What detector is the best performer in old iron infested home sites?

[relic lover]

OK here is the deal, I hunt only pre-1900 cellar holes with my beloved Ace 250 and full complement of coils. All of my sites have iron thick areas that have good potential for coins but I am not finding any in iron not even with my sniper coil. Is there a detector that blows the ace out of the water in these areas that would make my old sites new again? I will keep my ace even if I upgrade. (PS I don't have time to dig all the iron as I am a weekend warrior who has time for only short hunts. AKA Cherry picker). Thanks in advance, RL

 

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[Digger USA]

There are quite a few detectors on the market that will do a better job in iron than your Ace 250. Tesoro makes some fairly inexpensive "non-metered" detectors in their ED-120 Umax series, that are decent discriminators in iron. However, if you want the BEST, I'd look at the Minelab Etrac with a small aftermarket DD coil. Either Sun Ray or DeTech. Second place would go to the X-Terra 70 or 705 with the 6-inch DD coil. The X-Terra 18.75 freq coils are not as good at discriminating iron as the lower freqs. But until a 3 kHz small DD is brought to the market, the higher freq does better than most other makes and models. JMHO HH Randy

 

[relic lover]

The x-terra 70 was my first thought as the minimum for an upgrade to make it worth switching units. Are the $1000+ units twice as good in iron as the x'70/705?

 

[lostlake88]

I would have to say a tesoro. I had the Vaquero that knocked out all iron, but unfortunately it lost a significant amount of depth. I could still get 4" with it in heavy iron. I have the Explorer ll and I would have to say in super heavy iron I would prefer the tesoro.

 

[LuckyLarry]

The only machine that picks through iron better than a Tesoro is an old Compass or A.H. Pro, but the A.H. Pro was a TR, pretty old compared to these days.

The Compass CoinScanner Pro is the absolute best ever made for seeing through iron scrap, nails, steel wire, etc. I know where a Compass Scanner Jr is for sale for $300 or so. It is nearly equal to the CoinScanner Pro but has no ID meter.

LL

 

[Swartzie]

I know what you mean. I've only been detecting for a little over 3 months with the 250. One thing that annoys me is how it will give you a false high tone when it catches the edge of an iron object. That annoys the heck out of me. One thing I have been doing in trashy areas is going over the ground with the pinpointer button held in. At least I "see" where everything is and how close together they are. Then I'll let go of the pinpointer and sweep over the targets the pinpointer gave me. You just need to detune the pinpointer to get a narrow field so it will separate the objects. I also noticed the pinpointer will also see deeper (or smaller) objects that won't ring during a normal sweeping pattern. I'm just starting to experiment with this method of detecing with the 250 in trashy areas. I'm also feeling the need for an upgraded detector.

 

[Silver Searcher]

The detector you need is the XP Goldmaxx Power, this will eat the iron, the Iron volume can be turned up to any level giving a deep buzz, but leaving the sweet two tone signals of a coin, it is also has the fastest recovery of any metal detector on the market, which is what you need on a heavy iron infested site. I also think the Tesoro Lobo Super Traq would have good results, as this also has a high operating frequency, coupled with a small search head it should do the trick.

 

[George (MN)]

I can only comment on what I've used. And even then I'm not sure about best!

I have a Fisher F70 & there's so many combinations of threshold & sensitivity, DEfault & SLow modes (DEfault for best separation, SLow for best depth). There are large & small concentric & DD coils, but haven't used the smaller coils. I don't get much iron unless threshold &/or senstivity are turned up too high. The 11" DD has great side to side separation (I reject everything below zinc as this detector can't tell difference between modern tab & nickel here).

Also use a Minelab X-Terra 70. I don't have small coils but am pleased & amazed that I can detect coins with good ID very close to iron with the stock coil which is a 9" round 7.5 kHz concentric. And this is with iron, foil, pulltabs, & hot rocks rejected! Using target ID stabilizer on & ground tracking on.

I'm not the best authority on iron as I've not tried these detectors yet on any sites that had more than a farm on them pre-1963. HH, George (MN)

 

[Eu_citzen]

The detector you need is the XP Goldmaxx Power, this will eat the iron, the Iron volume can be turned up to any level giving a deep buzz, but leaving the sweet two tone signals of a coin, it is also has the fastest recovery of any metal detector on the market, which is what you need on a heavy iron infested site. I also think the Tesoro Lobo Super Traq would have good results, as this also has a high operating frequency, coupled with a small search head it should do the trick.

From what I hear this is correct.

 

[relic lover]

I know what you mean. I've only been detecting for a little over 3 months with the 250. One thing that annoys me is how it will give you a false high tone when it catches the edge of an iron object. That annoys the heck out of me. One thing I have been doing in trashy areas is going over the ground with the pinpointer button held in. At least I "see" where everything is and how close together they are. Then I'll let go of the pinpointer and sweep over the targets the pinpointer gave me. You just need to detune the pinpointer to get a narrow field so it will separate the objects. I also noticed the pinpointer will also see deeper (or smaller) objects that won't ring during a normal sweeping pattern. I'm just starting to experiment with this method of detecing with the 250 in trashy areas. I'm also feeling the need for an upgraded detector.

Wow thanks what a great technique! This works especially well with the sniper coil plus lowering my disc. settings to jewelery mode from coin mode has made the difference my old sites are producing copper again! Check out the finds from the nail gardens. (the LC is 1813 and cleaned up to reveal full liberty!)

 

[relic lover]

So I guess the long and the short of it is I have not mastered the ace yet so why upgrade to a more complex unit yet.

 

[extractor]

Look like it is working pretty good to me.

 

[NGE]

Here's my 2 cents. I use a Minelab Explorer XS w/11" DD Pro Coil. I set my sounds to ferrous, my sensitivity to about 28, gain to an 8, variability max, I am using Grey Ghost NDT headphones. When set up like this Iron will have low sounds and coins and other semi-precious metals will have their respective normal sounds. This is really helpful when hunting park areas that are littered with rusted bottle caps, nails, cans, etc etc. I forgot to mention, I also hunt in iron mask -16........NGE

 

[relic lover]

Look like it is working pretty good to me.

Yes I am doing much better now that I am not over discriminating

 

[Eu_citzen]

Here's my 2 cents. I use a Minelab Explorer XS w/11" DD Pro Coil. I set my sounds to ferrous, my sensitivity to about 28, gain to an 8, variability max, I am using Grey Ghost NDT headphones. When set up like this Iron will have low sounds and coins and other semi-precious metals will have their respective normal sounds. This is really helpful when hunting park areas that are littered with rusted bottle caps, nails, cans, etc etc. I forgot to mention, I also hunt in iron mask -16........NGE

A tip.. Try to add Audio 3. I think the old XS has that to?
It will be like detecting with the threshhold but with disc.
Low increase in pitch= iron
High increase in pitch= none ferrous.

You will need to go VERY SLOW using that method.

 

[NGE]

Eu, I have tried pitch at #2, and that is pretty wild, and I guess #3 would be really wacky if moving more than a snail's pace, I use #1 mostly, but will try #2...........NGE

 

[Eu_citzen]

The higher the number the shorter the sound they make, at least thats the way on my Expl II.
#3 is about perfect for me.

 

[NGE]

Eu, On the original Explorer XS which is what I use, it is the opposite. Sorta like turning your automatic ground balance off. I have the first generation XS, it still has the 1/8th. inch headphone jack........NGE

 

[Eu_citzen]

Eu, On the original Explorer XS which is what I use, it is the opposite. Sorta like turning your automatic ground balance off. I have the first generation XS, it still has the 1/8th. inch headphone jack........NGE

I see, then it would indeed be 1.

 

[NGE]

Yes, apparently they did improve the II a little more than we thought