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What's Your Go To Coin Machine??


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I know just about any machine can be used for coin shooting. However sometimes one unit is better than another. So I have been kind of thinking, maybe I am thinking a little too much but I wanted to see what some of you use primarily for a coin shooting only metal detector??

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In moderate to thick aluminum trash or for coins at 6" deep or deeper, if I want to know what I am digging (low, medium or high conductor) I use the Minelab Equinox or Vanquish. I like to hunt everyday so I need something fairly lightweight. Swinging a CTX or Etrac everyday for 2 to 4 hours would destroy my shoulders........The Nox and Vanquish are lightweight, have extremely accurate target IDs once you learn them, down to the limit of depth of detection and have great iron identification features that are fairly fool proof (again if you learn them). I know I can take them just about anywhere and they will detect and identify quality targets from the surface to extreme depths.

 For thick iron trash or thick aluminum trash near the surface and shallow 6" or less coins, the Deus (I just use the Deus Lite) in full tones is also hard to beat. It is super fun to use and always surprises me with what it finds. Otherwise I would just sell it. The ORX is a little more limited especially in its tone options (which are everything on the XP detectors) but it can do really well for coins in thick iron too and for coins in less aluminum trashy parks. With the Deus especially, I just hunt by ear and only look at the VDIs if I decide to dig. 

There are many others that can handle the shallower, recent drops too depending on trash levels, EMI and soil mineralization.

But my favorites would be for sure, the Equinox and Vanquish 440 or 540. My coin and jewelry totals even in pounded parks have tripled using these detectors and I do keep accurate logs.

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Garrett AT Pro still, and for several years! And (just traded away), Nox 800!👍👍

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1 hour ago, Jeff McClendon said:

For thick iron trash or thick aluminum trash near the surface and shallow 6" or less coins, the Deus (I just use the Deus Lite) in full tones is also hard to beat. It is super fun to use and always surprises me with what it finds. Otherwise I would just sell it. The ORX is a little more limited especially in its tone options (which are everything on the XP detectors) but it can do really well for coins in thick iron too and for coins in less aluminum trashy parks. With the Deus especially, I just hunt by ear and only look at the VDIs if I decide to dig.  (emphasis mine)

I've probably read this before (maybe even one of your posts) but at that time didn't pick up on this distinction -- that the XP Deus handles (thick) aluminum trash better than its sister, the ORX.  Is that simply because of the better tone options that you mention above or is there something else going on?

To answer bigtim's question, I like the combination of good separation and target ID at depth of the ML Equinox 800.  Consistent with what Steve H. has said many times (but possibly in disagreement with some other Eqx users), in my soil as the coin depth increases the digital TID spreads out but for the most part doesn't shift higher or lower, at least not as much as other (actually single frequency) detectors I've used.  A couple days ago I had a good (tone-wise in Park 1 MultiFreq, gain = 22, tones = 5 (custom breaks, volumes, and pitches), recovery speed = 5, Iron Bias F2 = 0) signal but the TID was varying 27-34, so the average/centroid ~30, and this was after pinpointing.  That's a dig-it-all-day-long TID anyway.  Turned out to be a 5-6" deep silver Roosevelt dime.  That is a bit higher than what these air test (26-29 or so in my experience) but I suspect other detectors I've used would have put this way off (even grunting iron in some cases).

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2 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

I've probably read this before (maybe even one of your posts) but at that time didn't pick up on this distinction -- that the XP Deus handles (thick) aluminum trash better than its sister, the ORX.  Is that simply because of the better tone options that you mention above or is there something else going on?

To answer bigtim's question, I like the combination of good separation and target ID at depth of the ML Equinox 800.  Consistent with what Steve H. has said many times (but possibly in disagreement with some other Eqx users), in my soil as the coin depth increases the digital TID spreads out but for the most part doesn't shift higher or lower, at least not as much as other (actually single frequency) detectors I've used.  A couple days ago I had a good (tone-wise in Park 1 MultiFreq, gain = 22, tones = 5 (custom breaks, volumes, and pitches), recovery speed = 5, Iron Bias F2 = 0) signal but the TID was varying 27-34, so the average/centroid ~30, and this was after pinpointing.  That's a dig-it-all-day-long TID anyway.  Turned out to be a 5-6" deep silver Roosevelt dime.  That is a bit higher than what these air test (26-29 or so in my experience) but I suspect other detectors I've used would have put this way off (even grunting iron in some cases).

The ORX not having a full tone option really cripples it in thick aluminum trash in my opinion. There just isn't enough variation in the mid tone on shallower low to mid conductors to really tell the difference and any low to mid conductor below 4" or so becomes a high conductor in tone and target ID. At least with full tones on the Deus, when the up averaging happens I can still hear a big variation in the tones on aluminum trash and some pull tabs along with a residual signal off the edges of the coil. I can't hear any of that with just 3 tones on the ORX or Deus in three tones. It isn't particularly easy with the Deus either, but it is much more possible to pick coins out of thick aluminum. It is much easier with the Equinox in 5 or 50 tones because there is some tonal variation with either tone setting and the target ID is so good.

Your Equinox Roosevelt silver dime is a good example. Even deep clad dimes can have similar numerical target ID spreads. I have dug many at 8" or deeper that had a 6 digit spread. Same with copper pennies and quarters too. I often dig 8" or deeper US nickels that will read 11 to 14 or 15 at those depths but the tone is still a low/mid conductor toned target (nickel, lead, gold!!!!!) and lets me know accurately with a little investigating via the depth meter, iron tone check and onboard pinpointing that there is a deep coin sized mid conductor under the coil with no iron present. Got to dig those too and I don't recall ever being fooled by what the Nox is telling me on those type targets.

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