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What Are Y'all Swingin In Georgia's Bad Dirt?


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 Hey guys. New here from Metro Atlanta & wondering what other Ga. hunters are swinging out there? We have TERRIBLE dirt here and although I've been swinging a Whites for 40 years, I'm thinking about an F75 LTD or an Impact. I just don't know how well these 'tectors punch through highly mineralized ground. ANY suggestions would be much appreciated and I'd love to know what others in my neck of the woods are using. By the way, target separation is equally important to depth for the trashy sites I hunt.

 Thanks!!

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Welcome to the forum! What White’s are you using? Frankly, in that ground discrimination VLF depth sucks, getting accurate target id at half or less what people expect in low mineral ground. Often the best bet is to go to all metal mode and dig targets that have that “round sound” if you really want more depth, as switching one VLF for another rarely gets you anywhere. The F75 in all metal mode does ok. The only way beyond that to see more real depth is go White’s TDI or Minelab PI models.

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 Hi Steve,

 Thanks for the reply! I swing an MXT Pro. Had the Rainbow Spectrum & miss my old 6000 di Pro. I know depth is an issue in Ga. red clay and I understand VLF machines were more or less "maxed out" depth wise years ago anyway. Just looking to upgrade to a new/different machine, maybe with better seperation. I SURE WISH I could find a head to head comparison of the Notka Impact vs. the Fisher F75LTD in my dirt but apparently one doesn't exist. I think target seperation is probabally more important in the TRASHY sites I hunt than overall depth and I'm hoping later models might have improved on this?? (Although that F75 LTD is a pretty old platform isn't it?) Any additional advice is always appreciated. (Sure wish there were more Concentric coils available these days too!)

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The MXT is one of the better machines either in Relic mode, where you have to pay attention to that third tone with no target id reading, or in Prospect Mode. Dave Johnson designed the MXT and the T2/F75 was basically his improvement on that when he went to First Texas. The T2/F75 all metal mode is excellent and I moved from the MXT to it, mainly due to the better ergonomics and better all metal mode. I have used the Impact, and it has several unique all metal modes that are also as good as one gets in that regard, but you would be splitting hairs at the end of the day. People want solid, black and white differences but they just do not exist with modern single frequency machines. You may as well try and figure out which new PC best runs Microsoft Word.

I have been doing this a long time and I resist black and white answers as being the realm of dealers and brand name enthusiasts. It is a rare time when you get a machine that clearly does something the others do not. Such breakthroughs occur only once a decade at most and the action now is in multifrequency and pulse induction variants, not single frequency VLF. The last machine I got my hands on that represented a true advance in the technology is the Minelab GPZ 7000. The main problem with it besides cost and weight is it's actually too sensitive to tiny stuff and a GPX 5000 is better for relic hunters due to that.

There is a forum member, Daniel TN, that has extensive experience at Culpepper, Virginia and other areas, including Georgia I would assume, using every sort of detector you can imagine. I have high confidence in his opinions. He drops in here sporadically so the best way to get a quicker answer may be to message him.

https://www.detectorprospector.com/profile/591-daniel-tn/

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 Thanks again and I agree!

 After all these years, it's finally sinking in that reasearching great hunting grounds & operator profeciency with his/her chosen 'tector, whatever it may be, far outweighs the next "big thing." (Until they REALLY DO come out with said big thing!) However, I do believe my HP runs Word the best though! LOL

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