Which Machine Is Your #1 Choice For Hunting Silver Coins For 2021?

[Dances With Doves]

 I will say my Nox is even though  I did well with my  Explorer Xs  when I had it.I think it is better in most situations and lighter and able to snag coins in the water too.The FBS machines may be better in a few situations but with the silver coin population dwindling I think these days the Nox is better for the tougher  coins that are left.You can also change to a  single  frequency if EMI is a problem.In  one part of park the EMI was so bad that it made  my buddies explorer almost useless while  I did  good.For having the FBS technology  at a  certain time nothing will beat having the Explorer for the time it came out.Having that machine in  2000 helped me clean up even though I probably had about 40% of the skill and knowledge I have today.That machine was way ahead of it's  time and made me look  good. I did good on silver the first few years I had it and there was a lot of silver left  because those machines before  it missed them.The FBS machines probably have found more silver then any other machine in the turf by a  wide margin. In 1  good year with the explorer I have found more silver then what    the Nox  could in the 2.5 years that I used it    which includes the ones in the   water where I could not bring a Explorer.FBS machine will always be   legendary for silver coins.

[Wendell Clark]

My 800 works great for me also. I have only owned 4 other detector and the Nox is the best I have used.

[Valens Legacy]

Since I only use the 800, I will say the 800.

I have many good finds with it and am happy with what it will do.

[palzynski]

Vanquish 340/440/540 for all size silver coins in woods , and Deus/Orx 9 HF for small / very small silver coins in fields with iron trash

[Tom_in_CA]

depends on location of the "silver coins".  If it's a relicky iron-riddled location, then your Nox will do better (at seeing through and averaging and separating).   But if you're talking about deep turf cherry picking , then I say the Explorer XS is superior.  JMHO.

[Tiftaaft]

4 hours ago, Tom_in_CA said:

Explorer XS is superior

Over the Explorer II or the Explorer SE (Pro)?  Not arguing... XS is a GREAT machine... just interested in your thoughts Tom.  ~Tim

[Tom_in_CA]

3 hours ago, Tiftaaft said:

Over the Explorer II or the Explorer SE (Pro)?  Not arguing... XS is a GREAT machine... just interested in your thoughts Tom.  ~Tim

Tim, the XS and the II were similar.  There was some hardware issue on the XS :  The rod-stem easily broke, which was solved with the II.   And another bell & whistle change that I can't recall right now.  But they were the same, for the most part. 

 

The SE Pro, however, was the incarnation in the line-up that , among other things, had the following change :   It had a very increased recovery speed (even when you chose the slower settings).  Which, at first blush, sounds like a good thing to have, eh ?  So that you can get in-&-around trash better, eh ?   But this appeared to come with a loss-of-depth.  Because your deeper targets did not have enough time to register an accurate ID, and you might therefore be passing deeper stuff.

 

For example :  I bought an SE pro once, SIMPLY to take the Sunray probe off of it.   And my intention was going to be to float that SE pro on ebay, after I took the probe off.   But while I had it, thinking it was identical to my Exp II, I took it for a spin.  On the wet salt beach, I got a few deep nail signals, which I passed.  After 4 or 5 such "deep nail" signals, I FINALLY got an iffy signal, with a slight hint of conductive.   It turned out to be a clad dime that was ONLY about 7" deep.  Which surprised me, because it SHOULD have given a better signal, at that depth.  So on a hunch, I went back to the "deep nail" signals, dug them, and THEY TOO turned out to be very deep coins.   HHHmmmm.

 

So I floated this observation on a forum.   Several other long-time Explorer users, who had come up through-the-ranks, concurred with this observation :  That the SE pro suffered from criticism that you had to triple-scrutinize each deep signal, hence more apt to miss a fringe deep target.   Versus the II (or Etrac, or CTX, or XS, etc...) that would get the hint of conductive on the first-pass over it.

[Tiftaaft]

Thanks Tom, very interesting.  I have been in the market for a EXP XS or II - just waiting for the right one to come available.... I have the SE Pro, and it was really the first machine I "learned" to listen to... I have had the Equinox since its release and spend all or most of my time with that... just something about those Explorer tones... I went out with my SE Pro yesterday which really reminded me of how much I loved it... and then I saw your post this morning. Thanks again for taking the time to respond. 

~Tim.

[Chase Goldman]

The machine matters little if you don't have the site that harbors them.  I would rather focus on getting the site and then basically a pinpointer on a stick would do.

 

Choice of detector really depends on the site characteristics vs. target characteristics.  Silver is about the easiest thing next to iron to detect at depth.  So if thick iron or aluminum is an issue - I would go with the Deus.  If ID depth is more important, then Equinox.  I would use low frequencies (Deus/Equinox) or a low frequency weighted Multi Profile (Equinox Park 1, Field 1, or Beach 1) if EMI allows.

[keithsw]

I have a Nox 600 but actually like my Vanquish 540 better for coins