Jump to content

In Mild Ground Do You Really Need Multi Frequency?


Recommended Posts

I mostly hunt in lakes and the bottoms are mostly all sand. A test on a sandy beach with the Equinox 800 and Xp Orx, both hit hard on a 14k 3.7 gram gold ring buried at 14". For mild ground I don't see a need for multi frequency. I do like the multiple frequencies on the Orx.

Is there an advantage to multi frequency in mild ground?

Link to comment
Share on other sites


25 minutes ago, Rick N. MI said:

I mostly hunt in lakes and the bottoms are mostly all sand. A test on a sandy beach with the Equinox 800 and Xp Orx, both hit hard on a 14k 3.7 gram gold ring buried at 14". For mild ground I don't see a need for multi frequency. I do like the multiple frequencies on the Orx.

Is there an advantage to multi frequency in mild ground?

Weird , on my own bed tests ( test boxes filled with ground/moderately mineralized ) , an Equinox 800 goes at 12inches ,  1+ inch deeper than my Deus HF 14k ( the target is a 10g copper coin ) . Perhaps it is different for a ring which has a specific shape wich increases the electromagnetic eddy currents compared to a coin ...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, palzynski said:

 Perhaps it is different for a ring which has a specific shape wich increases the electromagnetic eddy currents compared to a coin ...

I would think that a coin (laying flat) would have stronger eddy current since it has a larger surface area than a ring in general.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

I would think that a coin (laying flat) would have stronger eddy current since it has a larger surface area than a ring in general.

I dont think so , otherwise detectors coils would use a flat surface . But they all do use wired coils ( very often circular ) for emitting and receiving electromagnetic fields . But I am not a specialist and an electronician would answer better than me ...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess if you want to go deep, SMF can help. But in my experience, when hunting for coins in mild(er) soil for targets less than 4 inches deep, my AT Max is pretty much the same as my Vanquish 540 was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Simultaneous multifrequency shines best in saltwater environments, but there are some benefits to using it in mild ground. This is all theoretical, often nuanced, and at times depends on other factors. One is a more stable and reliable target ID and often to a greater depth. Depth in itself is a little trickier. Theoretically you should see a more consistent depth across the range of conductors, whereas single frequency tends to hit harder on conductors it’s particular frequency is tuned to and there tends to be a fall off in depth as you move away from that conductivity. If I were using an XLT at 6.5khz it should hit harder on Silver and depth would fall off on gold. This is one reason single frequency detectors began moving more in the 10-14khz range. Though theoretically this range hits hardest on mid conductors, it strikes a better balance in sensitivity across the spectrum. In my ground and in my freshwater swimming holes my 12khz Simplex would do just fine though if I didn’t have multifrequency options. The differences often seem subtle. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As someone who does almost all my hunting in mild soils the biggest stand out to me is target ID stability when using multi frequency machines, although I'm mostly just talking about Minelab Equinox and Vanquish which are essentially the same in this scenario, both give equally good target ID's and could be easily mistaken for each other, no single frequency machine I own comes even remotely close to what they can do for ID stability at depth.  As someone who hunts a lot digging minimal holes ID stability is very important to me, the other detector which I use is the CTX 3030 which again is multi frequency and also does very well with target ID stability although not all that much better than the NOX, if at all in most cases.  All three of these detectors can identify very deep coins in my soil with very stable target ID's.  10 inches is no big deal here, coins are often deeper and I'm getting confident dig me ID's on them.  If I switch the Nox to single frequency on any of the frequencies I don't have the same stable ID's as I do in Multi frequency.

Now, when it comes to single frequency machines on coins often they will go as deep, when it comes to depth I find coil size means more than machine, my Ace 300i with the Nel Tornado 13x12" can find any coin my Nox can with the 15x12" on at depth in my low trash environment, quite easily.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if I pulled deeper cojns with it than the Nox so I don't really think about depth as being part of the equation when it comes to multi frequency.  I find it's an insignificant factor to outright depth in mild ground.  Gold jewellery maybe different and a higher frequency or multi frequency detector may do better, I don't find enough of that with any detector to make an educated guess on that.

Target ID stability at depth is the defining factor for me, and that's the Multi IQ and CTX hands down, although the Gold Bug Pro is a single frequency machine and does reasonably well with ID's at depth, better than any other single frequency machine I own and if I didn't have the Minelab's it would be my single frequency of choice, although in that situation I'd update it to the Time Ranger Pro to get the better feature set.

I did this thread some time ago when I was trying to demonstrate why I like certain detectors and coils in my mild soil with the Target ID's they can get, and this is a high EMI area affecting ID's but still, there are very obvious clear winners.

If I had an area that I could dig as many holes as I wanted with little concern I could do just as well with my Ace 300i and Tornado coil as I could my Equinox in my hunting environment of minimal iron trash, the main trash I deal with is pull tabs and occasional bottle caps which really are both things I should be digging as NZ silver coins come up right at pull tabs, and $1 and $2 coins come up as alloy bottle caps 🙂 I actually really enjoy using my Ace.  When it comes to digging limited holes and reliable ID's in mild soils nothing compares to multi frequency.

  • Like 6
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Simon said it well. If you don't have digging restrictions and you don't care what you are digging, as in if it beeps and gives the wrong numerical target ID or no numerical target ID, who cares. 

Marrying the right frequency for your desired targets along with high enough gain to punch deep, you don't need simultaneous multi frequency. Selectable single frequency in mild ground will do just fine and will go just as deep or deeper than SMFs, even the Equinox, CTX 3030 and Etrac using similar sized and type coils.

I don't have time to dig and find out afterwards what the target is or the freedom to dig lots of big holes with a shovel at most of the places I coin and jewelry hunt. So, I have to spend the big bucks on SMF detectors since I have digging restrictions and most of all, I like to basically know what i'm about to recover or what I'm about to leave in the ground.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...