nickelNdimed

Yeah, that makes sense about the larger silver coins. I just always wonder if more experience detectorists or those that hunt by sound can really tell. Or certain detectors separate the two by VDI or tone better than others.... But I really do think I am finding the tough ones that were on side or signal was blended to a lower VDI by another nearby item. Lots of patience, lots of trash digging, but rewarding. I’m starting to find that a good strategy for working sites that I have repeat access to is to work them in buckets. 1. Cherry pick the obvious coins and higher tones in Park 1. 2.Then work those high single digits and teens as another layer in Park 2. 3. Maybe then go back in Field modes with lower iron bias, maybe the 6” and try to wiggle out some more goodies.

Thanks Jeff. I have a few sites where I find wheats back to 1918 and old artifacts but struggle to find silver. And the wheats often come up high like silver dimes and quarters would. So if someone beat me to it, would they not have dug those wheats and other clad dimes and quarters I find? How would they skip those but pull all or most the silver? I hunted this park, found wheats, and kept hoping to hit silver but no luck until today. And I think I lucked out on this quarter digging for something else! Maybe just the tough ones are left and I’ll have to regrid in Park 2 after some good rains.

I went to the park today with the intent to dig pull tabs in hopes of finding some gold jewelry. I’ve found a gold ring at this park before and felt I have already gridded this area pretty well for coin targets. So pull tabs and aluminum range it was. I chose to use Park 2 this time but I have all the settings setup exactly the same as Park 1. So I dug all the consistent signals above 6ish. Found a few nickels, a couple deep wheats that I think were on their side and deep, but I felt reassured I had been pretty thorough gridding off this area for other coins. No other pennies, dimes, or quarters. So I get a 19-21 hit. I’m thinking, probably a zinc penny, maybe a bottle cap. I dig my hole, see something shinny, thinking it is some large round piece of aluminum out comes this silver quarter! My first silver quarter! I’ve found no other silver at this park. It is borderline time period where we transitioned out of silver coins. I stuff the pinpointer in the hole again and an inch or two deeper I found the rusty nail. I think this is what made what should have been a 29-31 or so vdi come in at that 19-21. Anyway, I found no gold, dug tons of pull tabs, but did find this nice silver quarter.

So I went ahead to try the Coinstar for the first time in my life and also to see how the crusty pennies would fare... Some things I learned: 1. Walmart Machine had a very limited selection on gift card choices and no Amazon! Kroger (grocery store in midwest) machine however had a much better selection including Amazon, Lowes and Home Depot. 2. I decided to load the pennies first, in case the machine jammed up and wait on the other denominations. It did jam up... with the nickels. But it stopped short of $5, the minimum for the gift cards. So the lady came, printed out a receipt for 4.33, minus 59 cents fee! Oh well. I cashed in my 4.33 and got the rest on another ticket with a code to use at Amazon. Lesson learned, load in the Quarters, dimes, and nickels first! Then the zinc pennies! It rejected so many zinc pennies😆 Although, I’m pretty sure it was a bent nickel that jammed it... I think it did a good job at rejecting the bad pennies. No dimes rejected. The one bent nickel and a few others had nicks from shovel probably, one of the quarters. Some no damage, not sure why rejected. It was on the low end of what I guessed but that is okay. I made a lot of other cool finds this year, had a lot of fun, and learning. I kept my coppers and wheats for now. Probably eventually toss the crusty zincs, make a cache of some kind.

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving. I was searching some more last night as I knew this was not a new question or topic. I probably read the same posts you did on another site. I mean, I go back to the same sites with different detectors and settings on my 600. And I know others hit the same sites because I have either seen them or their big trash they dig up in a pile behind a tree stump somewhere... Why dump back in what you just pulled out?Anyway, it is selfish. Plus you just put in the work to dig it out. One day, and older man walked by as I was digging up something and said “what you find, a bunch of pennies” with a smirk on his face as if he knew... then he paused down the sidewalk. Just made me think about that. Maybe that’s what he did.. I found coins and some other cool stuff on those empty lots. And yes, lots of pennies. Glad there are others that don’t do such things. I still don’t know what I will do with mine. Probably hang on to them for now until I get tired of hoarding them.

I think I mean damaged currency of any kind but yeah. I mean they are heavy and pretty crusty but they add up... nobody is going to mail in pounds of crusty pennies to exchange. There has to be somewhere you can physically take them that will accept them...

Are you able to walk in to a Federal Reserve Bank? Do they have a counter for individuals where you can turn in the zincs and they could not refuse? 🤔 I guess the below answers my question somewhat. They don’t take them there and have to be sent to some other entity on Washington. They do have some sort of museum that is not currently open. Maybe a post covid road trip https://www.frbservices.org/resources/financial-services/cash/exception-processing/mutilated-currency-coin.html

Actually, from what I read about souvenir tokens, it is okay for some reason... can’t remember why but there are articles out there explaining. Also doubt anyone would take time and taxpayer money to prosecute. Big copper penny scrapping operation... maybe. I mean, you could almost double your money by exchanging face value for the scrap value and I’m sure something could be set up to sort them in quantity why weight (I sort them by VDI or tone). I think there are big lengthy discussions about that out there as well. But that’s the thing, I don’t like to pack or hoard stuff and try to be a minimalist about stuff although I find it hard with gear and hobbies... I’ll probably keep the copper for now. I really don’t have that many. I’ll see how many Zincs Coinstar wants to take. Maybe they will also work as Equinox counterbalance 😂

So this first full year I’ve been sorting my zinc, copper, and wheats for the heck of it. But in reality, not like I am collecting enough to make worthwhile hoarding? So Federal Reserve guarantees you one cent for that crusty zinc and won’t give you more than one cent for the copper, which is also illegal to melt.... so not like I can scrap them. The wheats, I just look through those for that elusive 1943 dug copper like a good treasure hunter. Other than the momentary fun, they aren’t really worth any more either. I’ve been wanting to count my clad for the year and wondering what I should do with the pennies. Some of those zincs are pretty rough. I’m also torn on sleeving them or feeding them to the Coinstar for Jeff Bezos gift cards. But I guess I’ll have that receipt as a clad trophy.... Another thought I had about the copper pennies was to punch them with a year and initials and put a few in places I detected. Could be fun, could be discouraging. I don’t know.

But what about copper vs zinc pennies?

I could place the socket or weight further back. It will effectively act as more weight or would need less weight for same effect because of the longer lever arm. For now I am just wanting to try this in field to see if it works for me before I do something more permanent.

I’m going to try this shin splint support I had laying around on my arm to simulate removing some of the slop. Not ideal but I’ll eventually want something on the cuff so it is grab and go and can fine tune the thickness. Thanks for the ideas. Good point about if it gets wet. I don’t use the strap on any of my detectors. I find it gets in the way. My arm is probably slightly bent so that I’m not holding the weight of detector out and hurting my shoulder. I replied in another post about trying a counterweight also. I always had the slop but I think the counterweight countering some of the coil weight is making it worse and causing more movement at end if swing if that makes sense.

I may be able to modify one of those seatbelt fuzzy things... I may have to read up more one the F75 and try one sometime. Always hear good things, not only on the ergo.

My arms are long and skinny. I have a good amount of slop when swinging that I would like to improve. Even with a jacket! I see some folks use padding on the cuff. Would like to see or get some ideas to try. I know there is an option out there off the shelf but was looking for a DIY idea where I could customize to my arm if possible. Thanks.

Dan, seems like this went off on some tangents. How did it feel and what sort of pain or discomfort were you having? I get pain from shoulder to elbow or between. Sometimes I get some pulsing/spasm feeling. Wanted to try this balancing with less permanent solution to see if it works for me so I used a flexy cable tie I have and an axle nut socket that weighs about a pound or so which balanced it as pictured. It is notably heavier. Not sure this will fix my problem but will try it in field when I get a chance.

I wondered about those eBay s-shafts as an option with the 11” to see if it would be better balanced for me. That stinks the lowers are no good.

I’ve thought about this as well but just seems overkill for my needs. Plus the Equinox still seems to hold its value. If I was really committed to the Equinox only and drove long distances where having a failure might ruin your trip, I would probably go this route and sell my other detectors.

I did qualify my comment with the statement above. Was just trying to make a point or assessment based on product lineup. And I completely agree that the TRX is superior pinpointer. Personally, I wanted AA batteries, good depth, and actual pinpointing at the tip! I first purchased an F Pulse brand new as I found it most compelling out of the available options. Then I had an opportunity to purchase a TRX used. I prefer it to the F pulse in pinpointing and depth AND that it also has advanced features and settings. I do think the F Pulse feels better built. Hoping Garrett keeps the TRX as another option in a separate lineup as was my assessment. I take the F pulse out every now and then and then miss the TRX.

I like this idea better than just the lower after looking at the detector hanging on wall and swapping the coil a couple of times.

I was thinking more if I made a choice to move, which would not mainly be driven by this question, which places I might not consider if I wanted to stick with this hobby. Thanks for the link. I do the same and aware of my local rules here and at parents.

Hello, seemed like this is the best place to ask. I’ve read but do not recall what US states and countries make detecting impossible or difficult. Thank you for any information, thoughts, or personal experience.

Are you just buying the replacement shaft kit that includes the upper or have you found another way to purchase these? The lower is $30 and the whole shaft $45. I’ve only seen them upper separately for $7-8.

For those that have extra coils, do you just get an extra lower shaft? Or would it make sense to have lower and a middle shaft as well so that length can already be set and you have all of your coil wraps already there? I also thought about a second full shaft and using one of those 3D printed pod quick connects but they don’t seem durable and it adds to the cost of for the extra convenience... Thanks

This was my response on the Garrett forum along the same lines of thought: Didn’t expect this but glad to see it. Thought they would just quietly disappear forever. What are folks speculating on this? First Texas like merger of independent brands, one more premium than the other? Just keep the newer form factor detectors, out with the analog metal boxes, more competitive pricing, great service from Garrett? I mean what is there to gain otherwise? The loyal customers that would have gone elsewhere eventually? Only Merica choices are now Garrett and Fisher. Their multi tech was licensed at some point from Minelab is my understanding and Garrett already has their multi flex in the Apex and hinted future AT series? Crap site? Some weird dealer agreement that seems to hurt flexibility in sales from what I have read? Not saying these are equals but as far as product line and price point: AT Pro Pointer = TRX Ace series = Coinmaster, Treasure Master/Pro, MX7 AT series = MX Sport, GMX Sport SeaHunter /ATX = TDI.... Apex = ? GTI 2500 (LOL, they still sell this?) = V3i/VX3 (cool but doesn’t sell well, outdated packaging)

Didn’t expect this but glad to see it. Thought they would just quietly disappear forever. What are folks speculating on this? First Texas like merger of independent brands, one more premium than the other? Just keep the newer form factor detectors, out with the analog metal boxes, more competitive pricing, great service from Garrett? I mean what is there to gain otherwise? The loyal customers that would have gone elsewhere eventually? Only Merica choices are now Garrett and Fisher. Their multi tech was licensed at some point from Minelab is my understanding and Garrett already has their multi flex in the Apex and hinted future AT series? Crap site? Some weird dealer agreement that seems to hurt flexibility in sales from what I have read? Not saying these are equals but as far as product line and price point: AT Pro Pointer = TRX Ace series = Coinmaster, Treasure Master/Pro, MX7 AT series = MX Sport, GMX Sport SeaHunter /ATX = TDI.... Apex = ? GTI 2500 (LOL, they still sell this?) = V3i/VX3 (cool but doesn’t sell well, outdated packaging)