The Best Metal Detector Out There

[Steve Herschbach]

If there were such a thing as a best detector I’d only need one detector. That seems to be a near impossibility for me. The only way I can seem to get down to less than four is to just write off some aspect as being minor enough that I could sacrifice and live without it. So for instance I could decide that chasing tinier gold than my Equinox 800 can find is not a big deal, and so let my 24K go. I’ve considered it. But fact is I would be giving up a definite advantage in one distinct area, and I can’t quite bear to do that. Not for the few hundred bucks I’d get and the small amount of space it takes up. Do I really use my DFX with Bigfoot that much? No. But in some ways for what it does it’s irreplaceable, and so it stays. I tell myself that I could really make do with just a good VLF and a good PI, but even then it’s two detectors. When I think about all that the idea that there is one best detector is kind of a fantasy. That would take something that swings as nice as a T2/F75 while detecting as deep as a GPZ 7000 with the target id of a CTX 3030 and the separation of a Deus while hitting gold as small as a Gold Bug 2 and leakproof to 200 feet while having a Bigfoot option along with 20 other coils. We are a long way from that detector still.

[phrunt]

I would need to superglue my GPZ, GPX 6000, GPX 5000, Nox 800, 24k and Gold Bug 2 together to get my ideal gold detector and I'd need to be able to plug in any damn coil I want to.

As for coins I'd need to glue my CTX, Nox 800, Manticore and Ace 300i together to even come close to my ideal coin detector, it's not going to happen so at this stage there is no perfect detector and I'm quite happy to own quite a few. 

You know why the Ace is in there? It's crazy deep when outfitted with a Nel Tornado coil, and it can run a Nel Tornado coil and any other aftermarket coil I want on it, the others can not.

[relicmeister]

You can be sure that the top half dozen metal detector companies will do everything in their power to offer us the next big thing that is too tempting to resist for many of us!, while making sure there’s still room for further improvement so that there is a reason for them to continue to thrive as a company. It’s also true that technological and other advancements come along in industry that are then incorporated in future models - it never really ends, does it?  
  While the Deus 2 is the only detector I presently have, I’ve owned I guess about 12-15 metal detectors, many of which I’d still probably find suitable but sold - not because I didn’t find them useful, effective or

enjoyable to use-  but because they funded some other model I really wanted. I think 3 alone were sacrificed to enable me to get my Deus 2. 
   Let’s face it - part of the fun of this hobby is the thrill of acquiring new equipment, and we play into the advertising hype to an extent possibly to justify the expense of yet another new machine. 
Oh the shame of it all. 

[NCtoad]

I hope y’all know that the best detector is the one I’m using?

[EL NINO77]

On 2/27/2023 at 9:12 PM, Daniel Tn said:

I certainly am guilty of buying the latest things out.  I guess my quest is more to find the best "jack of all trades" machine out there.  The problem for me has been, these multi task machines still fall short of the solo detector kings...the ones that may only do one thing REALLY well, but nothing else can beat it for that purpose. For me, I relic hunt and freshwater beach hunt, and maybe once a year, I will saltwater beach hunt.  I'm right back to the F75/T2 myself.  For hunting fields and woods...hard to find one to beat them!  The beach scenarios...are not the F75/T2 Forte and will require a machine better at those tasks.  

Edit:  The DST models SUCK.  The F75 I traded the ammo for...well I would rather have the ammo back.  My understanding was the DST could be turned on or off.  Well it can...but it's NOTHING like the original F75s without it.  They've neutered it so bad it's not worth having now.  

...Daniel.... Did you have the MXT Pro detector?,,, how did it work in your terain ? ....it is one of the detectors that work in mix mode...I think it has potential...

 

For me, it is important to have a detector that is effective in detecting in the fields where I am detecting... I prefer a multi-frequency/1 frequency detector with Mix mode...with the possibility of using a sufficient assortment of coils...

[schoolofhardNox]

My best detector is the one and only Radio Shack $19.99 circa 1969ish. Sleek silver case, 6" coil, loud speaker (wow) and it even assists you in digging. The shaft is so short that you hunt bent over... Brilliant, you are half way to the ground already. Who need to dig a deep hole when all your targets are lined up nicely within 2". Go ahead, tell me I'm wrong ? Now that my brain stopped swelling from that slip and fall I took, I'm thinking maybe I'll switch my choice to the GPX 5000.  ?

[mn90403]

I keep thinking there has to be some 'software magic' still to come.

I'm primarily a Nox 800 user at present.  When I use the Field 2 on dry sand walking to my wet beach it hits on targets hard and deep.  I still find a bit of jewelry with it there even though it has been detected a lot.  If I leave the Nox in Field 2 and walk to the wet sand, I simply can't tune it.  I can't hear targets making adjustments to speed, balance and sensitivity.

If I switch to Beach 1 it is magically a different detector.  The hardware has not changed but the response is useable rather than unusable.  A set program mode has overcome the shortcomings of the other program.  Can this happen on a detector level adjustment where one detector is superior to another?  Some combination of hardware and software is going to be ideal for our own settings.  How much of this is 'automatic' vs manual becomes a present and future question.

Is there a magic software to be developed or already developed that can be a quantum leap for the present hardware technology similar to the jump between Field 2 and Beach 1?  That company would surely corner the market.  Would they save it for a future detector?  Bring it out now is the inventor and investors cry.  

As targets get removed more and more from all sites and placers, we are left to wonder how good the new crop of detectors would be on virgin locations.  Many of the previous detectors were pretty darn good to remove all the targets before we come in with a new detector.  If you had a choice of detector on a virgin site, which one would you choose?

Misses will always be part of the hobby.  You simply can't get it all but a seriously depleted site removes the clues and the targets and a new detectorist may never know the sheer quantity of relics and targets previously found.  Many of us who find junk find other's treasure.

[Gold Catcher]

The best detector is the one that finds you the most gold.

GC

[GoodAmount]

I definitely don’t have the best detectors (my main swinger starts with the letter Q), but I’m finding enough gold to keep me interested in heading out into the bush a couple of times a week, which is an experience I absolutely love! I have to work more than twice as hard to find gold as my buddy with his 6000, but it makes the small victories more than twice as sweet.