cannot make up my mind CZ-3D, F75 or T2

[fishracepoint]

Hello all
I currently have a GTAx 750 and looking to replace it with one of the above.
I am leaning towards the CZ-3D because what it claims to be designed for is
the way I hunt. the GTAx was almost useless on the beach and I would like to
beach hunt about 50% of the time. I would also like more depth coin hunting.
The only problem is I live in New England and there is a lot of trash in the hunting
grounds I visit. I would also consider a AT PRO if the majority can claim it can hold
its own to the above detectors.
Thanks for sharing your experiences

 

[HaroldILL.]

If you want old deep coins then the CZ-3D is the detector for you. As far as beach hunting it can do it,But others might be better as I don't beach hunt myself so maybe others can chime in on that. But coil for coil still the deepest coin machine made! IMHO.

 

[therover]

If so, and it will be 50% of your hunting time, then the 3D is the choice in my opinion. A 3D with all 3 coil options will be a super unit for anything except underwater hunting !

The F75/T2's are great units for coins/relics/jewelry and they have super recovery speed for trashy areas, but will far short when put on the wet, salt sand compared to the CZ. They will do better in iron laden areas and are ergonomically superior to a standard rod mounted CZ3D, but it is not as durable in the salt water environment as a CZ, and the CZ is much easier to set up and use.

Its a very hard decision when trying to compare, and some guys have both units. But if you have to pick one, and salt water beach hunting is going to be a major part of your hunting time, then in my opinion the 3D is the better choice.

 

[fishracepoint]

Thank you for the replies.
If I read you right I believe the recommendation would be different if the detecting was say 10-20% beach vs 50%???
What would be your recommendation if beach hunting was much lower like around 10-20%?
Also of the three for regular coin/relic hunting which would have the deepest seeking abilities?
Would it be a better decision to get a PI detector (sand shark or tiger shark) for the beach and a F75 or T2 for land?
I was trying to get a decent all around detector to cover all.
Last question is the CZ-21 a waterproofed CZ-3D?

Thanks again
Bob

 

[therover]

A PI would not be a good first choice for trashy beaches or beaches with a lot of iron. Remember, the Tiger Shark is not a PI ( the Sand Shark is), and the Tiger is not a good first choice for salt water beaches.

A CZ21 is not a waterproof 3D but similar....the 3D has 4 tones ( CZ21 has 3). The 3D has an enhanced mode for older sites, where it will ID certain older coins as a high tone vs a mid tone on the other CZ's. The CZ21 has a hard wired coil and headphones whereas the 3D and other land based CZ's have the ability to change coils and run whatever headphones you like. The CZ21 is locked in salt mode, so it will be a bit less sensitive to smaller gold than a regular CZ running in normal/enhanced mode. Most times, you will have to run a CZ in salt mode anyway when hunting the wet,salt sand and suds, but when up in the dry, you can switch to normal ( or enhanced on the 3D) and have better sensitivity to smaller gold targets.

Depth wise, CZ's are one of the best in that department. So comparing depth with other units, a properly tuned CZ can stand toe to toe ( coil size being the same) with any VLF unit.

It really depends on where you will be hunting the most, and what you are looking for. In trashy sites where recovery speed is paramount, the F75/T2 will be the unit. If you want older coins, silver and want the beach hunt areas that are not too trashy or don't have too much iron in them, the CZ3D is the unit. The main thing with the 3D is you will not be relegated to the dry sand when on the beach. It stinks when you have a single frequency VLF unit that can't hunt in the wet, salt sand due to falsing or the inability to ground balance, and all the good targets are in the wet sand and suds. If you have a CZ, you won't miss out when that happens.

 

[tvr]

CZ-21 is a waterproof CZ of the three audio tone version; locked in salt mode. The 3D has 4 tones as well as the meter and lets you select salt mode. CZ's are easy to get going with; yet the more time you spend with them the better you get at reading targets, unmasking targets and getting deeper targets

F75-LTD is deep, so is a CZ. Unmaking targets in heavy trash, the F75 gets the nod; but a CZ worked slowly while walking round a target does not leave much behind.

I have an F75 in the LTD version that I use mostly for land. It does do the beach, including the wet salt sand, pretty well. It is mentally fatiguing for me over the wet salt parts and the ground balance setting must be kept spot on for the F75 to keep deep and keep from falsing on the wet salt sand. Kind of suspect the T2 would behave somewhat similarly.

If I could only choose one or two detectors to have, I think a CZ would be a top pick. I have a CZ6A and CZ20. The CZ6A actually gets more use. It is splash resistant, meaning I don't worry too much if it rains. I can pick my coil based on conditions. Finding rings in the ankle to knee deep water kind of pulled me into hunting the water deeper than I could with a detector that isn't water proof. I got the CZ20 for that. Have also picked up a couple of PI detectors. If there is not a lot of iron trash, I will hunt a beach with a PI. If the beach has iron trash, I'll frequently put the PI away and pull out the CZ6A for sand work and the CZ20 or Excal to go wading with.

I guess what I'm trying to say is a CZ3D with the 3 coils will serve you very well for dirt and beach. I'd recommend a rain cover for it. If you are drawn to get into the water, I'd add a waterproof detector while keeping the more general purpose 3D. You may also want to try different detectors. For me, as long as I don't jeopardize the finances, there is no such thing as too many detectors and the accessories to go with them.
Cheers,
tvr

Edit to add:
PS ... LOL ... looks like therover was typing faster than me. He probably digs more good targets than I dig too!

 

[Steve O]

Not much left to be said. I agree with the guys above.

The cz3d can be hip or chest mounted, slides off the shaft and has wide built in slots for a belt/strap to go through. Important; as stated above, protect the 3d from any and all salt and fresh water splashes. After getting to know with the cz, you will treat it special.

I would also suggest you get it (cz3d) tuned/calibrated from the man in Florida called Tom D. That way you know it's running the best it possibly can.

If you were never hitting the salt beach, and intended to hunt high nail/iron sites along with fields, my preference for an all around unit would change to the f-75 or the t-2, more points for the 75.
If you decide on the f-75 or the t-2, get the ones with boost mode.
If you can't put up with sparky detectors, the f-75 isn't the unit for you. The cz runs quiet, compared. The 75 and t-2 are more sensitive to smaller metal pieces.
I apologize if I repeated anything the guys above stated....have a blast!

 

[fishracepoint]

it does not look like there is a difference between the F75 and the T2.
I cannot find anything except the logo. Does anyone have more insight?

thanks again

 

[Bowie]

There are differences in the F75,T2. The T2 has more iron resolution than the F75,which is a good thing if you relic hunt. Not saying you cant relic hunt with the F75, you can, as it responds very fast in trashy situations. You can get both models with the boost process mode.
I would love to try out a CZ 3D or 6a. But, most places I hunt are very nasty.
I hope,if you purchase one of the CZs, you post your experiences with it.
Best of luck,
John

 

[pasttom]

Maybe not an issue for you but the T2 lacks a backlight and does not memorize settings when turned off. It usually runs about $200 less new for equivalent models and then that difference reduces with used ones. Both are fine units but really not for wet salt sand or water use.
Almost any unit will hunt dry sand like a champ. Wet salt sand requires PI or multi-freq for optimal effectiveness. Yet some guys seem to do pretty darn well with a VLF just to spite the rest of us. Go figure! Good fortune in what you decide. There is much wisdom in many counselors, also a fair amount of confusion.

 

[sprchng]

I'm a newbie to the CZ but I use the 75 se often,,,,when it will allow me in my highly magnetic soil. Above 85 GB on the 75 it becomes very erratic at all but low sensitivites to magnetite in the ground and falsing is constant. In the short hunts I've had with the 3D it seems to be much more stable than the 75 but sens.and GB are still critical. I like the tones on the 3D better than the 75 even without the DP tones. The 75 is definitely more ergonomic----I haven't tried the CZ chest/hip mounted yet but that could be terrific. I'll find out as soon as it comes back from Florida.

 

[fishracepoint]

Thanks sprchng that is some good info, looking forward to the follow up.

 

[sprchng]

Today was the first opportunity I've had to run the 3D after the tune up. Turns out it was pretty close to specs to begin with so I didn't see much difference.
I hunted a modern school field with light trash for about 90 minutes or so. I rigged a slick chest mount setup as I wanted to try that style and was very happy with the ergonomics with the 8" coil. Ground balancing is abit different but not difficult. This ground settles about 80 to 85 on the 75ltd and between 3 and 4 on the 3D---I would sure like to see a tracking sytem as it fluctuates quickly here which makes the fast grab ground balancing on the 75 very nice. With a little practice I found ways to accomodate the ground on the 3D pretty quickly as well. The biggest difference apparent to me was the more discernible the notes are on the 3D -- especially high tone falsing which is prevalent with this soil. A real hit on the 3D is much more distinct from the falsing and you can run a little higher sensitivity than you can with the 75. I do miss the TID numbers on the 75 but the meter on the 3D was growing on me real fast.
Definitely going to be in the market for the 10" coil or a FZ-12 would be even better---if any of you have one laying around that you don't use , shoot me a pm

 

[Rainyday101]

There is a common misconception that the newer CZ3D's are not as good as the older Los Banos ones. Dave Johnson posted on another forum about this. He said near the end of Fisher they started a shortened calibration process to save time and money on the 3D calibration. When First Texas bought them, it took them awhile to learn about this. They had to find the old calibration procedure and put it into effect. Since then there is little to no difference between an early Los Banos and the newer ones. There is a time period of the old Los Banos 1021's and the first ones from First Texas where they were calibrated with the shortened procedure and they might not be tuned as good as older ones or the newer ones. The calibration of these is time consuming and involves like 21 steps to do it.

So just because you have a 1021 CZ3D doesn't mean it was properly tuned when it left Fisher. Near the end of Fisher the 1021's were done using the abbreviated tuning process to save money.

 

[pasttom]

I believe there must be factors beyond the calibration procedure that account for the legendary 1021 performance. Otherwise Tom would be able to zap them all to 12 inch plus monsters.

 

[Steve O]

True that, pastom.

 

[rob]

Hands down, the F75 will out perform those other machines. Don't get me wrong, the CZ will perform as good as any unit out there but the digital upgrade to what is out on the market, they are hard to beat.

 

[NEBeachcomber]

Hello fishracepoint,

I live in Massachusetts north of Boston and if I had to choose between the detectors you named it would be the CZ3D that I would select.

I presently own a CZ6a , a CZ7a and CZ3d. I use the CZ6a and 7a on the beaches and save my "Tom D." tuned CZ3d to look for the older coins in the black dirt.

"Fisher CZ anything would be my choice for hunting our areas in New England."

-NEBeachcomber

 

[pasttom]

Just an odd late night thought... Have you ever tried salt mode when your 3d won't behave? My experience is it reduces depth a bit and never use it when I can go normal/enhanced, but it might be worth a try!
Tom

 

[Justin E]

Do you have a dealership close by that might let you test these detectors out? That'd be my best bet. You'd also get the added benefit of talking with someone who may have detected in some of the same locations you're planning on detecting. That'll give you some first-hand experience as to what may serve you best.