Unfortunately the build quality of the T2, now produced by First Texas of Bounty Hunter fame was rather lacking. My first T2 came from an American sports shop as at first they were not sold through detector dealers. Performance was fairly good and they had taken on board the need for the fast recovery speed that busy sites require that had given XP their edge for some years.

Drawbacks apart from the control box feeling rather to similar to those Chinese machines sold cheaply on E-Bay, were weak battery springs leading to machines cutting out (use thin cardboard shims) and a weak lower stem design.

Mine developed a coil and other faults and was replaced. The next version was reliable but little changed from the first....and depth was slightly down.

By the time I had my third machine the F75 had arrived and I had a Fisher lower shaft which cured problems there. Springs still slightly weak. The rather thin plastic camlocks on the shaft remain a worry but quality control seems to have improved so at least your new machine didn't arrive with them already cracked.

My latest version is the 6.0. If your buying secondhand check what your getting ! Push/hold trigger forward and at the same time hold menu button in...then turn the detector on. The version will be displayed.

This is the earliest version I would recommend as it has the new shaft and they seem to be better screwed together. Price new with headphones/covers etc was £495 in the U.K. The similar looking Fisher (but different circuit) for £100 more afford more features back light, notch, settings retention etc.) I ran the two machines together for a few months but the extra depth/features of the Fisher did not make up for the far wider discrimination width in ferrous.

The Chinese cover set is excellent especially when you consider the odd shape of the battery box. Do not use without covers as one bit of sand or grit can jam the control button !

Soon an upgrade of environmental seals was offered and was standard by the time version 6.5 arrived in the shops.You can have you older machine upgraded but thanks to the cover set you should not be put off the 6.0 version.

Recovery speed is fast for an American detector. Its a nice feature to have but not the be all and end all as a slower speed can give more depth which is why detectors like the new XP provide both faster and slower speeds.

Its an easy machine to use and offers reasonable depth IF its features are used correctly. You are provided with a choice of tone set ups or can stick with a single tone or detect in an all metal mode. The all metal mode (I.D. by meter) is the best for depth on all my sites. If working ploughed sites where the targets are near or on the surface I will select the single tone mode (1+). The 2+ mode I would only use where I required to search an area at high speed where older finds are unlikely ie top of the beach. Though 2+ is pushed as "the" mode to use all you need to do is try the detector on an established in ground test bed that contains a row of the same type of coin buried at ever increasing depths. You will find that I.D. indicates good items as ferrous at a lesser depth than by using single tone.

Talking about depth the T2 (even in its latest form where the depth seems to have been improved to that of the F75) is not the depth monster many consider it to be. If your working pasture/hills etc that are rarely if ever ploughed you should look elsewhere. If the farmer rings you each time he ploughs fine. If not several machines are deeper and some even cost less. If you have been using a low cost Garrett, C-Scope, Bounty Hunter the performance will seem impressive. If your thinking of a move from a Tejon/Nautilus/Troy Shadow X5 try before you buy.

If you want to add to depth then a coil change helps. An S.E.F. coil loses a little sensitivity on very small items due to the extra size but should still match the stock coil. On a pontin coin there's a slight improvement on depth and a larger coin (U.S. quarter, or pre decimal English copper penny) you should be looking at two inches more. Another drawback down to cost cutting is that when a larger/heavier coil is used it can lead to the control box snapping off where the handle joins the shaft.

Any larger coil tends worsen target I.D. Unfortunately the T2's meter is not that accurate both between different metal types and even worse, between ferrous and none ferrous. You may well find yourself coming in second to someone with an old analog metered machine.

Due to the rather fragile nature of the detector its the one machine I have that I don't like to lend out. The rubber foam handgrip does not take wear. Many have split. Wearing gloves when its raining seems to trigger the problem. I have also seen many machines fail in the field due to the coil. This has put me off using it in stubble fields as I think it could be due to thick stubble catching onto the coil wire a situation not helped by the odd design of open coil with multiple fins. These "fins" also pick up mud like there's no tomorrow, are difficult to clean and don't serve any purpose except to make the coil look a little flash.

On the plus side of the T2 it enabled me to take one machine where I might need two. With XP's I would need to carry both low and high frequency machines to cover various land conditions. It also provides a type of Arado machine (all metal primary search mode with meter I.D.) or can be used as a conventional motion machine, with tones or not, all in one lightweight package. Battery consumption is low enough to mean that rechargables are not needed. The operating manual is really excellent and a lesson to some other manufacturers. If I dare say it, the detector is a little to light in a similar way to Red Heat machines.

In the U.S. the warranty seems excellent at five years. Most machines sold in the U.K. only provide 2 years including Tesoros. Hopefully things may change in the future with some imports such as Golden Mask providing 5 years.

I bought the Teknetics T2 after many hours on the net looking at various makes models and prices. Properly confused and very weary a friend suggested I buy the T2 and I cam across several websites blowing its horn. Then I looked at 2nd hand T2 machines thinking if they are good there won’t be any, and I was right I could not find a single one. So I dipped in my reserves and bought one.

After several outings I am convinced I bought the best machine money can buy. With the right settings the T2 should be illegal! And here they are Sensitivity 70 Discrimination 5 and tone 2+ With this setting you will find more goodies than most other detectors and you can use it everywhere stubble pastures and ploughed levelled ground (Not for beach use) You will be able to hold your own everywhere just listen for the sounds.

A high pitch sound is a good target a low grunt is iron. If you hear a high pitched sound and a grunt almost at the same time remember the T2 reset time is a part of a second, Dig it. When in doubt DIG but the T2 wont lie to you I dug many of the “dodgy” signals and found winners and yes some large pieces of iron because the electric conductivity is higher. But when the signal bounce, meaning move between high and low signals never giving the same reading on the meter then it is iron or rubbish dig a few convince yourself.

Trust the T2’s signals and listen carefully practice, bury a few different metals like silver copper and a gold ring and swing over it several times a day! Leave them buried so the ground can settle pour water over it, it helps to settle the ground. Then before you go out swing the T2 over your targets and listen and remember the sounds! Then you are ready to go and find the goodies! Do this; I know boring routine, as many times as you can till you know the sounds in your ears. When you do this keep your eyes closed and just listen ignore the meter because the meter can be wrong!

It’s like golf! Golf is Muscle memory so is detecting Sound memory once you know the sounds and what they represent then you will be good at finding the goodies! I had many great finds in 5 months following this routine. Buy one you will not be sorry! Oh yeah I do not work for Teknetics I do not know anyone that do and I am the most horrible customer anyone can have! Its deep it’s very fast and it will make you look good! Best setings for all terrains (Not beach) are Sens: 75, Disc 5, tone 2+.

If you are wondering what to buy this is it you can’t go wrong with the T2.