How Deep is Deep?

[Monty]

I am attending a club hunt Sunday and the first event is a deep coin event. Silver coins are buried from 8" to a foot deep and the contestants are awarded points for recovery . The one with the most points gets the grand prize. Since I don't know how deep my detectors will go, I buried a 1963 Silver quarter at 11" and went back to similate locating it with two of my detectors.
First I tried the GTI 2500 with the 9 1/2" standard coil. I was able to locate it using all metal mode and get a good reading on it, but it was coming up on the pop bottle cap icon instead of the silver icon. The size was reading out all wrong too, showing a size "E" at 12". I can't explain it!

Next I used the ACE250 with the new larger coil, also on all metal. I was able to pick up the coin faintly after much searching the same spot over and over and at different angles. I couldn't get a clear bell tone with either detector, rather an off key signal sounding more like a nickel, also in the vicinity of a nickel or a pop bottle lid.
So, I am at a dilemna. Neither detector really picked up the signal of the quarter vey well. Even though neither picked up the signal very well, I feel I must go with the advanced technology of the 2500. I can set the surface elimination to -4" and not be bothered with shallow random targets. If it works as claimed, I should be able to concentrate my hunting on productive ground. That remains to be seen! I am disappointed that neither machine was able to reach the 11" depth. Especially the GTI2500 that is advertised as being a deep seeking machine.
I will report back on how I did in the hunt Monday night. Monty

 

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[gemhunter]

Hi Monty, in message you said
"First I tried the GTI 2500 with the 9 1/2" standard coil. I was able to locate it using all metal mode and get a good reading on it, but it was coming up on the pop bottle cap icon instead of the silver icon. The size was reading out all wrong too, showing a size "E" at 12". I can't explain it!"

At 8" - 12" wouldn't that be pushing that limits of the smaller coil! They say a 9.5" coil to reach 8- 9in would be under good conditions, also because of the cone effect of the frequency waves, one has to have good over - lap on the coil swing.

maybe try the 12.5" coil next time, just my thoughts. Best to you.
Dave

 

[Monty]

I've tried the 12.5" coil on the beach and can't say I was too impressed with it. It didn't seem to give me the additional depth I would expect. Also, it is too darn heavy! It is difficult to manage and throws the entire detector out of balance. It is also much harder to pinpoint. Oh you can eventually pinpoint it correctly but it takes a while. Time is critically important on club hunts and I don't want to chance hitting a target and then not be able to find it when digging. I obviously need much more practice using the larger coil. Operator error no doubt! I'll just have to go with what I have and know best.....maybe next time? Monty

 

[stoney56]

Monty, bring all the coils with you and we can use their test plot. Maybe the soil conditions along with the moisture will make a difference.

 

[Monty]

Will do stoney. M

 

[Monty]

Thought I should come back to this topic and post the results since I asked the questions. I used the GTI 2500 with the standard coil and did just fine. I recovered about as many "deep" tokens as anyone else and had no trouble at all. Later in another hunt I used my ACE 250 as it was really hot and the ACE is so much easier to swing. I easily picked up buried wheat pennies and silver dimes at six to 9 inches with no problem. I probably could have used the ACE on the "deep" hunt and done just as well. It's good to know depth is not going to be a problem with either detector in these club hunts. Monty

 

[hollowpointred]

i was wondering how this worked out. glad to here everything worked ok.