Researching for a new detector , seems pretty close to on line dating.

[Dancer]

You know your gonna hear about depth, smoothness, etc. Like I don't believe anyone fishing for a date is going to list a whole lot of negatives. Sooo let's say your looking for a new machine that will better your hunting. I'm just guessing here, but most important would be what your hunting for and the type of ground /water your hunting. That could rule out a gang of machines.
Every machine brags more depth. What's that mean? Air tests , test gardens. It's in the Wild that counts. On the beach, couple guys hunting different machines. Got a deep or iffy signal. One calls the other over--Hey check this what do you think? Now that's a pretty true test between like machines. I'm going to throw this out there. Take 6 machines that are commonly used for your hunting. Bet there isn't a big wopping difference among them. So its the hunter that makes the big difference. Just saying a savvy hunter will get those deeper targets by hunting correctly. Now this is just me. I like a machine that can handle my soil conditions. Hits Hard on what I'm hunting for. And for mud hunting, target separation.
One last thing. Take a cellar, relic hunter. Guaranteed he'll out hunt me using a entree level machine. I just got no talent in that field. Those guys are tough.

 

[vlad]

it comes down to the hunters experience and expertise in situations. Including difficulty in programming, learning, and compensating for the things the detector
may not do as well as other units. No detector ever made was the absolute best in every measure of the things they are judged on. (I love my CZ's, but they are not my choice
in heavy iron or saturated conductive trash.)
If that is the case then basically you compare available accessories, initial cost, warranty, and updatability (that later feature can highly lessen the need of a new model-a chip
is cheaper, and a download still more.)

 

[Ben Town]

Your close
This forum has a wealth of info.
I’m a Minlab guy but before I made my decision on what machine would work for me I went through every forum I could find on different machines and searched and read all the info I could find.
There are several good places to research and gain from
Good luck in your search
BT

 

[GA1dad]

I hear ya,, and agree. I've been studying up to buy a new machine soon. I've read countless forum entries and watched hours and hours of video. While I generally ignore air tests,. some of these video guys make good arguments in their test gardens. Finally it dawned on me that I can't even trust those test garden videos either, cause finding a known target isn't the same as raw detecting. I really wish the video guys would show more live target evaluation (including the detector screen ) before they dig it up.

 

[vlad]

only hearing an audio (and often one tone only-on detectors that have several) and no TID.
I lost a lot of my hearing in the Army, and the high frequencies are long gone.
Show the depth reading, and target i.d.both (and if its a unit with several single frequencies to opt from-show each on same objects)
It is possible on some detectors to get a good audio--but no i.d.(my 35 year old Mk-1 in all metal can hit targets so deep its incredible-but no i.d. in that mode.)
And if it offers a stat mode with i.d., show that too.

 

[chuck ky]

I made a double post but there doesn't seem to be any way to delete like there is on Facebook.

 

[chuck ky]

When the Minelab Sovereign came out I read a lot bout it and was impressed but just never could get up the nerve to try it out. A hunter that I know that did real well with a Whites Spectrum told me that he had bought a new machine and was doing a lot better with it. When he told me it was a Sovereign I ordered one that night. I couldn't believe how goo it was in my hunting to death sites. The reviews are great but hearing that someone you know is doing good with it is pretty convincing.

 

[GeorgeinSC]

Folks will tell you what in their opinion is the best machine for a particular chore. It will be based on their experience with that detector. We are all biased by our experience and finds.

Do the research and think about what you will be detecting for and chose a machine that you think will meet your needs.

I spent a lot of years in the retail trade and would tell folks that if you asked 10 different bass fishermen what is the hottest lure at the present time you would get 10 different answers. The guys based their answer on their experience and results when fishing a particular lure. I find that it is the same with detectors and what people will recommend.

Due to only have used 4 different detectors i i never make a recommendation to anyone as to what machine to purchase.

 

[calabash digger]

Whats the easiest way to find out how your detector sounds on deep conductive targets at the edge of detection depth? Whats the easiest way to find out how your detector sounds on a masked target? Whats a good measuring tool for how deep your detector will detect on non ferrous targets? What the easiest way to figure out the deepest settings for your soil? What the easiest way to figure out to set your detector up where it will pick non ferrous from ferrous trash? What is the fastest way to determine if a detector is even worth taking to the field with you to use? A test garden...... if it wont do it there it aint gonna do it in the field either. I hold a very high few of test and test gardens. I have mastered my machine by doing so and have become very good at hunting thick iron.. A lot of people act like machines behave different in the field than they do in the garden and I have found that to be NOT the case in my soil. I hear a lot of negative talk about testing and test gardens but the proof is in the pudding for me.. Let me say this one more time if it will not do it in the test or test garden it aint gonna do it in the wild either......Think about it a machine cant pass a simple plane nail test and somehow when you get it in the wild its gonna hit stuff in a 3d scenario just fine. Or a detector cant hit a 9 inch quarter in your garden but somehow it will detect one in the wild at 12 inchs. I wonder why detector companies have test beds? They should just run out into the wild and start digging.. Some of us put in a lot of time and money trying learn these machines with no rewards except you did a great job or the others that say its useless and doesn't mean anything..Just my 2 cents BTW I don't care how good a guy is or how much experience he has he CANNOT out hunt his machine. If his machine cant see it he cant dig it... For the other guy I got videos with tons of live digs too.

 

[calabash digger]

2 guys on the beach detecting and one gets a signal and the other checks it and cant hit it. Turns out to be a silver dime at 10 inchs dropped last year by a tourist. I plant a silver dime in my test garden 2 years ago at 10 inchs. 2 guys testing two different detectors one hits it and the other one doesn't.. Whats the difference ??

 

[Ben Town]

I’ve got a nice test garden I use often and learn from
BT

 

[chuck ky]

Some machines like the Minelabs don't do as well on freshly buried targets where the ground has been disturbed. A beach or test garden would be different than a spot that hasn't been disturbed for 100 years.

 

[calabash digger]

Yeah I hear that all the time ... I got a question how long does it have to be buried for a minelab not to consider it a freshly buried target and perform on it correctly ? 1 year , 2 years, 5 years, 20 years, 50 years, 100 years, 150 years??? Could a expert please chime in and answer that. I know the minelabs have had trouble on the fresh plowed feilds I hunt old sites all the time that's all I hunt really and I see how targets react there pretty much the same as in my garden. Of course I was not using a minelab in my line up until now....

 

[vlad]

run no discrimination in the wild. If iron is there its no worry.
Iron does-increase a detector's field strength. I have hit targets far deeper than seemed possible.
Dave Johnson told me its not your imagination: iron making the field stronger can add some depth.
George Payne said the same thing. Those are argurably the best detector engineers that ever lived-when they speak, I listen.

 

[vlad]

Probably holds true for detectors hitting a gem of a target too.
Just a way of looking at things, maybe.

 

[Dancer]

2 guys on the beach detecting and one gets a signal and the other checks it and cant hit it. Turns out to be a silver dime at 10 inchs dropped last year by a tourist. I plant a silver dime in my test garden 2 years ago at 10 inchs. 2 guys testing two different detectors one hits it and the other one doesn't.. Whats the difference ??

The difference in the above would be the hunter. Even I could probably find a coin in a test garden. But in the Wild, that's something different. On the beach , the hunter runs into different ground conditions, wave action, emi for example. A lot of variables. Even luck. So many machines to pick from. It's a hunt in itself for a hunter to find that (soul mate). That go to machine. That's where the comparisons you give are very helpful. When I was choosing a Pulse Induction, I narrowed it down to 3 machines. Than reached out to some knowledgeable hunters with Pi experience. I got to tell you they were all very helpful and unbiased. The machine I chose wasn't my first choice until I consulted with them. I got lucky, I got the machine that fits my hunting needs like a glove.

 

[calabash digger]

Ive heard this one too.. or the one about the halo.. Its funny though I live in iron riddled (OLD) sites and have dug thousands upon thousands of targets from it. Not once have I ever seen my machine hit a non ferrous target DEEPER than it would air test or something similar planted in the garden. Unless you count some of that 18 inch flat iron that gets me sometimes. So it might happen but not on no regular basis. Kinda like buying a lottery ticket , you might win... BTW if that were true and happened with any regularity we have thousands of diggers posting finds on all these forums and I dont see any of them talking about finding 14 inch coins in iron ever..... actually if you go hunt a nail bed you find that your depth gets cut by the iron because your machine cant see past it. Bury a 5 inch silver quarter and lay a nail on top of the ground 4 inchs of center off the quarter. What happened ? Did your detector get a stronger signal or did it vanish because the iron blinded it ???

run no discrimination in the wild. If iron is there its no worry.
Iron does-increase a detector's field strength. I have hit targets far deeper than seemed possible.
Dave Johnson told me its not your imagination: iron making the field stronger can add some depth.
George Payne said the same thing. Those are argurably the best detector engineers that ever lived-when they speak, I listen.

 

[vlad]

One of the first things I learned from Charles Garrett was that conductors weaken a detectors field, and iron strengthens it.
I have dug coins at a depth I have never reached before (with certain units; CZ, TBaron, X-100) and some small iron was near-in some fashion in each case. But I am sure there are limitations, and it may not be something that we see much because positioning I guess, is very critical-being too close, it does not work (or be aware of it in answer to your query of why others have not reported it.) As I recall, nail{s} were to the sides-not above it. Something above a good target is a worst case scenario I would think, or a large metal plate with say, a coin above it. Nasa Tom said he placed a single staple above a coin--and could not detect it, a telling point.* But Monte's nail test shows coins can be hit near nails----sometimes. (To me the lottery ticket allegory does not work. A target causing a phase shift in frequency of the rx winding that is detected in the tx winding seems a little distant; but the allusion
does work for marriage.)
As to explaining the phenomena (other than what I said I cannot) ask Dave J. He has an engineers background and can duplicate it in a lab as George also, affirmed.
*But frequency can play a major part; as exhibited by a Compass Yukon 77B hitting a coin/ring covered by nails.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXxhIVZIrpg

 

[vlad]

......may be the detectors. There is an easy way to test it; have each person use the same detector, same setup. Put me in a Lamborghini and
Jeff Gordon in a Ford Fiesta----I'll never be 1/4 the driver he is, but he won't beat me around a track.

 

[GA1dad]

Finally it dawned on me that I can't even trust those test garden videos either, cause finding a known target isn't the same as raw detecting.

I hear a lot of negative talk about testing and test gardens but the proof is in the pudding for me.......For the other guy I got videos with tons of live digs too.

Just for clarification, I don't have any issues with videos that show detectors sounding off in test garden tests. They are great for confirming depth ability of a given machine. I have found that I can adjust to make most of my machines "sound off" on a known target in the garden. What makes the test garden videos questionable for me is that while you may be able to adjust to "sound off" on a target, that doesn't mean the adjustments made will be stable enough for actual hunting in the wild. Nor do the video's usually show any visual indications that support "you should dig this one". The adjustments may be great for beeping at depth, but the screen might be screaming "iron" for all the viewers know. And those same test garden adjustments might false horribly in the field.

But again, I was just speaking of watching videos as a means of "researching" to gain knowledge and confidence before the purchase. Nothing personal against anyone.