Legend USA Coin Target ID Scale Thoughts

[Jeff McClendon]

After 5 weeks using the Legend for mostly US modern coins and a bit of relic hunting, I have been pleasantly surprised with the extra 10 target IDs that the Legend has which separates it from its main competition (Equinox).

What pleasantly surprised me most was that Nokta Makro had the good sense at least for me, to put those extra 10 target IDs in the low to mid non-ferrous conductor range.

These observations are coming from in the field use of the Legend in moderate to highly iron mineralized dirt on surface to 8" or so deep targets, not from air testing.

So, on the Legend target ID 11 to target ID 24 encompasses tiny foil up to the older square tabs. US Nickels are usually a very percussive and obvious 25/26, with normal modern oval pull tabs usually coming in at 26 to 30 with more elongated audio responses than US nickels or gold rings. Beaver tails start at 30 or so and can go up to 37 along with larger pull tabs and can slaw. Zinc pennies if they are in decent shape will usually hit hard at 40 to 42. If they are heavily corroded the spread gets much bigger and can be from 36 to almost 50 until the coil is centered over them. US clad dimes have been consistently 44 to 46 for me, copper pennies have been 46 to 48 and US quarters have been 49 to 52. So that is a full 30 segments of low to mid conductor targets IDs which so far have been very predictable and dependable compared to the 20 target Id segments for the same targets on the Equinox. I have found small womens gold earrings and rings  (2 grams and under) in the 12 to 20 range. Some very rusty steel crown bottle caps make a great sound at 19/20 and fool the Ferro Check meter somewhat depending on ground mineralization. At least the 19/20 spot on the target ID range is not shared by a US coin. Another outstanding detector shares the US quarter target ID slot with crown bottle caps of all kinds and condition which is really annoying.

So basically the Legend has 10 target IDs for iron, 30 target IDs for low to mid conductor non-ferrous (up to US zinc pennies) and 20 target IDs for US clad coins and high conductors.

Speaking of steel crown bottle caps, contrary to a recently produced Youtube video which discussed crown bottle cap recognition and masking, aside from the already mentioned 19/20 rusty crown bottle caps that I have encountered, most crown bottle caps in really good shape will be obvious iron targets in the Ferro Check meter with the meter swinging wildly between mostly all ferrous to mostly all non-ferrous during coil sweeps. They will give a really distinctive mixed tonal and ID response that includes tones and IDs in the low 50s that alternate with iron tones (if you accept part of the iron range) if they aren't covered with foil like the Modelo crown bottle caps. Those will give iron range, aluminum range 30s and low 50s target responses that really sound wild. Those crown bottle cap responses can also sound a bit similar to coin spills so a moment of investigation is a good idea if the target responses are fairly shallow. 

I am still totally enjoying the Legend. I have not strayed too much from Park M1 using a 6 tone audio setup that lets me know immediately what the conductivity of each target is along with a good idea of size, depth and shape if the targets are roughly coin sized. Aside from still not being able to update to 1.07 due to who knows what..... I still really like the Legend.

[Dirtshark]

Your target ids are exactly what I am seeing.

Large aluminum is ringing in a clean 40 as well. Like cans. 

Haven't found any jewelry with it yet. I do dig 17s and such and so far it has been small aluminum or can slaw bits. 

Learning the Legend has been fun. Just when I think the machine is crazy I realize the machine is right and I am wrong. 

One thing I noticed today is I will crank evertthing up and I hear chatter, all tones, all metal mode or g mode, then for some reason the chatter stops. Everything goes quiet. I noticed that if I wait it will suddenly start chattering again. Like it goes to sleep when it hits a strong signal and I have to wait for it to recalibrate or something. Not sure what this is all about. 

Anyway, went out for 5 hours and found some good junk. Nothing good but it was hitting targets and that is what i wanted to see.

Digging iffy targets has been a mixed bag. This machine can go so deep an iffy signal could be super deep or just maybe not there. I see people losing iffy targets on videos, interpreting those iffy signals is an art. I still waste a lot of time chasing foil but I am learning the tones. 

One thing for sure, coins scream with 1.70. 

Thank you for your post, interpreting the ids and tones is critical and your numbers are 100% accurate based on my experience. 

 

 

 

[Tahts-a-dats-ago]

To my ears the Legend is one of the best machines I've used when it comes to telling crown caps from other targets. The crown caps (so far anyway) just sound terrible - even if they ID as a good target (coin). The newer Corona crown caps often ID somewhere around 49-50 and the ID tends to be steady, but the sound is really off (verses a coin). I usually forget all about looking at Ferro check, so I can't really say how well it works at identifying crown caps.

Smashed screw caps (aluminum) are far more difficult (for me) to identify. The tone is close enough to a coin (usually 41-42 ID) that I can't tell for sure that the target isn't a coin. The size is close enough (to coin size) that while they often seem to be a tad too big (for a coin) I'm just not sure, so I dig them anyway. 

Park, M1, 60 tones with the low side at the lowest pitch and the high side at the highest pitch (my hearing picks up on the higher tones more readily). I did raise the iron volume with version 1.07 - I now run it at 3.

 

Jeff's list of target ID's is pretty much dead on in my experience so far.

[Jeff McClendon]

1 hour ago, Tahts-a-dats-ago said:

To my ears the Legend is one of the best machines I've used when it comes to telling crown caps from other targets. The crown caps (so far anyway) just sound terrible - even if they ID as a good target (coin). The newer Corona crown caps often ID somewhere around 49-50 and the ID tends to be steady, but the sound is really off (verses a coin). I usually forget all about looking at Ferro check, so I can't really say how well it works at identifying crown caps.

Smashed screw caps (aluminum) are far more difficult (for me) to identify. The tone is close enough to a coin (usually 41-42 ID) that I can't tell for sure that the target isn't a coin. The size is close enough (to coin size) that while they often seem to be a tad too big (for a coin) I'm just not sure, so I dig them anyway. 

Park, M1, 60 tones with the low side at the lowest pitch and the high side at the highest pitch (my hearing picks up on the higher tones more readily). I did raise the iron volume with version 1.07 - I now run it at 3.

 

Jeff's list of target ID's is pretty much dead on in my experience so far.

I agree about the crown bottle caps and how well Ferro Check works. Calabash Digger does not. Check out my rebuttal to his latest Legend bashing videos over on Friendly under Detectors and Gear/all about detectors/Calabash bashes the Legend again.

I still have plenty to learn about the Legend. Why people make YouTube videos when they can't operate the detector according to the manual and then complain about how bad it is..........its beyond my meager comprehension.

[midalake]

1 hour ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Why people make YouTube videos when they can't operate the detector according to the manual and then complain about how bad it is..........its beyond my meager comprehension.

Step into the light Jeff...........🤣

https://www.ebay.com/itm/192306295884?var=492245804033&hash=item2cc659344c:g:PPcAAOSwHRxhr3xJ

 

[jerrym]

Just got the Legend after returning the nox 900 that I hated because of its erratic operation.  So far I’m liking the ferrous/nonferrous bars.  Haven’t found much yet.

[glacialgold]

Similar results to Jeff here. I run mainly in Park M1, too, although sometimes M3 if the soil is wet. 60 tones is my favorite, and I'll set recovery speed at 4-7, with the higher range for heavier trash environments. The local soil, however, is relatively low mineralization, which may account for some differences.

Nickels have a wider spread for me at 23-27. Usually they still center around a 25, but I have a couple places where a 23/24 is the usual tell. Never seen a nickel go beyond that spread, so I usually don't dig if a 22 or 28 shows on the display.

Pennies are all over the place, especially the zinc ones. Those start at 39 most of the time, and 39-42 if in good condition and then up to 47-48 if wasted. There's a ton of overlap between copper pennies and dimes in the 45-46 range, although dimes will more regularly give a 47 on repeated swings. If I see a 48 in the mix it's probably a copper penny, though.

Quarters center at a solid 50, although can range from 49 to 52, just like Jeff is seeing. I've yet to find any half dollars, so can't report on those IDs as a live find in the wild. Sacajawea dollars ring up like quarters if I recall correctly, although I haven't run into any of those since last summer.

[RobNC]

This is good info. Thanks to all who posted about this. I just received my Legend today. Not took it out yet for a hunt. I'm really impressed with the build quality. It looks and feels well designed. To be totally honest, I didn't expect it to be this nice. It's not a "cheap" detector but it is less $$$ than a new Equinox. And it is an awful lot less than a Deus 2 or manticore. Looking forward to trying this one out in the next few days if the wind and rain don't ruin it.

This is my second Nokta/Makro detector. The first one was a Kruzer that turned out to be a defective dud. Can see that Nokta has changed a lot compared to that. Right now I'm totally fascinated with this Legend, there is nothing like the allure and mystery of a new detector. Happy Hunting

[JCR]

You are going to like the Legend.