New Thinking On Depth

[Michigan Badger]

Okay, right now we need another post on the depth about as much as we need boils on our...ah, noses.

But I was justing thinking (no comments), over the years (1 or 2) I've been experimenting with lots of midrange to expensive metal detectors. The one thing I've noticed is, just because a machine gets "the best depth" doesn't mean it's the best machine out there in an actual hunting situation.

Are you with me in this?

Here's my thinking and you can add--subtract--agree or whatever--BUT, to me the two MAJOR (there are more) features are:

1) Depth

2) Target ID

While one needs a good depth, depth alone is worthless (or nearly so) if the target identification is not present. However, the best target ID in the world is junk without depth.

It's sort of like two sides to one coin---depth and target ID go together.

Is anybody here following me?

While we've been spending so much time discussing either depth or target ID, what we should be thinking is both features at once.

Depth without a clear easy to use target ID is like a car without wheels.

I think most high priced VLF detectors today have great depth (some a little better than others). The thing that separates the SUPER machines from the weak ones is target ID.

Are other things also important? YES! But I just wanted to express my thinking as to what I now consider the two crucial points.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[ZumbroKid]

I have had a $200 detector it got more than 2 inches of depth. It depends on soil and operator.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[Michigan Badger]

Is this why lonewolf is not posting? I have not seen much from him for a while. We had exchange emails the other day. He made no mention of why he is not posting lately.

No. I think lonewolfe is just getting caught up on other things. There's no THing now in Michigan due to the frozen ground.

He'll be back shortly I'm sure.

I expect Floater back as well but I'm not as sure about him.

 

[Michigan Badger]

it should be noted the high end detectors "minelab" 3500 etc don't have a target id. kind of interesting.

I never used the 3500 but I did use the Excalibur.

As for target ID meters, probably the depth feature is the most useful. But I also like the visual as well.

I used to preach against visual target ID. That was when I had a good back and dug almost everything anyway.

Today I must discriminate rigidly or I'm done THing within an hour. I like the meters and I'm finding that they can be very accurate (especially on silver).

With my machine I can ID a silver dime at 8 inches. If I set a non-meter machine on high manual discrimination I lose depth and can only detect a dime at approx. 5 inches. So with the meter reading I can go much deeper.

As for the tones produced by non-meter machines, they don't work well for me. Maybe I have bad hearing or something.

 

[hollowpointred]

i was wondering about lonewolf just the other day. i miss reading his posts (as well as floaters). i hope they are both back soon. the forum is a better place with them here. as far as the detector thing......i kinda like to discuss detectors with the other members. it is a great way to expand your knowledge on machines since there are so many detectors out there. the " my detector is better than your detector" stuff sucks though. just because i may like the machine i have,it certainly doesnt mean that its any better than another companies machine in the same quality range.......it just makes mine different. theres a lot of companies making top notch detectors.

 

[TORRERO]

Future Series advertized in Lost Treasure magazine, claims metal objects detected at 80 feet. New Tech. detectors are here for 2006.

This is really stupid....
unless you own a mining company and plan to tunnel your way to China this does not even make sense..
something else to catch your eye and talk about....
junk...
who would consider buying such a thing ??

 

[ZumbroKid]

Future Series advertized in Lost Treasure magazine, claims metal objects detected at 80 feet. New Tech. detectors are here for 2006.

This is really stupid....
unless you own a mining company and plan to tunnel your way to China this does not even make sense..
something else to catch your eye and talk about....
junk...
who would consider buying such a thing ??

Check it out they also have model shown beach hunting, with vision googles. Bet you can even see the target with that model. This is more in keeping with topic on new thinking on depth.

 

[U.K. Brian]

Future machines are not pie in the sky its a very successful company OKM, and most of their machines are geophysical not coin hunting. In the whole of Europe there's deep hoards at several feet or more and also many crashed aircraft from the war that hitting soft earth/marshland went down so far that it was not considered worth doing a recovery at that time. Fifty years on many groups like to relocate these sites and see what can be recovered and on occasions there are the remains of flight crew on board and they are returned to their own country for burial and surving relatives at last know what happened to their loved ones.
Re depth v price over here (U.K.) its considered you pay a certain price to get a machine that detects and I.D.'s down to the width of its coil but then your paying ?100 ($200) per inch for accurate discrimination beyond that depth. Thats accurate not iffy I.D.

 

[Monty]

Recon those glasses are the Xray ones Zeb sent off for and never got? Better check that out.
Going back to depth. I think just about any detector will go down to 4" no matter how cheap. My $200.00 machine has IDd a coin at 8" and some old rusty iron junk at nearly a foot! (ACE250). I don't know how deep my 2500 will reach because I've never wanted to dig that deep. I rarely dig anything beyond 6" mainly because due to the drought the ground is like concrete! I was at a school one day and kept getting a solid "false" signal that just read "very deep" on my ACE. A school maintenance guy told me it was a cast iron drain pipe about 24" deep! Admitted, it was a huge target, but that's just an example of deep, but not necessarily usefully deep. Monty

 

[Michigan Badger]

Recon those glasses are the Xray ones Zeb sent off for and never got??

How did you know?

I decided to make my own. All that's required is $20 and you're in business. However in the fine print it says "Prerequisite: a hyper imagination plus some dowsing expereice helps."

 

[1320]

If you're experiencing good "depth" results with air and bed testing, you'll certainly be happy with real world depth.....the halo effect will add "depth".....something you can't duplicate in testing.