Can it really be as easy as they say

[allison]

Greetings, I have been reading about a metal detector (Garrett) that has a visual screen that tells you exactly the coin you have found and exactly how deep it is. Now, based on my, somewhat limited, experience with my Excal 1000 I wonder if that is really possible. While I am trying to identify very similar signal sounds and undetermined depth, I read that this machine can tell me I have a nickle at 4 inches with accuracy. I'd like some opinions about this technology? It seems too good to be true, almost like political adds these days. Any who have opinions or experience with this type of detector please weigh in.
Sign me confused in Michigan.
Al Amstutz

 

[Art (NWOH)]

I have a couple of them in the closet that are not Garretts.

They tell you what they think an object is, and how deep.

They are also both liars and awful trash diggers.

The idea is this......
If an object has a conductivity that falls within a certain range, then it COULD be what the display says it is.
The strength of the hit indicates how deep.....on COIN sized objects.

It's not always as great as it sounds.


HH

 

[adam in cal]

It is true to the extent that it see what it believs is a quarter and on many occasions it is a quarter, but it also sees many things that are not a quarter and it says they are a quarter. a hunk of aluminium can will most likley read as a quarter if it is large, if it is a small hunk it will tell you its a nickel,they have a picture of a ring on the display and damn near every pull tab known to man reads as ''the ring'' , it has to determine what to cateroize the item under the coil as,and almost all the displays pictures are of good stuff , quarter, dime, nickle, penny, ring, and pull tab. It has to show one of those no matter what is under the coil, and you know damn well from experience just how much trash items are out there,so it is gonna be right sometimes but wrong alot ......

 

[Beachcomber]

The technology to do that has been around for over 20 years. The early models suffered from low accuracy. Today's machines are much more accurate at identifying targets. On pennies, dimes, and quarters the accuracy is up close to 90-95% on today's Target ID machines. Even a cheap Garret Ace 250 does a respectible job of target ID and depth measuring. The Sov and Excalibur both use an auto tuning ALL Metal Mode so you will never be able to accurately measure depth with those units, however as you become more familiar with them you will be able to get an idea of the depth by the strength of the audio signal from a target. The individual Audio Tones on a Sov and Excal are too close together for good target ID. Minelab did a much bettter job with the tonal range on the target ID on the Explorer. WIth an Explorer once you are used to it you can easily tell the denomination of coins just by the audio tone. THe one coin that no machine can accurately ID is a nickel and this is because ti is a low conductivity coin and there are a lot of other types of metal that have similar conductive properties and that fool the detector. So basically what I am saying is that the ad you are reading is NOT a lie. Metal detectors can do what you read and with a good degree of accuracy. If you are using an Excal I assume you do a lot of beach and water hunting. IF so I am sure that you already know that gold depending on it's size, it's Karat, and what metals it is alloyed with can read anywhere from just above iron all the way up to Quarter though gold rings that read above penny are rare. So for beach and water hunting you need to dig everthing other than iron if you want the gold and Platinum. For land hunting in trashy parks and schoolgrounds a machine with target ID does come in handy. There is no one perfect machine for all types of metal detecting. You need to get the best machine you can for the type of detecting that you do. If you like Minelab you can get a Sov GT with a Target ID Meter which won't have a long learning curve since you are already using an Excal which is basically a waterproof version of the Sov. Or you can move up to the Explorer SE which has good audio ID, visual ID, and depth measuring. JMHO Hope this helps!

HH

Beachcomber

 

[Rick(ND)]

Now I don't use a Excalibur, but use a Sovereign so I can use a 180 meter to help ID. Now with a target ID detector like some say will tell you what it thinks it is, but it is wrong many times. If you are picking clad coins and surface coins these target ID detectors will work OK, but now if there is trash around them or 2 or 3 different targets together they average them together. Now a dime and nickle together may show a pull tab and if it is deep it may show lower on the meter. A big alum can may show a quarter or a half dollar, so they are not that accurate. Now with my Sovereign with the 180 meter I can not tell a copper penny from a clad dime or a silver coin, but once you have used it long enough and get to know it you can get somewhat of a idea if it is silver or not by the way it act. I can tell a nickle from a pull tab most every time and can tell a zinc penny from a copper penny or pull tab too. Now on a deep alum can you can tell them too once you get to know it well too by the way it act and by raising the coil up a bit. Over all I tell everyone that the target ID on most detector lets the detector decide if you should dig or not, but the Sovereign gives you information with the tones, the meter reading and how the signal sounds and lets you the operator decide what to dig and what not to with a lot more accuracy than a target ID detector on deep coins and the old one we all are looking for.
I also feel with the Sovereign or the Excalibur you can tell a gold ring better too from a pulltab by the way the tone sounds smoother than a pulltab, never seen a target ID detector do that.


Rick

 

[allison]

Thanks everyone. Just as I suspected. the advertising is better than the reality. That is the way the advertising business goes. Make it sound perfect!! I do wish I could get a meter for the Excal, but for now I'll live with what I have and learn as I go.
AL

 

[Art (NWOH)]

If you are beach hunting for jewelry, a meter is practicaly worthless.

Small gold can be expected to start just above iron and run all the way up if it is really huge. Expect most of the larger gold to top out just below zincs. Nearly all of the non-ferrous trash falls in this range.

Silver will run between zincs and high coins. Guess where screwcaps are?? Same area.

Since jewelry is non-standard in size, shape, or metal alloy, a meter alone would be of little use. A feel for width, depth and the particular sound pattern an object makes is often more important than a particular tone pitch or meter reading.

For dirt hunting with my Sovs, my usual objective is to hunt for anything other than iron or aluminum trash. Rather than looking for perfect meter readings for things I want to dig (not practical in this case), I look for readings for things that I DO NOT want to dig.
Let's say that a particular area has quite a few tabs that sound pretty good (quality of sound pattern, but not so much the pitch), and most of these tabs fall under a few very specific meter readings, then I avoid anything that sounds good but has these readings. If I find some other junk 2 or 3 times that also has a good sound, I will add the reading to my "do not dig" list.
If there is too much variety in good sounding junk, I may change my strategy and hunt just for coins.

HH

 

[Rick(ND)]

Right on the money plus watch those weak iffy signals that are hard to get and repeatable with the tones trying to climb. I like to dig all repeatable weak signals I get in disc and check in all metal and are still weak as these are not modern trash and some great keepers.

Rick

 

[Art (NWOH)]

I include those kinds of hits in the "good" sounding category. Won't even look at the meter. Just pinpoint and start digging.

Also if it just sounds "different" from everything else. Like those hits on sleigh bells (chortle??) ?? Can't pass that one up.

Sinkers, clock parts, bullets get me going too.


HH

 

[pb-to-au]

You have the wrong machine for what you want.Get an Xterra or Explorer or other land machine with a meter.Not flawless id but with the Excaliber you dig every signal except iron, plus yopu have no pinpoint so you are digging BIG HOLES which are only cool at the beach. Six inch plugs in your local park get you noticed quickly.Get a land machine.

 

[jim/wpb]

it absolutely sucked on gold and silver. My excal and sovereign blow it away for the gold by a factor of a hundred.

My explorer is just too noisy for me...annoys me more than listening to Barbara Steisand and it consequently takes the relaxation out of the hobby. The sound of the Garrett's are also annoying....nothing like the harmonic good sounds of a great target.

The more you use a Sovereign or Excal, the better the sound identifying becomes.