Is it worth getting a used 4000 or 4500 to save some $? Is there anything comparable for $2500?
Those minelab nugget machines are not suited for coin-hunting ventures. OH sure, they'll "find" coins (even down to amazing depths), but they'll be too squirrely sensitive for hunting at places where your goal is coins. Eg.: do you really want to hear every speck of birdshot, every pinhead, every staple, etc... when hunting ghost-town like sites, or parks, relicky sites, etc...? No. Of course not. Because most nuggets found in nature are rarely larger than grain-of-rice sized, so nugget machines have to be super sensitive (and thus too sensitive and squirrely for coin/relic type sites).
There's machines designed to go back and forth between the two venue (coins and nuggets), but they excell in neither venue. The mxt is one such cross-over machine. But there will be better coin machines, and better nugget machines, than the mxt, for example.
Going back to your original question: When you say you want a machine that can go "2 to 3 ft deep", you fail to say what size object you want to get, at those depths. If you mean volkswagons, then even a cheapie machine can go that deep. You need to be specific.
