Best detector for trashy areas

bigtime400

Sr. Member
Jan 27, 2007
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the moon
I have been thinking about buying a minelab explorer for a while now but every time I research I find something I dont know or steers me away. I want to hunt around old farms houses and parks..... I would imagine these areas are pretty trashy with roofing nails etc. But alot of it is probably deep I bet.... they are old houses. I thought the minelab had the best descrimination for detectors but the recovery seems to be a bit slow from what I was reading. Any suggestions?
 

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Iron Patch

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bscofield6 said:
Iron Patch said:
Thompy said:
i figure each to his own, i have seen the exp II in action, and was impressed , like i mentioned i started on the 2 filter whites, ive wanted a soverign, and thought about the quattro, but really feel that i would have a hard time slowing down that much, i may be missing something but feel pretty confident in my t-2, in my area i dont really find a lot of deep targets. there are many machines out there to fill personal needs. i loved my qxt, which was built to compete with the cz-7, but also like iron as the cz, one reason i never tryed the cz. i havent statted the t-2 is better, just effective and different than others, if looking for deep old silver i think the exp. is the way to go, i rellic hunt, trashy iron sites, little modern trash involved


Sounds like your view on the Explorer is incorrect and the way many others think too. It's the same as other units, if there isn't much trash you can pick up the pace, but if your around iron you have to slow things down. It sounds like we hunt the same type of sites and I can't imagine you fly through with a T2 or CZ? ..and if you do, you don't think you're not leaving targets behind? I have a friend who likes to cover ground and damn near gets airborne with the explorer and he still finds lots of targets. I stopped trying to tell him to slow down because he is happy with his results. If the Explorer is mainly for silver it sure isn't doing it's job for me as my Rev War buttons for the year out number my silver 4-2 and one coin was an out of place 1947 quarter, the other not even a coin signal. :D I've tried and tested against many detectors since starting to use the Explorer and nothing does as good over all for my hunting. Just like everyone else I use what works for me.

I agree that he must have been watching somebody who was afraid to move the Explorer too quickly and has heard too many people say 'when you think you are going really slow, then slow down a bit more' about the Explorer. I swing mine at a pretty good clip. Certainly I'm nowhere near what I've seen some White's guys go at, but I move at what I consider a pretty fast pace and pluck out my fair share of silver, indians, and wheats.

In just 10 hunts I have dug 198 GOOD targets this years. Take off 3 anomaly / short / experimental hunts and I have dug 190 GOOD targets in just 7 hunts, for an average of 27.14 old coins or silver jewelry per hunt. And these are not shallow junk targets, these are all DEEP hits that other detectors obviously passed over due to being too deep, on edge, going too quickly, or just now knowing their machine well enough to recognize a good targets laying in a field of nails.

If I am finding exceptionally deep / old coins in any area I will grid it again a 2nd time from a different angle and slow down to turtle speed and occasionally another find will surface, but more often than not I've gotten all I could find with my machine and its current settings.

It only gets better. Don and I added up have about 15 years on thing. :D Jeeze, that's some history right there. ;D
 

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bigtime400

bigtime400

Sr. Member
Jan 27, 2007
340
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the moon
well its a done deal!....... I bought an explorer se. We will have to see what it can do.... now my posts will go from What detector am I supposed to get? to How do you work this darn thing!? I hope I dont end up regreting it but I have been looking at detectors and talking to people for the last 2 years so I figured it was time to take the plunge. If nothing else the Explorers seem to have excellent resale on ebay! ;D
 

Iron Patch

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bigtime400 said:
well its a done deal!....... I bought an explorer se. We will have to see what it can do.... now my posts will go from What detector am I supposed to get? to How do you work this darn thing!? I hope I dont end up regreting it but I have been looking at detectors and talking to people for the last 2 years so I figured it was time to take the plunge. If nothing else the Explorers seem to have excellent resale on ebay! ;D

I just sold my diggin bud my back up Explorer II and he beat me on old coins his first day out 10-5... and was quite willing to admit he didn't know what he was doing.

Before anyone comments to that they should consider day 2. (Check the banner) :D
 

TerryC

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Jun 26, 2008
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I agree with Txkickergirl above. Any reputable detector will do the job. Just LISTEN to what it is saying to you... detectors don't lie.You just have to KNOW what it's telling you! TTC
 

Gregmid40

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Mar 20, 2013
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I have been thinking about buying a minelab explorer for a while now but every time I research I find something I dont know or steers me away. I want to hunt around old farms houses and parks..... I would imagine these areas are pretty trashy with roofing nails etc. But alot of it is probably deep I bet.... they are old houses. I thought the minelab had the best descrimination for detectors but the recovery seems to be a bit slow from what I was reading. Any suggestions?

Not trying to discourage you but around old farms, you will have to contend with a lot of large and/or deeply-buried rusty iron objects like plow bits and shovel heads which can often fool a digital detector. Even though they are almost always old objects, they can be a annoying especially if you're looking for individual coins and are using a digital detector like your Minelab (not well-suited to these sites for coin hunting). Better to go with a manual, non-digital, 'no-screen', turn-on-and-go detector (Tesoro, Deep Tech, the older Fisher 1200-Series and any other pre-digital detectors and/or brands) and learn the approximate width and shape of the target (not 100% reliable but not unreliable either) simply by the duration of the signal from north-south, east-west and using slow, low, and level sweeps. Remember to always sweep the coil slowly and as close to and parallel to the ground as possible when you're moving forward and (don't) get in a hurry. That's major reason many coin hunters lose a lot of good targets. Also, don't overlap any more than the width of your searchcoil as you move forward. Happy hunting....
 

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cudamark

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Almost a 5 year old thread.....I would imagine he's hunted the place by now! :laughing7:
 

Gregmid40

Jr. Member
Mar 20, 2013
52
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Detector(s) used
Bounty Hunter VLF/TR 840, Tesoro Tejon, Bounty Hunter Time Ranger, Fisher 1225,1260,1265,1266,1270X, Garrett Freedom Ace CDC, MP Series MP5 Pro, Garrett Coin Hunter TR Disc. (1978), Mikron NRG-110, De
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Almost a 5 year old thread.....I would imagine he's hunted the place by now! :laughing7:

Well, you might be laughing but those who take soil conditions, depth of the targets, detector performance, operator skill, target position, etc. into account WILL always have the last laugh. Get a good, deep, and uncomplicated to set up detector and add some operator skill and technique and you'd be surprised what you might find. Remember, no place is truly 'cleaned out'. I dare you to try it. You might be surprised....
 

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