My AT Pro Owned by Minelab Explorer

[NJcigarman]

Left the beach today to checkout an old lake and park on the mainland. Had only been hunting a short time when I met Sarge. He has been hitting this place for quite some time. He is a Minelab fan and was using an Explorer II. He told me he has pulled large amounts of silver coins out of the location. He invited me to hunt a spot with him that has been producing numerous silver dimes. I was curious to see what the AT would do versus the Minelab. Sarge fired up his Explorer and immediately got a hit where he was standing. I swept the the spot from all sides and got a faint signal with no readout. Sarge swept the spot again minus his headphones and what a signal. Crisp, loud and clear when he announced it's another silver dime. He dug down about 12'' and pulled out a silver rosey. I have to say I was impressed, but do that again!!! He did a few more times before I left and he was holding a few silver dimes and wheaties. Depth wise there was no comparison. I had the AT on full sensitivity and wasn't picking up the signals.
Anyway it was fun to get another perspective on equipment. In the end Sarge told me he might sign up here on Tnet. Hoping to see some photos!!

 

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[Fletch88]

Oh Damn!..I get those faint signals with no readouts and just assume its small pieces of Iron or something..>Nice to know that it might be something good!..thanks for mentioning that

That's also why a threshold and good headphones are good to have. Really deep targets may only be a slight change in threshold without any number on screen.

 

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[Diggin-N-Dumps]

That's also why a threshold and good headphones are good to have. Really deep targets may only be a slight change in threshold without any number on screen.

Yea, I have a bad habit of not wearing my headphones..I just hated the ones that came with my machine..But after reading more about all this,...Might need to change my ways

 

[fella]

Yea, I have a bad habit of not wearing my headphones..I just hated the ones that came with my machine..But after reading more about all this,...Might need to change my ways

Also may want to consider a .25" adapter. Opens up a broader selection of headphones. The Grey Ghost are nice.

 

[dirtscratcher]

dirt-scratcher: Do you really think that the lack of a machine's ability to find the lowest of conductors is really a problem in the real-world of detecting sites/finds? I mean, let's face: you can "turn down the disc knob" on ANY machine out there today. Then go out to the nearest blighted park ..... and have NO LACK of low conductors to choose from.

Hence a machine that is said to be "better at teensy low conductors" (hence said to be "better at gold"), is two-edged statement. Because any site where a person can go chasing earing studs and tinsel thin chains ....... then heck, he may as well be using a beach pulse machine. Because sites like that are invariably the beach, not the normal land sites (parks, schools, relics, etc...) for coins that we all hunt.

What I was referring to are videos like in the metal detecting forum that show how an etrac sucks at gold nuggets. That's not a surprise or cause to argue. I understand what your saying but if I were to want teensy low conductors I would grab my t2 and leave my explorer at home.

 

[VBFD53]

I live for those faint sharp repeatable signals with no readout...............I routinely dig 22 bullet projectiles at 10 inches and better..the pro is plenty deep seeking for me....I dug a 1843 large penny the other day ,it was a whooping 4 inches deep....

 

[sturrat]

I myself use a minelab explorer and starting about a year ago I hunt in shallow water 90% of the time. It started when I found a virgin water spot that was filled with gold. I wade up to the control box but have to be very careful not to get it wet. Also, you have to make sure not to pick up the coil higher then the control box because the shaft will hold water. From what I have found I think the explorer is a great machine in the water. I also know a person who uses an AT Pro in the water (which can be fully submersible) and he find great gold and silver but I can go over his sweeps in the water and find silver he has missed.

 

[dennco2000]

They're both good machines and both have pros and cons - As with all metal detectors you have to fine tune the user with the machine, that's what makes a good metal detector a good metal detectorist.. By the way I'm on my 3rd big glass of Merlot. That's what I call a productive day!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

What I was referring to are videos like in the metal detecting forum that show how an etrac sucks at gold nuggets. That's not a surprise or cause to argue. I understand what your saying but if I were to want teensy low conductors I would grab my t2 and leave my explorer at home.

Etrac sucks at gold nuggets? Well of course. So too does ANY coin/relic machine "suck at gold nuggets". Finding gold nuggets was/is not the engineered purpose for coin/relic machines. They are adept at finding coin-sized objects, not grain-of-rice and pinhead sized nuggets. Other machines .... yes ... will be more adept at pinhead sized stuff. Granted. However, those machines that are "better at gold nuggets", will invariably be less desirable for coin/relic hunting.

There's an infinate trade-off. Any machine that is made to be a cross-over (for both coins AND nuggets, with the flip of a few switches), will invariable excell in neither arena. There's going to be better nugget machines (specialized for JUST nuggets), and there's going to be better coin machines (specialized for JUST coins-sized-objects).

Thus it should come as no surprise when someone sees a video of an etrac's inability to hear a pinhead nugget, while another machine in that video "effortlessly hears the nugget" (a T2 or an MXT or whatever). Because what that video WON'T be showing you, is that the Etrac is going to have superior depth and TID for conditions like junky park hunting, where it will outshine the T2's and the MXT type cross-over machines.

 

[gleaner1]

take the gold nugget and pound it flat with a hammer and now you gots a pull tab or foil or gold ring or gold coin signal

 

[dirtscratcher]

Etrac sucks at gold nuggets? Well of course. So too does ANY coin/relic machine "suck at gold nuggets". Finding gold nuggets was/is not the engineered purpose for coin/relic machines. They are adept at finding coin-sized objects, not grain-of-rice and pinhead sized nuggets. Other machines .... yes ... will be more adept at pinhead sized stuff. Granted. However, those machines that are "better at gold nuggets", will invariably be less desirable for coin/relic hunting.

There's an infinate trade-off. Any machine that is made to be a cross-over (for both coins AND nuggets, with the flip of a few switches), will invariable excell in neither arena. There's going to be better nugget machines (specialized for JUST nuggets), and there's going to be better coin machines (specialized for JUST coins-sized-objects).

Thus it should come as no surprise when someone sees a video of an etrac's inability to hear a pinhead nugget, while another machine in that video "effortlessly hears the nugget" (a T2 or an MXT or whatever). Because what that video WON'T be showing you, is that the Etrac is going to have superior depth and TID for conditions like junky park hunting, where it will outshine the T2's and the MXT type cross-over machines.

You seem to want to argue when I'm saying the same thing as you. I would expect the etrac to suck at gold nuggets. My point is the atp guys getting upset that op says his atp can't detect as deep as explorer, I would expect the explorer to go deeper. If someone were to say the atp was better at gold I would expect it would be and not want to argue and look silly because it should find small gold better.