Coin Hunting Detectors - Good Or Great?

[gambler]

You know, I would like to know more about coin machines(park hunters). What makes the good ones good, and what makes the great ones great.

[Steve Herschbach]

This is going to sound facetious but seriously when it comes to coin detecting it is the person operating the machine that makes it great.

For turf detecting more than anything you need good recovery skills, because leaving any sign you were digging holes gets metal detectors banned from parks and other public places. Most people prefer detectors with a high degree of discrimination accuracy also to reduce the number of holes dug.

For more recent vintage coins there are a hundred detectors you could use. To hunt old silver generally takes more dedication and a better detector. If you look at the Findmall Forums http://www.findmall.com you will see a fan club for every brand, and in every brand fans for certain models. They all work because VLF tech really did max out around 1990. Fisher CZ detectors (coin zappers) from that era are still popular and as good as anything newer. I think though if you spent a week visiting forums and reading you would see that Minelab Explorer, E-TRAC, and CTX models are regarded by many turf hunters to be among the best silver hunting machines made. This is because they have very accurate discrimination and performance that hits very well on silver coins.

That said give me most any modern detector and I can do well coin detecting. Right now I have a CTX, a Fisher F75, and a White's V3i and they all find the coins. The only common denominator there for me is I prefer high end "flagship" models but there are guys out there with some pretty basic machines doing well simply because they put in the hours. There are people love the latest and greatest, and old timers that swear the old analog models are better.

Since everything has been pounded for years research and finding good sites is more important than most anything else.

[gambler]

I appreciate the answer steve, and I know how seriously you take the subject of detecting, so I know you're not being facetious. 

 

let me make my question more specific, I'm up in gold country often, highbanking , I am also slowly learning to md for nuggets. I have done some research, I know of an area that was a gathering spot for miners during the glory days. I have a gmt,(thanks to info from your site)(many thanks for that), what detector would you swing in that situation, searching for coins from that era, and maybe relics?

[Steve Herschbach]

Oh my gosh, that is way, way different than hunting parks. Old rusted ferrous trash galore. The XP DEUS reigns for pulling non-ferrous out of ferrous trash. Whole other end of the price spectrum but surprisingly good is the Gold Bug Pro. The GBP variant the F19 is highly thought of as is the Teknetics G2 and G2+. White's MXT is great. The Makro Racer and Nokta FORS models have a growing fan base. For parks AND old sites the E-TRAC and CTX-3030 do extremely well. Teknetics T2 and Fisher F75. Garrett AT Pro and AT Gold. This list goes on.

Me personally given what I have on hand I would probably grab my F75 or CTX or FORS Gold+ depending on my mood.

Seriously, part of the problem these days is way too many good machines, making choices difficult and downright confusing. The more forums you read the more confusing it can get because everyone swears their machine is best. A lot of it really is just what appeals to people personally for all sorts of reasons, and there is such a thing as fads when it comes to detectors.

[gambler]

steve, it would be much easier if you just said "get this one or else".

[beardog]

gambler - Steve said, "it's the man behind the machine."

He also said, "Me personally given what I have on hand I would probably grab my F75 or CTX or FORS Gold+ depending on my mood."

I personally love my Garrett Infinium LS for digging history. No bells and whistles and it's a dig everything machine.

I am subscribed to many youtube channels of diggers. Most of the "great" diggers are using the White's MXT. Good target ID, good disc, good pinpointing.

Also, the choice of coil is important. In trashy areas a small coil is best and a small DD coil is even better.

[Steve Herschbach]

Very, very hard to go wrong with an MXT! One of the easiest to understand detectors ever made and a huge user base to draw on for tips. http://www.detectorprospector.com/gold-prospecting-equipment/whites-electronics-mxt-metal-detector.htm

[Quick]

I personally prefer a coin only detector for coin hunting. I use the Whites DFX but I must say the MXT is a very good coin and gold hunting machine. This is a good bet for some just starting out.

The main thing is pick one and use it until you learn it!

Root

[bado1]

gambler,

Steve has given you (us) some excellent advise here. Thanks, Steve!

I can see this thread turning in to a "fan based" opinion thread. Basically, you will find fans of various machines for various uses and none of them is wrong. As Steve said, it's all about the man behind the machine and how well he knows his machine. I think Steve once said it's 20% detector and 80% the man behind it (or something close to that... to the best of my fuzzy memory  ).

We tend to gather detectors as the years go by as we "convince" ourselves of the need for a more specialized machine. There are a couple of good " all around-ers" that, as a fan, I will mention as I use them for the same purpose you described and then some.

The Nokta FoRes CoRe is a newer great all around machine that is easy to learn and a great value and the tried and true Minelab X-Terra with it's various frequency coils. Great, IMO, for the use you described and for other applications as well.  

Good luck!

Dean

[deathray]

Hey bud, Im in same area, search same things. Personally, like the f19, mxt deus , vista gold and at pro. Any of those mid frequency detectors work well. Set disc to just knock out a smaller square nail, and go 2 tone. Small coils help immensely.