The CZ3D is a coin hunter, no question about it

[Mike Hillis]

The tones sound good, it hits hard, my ground hasn't shut it down yet, and it seems I got a properly calibrated unit. I hunted awhile in salt mode, and all the modern nickels registered nickels with a high tone. When I was hunting in enhanced mode most of the modern nickels id'ed with a mid tone and a tab reading. Only a couple gave a high tone and a nickel reading which was what I was expecting.

At this point my only complaint is the physical balance. After my first hunt I was tempted to mount the box under the arm. My second hunt told me that I would have to have the pinpoint button and the meter available. At this site deeper lower conductive targets that give high tones, like nickels, tend to drop to iron tones as the coil comes off them or they are swept off center and made me think they were iron falsing. However, once I learned that, if a high tone also had a nickel meter, regardless of any iron tones, I'd recover a nickel range target. Any high tone that had some iron tones with it required pinpointing. If the pinpointed target still gave a high tone, it was usually a high coin. Most mid tone to iron bounces were non-ferrous targets, though I did get some midtone to iron that were ferrous. But with only about 4 hours on it I still have more to learn.

Ground balance points are different between the two modes. At the site I hunted, the salt mode balanced around 5 to 6.5/7 (was a very wide range) while the enhanced mode balanced out at 3 and was very tight. When ground balanced in Salt mode, switching to enhanced mode resulted in a lot of falsing until it was ground balanced.

Except for the physical balance, I like the CZ3D. Not in love with it yet, but I like it and think I could love it. Hipmounting will take care of the balance issue, however I'd still like to put it under the arm and replace the box weight at the wrist with a pinpoint trigger switch. Anyone mod a 3D?

HH
Mike

 

[Willee - Texas]

Hip mounting that unit will make it harder to use the pinpoint button and on this detector in the dirt I use it a lot.
Wish there was a way to remote the PP button.
If you get a chance ... use the 5" coil ... it really works good on this detector.

Did you find any targets that did not give any signal in pinpoint?
I find them every now and then ... deep iron bits.

 

[mrwilburino]

The weight and balance of the 3D only seems to bother me if I don't hunt with it enough. Once I get back to swinging it on a regular basis I could go for hours without getting tired. The 5" coil makes it seem half as light as does with the stock 8".

 

[Mike Hillis]

Hi Willie,
No, I didn't find any targets that I couldn't pinpoint.
I don't habitually use the small coils very often, though I do have them for those ocassions when they have to be used. Of course I don't often go deep coin hunting either so I may find the 5" to be the coil of choice for that

I do find myself liking the 3D more and more.

HH
Mike

 

[Dan-Pa.]

First and foremost Tom has an excellent article on the worksing of a CZ3D so Google as its good reading...Sure hipmounting is a solution to the weighting and ergonomics but have heard of fellows putting on the coil backwards and shortening the lower rod so you might experiment...As far as modding I can't see a way you could and be comfortable as meter and pinpoint button would be out of sight...Fisher makes a nice chestmount bag which you could try but personally after some use the proper muscles get stronger and it will become more comfortable rod mounted..Come on Spring.....

 

[MikeW]

Thanks for thr report Mike. Cant wait to try mine out other then the back yard. Now where did I put my Fisher chest mount? My Nasa Toms's air test resulted in about 9 & 1/2 inches to sometimes 10 inches and Ids targets correctly I believe. Im happy with that for now.Tom mentions that sensitivity past 5 only results in bigger footprint? I believe thats what he said and I assume it means the search pattern is widened? Not sure if thats what he meant but that would help in a hunted out area.I noticed that 10 sensitivity helped slightly on test depth but not much. Got a few areaswith potential for older coins even though Ive hit it before.Good luck to you)

 

[Bill_S]

When I was hunting in enhanced mode most of the modern nickels id'ed with a mid tone and a tab reading.

The one I had would ID almost all nickels whether old or new as a nickel. I ran a bunch of new nickels in front of the coil and I think almost all of them rang up as a nickel. Maybe mine was not calibrated right but it was a nickel killer both old and new.

 

[Dan-Pa.]

CZ3D gave us two modes one for newer(regular) and one for older(enhanced)

Thus as older nickels such as V-shield-buffalo or extremely deep jeffersons just read lower it will pick them up at the nickle meter facet in enhanced mode.

In regular mode a Jefferson nickle will be right on the nickle meter facet while the older nickles may read foil or a foil nickle bounce..

Basically the best of both worlds when you use the proper mode for the area you are hunting...new or old...

 

[Aaron]

Its a little funny, my CZ gets fooled by the beaver tails for nickels alot. and gets the nickel right about 75%. My CZ 70 Pro however, gets the nickels right at least 90%. Love both machines but still prefer the 3D though.
Aaron

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Have to agree a conventional CZ is a nickle killer, but as the meter facets have been altered(CZ3D) due to older nickles reading low its the reason for the nickle difference in a CZ3D and CZ70.
Just nature of the beast and with everything there are plus and minus but the main aspect learn your units well as indeed there will be differences from the older CZ and the newest CZ3D.

 

[BTaylor]

Hi Mike,

Try using the chest harness with the 3D. That's what I did when beach hunting the unit. You can easily reach the controls and the pinpoint button with your free hand. Reading the meter is also a whole lot easier on the eyes.

Bill