oneguy said:
Thanks Rainy.... I definately need to test more junk by air....too much work in the field....lol I've laid silver dime, IH penny, silver quarter on ground with different (high) disc and got a good 7" on silver dime (weak 8") and strong 8" on IH penny, and of course stronger and higher on quarter. NO DOUBT the Tejon goes deep. Dug a wheatie yesterday @ 7+" and I was impressed. The machine (so far to me) just doesn't seem to disc crap out very well imo...??? I'm also used to the notch and I use it religiously so that most likely has me off kilter. I'll play with it more but my gut is telling me to unload the thing and find a SILVER coinshooter........
That silver coinshooter in my eyes is a detector that does not exist yet, at least I haven't found it yet. Some would argue that machine does exist and it's called an E-Trac. Might be, but I can't see dropping $1500 for a detector. The Whites M6 is a good coin finder but like the Vaq. it is also in the 14KHz freq range. Some say that the freq. thing is over rated and is a remant of earlier detectors with lower freq's being the ticket for silver. I don't know if that is true or not. Plenty of guys find silver with Vaqs. and M6's. I personally have not used one of Tesoro's Hot series detectors yet like the Cibola, Vaq., or Tejon. For land I currently use a Silver uMax and with the disc set just short of zinc and I have no problem cherry picking coins all day and dig very little trash. If I just want silver I can turn the disc past zinc and just hunt for bigger clad and silver. I very rarely do this because old wheaties tell me I'm in the right area.
Digging little trash with the Silver just took time to learn what it was telling me. Some older tabs try to break into the zinc range, but never have a clean tone from two directions. I skip them. Every now and again I dig one of those targets just to check and several times I have found a penny on edge. Can't see how a display would be any better at this because the VDI number would be in the trash range. When I get fooled it is almost always a crushed twist off cap. Big metal for me is no problem because when pinpointing it just doesn't size up like a coin. The Silver doesn't have me digging small metal at all. The uMax series of detectors from what I have seen is kick-as% at finding coins. The only drawback is they don't have the depth of a Vaq., Tejon, Cibola, or Lobo. Their depth in my mild soil has been impressive though with several coins approaching the 8" mark. Looking at the dates of these coins I do believe there is older deeper silver.
As stated earlier most public places have been cleaned of silver long ago. About 10 years ago I found silver on a weekly basis- much harder pickings today and most of the silver I have found lately was there because it was well masked by tabs and crap. Others have just missed it. Depth is important, BUT target separation and recovery speed are more important yet in my opinion. This is for sure where the Tesoro uMax's do really well. If those detectors from an earlier time didn't have great depth silver coins may still be deep there. VLF detectors have reached there max depth that the laws of physics allow. Pump out more power and any mineralization will sound like a target. Dave Johnson had a nice article on the physics and science of VLF detectors and how the laws of physic have them at their max depth and this included multi freq. detectors as well. Some detectors can get more depth by having really sensitive recievers but they are EMI prone and need constant attention and adjustment.
In any manufacturer of detectors there are some time proven all-rounders. Tesoro is no exception to this. The Vaq. and Tejon interest me also, but many have said the trade off to their excellent depth is an attraction for small metal. The 505 Xterra gets my attention because you can purchase a 3Khz coil for it, but that coil is expensive. The target separation and recovery time on the Xterra is good or bad depending on who you talk too. The Whites M6 has a cult following just like the Vaq. Fisher and Teknetics need to address EMI issues before I will even consider them. Tesoro's handle EMI really well. Then there is the new Whites MX5. Pretty interesting detector but too new to tell. Another interesting possibility for a silver coins shooter is the Detector Pro Pirate Pro detector operating at 2.5 Khz. It is hard to find information on land use for these and some say depth on silver is incredible, but I have yet to see an air test. So for now I just stick with Silver uMax and keep popping coins out of the ground. Currently the only uMax detector with a ground balance is the Outlaw and that interest me but it would not have much or very little depth advantage over my Silver and it has some quirky operation characteristics with the retune that just have me wondering.
If you find that perfect silver coin shooter let me know because I will be next inline to buy one.
