Should we buy deepest detector or not?

[George (MN)]

We hate to miss things that could be valuable, but what if we detect mostly manicured lawns such as schoolyards, private yards, & parks? If we can't make a hole neatly beyond 5" deep with our probe such as screwdriver, should we not buy detector that goes beyond 5" & save $1,000+?

We like to see impressive air tests if we do them, and congratulate ourselves on buying the best. But what if we get arrested for digging a foot deep hole? Should we not buy a detector that tempts us to dig that deep? What is the rational way to think about this?

Is we don't hunt private property, our deepest coins might come from beaches, sand playgrounds and volleyball pits. Is 7"-8" about the max depth required for these places? Best wishes, George (MN)

 

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[Phantasman]

Bigger coil worse seperation.

Yep. But deeper. In keeping with the OPs question, depth isn't everything. There's a lot of people who hunt with a 4" or 5" coil. And it's not about depth, but separation, masking and recovery speed. My X-70 was pretty deep, but doesn't hold a candle to the recovery speed of a FTP Fratbros detector. My Deleon was fast, but not as deep as my LRP. (ground balance?).

You can have a certain amount of control of how deep you want to go by coil selections. You don't have control of what the detectors recovery speed is. So my answer to the OP is, not always. Gold detectors are not as deep on coins as an AT, but the AT won't find the tiniest of gold either.

 

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[Detector Wars]

Depth is important if you don't have enough time to hunt a certain place. If you can go back to the same park over and over again and search it as long as you want along with different coils, then depth isn't as important, but you would still want something with decent depth.

Example: is one park that I searched extensively with my Tesoros. First coil I used was a very shallow coil, found silver and had plenty of time to try deeper coils and found a lot more. Also, different coils produced more, with the Compadre with the 5.75 coil producing the deepest finds! How was I able to get the deepest finds with my small coiled Compadre? I had all the time in the world and I had already cleared a lot of the junk. That meant I could turn the discrim down on the Comp. and get 7" on big coins.

I later acquired a FBS machine with a big ass coil, it truly is a depth monster and consistently find deeper coins with it than I ever did with my Tesoros. I went back to the park (as above) a few times now with this deeper setup and didn't miss anything with my Tesoros at all, not a single thing, not even in the outer areas!

If you have time, depth isn't as important, if you're dealing with competition or time constraints, depth is very important.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Bigger coil worse seperation. Terrible video. Notice he shows all the settings on the minelab except sensitivity. He says auto +3 but everyone know they are deeper in manual. I guess someone could argue but that's just the truth. I've owned alot of detectors and most seem to be real close in depth with a big edge to fbs detectors iding better the deeper the target. Alot will hit as deep with terrible id.

So true dirtscratcher, I get over 13 " on my 3030 hunting in manual but in auto +3 lucky to get 10 inches....

I also hunt with large coils all the time and I find a lot of deep and tiny targets. smallest gold ring with 15 inch coil is .04 gram and it was about 10 inches deep at the beach. I have hunted city and county parks with 15 inch coils and had no problem pinpointing and recovering multiple targets under the coil at the same time...

 

[dirtscratcher]

Depth is important if you don't have enough time to hunt a certain place. If you can go back to the same park over and over again and search it as long as you want along with different coils, then depth isn't as important, but you would still want something with decent depth.

Example: is one park that I searched extensively with my Tesoros. First coil I used was a very shallow coil, found silver and had plenty of time to try deeper coils and found a lot more. Also, different coils produced more, with the Compadre with the 5.75 coil producing the deepest finds! How was I able to get the deepest finds with my small coiled Compadre? I had all the time in the world and I had already cleared a lot of the junk. That meant I could turn the discrim down on the Comp. and get 7" on big coins.

I later acquired a FBS machine with a big ass coil, it truly is a depth monster and consistently find deeper coins with it than I ever did with my Tesoros. I went back to the park (as above) a few times now with this deeper setup and didn't miss anything with my Tesoros at all, not a single thing, not even in the outer areas!

If you have time, depth isn't as important, if you're dealing with competition or time constraints, depth is very important.

This just reinforces the need for more then one detector. We have parks where you won't find a silver coin or for that matter a wheat penny the isn't at least 8 inches or deeper.