Let’s talk frequencies

[Treasure finder]

Welcome Old and Slow,
There have been several suggestions to look at the Garrett AT Pro and that would be my
suggestion also. Lots of sensitivity on any target, a good discriminator, good ground
adjustments and the kicker, retail price is $699 so I hear and you will probably be able
to get one for $100 off. It should be a great gold machine and you can use it up to
10 feet deep in the river or in the rain. There is a pretty big demand for it and if you
don't like it, you should easily be able to resell it.
Good luck and welcome to the hobby.
Rich

 

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[Old and Slow]

Thanks Tim and Rich. Tim, you read my mind. My next step was to download the user manuals. I've already watched the demo videos of various machines on the manufacturers websites.

 

[Indasurf]

Thanks Tim. This is really great information. I agree that there probably isn't one all around detector. If I get into the hobby seriously I'll probably get more than one detector. For my first one I'm trying get the most versatile one.

I'm in Northern California near the Mother Lode so I'm planning on doing some prospecting. I'm also close to the ocean but I'm not planning on doing much salt sand detecting although I wouldn't rule it out. I will be doing some fresh water beaches at nearby lakes. Being in CA we don't have a lot of relics. I will be doing a lot of coin shooting and jewelry hunting.

Right now I'm leaning toward the DFX. I won't be getting it until Christmas so I have time to make my final decision.

Once again thanks for all your help.


Skip

Garrett AT Pro!!! The jewelry you'll pick up from the beaches will pay off the detector quick!

 

[DirtDiggerDaveinMD]

Well I think I've narrowed it down to the DFX300 or the X-Terra 705.

The DFX300 is a little pricey but uses two frequencies at once.

The X-Terra 705 is more moderately priced but you have to change search coils to change frequencies. It seems that by the time you purchased a couple of additional search coils you be getting up into the DFX300 price range.

What do y'all think?

The Sovereign GT is close to the price range of the 705. It has 17 frequencies and is good on the beach and land. There are also tons of search coils for this unit.

 

[AUDuke]

Thanks Big Tim. I've heard the MXT recommended for gold prospecting. Why would it be any better than the DFX? The DFX's high frequency is 15kHz and the MXT runs at 14kHz.

It take more than a "correct freq" to make a good gold detector. Most dedicated gold detectors have freqs from about 14 kh to 60 or more.

 

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

Old and slow,

I like you wanted a one for all detector this spring, and tried several.

First since you ruled out over 1000 dollar machines the FBS minelabs are out. Their advantages are more than just "what" they can hit on.

I wouldn't get too concerned with freq. I know what we all have been told for many years, higher better for gold, etc. According to this philosophy an Omega should be no good for gold. NOT THE CASE, it hits small gold (1 tenth gram) as good as most of the dedicated gold prospecting units. (with it's stock coil 3 1/2 inches, a gold bug 2 gets 4 inches)

As well another not mentioned model is the fisher gold bug SE which would be a geat all purpose machine.

White's MXT also not mentioned, has a good recomendation from Steve Hershback from AMDS

Good luck with the decision, (and adventures) I know how hard it can be with too many machines out there. to choose from.

Sweet Dreams Detectors

 

[kidcentavo]

Before you buy any detector go to www.dankowskidetectors.com/head-to-head.htm and read his contents. Read everything he has to say about detectors. He is one sharp dude.

 

[goldman55]

If you havent bought one yet check out the Gold Bug Pro or better yet the Tek G2 it would be hard press to beat out this two. I own a Bug Pro its a killer on everything and very deep you do loose a little in Dic mode but they all do. My hunting partner has a Whites MXT its Great. I was going to get one but went for the Bug Pro I'm glad i did. I hear stuff that he doesn't maybe his hearing is worse than mine just kidding. But i will tell you this i have NEVER Had a Detector Separate 2 close singals like the Bug Can, and that makes a big difference when detecting. You see everyone talks about how deep that's fine most good detectors will go deep. But whats not discussed much is separation of 2 metals close together. That can mean passing up a Gold ring or Coin laying within a Inch of bottle cape or iron.
If you sweep get that iron sound or # you don't dig it when a Gold Ring or coin laying just next to it or under it will not make a whimper. My friend went over a piece of railroad spike waved it a few times went on i went over with my Bug Has soon has i got the iron sound came a nice tone, faint but their.
Had my buddy go back over it same thing said it was a larger pieace of iron. I got down dug and their it was a railroad spike been their a while but not even a inch to the side was a Dime 1968. Lets just say made a believer out of him me to. It was almost 7 inch down. My Bug has the 5 on it.

Bill

 

[U.K. Brian]

If you find the Dave Johnson interview on the web (designed or helped in the design of the T2/F75/DFX/Lobo/MXT/Fisher Impulse and dozens of other top machines from several manufacturers) he states that frequency is no longer critical in detector design as long as the 20 to 30 kHz range is avoided where you come up against interference from military use.

As for multifrequency remember you don't have clean frequencies but harmonics. Any harmonic design leads to increased sensitivity to iron and external noise which is why Minelab had to introduce iron mask and noise cancel.

I would avoid the new Garrett. There's going to be lots secondhand within a few months after the hype has died down.

 

[Tykit]

Whether it be 10 or 15 khz, they both hit gold and silver equally. Now, 100 khz is better for gold than 14 khz, a difference of 4 khz is not noticable. Coil sizes are more important.

 

[liftloop]

The MXT hits hard on a quarter at a bout 8 inches in the ground were not talking a whisper... it hits hard and I Ds it too.So I worry a bout the high frequency part..

 

[earthmansurfer]

If you find the Dave Johnson interview on the web (designed or helped in the design of the T2/F75/DFX/Lobo/MXT/Fisher Impulse and dozens of other top machines from several manufacturers) he states that frequency is no longer critical in detector design as long as the 20 to 30 kHz range is avoided where you come up against interference from military use.

As for multifrequency remember you don't have clean frequencies but harmonics. Any harmonic design leads to increased sensitivity to iron and external noise which is why Minelab had to introduce iron mask and noise cancel.

I would avoid the new Garrett. There's going to be lots secondhand within a few months after the hype has died down.

I've been following the "hype" Brian. I thought it would die down too, but it hasn't. I'm actually thinking of replacing my Omega with one, but will wait to see how a few of it's problems pan out. The AT Pro is very deep by all accounts and hit's equally as hard on the conductors. So far, it has exceeded expectations. Dandkowski wrote up some good reports on it. It is very very close to the F75/T2 - I might say better if you could learn it's sounds. Not as quick on the recovery (but fast) and the descriptive audio and iron audio feature seem to make up for the speed - in other words you can still hear targets in iron, though the separation isn't as fast. So, you might hear two tones and would want to investigate the higher coming through with the lower. Reminds me of my Nautilus with it's sound (just from reading the reports).

Should be some nice detectors coming out next year. Fisher/Teknetics is due as well as Minelab - there sales have really fallen (They are losing sales to the Deus in Europe these days.).

 

[Barbarossa]

Should be some nice detectors coming out next year. Fisher/Teknetics is due as well as Minelab - there sales have really fallen (They are losing sales to the Deus in Europe these days.).

I'm in England and the Deus does seem to be doing very well over here by all accounts - I don't have one yet as it's too much wonga

This is an interesting thread re. the importance of detector frequency. My understanding (which is pretty basic) is that lower frequencies like the Minelab 3khz coils, tend to go rather deeper than a higher frequency like their 18.75khz coils.

Think of this: standing at a crossing and a car pulls up with a big sound system - most of the sound you will hear from the car will be the low booming stuff because it is almost impossible to stop it passing throught the car body.
In the ground a lower frequency also has a similar ability to pass through more ground before being nulled.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[earthmansurfer]

Should be some nice detectors coming out next year. Fisher/Teknetics is due as well as Minelab - there sales have really fallen (They are losing sales to the Deus in Europe these days.).

I'm in England and the Deus does seem to be doing very well over here by all accounts - I don't have one yet as it's too much wonga

This is an interesting thread re. the importance of detector frequency. My understanding (which is pretty basic) is that lower frequencies like the Minelab 3khz coils, tend to go rather deeper than a higher frequency like their 18.75khz coils.

Think of this: standing at a crossing and a car pulls up with a big sound system - most of the sound you will hear from the car will be the low booming stuff because it is almost impossible to stop it passing throught the car body.
In the ground a lower frequency also has a similar ability to pass through more ground before being nulled.

I hope that makes sense.

Your example of "feeling" the base is a pretty good one imo. But remember what Dave J. said, and he isn't the only one saying it. Frequency is having less to do with hitting certain conductivity ranges as well as depth. Yes, a low frequency detector should go deeper and his silver/copper harder, but these new higher frequency machines (AT Pro, F75, T2, etc.) all are in the 14-15kHz range. I'm sure the engineers are finding ways to adjust and compensate for "limitations" inherent at any one frequency. Like with the T2/F75 - they often are noisy, both because they are picking up lots of small things in the soil (which sounds like just noise) and also because they overload the power (not sure how to say this in a technical way) and you hear it.

Regarding the Deus, it is high up on my get list this year. I'm not a snow hunter so will wait a few more months. I really do hope that Fisher/Teknetics comes out with a high end coin (and relic) machine that operates on multiple frequencies - basically a new high end CZ unit. I love the Deus with how you can update it via usb. The new update for this month has new dry/wet sand functionality as well as a non motion ferrous and non ferrous ID mode. And it also has more information on the ground, like mineralization, etc. Really interesting detector. If they had only put in two processors so it could run two frequencies at the same time!

The advances in detectors that we see over the next 2 or 3 years will probably be quite high in my opinion. There really hasn't been anything huge the last few years and I just have a feeling that will change. Perhaps that pulse induction discriminating unit - that is also affordable.

 

[Willy]

One thing to remember when listening to the 'thumping bass' coming from one of those cars is that the power being pushed through those speakers can be up to a few THOUSAND watts. Only a small fraction of that is being used for the high end. Put that much power through a tweeter and it will shatter the glass and rupture your eardrums. ..Willy.