The Iron Maiden
Greenie
Hi everyone,
Been reading here as a guest for a while; finally registered so I could post.
Have been metal detecting for a couple of years with a used Garrett GTI 2500 that is on borrowed time. It's always had strange quirks (I didn't know enough to ask the right questions when I got it), but now Treasure Talk is possessed and comes on by itself all the time, spontaneously spouting its entire vocabulary all in one go. Not so fun with headphones on.
Now that I've become well and truly addicted, I'd like to buy a new machine. There seem to be so many options, though, that I'm not sure what direction to go in. I've recently started detecting at a family property that will keep me happily occupied for years, so I want to get a metal detector that would be most ideal for that area.
The site I plan to concentrate on is a wooded area of several hundred acres that was home to a logging settlement in the late 1800's. There are multiple foundations and evidence of an old barn and a blacksmith. Relatives have lived on a different part of the same property since the '20s, and it's so well fenced off and isolated that no one is aware of it having been hunted before. As a result, it is really heavily infested with old trash - tons of small bits of wire, little scraps of metal, hundreds of nails, both square and round, etc., but all of this is at least 4 inches down after decades of leaf cover.
Even though I almost always run in all metal mode to avoid nulling, there has just seemed to be too much going on for any degree of accuracy with my current set-up (I do include the operator in that - maybe I'm doing something wrong. If it helps, I ground balance, sweep slowly, test good hits again at 90 degrees, have tried all combinations/permutations of threshold, sensitivity, etc. I've had lots of beautiful, clear belltones, free of any iron undertone, but not one of them has ever amounted to anything but....iron! I'm sure this happens regularly, but should it happen every time in an area like this?) In any case, now that the Garrett's voice has gone crazy, it's a bit of a moot point.
In terms of a buying a new metal detector (plus smaller coil), I would welcome any advice you would like to impart. I'm not asking for some fictional magic to get around the iron, and I don't want to stop looking for those relics, either, but it would be nice to have slightly better accuracy than I've been having thus far. I'm willing to put time and effort into this, so please don't hesitate to recommend something with a steep learning curve. I don't mind doing a lot of reading and trying things out - I just want to make sure that I am working with a good machine for the job. Minelab (specifically Etrac with 6x8 SEF) seems to have come up regularly in discussions about iron-rich areas, but so has Teknetics, Fisher, etc. Ultimately some of this obviously comes down to personal preference, but there's no doubt that different brands and models are geared towards specific strengths.
Thanks so much for reading, and for any suggestions you might have!
Been reading here as a guest for a while; finally registered so I could post.
Have been metal detecting for a couple of years with a used Garrett GTI 2500 that is on borrowed time. It's always had strange quirks (I didn't know enough to ask the right questions when I got it), but now Treasure Talk is possessed and comes on by itself all the time, spontaneously spouting its entire vocabulary all in one go. Not so fun with headphones on.
Now that I've become well and truly addicted, I'd like to buy a new machine. There seem to be so many options, though, that I'm not sure what direction to go in. I've recently started detecting at a family property that will keep me happily occupied for years, so I want to get a metal detector that would be most ideal for that area.
The site I plan to concentrate on is a wooded area of several hundred acres that was home to a logging settlement in the late 1800's. There are multiple foundations and evidence of an old barn and a blacksmith. Relatives have lived on a different part of the same property since the '20s, and it's so well fenced off and isolated that no one is aware of it having been hunted before. As a result, it is really heavily infested with old trash - tons of small bits of wire, little scraps of metal, hundreds of nails, both square and round, etc., but all of this is at least 4 inches down after decades of leaf cover.
Even though I almost always run in all metal mode to avoid nulling, there has just seemed to be too much going on for any degree of accuracy with my current set-up (I do include the operator in that - maybe I'm doing something wrong. If it helps, I ground balance, sweep slowly, test good hits again at 90 degrees, have tried all combinations/permutations of threshold, sensitivity, etc. I've had lots of beautiful, clear belltones, free of any iron undertone, but not one of them has ever amounted to anything but....iron! I'm sure this happens regularly, but should it happen every time in an area like this?) In any case, now that the Garrett's voice has gone crazy, it's a bit of a moot point.
In terms of a buying a new metal detector (plus smaller coil), I would welcome any advice you would like to impart. I'm not asking for some fictional magic to get around the iron, and I don't want to stop looking for those relics, either, but it would be nice to have slightly better accuracy than I've been having thus far. I'm willing to put time and effort into this, so please don't hesitate to recommend something with a steep learning curve. I don't mind doing a lot of reading and trying things out - I just want to make sure that I am working with a good machine for the job. Minelab (specifically Etrac with 6x8 SEF) seems to have come up regularly in discussions about iron-rich areas, but so has Teknetics, Fisher, etc. Ultimately some of this obviously comes down to personal preference, but there's no doubt that different brands and models are geared towards specific strengths.
Thanks so much for reading, and for any suggestions you might have!
