''Best'' modern trash detector+coil (opinions)

Trashy park detector

  • Minelab CTX 3030

    Votes: 2 22.2%
  • Minelab E-Trac

    Votes: 1 11.1%
  • Garrett At pro/max

    Votes: 1 11.1%
  • Makro Racer 2

    Votes: 2 22.2%
  • Teknetics T2

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Xp Deus

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Fisher F70/F75

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • White's Spectra V3i

    Votes: 1 11.1%
  • Nokta Impact

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other ?

    Votes: 2 22.2%

  • Total voters
    9

Railo

Jr. Member
Jan 24, 2017
21
5
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hello

Would like to know what is your detector+coil pick for the trashy areas that have tons of modern trash(pull tabs,crown cabs, aluminium etc etc), with minimal iron. A detector with good unmasking, solid TID, good recovery speed and possibility to pick less trash. Depth in the range of 5-8'' and target for coins/jewelry/buttons etc. What detector are you using and what detector would you pick if you would only have one detector for this type of area ?
Seems like many say ctx3030 in different reviews, but isn't it quite slow even with the 6'' coil ?

Currently I have deus and been discussing how to use it in trash, another I've used a little is at pro.
 

chopperdog

Jr. Member
May 18, 2014
30
9
Indianapolis, IN
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT PRO / Minelab X-Terra 705 /Minelab 505 / XP Deus / Makro Racer 2
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I have the XP Deus, and the AT Pro with a selection of five coils, --- The AT Pro with the small (5x8?) coil is good in trash. Depths 4 to 8 inches depending on your soil. ---- The XP Deus is an awesome machine, but you will definitely get a workout digging trash!--- My favorite in trash is the Minelab X-Terra 705, (the 505 is the same machine with a few less bells and whistles) it is a great machine in trash with the 5x10DD coil, 18.75 khz, respectable depths of up to 10" on coins, --- Use it in all metal, 4 tones, and the clad and silver dimes, quarters, etc ring make a very distinctive "sweet sound" of silver. --- Nickels ring in at 12 on the VDI, clad ZINCOLN's at 30, Copper pennies and dimes about 34 36, quarters and 50's a little higher, (mid 40's) These #'s hold true for both the 505, and the 705. ----- Rings for the most part will come in a t 6-8-10-12-14-16, 26 and 28. I dont dig Zincolns, only dig Copper pennies because they might be a dime. -- Though mane times the pennies come in at 34, and the dimes at 36. --- Hope this helps, Dennis
 

smokeythecat

Gold Member
Nov 22, 2012
20,713
40,790
Maryland
🥇 Banner finds
10
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
XP Deus II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Xp Deus with the out of the box coil. It sucks stuff out of the ground, the trashier, the better.
 

Kurios1

Silver Member
Feb 25, 2017
3,766
7,383
FEMA REGION 5 North Central Illinois
Detector(s) used
Nokta Impact Whites DFX 300 & M6 Matrix, Minelab Explorer II (2), Makro Red Racer & Racer 2, Garrett AT Pro.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Outspoken Notka-Makro FAN BOY here. I have been running my Makro Racer 2 with the NEL Snake coil pretty heavy this year. The Makro Racer 2 has very quick recovery speeds that beats a lot of the other tectors hands down. The NEL Snake coil looks pretty small but, this thing has power to suck some deep coins out of the ground and discriminates between targets better than any other small coil I have ever used. Sadly most folks see my set up and just shake their heads. Not much love for the lowly Makro Racer 2 it seems. Fine by me. Best metal detector I have every had and a joy to operate. Easy to set up and get after it. BTW, it is light weight and you can swing this thing all day & night. You can spend over $2000.00 on a "fancy" detector or give the Makro Racer 2 a try for less than half of some of them fancy ones. Adios.


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Last edited:

Kurios1

Silver Member
Feb 25, 2017
3,766
7,383
FEMA REGION 5 North Central Illinois
Detector(s) used
Nokta Impact Whites DFX 300 & M6 Matrix, Minelab Explorer II (2), Makro Red Racer & Racer 2, Garrett AT Pro.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I have the XP Deus, and the AT Pro with a selection of five coils, --- The AT Pro with the small (5x8?) coil is good in trash. Depths 4 to 8 inches depending on your soil. ---- The XP Deus is an awesome machine, but you will definitely get a workout digging trash!--- My favorite in trash is the Minelab X-Terra 705, (the 505 is the same machine with a few less bells and whistles) it is a great machine in trash with the 5x10DD coil, 18.75 khz, respectable depths of up to 10" on coins, --- Use it in all metal, 4 tones, and the clad and silver dimes, quarters, etc ring make a very distinctive "sweet sound" of silver. --- Nickels ring in at 12 on the VDI, clad ZINCOLN's at 30, Copper pennies and dimes about 34 36, quarters and 50's a little higher, (mid 40's) These #'s hold true for both the 505, and the 705. ----- Rings for the most part will come in a t 6-8-10-12-14-16, 26 and 28. I dont dig Zincolns, only dig Copper pennies because they might be a dime. -- Though mane times the pennies come in at 34, and the dimes at 36. --- Hope this helps, Dennis

What? No mention of your Makro Racer 2 ?!? If you don't think it's worthy of mentioning in this post perhaps you'd like to sell it to me? I also own the Garrett AT Pro but, never use it on land due to the fact I find my Makro Racer 2 easier to set up, better balanced, and just a more enjoyable experience to hunt with. Too bad it's not waterproof or I'd sell my Garrett AT Pro. I am loaning my buddy my Red Racer 1 right now. He might be interested in your Makro Racer 2 if you don't use it. Or perhaps the original poster may be interested in it. Sorry, trying not to offend you but, just attempting to give the lowly Makro Racer 2 some lovin'. As an owner I'd think you would do so as well. Adios.
 

digger27

Bronze Member
May 18, 2011
1,506
3,225
I use an F70 and it does all those things you described in sites exactly like that...also sites with insane amounts of iron.
Most sites I hunt nowadays usually have both.
I can do it using several coils but snipers are logically the easiest to use, in pop top infested sites concentrics are fast and most efficient at ID'ing and avoiding this hated type of garbage but there are techniques you can use that make hunting around these things mostly a non issue using DD's too.
It helps that I have learned the language and target behavior of this tool more than well to do all of this, avoid digging massive amounts of trash while still successfully pick out the good stuff but I did, well worth the time spent in my book.
 

OP
OP
R

Railo

Jr. Member
Jan 24, 2017
21
5
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Had to add a poll question also. Have the Racer 2 users had any problems with the TID numbers, or how accurate are they ?
Also whats your thought how well dd coils can identify bottle caps/trash compared to concentric coils. dd coils with lifting+wiggle can identify pretty well the rusted bottle caps but not the liquor screw caps, they just sound like good targets 9/10.
 

Kurios1

Silver Member
Feb 25, 2017
3,766
7,383
FEMA REGION 5 North Central Illinois
Detector(s) used
Nokta Impact Whites DFX 300 & M6 Matrix, Minelab Explorer II (2), Makro Red Racer & Racer 2, Garrett AT Pro.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Had to add a poll question also. Have the Racer 2 users had any problems with the TID numbers, or how accurate are they ?
Also whats your thought how well dd coils can identify bottle caps/trash compared to concentric coils. dd coils with lifting+wiggle can identify pretty well the rusted bottle caps but not the liquor screw caps, they just sound like good targets 9/10.

Hey again. The original Makro Red Racer 1 had some problems with the "TID" VDI numbers which I believe they addressed before releasing their Makro Racer 2. I am 90% hunt by tone signal guy so the numbers are only a suggestive backup for me personally. Also I try to dig it all because I have been pleasantly surprised on too many occasions where "I" thought I knew what was waiting for me in the hole as TRASH and it was a good keeper target. I am still standing firm behind the Makro Racer 2 as a great medium priced machine that will and does get me the goods. Do I dig rusty bottle caps? You bet I do. Screwcaps too. I guess some people are looking for the HOLY GRAIL detector that will give you a definitive ID on the target before you have to dig it. Well, we ain't got one yet.

As to the Nokta Impact, it's on my wish list for next upgrade. Waiting awhile to see if any issues develop and what outsourced coils and things are brought about to enhance it's value. Kurt @ The Hoover Boys on YouTube is loving his Nokta Impact I believe. Pretty good endorsement right there. I hope you find what you are looking for but, my suggestion regardless which machine you go with is dig it all whenever time allows. If you ever plan on going over the same turf repeatedly it only makes sense to remove the trash to unmask any potential keeper targets which could be lying beneath or close to the garbage. Have a good one mate. Kurios1
 

DeepseekerADS

Gold Member
Mar 3, 2013
14,880
21,725
SW, VA - Bull Mountain
Detector(s) used
CTX, Excal II, EQ800, Fisher 1260X, Tesoro Royal Sabre, Tejon, Garrett ADSIII, Carrot, Stealth 920iX, Keene A52
Primary Interest:
Other
I personally believe that all "better" machines out there now are fairly equal to a point.

You add all of the qualities of each machine, and then with each I ask the question:

What do the sounds tell you?

Don't ignore 50% of your searching options.
 

mrwilburino

Hero Member
May 7, 2010
680
617
Northern Ohio
Detector(s) used
Fisher, Teknetics, Minelab, XP
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Hello

Would like to know what is your detector+coil pick for the trashy areas that have tons of modern trash(pull tabs,crown cabs, aluminium etc etc), with minimal iron. A detector with good unmasking, solid TID, good recovery speed and possibility to pick less trash. Depth in the range of 5-8'' and target for coins/jewelry/buttons etc. What detector are you using and what detector would you pick if you would only have one detector for this type of area ?
Seems like many say ctx3030 in different reviews, but isn't it quite slow even with the 6'' coil ?

Currently I have deus and been discussing how to use it in trash, another I've used a little is at pro.

When people talk about a detector being "good in trash" they're usually referring to one of two things: either target separation or target identification. Unfortunately, when a machine is really good at either one of those tasks, they are usually not so great at the other. Fast, single, mid to higher frequency machines are hot right now. They're good unmaskers due to their target seperating abilities. Great at picking out non-ferrous targets at old, iron infested sites. When it comes to identifying specific non-ferrous targets (like US coins) in non-ferrous trash (foil, square tabs, pull tabs, canslaw, screw caps) that spans the majority of the conductivity range however, they may struggle with telling the good stuff from the undesirables. Of course that depends on the machine, and not all VDIs are created equal.

Overall, I prefer the ID accuracy of my slower multi-frequency machines (CZ3D, CTX) for hunting in modern trash. Although even with the smallest coils they will miss some things that my Deus will see in dense trash.
 

OP
OP
R

Railo

Jr. Member
Jan 24, 2017
21
5
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
When people talk about a detector being "good in trash" they're usually referring to one of two things: either target separation or target identification. Unfortunately, when a machine is really good at either one of those tasks, they are usually not so great at the other. Fast, single, mid to higher frequency machines are hot right now. They're good unmaskers due to their target seperating abilities. Great at picking out non-ferrous targets at old, iron infested sites. When it comes to identifying specific non-ferrous targets (like US coins) in non-ferrous trash (foil, square tabs, pull tabs, canslaw, screw caps) that spans the majority of the conductivity range however, they may struggle with telling the good stuff from the undesirables. Of course that depends on the machine, and not all VDIs are created equal.

Overall, I prefer the ID accuracy of my slower multi-frequency machines (CZ3D, CTX) for hunting in modern trash. Although even with the smallest coils they will miss some things that my Deus will see in dense trash.

I agree that deus is excellent in iron trash, but in modern trash it likes to think many trashy targets as good, and you cant dig purely on those vdi numbers. With fulltones you can hear some of the trashy targets quite good.

For the last six months i've been watching videos/reading about other machines, and like you said there isn't one that does it all. I would like to try concentric small coil sometime with any detector, seems like garrett super sniper is pretty used, don't know how good it will handle bottle caps/screw caps compared to rest of the machines though, and the coverage is so small. If makro racer 2/nokta impact would have concentric coil and would be waterproof I think that could be my next park detector next season, or maybe I will pick at max. Cant really justify ctx3030 price to myself.
 

xr7ator

Gold Member
Sep 2, 2011
5,185
7,175
Denver, Colorado
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, AT Gold, ATX, MH7 (oldie!) Minelab Explorer SE Pro, EQ800
I use the at pro with standard coil and go VERY SLOW when I'm in an area that I know goodies are hiding.
My advice is to learn the two machines you have VERY WELL and you're all set.
 

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