I'm going to talk about the Minelab users for a minute.

[Larry (IL)]

I think it is a little of both Jack. The Minelab is is a good detector for certain hunting in certain ground and I can say the same for the DFX and V3 and the Garrett's and the Fishers and..........you get the idea.

 

[montanagold]

I just gotta get a word in here. I have been a Minelab user for a few years now but have only been an Explorer user for 6 months, so I am no expert by any means. I hunt with a few guys, Now I don't want to start throwing out a bunch of brands and upset people but I feel that this discussion kind of calls for it. Two of the guys have been using their Garrett GTI 2500's for several years and one guy has been a Whites DFX user for many years also. So we all go to this pounded park and I pull out (over the past couple of months) 9 Barbers 1 Seated 4 V nickels 2 Indian head and 4 Mercs as well as several Wheat's. We have all hunted this small area of the park about an acre or so over and over and yet this past weekend I pulled out 3 more Barbers from the same place we have been concentrating on. the total for all three of them from this park is 1 Barber 1 Indian a few Wheat's and some tokens. They are the experts this is all they do is coin hunt. so i am inclined to say that it cant always be the expertise of the operator but the machine has to have a big part of it. I have said it before and will continue I used the X Terra for my main hunting all last summer and did well with it. Lots of Mercs and silver quarters as well as about 50 Wheat's but never found anything older than 1910, then I got the SE and instantly started getting Indians, Barbers as well as other old finds. I didn't find my first pre 1900 coin until I got it. Now their pretty regular. ( for now ) The three guys that I mentioned earlier have found countless old coins through the years and they know their machines like the back of their hands. I myself have a lot of learning to do. But I do think that the results at this hunted out park should say something for the Explorer.

 

[Elton]

It's either great hunters with good machines, or great machines with good hunters....I think it's the Hunter as much as the machine... [size=large]Thats just an opinion.[/size].But time, and time, again the same top hunters find the better deeper finds..I tried the Se and did nothing with it..You tried the Explorer and did very well with it..You also are an Ace with the DFX..so it really appears it's the hunter...using you as a fine example..Or Bryce with the CZ70 and his beloved Se..
Another fine example of the man with either machine does very, very well.Thanks everyone for reading and adding your thoughts to this topic...I hope everyone has a banner year with many old coins found..

 

[Elton]

Your one of those guys that makes it happen... That's a compliment Sir..Not controversial statements..

 

[montanagold]

Thanks Elton. I always like your topics, They get people thinking and talking. I like reading about peoples finds but its these kind of topics that get me to where I cant wait to read the posts the next day. Truth is detecting is a frame of mind no matter what machine you are using. Its about getting out there and digging something up, whether it be with a detector or in an old dump digging up bottles. Some people are Ford lovers and some love Chevy, as long as you are driving on a summer day with the windows down and the radio blasting life is good.

 

[Elton]

[size=x-large]PS:

I would love Digging a bottle dump .Never had the opportunity of doing that..[/size]

 

[Derrelld]

Amen Brotha
I think you hit the nail on the head!! Time with your detector and learning it is the main deal!
Great post and truly is inspirational!!!!
I hope you find a can full of silver soon!!!!
Derrell

 

[jim tn]

Thanks El for your kind words, but I don't consider myself in the "topgun" cat. Like several others here, I thoroughly enjoy the hunt and the challenge of pulling one more silver out of a "hunted out" site. There are some detectors, of course, that do get some added depth over others. In the right hands, a little extra depth can be a major plus in the number and quality of ones recoveries. As has been said, however, if one has not learned that detector the extra depth is for naught, pure and simple. If one is fortunate enough to have a deep seeker, learns it and how to deal with trash and is inquisitive, that in MHO is the makings of a "topgun." Good post! HH jim tn

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[Uncle Willy]

I've always stated that detecting is 10% machine and 90% operator. If you don't know your machine inside out then you are just wasting your time. It takes a minimum of 100 hours to familiarize yourself with a new machine and even then you still have a lot to find out about it and never stop learning. That's why these folks who swap machines every few weeks or months never quite succeed in finding that "magic" machine - because they had it all along - they just didn't know it or learn how to use it.. Once you and your machine become as one then you have it whipped.

Bill

 

[Furious T]

I have several machines which I use regularly. Sure, each time I pick up and use a machine that I haven't used for a while it does take a short while to get back into the groove, but I know my machines well enough to be able to get out there and find coins that others who use "top" machines miss. I'm in no way promoting myself as a great detectorist or a professional, but a person can use more than one machine and still extract from self and detector a quality of performance that outshines others who detect for a single-minded purpose, eg. cherry-picking certain coins above others, leaving or desecrating all else in their wake. Just my two bobs worth, Sapper.

 

[Elton]

How do you do that Shambler ? LOL

 

[Elton]

I tried the Explorers and just didn't get much..I re read the posts you guys make and realised it's more the "man" than the machine.

Sure your using a great detector...But you have to put it all together and figure out how to use it best.. You guys have certainly done that..

Boy this was a wasted post by "ME"..HAHAHA LOL Safari on the way Monday...

 

[Shambler]

I knew you'd be back, but I didn't think it would be that fast!

Let us know what you think of it.

 

[Elton]

n/t