Best Coin ID’er Detectors at Depth?

[MetalDetectorDude]

Ok, which detector let’s get some opinions on what’s the best TID detector – what’s your top 3 or top 2 or top1?

I’ll go first… So far the Etrac has been my top at TID at depth, and then the ATPro… but I only have experience with 4 or 5 machines.

1) Etrac
2) AtPro

 

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[cudamark]

My old White's Eagle SL90 (and the Spectrum XLT too) is exceptional on target I.D. but it doesn't quite get the depth of my E-trac. With the SL90 I could tell a wheat from a copper memorial with more than 90% accuracy. I can't even come close to that with the E-trac. If I get a 12-44 with the E-trac and it might be a wheat, copper memorial, or a clad dime. Since I would dig them all anyway, it's not a problem, but you'd think it would be a bit better at it for the price you pay.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Yes, eagle sl90 was fun TID . But I would not classify that as " .... at depth "

I'd go with the exp. II.

And for its era , there was nothing that could touch the Tek. Mark 1. Eh?

 

[treasurecoasteric]

My MXT Pro with the 12" goes pretty deep.

 

[mandad76]

With the right pilot in the cockpit....whites spectra v3i!

 

[RobRieman]

With the right pilot in the cockpit....whites spectra v3i!

I will second that vote.

 

[cudamark]

Yes, eagle sl90 was fun TID . But I would not classify that as " .... at depth " I'd go with the exp. II. And for its era , there was nothing that could touch the Tek. Mark 1. Eh?

The SL90 would be quite accurate down to about 8" and most of our areas don't have targets deeper than that due to our adobe ground. I never had a Tek. Mark 1 but I found the Explorer had the same blurring of targets that the E-trac has. It can't tell a dime from a cent with any degree of certainty, and a wheat from a memorial......forget it. This was one of the first Explorers so maybe the 2 was better at that?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

... This was one of the first Explorers so maybe the 2 was better at that?

No. If that's what you mean (a clad dime apart from a copper penny), then no, neither can the Exp. II do that. However, to my recollection, the SLII didn't do it either. Well .... in a staged air test, shallow, with fresh coins, yes. But in actual field conditions, that would have been hard to do, in my opinion.

Now silver dimes versus clad dimes and pennies, yes; all day long (assuming fairly shallow in good soil and not masked). For that purpose the SLII did better than the Exp. II does today.

 

[cudamark]

Depending on depth and moisture content, silver dimes on the SL90 are '82-3, clad dimes are 79-81, memorials are 77-8, and wheats are 74-6....at least on my machine....and 2 of my friend's machines. Now I'm sure you can find some alkaline cesspool or other bad ground somewhere where they'll all sound the same but in the areas I've hunted these are the numbers I get, down to the 8" level. In favorable ground, like dry beach sand, they'll be accurate even deeper. The E-trac says 12-44 for all of them, but will do so at deeper levels, so I can live with that! The Explorer I used had similar results. Of the modern machines, the CTX is the most impressive to me. I've borrowed a couple from friends, so I'm not a 100 hour veteran yet but I do have hundreds of hours on the E-trac which has the same numbering system and similar features. It doesn't do much better on exact TID but it does so at impressive depths....especially with that 17" coil. If I knew a 12-44 was a memorial, I might pass it by if it was necessary to cut a plug, but I would scoop it at the beach. If it was deep enough in an old park, I'd still dig it as it might be something good. I dug the '77-8's with my SL90 too, even though it was almost a certainty that it was a memorial. I've found a few silver rings, other jewelry, and wheats/mercs with those numbers from time to time that would try to fool you. Until they come up with a detector that will give you a digital photo of the target before you dig, it's just best to dig anything close to a good TID if you don't want to miss something good. You just need to weigh the likely outcome vs. the effort involved. To get back to the OP's question, I'd get a machine that goes deep if that is where the good targets are, regardless of how accurate the TID is. If you have it set correctly, and your hearing is ok, you'll eventually learn what to dig and what to pass by even if the numbers are iffy.

 

[RustyGold]

My vote is for the Minelab Explorer! I just purchased a new Minelab Explorer SE Pro and I'm blown away at this detector's ability to accurately ID a coin (Low ferrous to Non Ferrous) and it goes really deep!

 

[norbyx]

My MXT Pro with the 12" goes pretty deep.

I agree, not even the v3i has better id than the mxt....