What's the best relic machine out there?

I am looking at getting a different relic machine this year, what do you guys recommend for one that gets excellent depth and has excellent target separation and has better discrimination than a DeepTech, thats not going to cost an arm and a leg to buy. I currently use a AT-Pro and a AT-Gold. My soil conditions are like Keith Southerns red clay and slate type soil. Some of the sites I hunt are pretty clean but some are trashy with modern day trash and a few have iron patches. I got my AT-Gold a little to late this year to really use it for the relic woods and I don't know if it's going to out perform the AT-Pro or not for relics.

Gee being an oldtimer many Southern hunters would kill for a Nautilus

1266 favorite of many..

TeJon perhaps

Shadow X-5
Well I covered some old favorites.... time for some input on new units I guess....

I would stick with what you have for now. And later get a deus. It appears an 11" coil will become available some time this year. I have opted to stay away from the big coil XP makes. My soil has some mineralization and I think I will get a little more depth with the 11" vs the 13" coil, plus the weight factor really won;t come into play with the 11" coil. With what you already have I wouldn't make an incremental step for the money you will be spending. With the deus you can head to the worst iron places to hunt and probably be successful. A version 3 should be released to the public shortly. This is supposed to make the deus even more deadly, like it's not already. You are realistically getting more than 1 detector with the deus. Just the other day I pounded this small site in 18khz setting. Switched to 8khz setting and out jumped a copper button. All the places I've used my deus I've pounded with etrac, F75se, White's V3i, and CTX. Just Friday my brother showed up with his etrac, ace 250 and V3i. I showed him the deus and told him what it would do. He had a shooter coil on his V3i. I layed a dime next to a rusty nail (only separated by about 3 playing card thickness) and let him sweep with his V3i. Neary a peep from any direction. He tried his ace 250 and same thing no signal when circling the target. I fired up the deus and the dime rang loud and clear and a good vdi(only read 3 points low). I varied the reactivity while my brother watched. No signal at 0 reactivity, a stutter at 1 reactvity, 2 good tone, 3 even better, 4 was a good tone too. My brother told me to pick up the dime. He thought the deus was ringing in on the iron, to his surprise it wasn't. We tried a similar setup comparing his etrac and my CTX. His etrac was very iffy at best, my CTX loud and clear with good ID 12-38. Not bad for a big bunch of rusty iron lying beside the clad dime. I hope my opinion helps you make a decision. And don't forget the deus' rod can be slid for a compact size, lightest great detector I know of, 4 freqs, entirely wireless. And it looks now to have a 5-year warranty if purchased starting at the beginning of the year. Now I'm not a dues rep or salesman either. Good luck.

Well theres the $64,000 dollar question Morgan...

What's the best??????????????????

I guess we should really be saying what kind of relics are you looking for...Brass? Iron? Deep artillery? All of the above.....Relics hidden hunter modern trash..

can be complicated to say the least to just name a machine ...

I approach relic huniting with the idea that Relics are of both ferrous and non ferrous content... actually some of my finer pieces are ferrous..

I notice you say you want something better than the Deeptech for more Disc ability..

And thats one of the things that I feared most people would dismiss about the Deeptech and to a lesser degree the GMP....The GMP does have the 3rd tone but iron only disc...
Those are purest detectors in the sense of purest wanting to dig iron implements along with non ferrous....So they have to be used in sites of ancient habitation...If they are used in sites with more modern iron or even sites abundant in lrger iron like kettle pieces and such people become burned out..Its no fault of the Deeptech or the Gmp its functioning as it should but it needs to be used in sites were it is designed to work....And I am afraid that's why the euro machine's designed for the specific purpose will not catch on here in the state's.

I enjoy the abiltiy to not dig nails yet dig the iron bigger than the nails...espaecially in campsites and civil war period house places and earlier...yet at the same time that is cumbersome in an 1880's house site and newer....In other words the Deeptechs/GMP's are not for day in day out hunting unless you just stay in old sites with the dig it all but nails mindset...its a tool ,,,Cant use a screwdriver to hammer a nail...

So to get off that...If you want to dig buttons and bullet's and more of the non ferrous implement's in the abundance of iron then the older 1266 and such is of limited use...the At-pro you have works very well for our soil..

Unless you really want to get that last bit out of a certian site the AT-PRO can work iron very well and modern trash very well....and at the same time dig alot of iron implement's IF YOU CHOOSE...I actually like the iron artifact selectability of the AT-PRO better than any FT machine's....it can talk to you...

One thing if you like to dig deep items away from trash a good all metal mode is paramount..And a whites 5900 can do wonders for those item's like deep bullet's..not the best in trash but for deep isolated higher conductors and artillery shell's...

A MXT makes a nice all arounder to and like's to dig selectable iron implment's...Yet your AT is deeper in Disc mode...The MXT is deper in all metal mode.

I was hoping the DEUS would offer us a threshold based autotune mode but it does not look like it did on the v3 maybe the v4...

But to be honest the AT-PRO can do alot for overall relic retrieval....

What you need next is a specialty relic machine yet you need to decide how when and where you want to use it...heck you might boil it down and find you need 2 specialty machine's..

I wanted the DEUS to the the multi replacer yet it is not quite there for that..Its still more of a iron unlocker than anything..
And to unlock in iron theres a couple of cheaper ways....GMP is one...DTVG is another....

The CTX is working Nice also in multi roles...I need more time in more diverse area's to see if it can become the true all arounder all you need machine..If I have an all-arounder I want it to meet or excell at every task against other machine's...

this decade has brought us a couple of High tech machine's Like the DEUS and CTX....Yet they cost a ransom it seems to own one...
I have ran alot of machine's and I am inclined at this point to stay in the 21st century...

I lean towards the CTX right now because of what I have seen in the iron with small coil and patience..Yet the DEUS is awesome too even with the 9 inch..DEUS might need a small coil,,HUMMMM....

Your best non ferrous in quantity is going to come form iron infested ancient site's....yet they are the hardest to hunt and the hardest to get keepers out of....patience is utmost in those site's......

You cant buy the detector go in a few times with no sucess and ignore the technology you have and try for something else when working iron...Iron unlocking is a learned trait by many .. and not yet realized by many more....

If you want to get a little more out of iron than your AT-PRO can find then theres only a few options then the cup is still not going to runneth over with find's...

The T2/F75 with small coil is in ways better
The DEUS/GMP is better
The DTVG is better
The CTX with small coil and proper settings and attitude is Better...

On a side note FBS works well in funky dirt with the right setting's always has...

In our dirt we cant see the full effects of the F75 like Tom sees in his dirt even when hunting iron...

Our dirt has alot of iron mineral and couple that with iron nails and such and we have more problem's...
Thats one reason I like the CTX right now is because it handles mineral well in a see through way and has precise abiltiy to unmask in iron..

Okay now that we are as clear as mud LOL!!!

lets figure out what you need..

I would like to get with you for a hunt sometime soon Morgan! ..It would be enjoyable..

Keith



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/16/2013 01:19AM by Keith Southern.

Thanks for the info guys looks like the deus or the CTX is the better detectors! Dan I loved using a 1266x I had one of the originals that had the white coil and twin stacked circuit boards and I found a ton with it, ended up having to sell it when I got in a pinch and have missed that detector ever since!! If I ever come across another I am going to jump on it. I had a Tejon once and traded it to Keith for a AT-Pro and since that I have been hooked on AT machines! I may need to hold off and see what this new multi frequency T2 is about. Keith we need to get together and hunt and you can show me how that CTX works.