I am mostly a relic hunter, but was wondering what coin hunters consider the best detector out there for putting older copper and silver coins in their pouch on a regular basis ? Sounds to me like Minelab might be very good, with their CTX 3030 or Etrac. I would be interested in hearing anyones opinions. Thanks, Mark

I'm always on the search for the ultimate copper/silver detector since that is my primary goal.
So far the CTX 3030 has been the best I have found for my highly minerized ground in the Pacific NW.
I would love to find something even better so I will be watching this thread.
Bryan

The two best I have found are my ctx 3030 and Tom tuned CZ 6a. They are the best at ID coin at the 6 to 9 inch range where the older coins are at in my area. Colorado soil affects ID on my deus and f 75 in which they see the deep coins and I'd them as 80s to 90s but the same for deep trash. I don't dig deep ring pulls and beaver tails with the ctx or cz, allowing me to dig more deep older coins.

Etrac, CTX3030, Explorers, Safari.

Sovereign...8 inch coinsearch coil..

Dug hundreds and hundreds pieces of silver with that unit ..and wasn't even looking for silver..


Used to hunt town yards alot in the early 90's...and deep minnie balls sounded just like a deep piece of silver.....So chasing minnie balls at a foot or more also led to 10+ inch silver coins....that was so much fun...you wonldent believe the Seated coins I pulled out of those yards in these old towns around here back then...Of course alot of the silver was shallow ..

used to sell the barber and up silver and copper about once a month to a local digger..and keep the below barber coins....And big penny's..

Man what fun times!!

Me and my buddy hunted alot together in the historical districts and alot of those yards were virgin but trashy the Sovereign would just talk to you on those deepies like no other unit at the time and also whoever had the least bullets had to buy lunch the next day..

I was always amazed at how many Silver quarters there was back then!!especially Washington's around WW2 era..

we left tons of stuff in those yards as we were just cherry picking for high hits...then I bought a bar meter for my Sov..and with that expanded range button commenced to dig all sort of Nickels Too...you can't just go digging willy nilly in a historical registered house..and we used big sharp knives and cut clean pretty plugs..get through knock on next door...

times like that will never be repeated again I'm afraid..



Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2016 03:10AM by Keith Southern.

In "My Ground" The Etrac/Explorer and Fisher CZs are King for Deep Silver.

Etrac, CTX & Explorers (Explorer 2 in particular) in that order.------I've dug hundreds & hundreds of silver coins over the years with those mentioned units---and I WAS looking.

E-trac and if on the cheap Omega 8000

For our hammered silver coin that crown belong too the Deus c/w 9'' Coil and also the Laser B3

In my ground and my type of trashy park hunting, I stay with the F 75, Omega and A T Pro. Nice comfortable swings and they have averaged me 130 + silver coins annually since retiring in 2006. HH jim tn

Minelab Explorer SE Pro and Minelab Etrac tie for 1st place. 2nd place goes for Minelab CTX3030. I've owned all these units. I spent the most time with the CTX3030 and the Etrac. In my opinion the Etrac stops you in your tracks when your coil is over silver, something the CTX3030 doesn't do. I prefer the audio on the Explorers and Etrac vs the CTX3030. The CTX3030 may have more accurate target ID visually, however the nuances (variability and limits settings) that's on the Etrac enable the user to literally differentiate silver coins from clad and iron falsing, solely through audio. In heavy iron I'd take a CTX3030 all day, but at a cleaner site, where deep old silver is hiding, the Minelab Etrac wins. Hands down.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2016 07:19AM by Jressman.

This Q is like asking "How long is a piece of string?"

In truth, silver is a great conductor and ALL detectors will react to it strongly.

What you 'should be' asking is: "Which detector/s are the best un-masker's?" (to get thru the trash to locate silver below)

Des D Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This Q is like asking "How long is a piece of
> string?"
>
> In truth, silver is a great conductor and ALL
> detectors will react to it strongly.
>
> What you 'should be' asking is: "Which detector/s
> are the best un-masker's?" (to get thru the trash
> to locate silver below)


Ok Des-----I'm going to start another post to ask that very question! (so as not to "hi-jack this post/thread).---------Del

On clean pasture my etrac was great, though i found more copper coins than silver, guess that's just what i walked over.

Tossup between CZ's and Minelab Explorer series....CZ's for cleaner areas, Minelab for junkier areas..

Looks like Minelab is most popular.

E-trac.......Is there another ?......

Dan-Pa. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tossup between CZ's and Minelab Explorer
> series....CZ's for cleaner areas, Minelab for
> junkier areas..


Dan,

I would have thought the opposite as you - CZ's in junky areas the Minelab Explorer in cleaner areas.
My older CZ-6a was pretty god in trash!

Des D

I have not been through the units as many on this forum, so I can't answer with accuracy. Over the years reading and listening, the Explorer series, and I'll include the E-trac in there, have been bragged about hitting silver. I have both units leaning on the wall in my office but only have a small amount of hours with them.

My buddy purchased the E-trac when it first came out and did not dig a silver coin in a years worth of detecting, go figure.

Most of the silver I have was detected was with the first line of f-75 units, probably because of the many hours with them. I will say it detects copper and lead much better.

My cz hits silver very well.... and I have had my best individual silver days with it.

I like my MXT's But the ML Musketeer Advantage loved deep silver, It would blow ya ears off on shallow small silver coins in the 4 to 6 inch range and on larger silver down deeper it was one of if not the best at coins in the 8 to 10 inch + range, It is a shame minelab stopped making them because they were good, But I am hitting my deepest coins I have ever hit with the MXT's, It just seems to work or suit my hunting style.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2016 12:12PM by auminesweeper.

In my area for deep silver and coppers would be the etrac and the old CZ5. The F75 and the V3i are pretty close.
HH
Corey

CTX followed closely by the E-Trac would be it for me on silver, especially deeper.
As a couple others said the Omega 8000 if money is a problem (or your back!).
One of my best spots I hit first with an Omega 8000, I might have found another 2% worth of coins with the E-Trac (slightly deeper) and then .05% more with CTX (again, slightly deeper).

But when it comes to pure fun, the FBS are hard to beat with the 2D screen.

Albert

E Trac. Has worked for me getting deep silver with a good ID. As of late the Makro Racer 2 with the 5" ORR coil is the best for me. Not the deepest but will see coins others just go over. I also go to the 5x10 and hunt tot lots with it. It likes small gold I have found. I use the small coil and "pole bump" just like I was using the Compadre for. Super fast response. Lots of coins and jewelry next to the poles others go by. JR

Omega 8000 it is deeper than e track
[m.youtube.com]

Denari Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Omega 8000 it is deeper than e track
> [m.youtube.com]


The Omega 8000 with the 13" Ultimate coil is fairly deep----but----there's NO WAY it's deeper than the Etrac, not in "my ground" it isn't!

I think it is impossible to really answer your question unless it is more specifically defined, in several categories, really. For example, there are the following things to consider:

1.. How long has a person been involved in the metal detecting hobby? Those of us who got our start in the mid-'60s or during the '70s, and who got out detecting very often (which was really encouraging due to the vast amount of coins that were out there to be discovered!) found more coins in a matter of days-to-weeks than almost anyone can get out and find today, or in the past decade or two, inn an entire year.

2.. Perhaps from what type of location concentrations, such as traditional Coin Hunting in urban parks, schools, yards, etc. Beach Hunting many popular, high-use, and used long-ago beaches, Silver coins from Relic Hunting rural, out-of-the-way places like pioneer and military encampments, homesteads, ghost towns, railroad depot or start stop sites, long-ago picnic and recreations sites, etc.

3.. You could even break the question down into 'seasonal' hunting activities for those who Coin Hunt during the late fall, winter, and early spring months, but get away for Relic Hunting when weather and site access is in their favor the rest of the year.

4.. Then, considering the duration of involvement in this great outdoor sport, it could even be asked to break an answer down into 5 year or 10 years periods we've been involves because times have changed and so have the available detectors as they have advanced, and we have often changed our personal detector battery and used a wide variety of detectors during our time enjoying this activity.

5.. Perhaps a final part of the requested question would be to NOT include any silver found in a Competiton Hunt, which has been or can be quite a total depending upon how long a responder has been detecting or if they participate in many Competition Hunts. Also, the final question might relate to USA Silver Coinage, and my personal opinion is a real 'Silver' coin is made up of at least 90% silver. I never count a "silver war nickel" as being a real 'silver' coil as it is not in the same class as a Half-Dime, Dime, Quarter, Half or Dollar made of 90% silver.

So I'll try to break my reply down in some different categories that I have been using metal detectors, and select the one, or ones, that helped me recover the bulk of my silver coins during those periods. I do not Beach Hunt on any regular basis so those recoveries I consider with Coin & Jewelry Hunting units used, and I'll just name the top three detectors, in silver recovery order of 1st, 2nd and 3rd, which I used that upped my silver coin count when Coin Hunting separate from Relic Hunting.

March '65 thru February '74..
Coin Hunting: Compass Yukon 77B ... White's Goldmaster 63 TR ... Fisher Orion 121 TR
Relic Hunting: Compass Yukon 77B ... Garrett Hunter BFO ... White's Goldmaster 63 TR

March '75 thru February '84..
Coin Hunting: Garrett American S2 TR ... Garrett Groundhog VLF/TR-Disc. ... Gold Mountain VIP Deluxe VLF/TR-Disc.
Relic Hunting: Tesoro Inca ... Gold Mountain VIP Deluxe ... Garrett American S2 TR

March '85 thru February '94..
Coin Hunting: Tesoro Inca & Bandido ... Gold Mountain Technologies GMT-1650/Cobra (the same detector) ... Pillar 4-Reale (made by Tesoro based on original Eldorado circuitry)
Relic Hunting: Tesoro Inca & Bandido ... Gold Mountain Technologies GMT-1650/Cobra (the same detector) ... Compass Gold Scanner

March '95 thru February '04..
Coin Hunting: Tesoro Bandido, Bandido II and Bandido II µMAX ... White's XLT ... White's Classic ID and IDX Pro (modified units)
Relic Hunting: Tesoro Bandido, Bandido II and Bandido II µMAX ... White's Classic ID and IDX Pro (modified units) ... White's XLT

March '05 thru February '14..
Coin Hunting: Teknetics Omega 8000 ... White's XLT ... White's 6000 Pro XL/XL Pro kind of tied for 3rd with a Minelab Sovereign XS 2a Pro
Relic Hunting: Tesoro Bandido, Bandido II, Bandido II µMAX ... White's MXT Pro ... White's Classic ID/IDX Pro (modified units)

March '15 to now..
Coin Hunting: Nokta FORS CoRe ... Tesoro Bandido II µMAX ... Makro Racer 2 ...
Relic Hunting: Nokta FORS Relic ... Makro Racer 2 ... Nokta FORS CoRe

Note that during the 'hey-day' of the metal detecting hobby here in the USA, which covered the first two periods I listed from March '65 thru February of '84, I used many, many different makes and models and was finding a lot of coins by Urban Coin Hunting since I lived in, or close to, larger-size metropolitan cities with many, many parks and schools and private yards I easily got on to hunt, and depending upon my work schedule I was able to reach a Coin Count tally each of those years from a minimum of about 25K to between 60K and 120K simply because I put in a lot of detecting time, and the higher counts were mostly in the '71 to '78 period.

Since then, with more and more people enjoying the hobby and helping me thin out the lost coins and other keepers, combined with some health mobility issues that have slowed me down, my annual coin counts have been less, and the biggest number I have reached in the past twenty years was 12,479 in 1998 when I did more urban Coin Hunting than Relic Hunting. My overall numbers are much smaller due to health, combined with the amount of time and effort I have dedicated to Relic Hunting older, out-of-the-way places that generally have a much smaller amount of coin loss. Plus, I have lived in smaller-size town that lack much in the way of active coin-loss potential sites to hunt.

Also, as a final thought to consider, since I have put in quite a bit of time afield working a detector for over five decades, both urban and rural, I have used a lot of detectors, but I can narrow down any selection I'd make today. If I was asked (and I just asked myself) which detectors out of all I have used do I think I would want to have in my personal arsenal today, that I enjoy (have fun) using and feel confident they will work well for me in the different types of detecting I do and with a goal to find older coins, especially silver, I would list them as follows:

Nokta FORS Relic
Nokta FORS CoRe
Makro Racer 2
Tesoro Bandido II and/or Bandido II microMAX
Tesoro Silver Sabre microMAX
Teknetics Omega 8000 Version 4

There are many other detectors that I do like, but for my personal wants and needs for the places I like to hunt, the six models listed, especially when outfitted with a smaller coil, are my overall favorites.

Most of the silver coins I have found over the past thirty years have come from old ghost tons and similar places where I have hunted, and they were found because I worked the old sites as efficiently as I can, and do my best to un-mask many keepers that have been masked for a long time from most detectors, so detector and coil selection are as important as site selection and having patience. In the twenty plus years prior, when I did more urban Coin & Jewelry Hunting and times were ripe in that early era at most traditional Coin Hunting places, any good detector simply required you to put in the time ... so I did.

I hope I didn't disrupt your initial thought too much with my reply.

Monte



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/27/2016 04:10AM by Monte.

That is an Impressive history Monte, and very interesting, You should write more tails of yesterday all on one thread, I think that you could keep some of us spell bound for hours and then some Thanks for posting that, I enjoyed that.

John.

earthmansurfer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CTX followed closely by the E-Trac would be it for
> me on silver, especially deeper.
> As a couple others said the Omega 8000 if money is
> a problem (or your back!).
> One of my best spots I hit first with an Omega
> 8000, I might have found another 2% worth of coins
> with the E-Trac (slightly deeper) and then .05%
> more with CTX (again, slightly deeper).
>
> But when it comes to pure fun, the FBS are hard to
> beat with the 2D screen.
>
> Albert

According to your YouTube videos you say the AKA Signum hits deeper that either of the Minelabs?

I think Monte's mind might explode if he used an FBS coin hunting.

CZ with 10.5" coil or Advantage with 10"+ coil

Tom

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