Define Deep?

[BamaBill]

Frequently I see the term "it was deep" bandied around without some kind of comparison or estimated depth or anything to go by. I suspect deep for a coinshooter is different from a relic hunter and different than jewerly at the beach. Also, it would help if you mention if you were just going by the reading coming off the machine or had a ruler (marked off digger counts as well), or if you have done a reasonable calibration of what the machine is telling you and go by that. The more information we have to go by the more we can understand the conditions everybody is operating under. This actually could help in judging the performance of your own machine if you know more about the type of ground, depth, and settings.

 

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[wet willy]

That question is really deep, pun intended. I've never Metal Detected but I have dug in the ground and I would think digging deeper than 6 inches would be an awful lot of work for mostly pennies. Just my take on it.

 

[Digger]

Average = 1"-4"
Deep = 5"=7"
Very Deep = 8"=10"

Thats here in southwest Kansas

 

[thompy]

deep for me is 9 plus, my white had great depth reading, my t-2 i dont even bother looking usually says 5in., i use my digger, or arm in some cases

 

[jeff of pa]

being in a hole head first with only your feet sticking straight up
in the air.

No I never been that deep myself.

 

[Coin Digger]

I suppose how deep a detector will go depends on your location and what your hunting for.

For me I coin shoot public areas and an old site once or twice a year.

I’ve had my Classic 3 for about 7 years that I bought new. I’ve had it modified at Surfscanner Detectors. My detector really woke up after the modifications.

The soil here is good for farming; the public areas are usually fill dirt in areas around the buildings.

I thought I’d try to get as accurate a reading as possible with the fewest outside interferences using an air test and a dime.

With the machine balanced and set on factory presets I got:

61/2” – 7”

All metal and sens maxed I got:

Faint signal at 9”=10”

Strong signal at 6”-7”

Most everything I dig ( %$#@! pull tabs) is in the 4” or less range. I can dig forever digging up a 1/4 chunk of a Mt. Dew can.

 

[l.cutler]

I found a large cent at a measured 12 inches and an Indian cent at a measured 10 1/2 inches. I have found a few others at similar depths but these were actually measured. Both were found with a Fisher 1266X.

 

[BuckleBoy]

I found a large cent at a measured 12 inches and an Indian cent at a measured 10 1/2 inches. I have found a few others at similar depths but these were actually measured. Both were found with a Fisher 1266X.

I've found a Seated Half at 14 inches and an IH at about 10 with the same machine. I measured both with a tape measure.


-Buckleboy

 

[BamaBill]

I found a large cent at a measured 12 inches and an Indian cent at a measured 10 1/2 inches. I have found a few others at similar depths but these were actually measured. Both were found with a Fisher 1266X.

I've found a Seated Half at 14 inches and an IH at about 10 with the same machine. I measured both with a tape measure.


-Buckleboy

That's truly deep !!

 

[BuckleBoy]

I found a large cent at a measured 12 inches and an Indian cent at a measured 10 1/2 inches.  I have found a few others at similar depths but these were actually measured.  Both were found with a Fisher 1266X.

I've found a Seated Half at 14 inches and an IH at about 10 with the same machine.  I measured both with a tape measure.


-Buckleboy

That's truly deep !!

The secret is ultra-low discrimination and sensitivity at Max. I've dug minieballs at around a foot with it too. 1266 is a great machine--especially since its technology is now getting close to 20 years old.

 

[extractor]

AT 7 to 8 inches I call it a deep find

 

[SamsSon]

Bama you seem like a straight forward no bull kind of guy so I'll put it right out there.

If a detector can detect a freshly buried wheat penny at an honest 6 inches deep it's a deep VLF machine.

I've used most of what's out there and only a minority can do this. A few can beat it if fitted with the right coil and the soil is mild.

Our VLF's aren't nearly as CONSISTANTLY deep as we'd like to think they are.

 

[BamaBill]

Bama you seem like a straight forward no bull kind of guy so I'll put it right out there.

If a detector can detect a freshly buried wheat penny at an honest 6 inches deep it's a deep VLF machine.

I've used most of what's out there and only a minority can do this. A few can beat it if fitted with the right coil and the soil is mild.

Our VLF's aren't nearly as CONSISTANTLY deep as we'd like to think they are.

I believe you may be correct on this statement and its one of the reasons why I'm interested in the answer folks have to this question. It may also explain why some sites are never truly hunted out and the variability of it could explain why a new machine often finds things in an area that has been hunted before. Put quite simply, conditions- such as moisture content, iron stains, etc. are everything and IMHO maximizing capability comes with time spent on your machine. And, we need more actual readings taken with something other than a TID depth gauge. That info coupled with what kind of ground they were hunting in and whatever the finder can provide will help out everybody.

 

[thompy]

like i mentioned to you before, around 87 on my t-2 for GB, I'm not a coin hunter,but at time need to get a fix, most all coins i have found, or others have found around here are still in the sod roots, the 9" buffalo is the deepest i have found and was next to the sidewalk, where the yard was at a lower level, think the soil just built up around it, found it with a stock whites classic ID. it seemed to handle the soil quite well here, but up north it fell victim to the harsher mineral condition, i believe manily the magnitite

 

[SamsSon]

Bama you seem like a straight forward no bull kind of guy so I'll put it right out there.

If a detector can detect a freshly buried wheat penny at an honest 6 inches deep it's a deep VLF machine.

I've used most of what's out there and only a minority can do this. A few can beat it if fitted with the right coil and the soil is mild.

Our VLF's aren't nearly as CONSISTANTLY deep as we'd like to think they are.

I believe you may be correct on this statement and its one of the reasons why I'm interested in the answer folks have to this question. It may also explain why some sites are never truly hunted out and the variability of it could explain why a new machine often finds things in an area that has been hunted before. Put quite simply, conditions- such as moisture content, iron stains, etc. are everything and IMHO maximizing capability comes with time spent on your machine. And, we need more actual readings taken with something other than a TID depth gauge. That info coupled with what kind of ground they were hunting in and whatever the finder can provide will help out everybody.

You're right.

The TID is greatly lacking.

I discovered how wimpy our VLF's can be when I had some landscaping done. I hunted a small strip of land many many times with machines like Minelab, Nautilus, Tesoro, etc. I finally figured I got everything.

I had 3 to 4 inches of dirt removed from that site and dumped on the other side of the property. I checked this fresh dirt and found 2 indian cents, an old large advertising brass key laying on the fresh dirt, and a large brass padlock!

This is only one case.

These VLF's miss tons of goodies.

 

[BamaBill]

On that note, do PIs suffer from silent masking, like VLFs do? Are they as unstable as these tweaked out VLFs? Seems to me that if the answer to these two questions is no, I need to scrape together enough to go that route and accept that digging everything is going to get me more in the long run. I wonder when the Whites TDI is going to be officially available? Although that machine is actually heavier than an MXT and that's enough to give me pause.

 

[john37115]

Deep is anything coin sized 6" and over.
What most detectorist don't realize is masking is the largest enemy of the VLF type detector. Deep in an iron patch could be 2". Take a couple average sized nails and lay them on the ground on top of a coin or in the case of alot of VLF detectors within 2" of the coin, then swing your coil over it and see if you can pickup the coin. With alot of detectors there will be a null, some will give a broken signal. There are several things causes this, one is too much disc., another is too much sensitivity. Many times I have lowered my disc. to barely discriminate out 1 average sized rusty square nail and sensitivity to 1/3 power and dig old coins at 2" - 4" that have been passed over at least a hundred times by myself or other detectorist with same and different detectors.
I guess what I'm trying to say is deep/shallow is all viable territory for old coins or relics to be hiding in. Deep because alot of detectors don't have the penetrating power to see them. Shallow because alot of detectorist are running to hot and masking them out.

 

[SamsSon]

On that note, do PIs suffer from silent masking, like VLFs do? Are they as unstable as these tweaked out VLFs? Seems to me that if the answer to these two questions is no, I need to scrape together enough to go that route and accept that digging everything is going to get me more in the long run. I wonder when the Whites TDI is going to be officially available? Although that machine is actually heavier than an MXT and that's enough to give me pause.

The PI's as they stand today are not the answer. They can work great in some areas but not where most of us do most of our hunting (yards, super trashy sites).

PI's are for bad mineral sites that are pretty much free of trash.

All that's really happening today is the manufacturers are adding little gismos to sell more machines. The depth and consistancy of VLFs hasn't changed much in the last 15+ years. Personally I think even the multi frequency thing is mostly gimmick with very limited benefit.

We're just getting a bunch of banana oil from the detector makers.

What we really need today is a whole new detector concept. Until that comes along the best bet is to look for bargins on those used top notch quality machines.

 

[Coin Digger]

I owned an XLT until it was stolen 2 years ago, and I have to say I don't think it was any better at depth than my Classic 3.

What it is better at is customizing it to the site that your hunting. That's what you get with most high end machines.

As far as masking a smaller coil and slower swing can over come a lot. You may not get those deep ones with a small coil but at least your getting the ones you miss with a big coil.

 

[nc-joe]

I agree it depends where you are. While I was hunting in the rich black dirt of Nebraska, I found silver dimes with strong singal at 8" but weak signals at 9" (That's deep) but in the red clay of North Carolina a weak signal dime at 6" and strong signal at 5" is deep. Of course zinc pennies don't repsond as well and quarters respond better, I like to use the dime, because that's what I seem to find the most of and have a good feel of what is "deep" when talking about a depth of a dime.

Summary, Bad soil 5" + is deep on a dime.... Good Soil 8+ is deep on a dime.