact me with a great deal, but it far surpasses any deal i had heard of up to that point.

So I got both. That's right, BOTH. I'll be back on shore September 10th, picking them up at the shop on the 11th, and ready to do. Be assured you'll get a nice comparison review on these detectors, as for most people I realize the choice isn't to get both, but which ONE.

MilSpec Hairstyle takes over the Odyssey

After my shift on Tuesday, I felt it was time for a haircut. I've been cutting my own hair since for the past 11 years or so, almost always opting for the high and tight military style. Having been an Army grunt for a few years, it just stuck.

I typically like my hair longer on the top, so I can gel it forward and flip it up in the front, but that's just me.

After I did, two of my fellow shipmates, Craig from South Africa and Olav from Canada, both got in line for their shot under my clipper'd hand.

Craig claims he always wants this style of cut, but in SA, he can't find a shop that will do it. So there you have, the new recruits, haha.

WINNER: Odyssey Summer Table Tennis Tourney

And the tourney has come to an end. On the final day of the competition, Ronnie overtook Egil in the finals, winning 2 sets to 1.

Hats off to the winner, Ronnie Villon, Handling operator from the Philippines.

Your prize: 10 QHSE points (= $20)

WTG!

GlassBooth.org Helps You Choose

Are you still up in the air about who you are going to vote for in the 2008 US Presidential Election?

Regardless of your answer, check out GlassBooth.org to help you decide.

To figure it all out, the start you off with 20 points, of which you assign different totals to various issues regarding the campaigns. Afterwards, you are asked how strongly you oppose, or support certain issues. When this is all done, a comparison is displayed, showing how you stack up with each of the candidates.

It's a great way to get yourself up to date on current policy and learn a little about what's going on in the US and make your vote count. Remember, it doesn't matter that Obama is black, or the McCain is gonna die soon and has a chick running mate. What they stand for is what matter to us all.

Here are my results:

Barack Obama shares a 73% similarity with your beliefs

Very Similar: Trade and Economics, Abortion and Birth Control, Environment and Energy, Taxes and Budget, Health Care, Iraq and Foreign Policy, Civil Liberties and Domestic Security

Similar: Education, Medical Marijuana and Drug Policy, Crime and Punishment

Different: Social Security, Immigration

Very Different: Gun Control

QT3 Health Campaign: STRESS

So today in the conference room we had a little get together in regard to our quarterly health issue, stress. It was a quick, informative presentation that will quickly be forgotten. But on the upside, we had two brief stress tests that measured how susceptible we are to stress-related illness.

The first test was a list of 40 "symptoms" if you will. For each of these you needed to rate yourself on a scale of 0-5, excluding 3. These number coincided with how much a problem these "symptoms" are for you.

For example, one of these is "Obsessive Worrying." You can rate it not being a problem for you, up to it being a severe problem that happens often.

Out of the 40 things, and with a high score (which would be bad) of 200... I only scored 18. Anything more than 20 would indicate you should participate is some sort of activity to help lower the stress in your life.

The second test was a list of 42 life events that may have occurred to you within the past 2 years. Each event was given a point total. You make a mark by each event, and total up your score. I scored a 127, which means I have a low susceptibility to stress-related illness. Anything over 300 would have been very bad.

If you are curious about you own stress level, there is a great online test over at StressLess.com. Click HERE to get there.

GUSTAV: Not Our Problem Anymore

As you can well see, since Gustav has made landfall, it's not a threat to us anymore. I made a little arrow showing how I would assume we'd come right up the ass end and get back to work. Still dunno, but it seems logical.

Unfortunately is just really sucks for all those folk who just had their asses handed to them by the hurricane.

Here's to smooth sailing, getting back on the prospect, finishing the job, and making crew change on time!