Usable data vs depth vs seperation vs unmasking

Since it's a question mark on where you may live, and it also seems it's hard to get one detector to do all well, here are my recommendations. Discounting the CTX, a minelab etrac with stock coil will do. For a second detector hotter on jewelry and a better unmasker, the FORS CoRe will do. If the Racer is as good as the FORS unit it would be a good choice (ergonomics). Also if the Racer is as good as FORS unit, expect the bottom to fall out on used FORS units. So you could pick one of those up cheap. Another choice is a fisher F19 with stock coil and purchase the small and large coils that fit gold bug. This unit is light, easy to use and will see deep with 7x11 coil and will unmask very well. A good performer in medium to high mineralized soil.
Coil options are numerous for etrac, when I run one I felt the 6x8" sef coil was a very good. Deep too for it's size. I dug several 8-9 inch silver dimes. And I actually thought the 6x8 outperformed on etrac in harsher soil vs the stock coil and 10x12 sef coil. A word of caution. If you decide to go CTX route, be very leery when buying used. I know the unit is supposed to be waterproof, but I personally wouldn't want to buy one that's been exposed to salt water, and would even try and stay away from one that's been exposed to freshwater. I have all the units. If the racer does everything the FORs unit does. An etrac and a racer for 2 detectors is a hard battery of detectors to beat for the $$$$, performance, and ability to use on not so great a ground.

tnsharpshooter Wrote:
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> Since it's a question mark on where you may live,
> and it also seems it's hard to get one detector to
> do all well, here are my recommendations.


> Discounting the CTX, a minelab etrac with stock
> coil will do. For a second detector hotter on
> jewelry and a better unmasker, the FORS CoRe will
> do. If the Racer is as good as the FORS unit it
> would be a good choice (ergonomics). Also if the
> Racer is as good as FORS unit, expect the bottom
> to fall out on used FORS units. So you could pick
> one of those units

OK - not a Secret - I live in Omaha. I am up for several promotions if they go through I will either be in Northern California, Southern California, Houston, or El Paso TX. The reason I mentioned Beach is if I move to California or Houston - I would like to add beach hunting to my list of detecting pleasures. If I go to the El Paso - Gold, and Ghost Town hunting, in some pretty red soil ,may be added. Right now the most interesting hunting for me is Silver in Old parks in the area. It seems that a lot of old Silver is down 8 inches or more - I know a good hunter that would say it is more like 10 to 12 - so the good stuff is getting deep and it is covered by trash - a lot of trash in some areas.

Funny you mention waiting for the FORs to drop in price - I have thought about that - as far as I can tell - since all the top secret testers are not able to talk yet - the FORs Core and Racer will have very similar performance. If I went with Racer would go with stock unit not Pro package. I find it best to use only one coil when learning a machine. If I like then adding the extra coil down the line is a no brainer. I wonder if the FORs CoRe will drop enough to make it the clear -Cheap Detector Buyers - choice on a budget.

I think I have a pretty good idea how the Etrac would perform in my area since I had a Safari - not as much info as Etrac but pretty much the same technology. My Safari Nulled a lot - Iron Trash - so something that is good in an iron infested area and has some good - very good depth would be high on my list. Not sure the Etrac has any secrets up its sleeve the Safari did not to help with the Nulling - maybe it does.

CTX sounds nice but even used it is a 1500 to 2000 dollar investment. I can get several other used detectors for that price.

The New F75 LTD2 sounds nice I know they are deep and pretty good separation - My soil is not so bad so would be perfect for F75 - which I hear suffers a little in High Mineralization.

I am surprised no one has mentioned the XP Deus as an option.

White's MXT all Pro or the V3i or VX3 have some appeal since I started my Detecting career with White's. But I am afraid neither of them have the punch I need for deep silver - but I do think they booth could do well in Trash if set up right. I Have a strong electronic and RF background and I love the info options the V3 offers - No other Detector comes Close - even CTX and Etrac in my opinion. I think White's was on too something with the V3 - Multi Freq, Lots of Control of signal processing, and multiple ways to display the data received - but they have not moved the ball forward technology wise for quite a while. I do believe the next big thing in detecting is pattern recognition (multi Freq,some smart programers and lots of field work required).

I had not mentioned Budget but $750 is my target - Less is OK more is not unless I find a really sweet deal. :-)

Bryanna - Nebraska

Current - New to me but not new MXT Pro and T2 SE2 - Previous Minelab Sovereign GT, Minelab Safari, Whites DFX, Whites Eagle Spectrum
Smile its a good for you!

Well for $750 roughly sounds like used etrac or White's V3i, maybe a new racer, maybe a used FORS unit. As far as Deus goes. A nice detector, pricey though. The one thing the Deus does that makes it not such a good park hunter is the TID drops out of the screen on deepies. There are some that use them in parks and do well. You would be hard pressed to find a used on for $750.

One thing I will mention is. There has been much discussion with depth as it relates to where the goodies still exist. And I believe this is true, but I also believe more goodies at shallower depths still exists than people once thought. With the release of XP deus, I think a lot of people now realize good finds still exist at shallower depths, and these finds were being mask the whole time. And the F and T series fisher detectors were unable able to pull the finds out due to a combination of EMI problems, nonbleeding audio/tones, ground mineralization,and detector processing speed. And with the release of the FORS CoRe unit, operators in the field are too reporting good results in the unmasking department in areas frequented by them with other supposed good detectors for unmasking. Now the F75 and T2 have been updated to reduce EMI effects and fast audio selections are possible. I wish you luck in your search for a good detector that satisifies your needs.

i agree with regards to the parks still containing silver masked by trash at shallower depths.
here in new england my old park coin hunting has produced "most " coins at depth ranges of maybe
7" to surface.occasionally,one might get one deeper,say 8 " or so,but for the most part ,in MY experience,
the aforementioned is true.that said,age ranges on the coins have been from the late 1600's to the 1960's
with the proliferation of modern "crap",masking is 'first and foremost" the number one barrier to finding most of
the rest of the silver,in my view.

(h.h.!)
j.t.

The detectorist's nemesis is aluminum, it is everywhere. Lawn mowers and aluminum cans are my arch enemy, can't even hunt the old parks because the lawn mower guys like to run over beer cans. I even find can slaw at old dwellings far away from civilization out in the middle of nowhere on the plains of Kansas. Ya gotta dig it if you want to find anything because it could be hiding good targets underneath........... Rant over. Nails I can deal with using a fast response and quick recovery 2 filter detector.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2015 04:33AM by Hombre.