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Comparing Some Detectors In Trash & Hot Rocks


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17 minutes ago, Cabin Fever said:

I've been on a mission myself over the last year trying out an embarrassing number of detectors in the search for the perfect few to keep..

Screwing around with detectors is a definite subset of the hobby and some people make an entire "thing" out of it. I am reaching one of those points where I want to ditch all that and just go detecting! It kind of seesaws back and forth for me in that regard.

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I think this detector collecting thingo is contagious, when I joined DP had one detector and mostly for the 30 years before, now I have 5 operating ones.  ML are bringing out another next month..............................

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32 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Screwing around with detectors is a definite subset of the hobby and some people make an entire "thing" out of it. I am reaching one of those points where I want to ditch all that and just go detecting! It kind of seesaws back and forth for me in that regard.

Yes! I have completely burned myself out buying, testing and selling detectors.  I'm so overwhelmed with detectors and coils to sell that I'm paralyzed by it.. Hope to gain the mental strength to clear this stuff out this fall.  I'm almost dreading Minelabs new detector release next month too because I won't be able to help myself and give it a run. 

 

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Steve, what did you do regards ground balance? Did you ground balance off to one side of your target pad then run in fixed? 

Did you try tracking on any of the units to compare with the monster? 

On seeing your targets laid out like that, the first thing that crossed my mind would be to cover it with some particle board, and then put other users to the test where they can mark on the board what they think is a good target vs bad target. That would be a very good way of learning ones detector of choice. 

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As noted by Steve, the MXT is a fugitive from weight watchers but I love what it's simplistic features can achieve, I have at leased 8 Coils for mine and I did some pretty in depth testing, I have both DD's and Concentrics and my ( Go Too ) coil is the Detech 14x10 Excelerator EQ2, it has a few inches more depth over the factory 10" DD or the 9.5 concentric and it is lighter than the 10"DD, I do tend to try and use concentric coils over DD's as much as possible because I found that they ID Iron better, I was playing around with my 5900 Di Pro and noticed how little disc I needed to knock out a 6" adjustable wrench with the factory old blue label 950 coil fitted, So I I put the new 9.5 X-type concentric on the MXT A/P and it knocked out the wrench/spanner with the disc set to about 3.5 to 4.5, Then I hooked up the 14x10 DD and the 10"DD and they both required me to turn up the disc to 6.5 to about 7.8 in order to knock out the wrench, Another thing that happens is the machine ID's Iron a lot better too,

What this means to me is that in prospecting or jewellery hunting is that being able to keep the Disc below or around the 1.7 to 2.0 yet still ID the good targets from bad and still maintain a high level of sensitivity for those smaller targets, Ground conditions willing,

Nokta and Makro have also taken these findings in to account because they make both types of coils for their machines,

If I find my self in Hot rock laden ground I try to ground balance on the rocks and tighten up on my coil control, switching to a smaller coil works well because I try to run a concentric as much as possible and where the 9.5/950 might struggle with hotter ground the 5.3 is more tolerable because it see's a lot less ground than the 9.5 and not only that what the 6x4 see's at 1" the 5.3 will see at 2.5 to 3", Add that to how it ID's things better when the junk is pretty thick means I am not loosing targets due to using too much disc.

John. 

 

my coils.jpg

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Steve, thank you for yet another great informative thread. I struggle with a serious toy addiction I'm trying to curb, I want a ctx, a 2300, the GM would be nice to own and damn I was waiting for that elliptical. the Deus is perfect for me in so many ways, its nice to see the decision so difficult for you and I'm forcing myself to only have the Deus as my second detector after the 7000. For now until something really different comes up I think the Deus with the 11" and 9"hf will work for me and I'm better off trying to get as good as my little brain can get with the tools I have... so little difference exists among them increasing my confidence and skills with the one or two I now own will serve me better for now I'm seeing. 

Had the Deus over the yard of a friends new house, there were power lines everywhere and the emi was terrible. I was running the GM power program 14 and 28 were both struggling 54 was handling the emi pretty good, reactivity set to 2 1/2, 5 tones. I hit a nickel in the front yard down 5 inches...it was a tiny bit scratchy sounding, but still a good signal for me to dig. Numbers running at 54khz came in around 82, the Nickel range at that frequency and what I found was a nickel right next a big fat old rusty nail...both probably tumbled out of the pocket of one of the carpenters building the house in the 1950's. I did not really hear the nail until I'd plucked the nickel, then the scratchy sound I'd heard was transformed to iron wrap around and something in the high conductor numbers, but not really clean sounding. The Deus really locked onto the nickel at 54khz, seems a nugget in iron on the gold fields should act similar?

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16 hours ago, PhaseTech said:

Steve, what did you do regards ground balance? Did you ground balance off to one side of your target pad then run in fixed? 

Did you try tracking on any of the units to compare with the monster? 

Hello Nenad,

The whole setup is on top of fired brick material that in itself is a "medium high" background. I ground balanced over it and did my thing. The machines except the GM were in fixed. I did not test tracking efficiencies.

The Tek G2 (Gold Bug Pro) readings were Ground Phase (Type) 85.0 and Fe3O4 (Amount) 6 bars.

 

Fisher Gold Bug Pro / Teknetics G2

This detector displays two kinds of ground data:

1. The type of mineralization, which affects where the ground phase (ground balance) should be set. This is designated as GND PHASE on the meter. The goal of ground balancing is to equate the GND BAL number to the PHASE number.

2. The amount of mineralization. The greater the amount of mineralization, the greater the loss of detection depth & ID accuracy; this loss is more pronounced in Discrimination Mode. This is designated as Fe3O4 on the meter.

The two-digit GND PHASE number displayed on the screen indicates the type of ground mineralization. Some typical ground mineralization types are:

GND PHASE (Ground Phase)

0 – 10 Wet salt and alkali
5 – 25 Metallic iron. Very few soils in this range. You are probably over metal.
26–39 Very few soils in this range -- occasionally some saltwater beaches
40–75 Red, yellow and brown iron-bearing clay minerals
75–95 Magnetite and other black iron minerals

Fe3O4 Bargraph. The Fe3O4 7-segment bargraph indicates the amount of ground mineralization, independent of type, expressed as an equivalent volume concentration of magnetite (Fe3O4). It updates every second. It is sensitive to motion and will give the most accurate readings if you pump the searchcoil up and down several times over the ground.

INDICATION      RELATIVE                         % Fe3O4              SUSCEPTIBILITY
                            MINERALIZATION

7 Bars                 High                                  over 1                  over 2500
2 to 6 Bars         Medium                           .026 - 1.0             61 - 2,500
1 Bar                   Very Low                          0.006 - .025        15 – 60
None                  --                                         less than .006     less than 15

Magnetic susceptibility is expressed in micro-cgs units. In a saltwater environment in the absence of iron minerals, the bargraph indicates relative electrical conductivity. In soils with greater than 10,000 micro-cgs units magnetic susceptibility, the signal from the soil may saturate, or overload, the circuitry. This will not harm the detector but the machine will not be usable in that condition. The solution is to hold the searchcoil several inches above the soil surface so it is not “seeing as much dirt.” By listening and watching you will know how high you need to hold the searchcoil in order to avoid overload. The highest magnetic susceptibilities are usually found in soils developed over igneous rocks, in alluvial black sand streaks on beaches, and in red clay soils of humid climates. The lowest magnetic susceptibilities are usually found in white beach sands of tropical and subtropical regions, and soils developed over limestone.

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22 hours ago, D&P-OR said:

Steve-----I see you have the 10X5" Coiltek coil on your CTX.------Do you favor that coil over the Minelab 6" and if so, in what ways? (other than obvious increased ground coverage)

The Coiltek covers more ground per sweep and has a smooth, enclosed bottom so as to not hang up on sticks and such. The 6" round does a bit better in dense trash. I can't say I favor one coil over the other. I just try to use the appropriate coil for various tasks and this coil was an attempt to even things up for the CTX as compared to the other units.

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4 hours ago, 1515Art said:

The Deus really locked onto the nickel at 54khz, seems a nugget in iron on the gold fields should act similar?

The Deus is perfectly capable of finding gold nuggets and pretty much anything else a person wants it to find. It's all the detector many people would ever want, just like the MXT.

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