Pick the best coin machine – for this purpose...

[mrwilburino]

You will be spending the day searching all areas of a small popular old city park. Your purpose is to find as many old (1964 and earlier) coins as possible. Ground mineralization is low but trash levels run from medium to fairly high. You will be searching for all denominations equally. No denomination will be singled out or passed over in favor of others. You will be provided with the detector and recovery tools of your choice. You may keep this detector afterward but only if you find enough old coins. You must choose the detector that you feel would be best for this purpose; not necessarily the one you want, or your personal favorite, or the one you are most comfortable with. It must be the machine that you believe would find the most old coins under these conditions. This detector must be a new 2010 model that retails for under $1,000. Any training that you require to become completely proficient with this detector will be provided beforehand. What model will you choose?

 

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[dirtyJohn]

I've heard good things about the Teknetics Omega 8000. Good depth, good VDI range and fast recovery speed for trashy areas. Plus you can get the 5inch DD all for under $1000. That'd be the way I would go.
HH
John

 

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[AUDuke]

There are any number of detectors suitable for this purpose, but the Ace 250 is not one of them. My choices would be F75, Explorer series, Omega 8000 or the CZ 3, not necessarily in that order.

 

[2bits]

For old deep coins go with Whites XLT.
Doc

 

[Rodney B.]

The S-4 finds enough coins for me, so I don`t worry abought whats the best even though it would/could be important what machine your useing.

 

[Lowbatts]

I've heard good things about the Teknetics Omega 8000. Good depth, good VDI range and fast recovery speed for trashy areas. Plus you can get the 5inch DD all for under $1000. That'd be the way I would go.
HH
John

Haven't heard anything bad about this Omega yet either John, sounds like an awesome machine to me!

Would I think the Ace 250 is too little machine? Nope, there's a banner find listed that came from a newbie outing an Ace 250. Also a little matter of a nice gold hoarde in the U.K. from one. And a fellow I was hunting with last week pulled a beauty of a barber dime from a noisy trashy construction site.

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,328150.0.html

So get something you can afford, use it to it's strengths, find goodies and enjoy! If you feel the need to move later, it's your dime!

 

[jharhed]

I second that Doc, XLT, and they are not necessarily deep, I dug a 1876 seated lib at 5" last weekend,

 

[jwelch66]

Ok its not always the machine. It has more to do with the person running it!

 

[luvsdux]

There are too many detectors that I haven't used that would probably do well enough at this so I'm not going to try to pin down one or two. However, consider that come 2014 the mints will not have stamped any silver coins for 50 years. Therefore it's going to take lots of patience and site consideration along with a bit of luck to find much in the way of older, silver coins from here on and into the future. I've seen several forum users mention that they use their clad finds to purchase select coins from dealers. Something to think about.
HH
luvdux

 

[Goes4ever]

I started 3 yrs ago with an ace250, it is great for the money but it is not the machine for old coins at parks. I upgraded to the minelab xterra 70 and while it is 5x better than the ace, I still felt it was not the best machine for me, this year I got the etrac and I finally feel like I am using the best machine available to me for finding old coins in trashy areas. Anyone who says the machine does not matter it is all the user, is mistaken. I am learning more and more about this machine everyday. It constantly amazes me. But you did mention you had to stay under $1000, so my choice in that price would be a minelab safari

 

[jwelch66]

I started 3 yrs ago with an ace250, it is great for the money but it is not the machine for old coins at parks. I upgraded to the minelab xterra 70 and while it is 5x better than the ace, I still felt it was not the best machine for me, this year I got the etrac and I finally feel like I am using the best machine available to me for finding old coins in trashy areas. Anyone who says the machine does not matter it is all the user, is mistaken. I am learning more and more about this machine everyday. It constantly amazes me. But you did mention you had to stay under $1000, so my choice in that price would be a minelab safari I think the best detectors are Fisher and Minelab. The problem I see is alot of people dont take the time to learn the detector. That is why I say it is the person behind the detector. You learn new things everyday no matter how long you have been detecting.

 

[DBFISHER]

I've only used two, Garrett, Fisher, I'd pick Fisher.

 

[Born2Dtect]

Ace 250 not good in parks for old coins? I can absolutely say this is wrong. The ACE 250 rocks. My detecting buddy schools me in the park with one. I don,t own one but if I was just starting detecting, I would. I have seen hundreds of old coins come out of a trashy park over the last year. The most were found with an ACE 250. Just get a small coil and dig as many signals as you can to learn the machine. Then dig all solid signals. Seeing is believing. My buddy does remind me of the energizer, always on the go, not too fast. Sometimes I think he could find things with just a magnet. I don,t mind though, see what I get to and it will motivate you too.

I have also seen the ACE 250 rock at the beach, beat Minelab, Whites and Fishers, hands down that day.

My point is, don,t say the ACE 250 is no good, I know differently.

ACE 250 , YES!

Ed D.

 

[bazinga]

Ace 250 not good in parks for old coins? I can absolutely say this is wrong. The ACE 250 rocks. My detecting buddy schools me in the park with one. I don,t own one but if I was just starting detecting, I would. I have seen hundreds of old coins come out of a trashy park over the last year. The most were found with an ACE 250. Just get a small coil and dig as many signals as you can to learn the machine. Then dig all solid signals. Seeing is believing. My buddy does remind me of the energizer, always on the go, not too fast. Sometimes I think he could find things with just a magnet. I don,t mind though, see what I get to and it will motivate you too.

I have also seen the ACE 250 rock at the beach, beat Minelab, Whites and Fishers, hands down that day.

My point is, don,t say the ACE 250 is no good, I know differently.

ACE 250 , YES!

Ed D.

I would be absolutely thrilled if EVERYBODY followed this advice.

 

[Born2Dtect]

Brian,

You are really opinionated lately. I remember you as more of a level headed person. Even through your "Coppa phase". Whats up dude?

Ed D.

 

[bazinga]

Brian,

You are really opinionated lately. I remember you as more of a level headed person. Even through your "Coppa phase". Whats up dude?

Ed D.

The ACE 250 is a mediocre machine at best. It cannot even come close to remotely competing with a high end machine in public parks when it comes to digging old coins. I have called Ace 250 users over to hear obvious deep coin hits. No matter what settings they try, they can't hear them at all. Let alone hear a diggable signal.

So when people go off saying how great it is and how it will have no problem finding old coins in parks, that is just plain old false advertising.

But what do I care, the more Garrett users out there, the better imo. For every 15 old coins I dig, they dig one.

 

[Hosensack]

Maybe I did misread the post, but here is what I am reading: "YOU will be spending the day.......YOUR purpose.......YOU will be searching.........YOU will be provided........YOU may keep.....YOU must choose.......the machine that YOU believe.....", and finally "What model will YOU choose"?

Now, if you can find where in the thread it says which one you would or would not RECOMMEND then I will stand corrected.


All the nonsense aside, I would choose the GTI 1500 under the guidelines given. (While under normal circumstances I would 100% of the time spend the extra on a 2500,) but for this purpose I need to be below $1000. In coin mode with the Graphic Target Imaging you will have a quick confident reading, the first post 1964 coin you find you would simply press the reject button and no longer worry about that metal composition. From that point on when you get a belltone and the proper reading you can be rather confident you are getting a pre 1964 coin.

This coming from someone who has not used a Minelab, but has had much success with Garretts. Following the which would "I" choose I have given MY answer.

 

[bazinga]

Maybe I did misread the post, but here is what I am reading: "YOU will be spending the day.......YOUR purpose.......YOU will be searching.........YOU will be provided........YOU may keep.....YOU must choose.......the machine that YOU believe.....", and finally "What model will YOU choose"?

Now, if you can find where in the thread it says which one you would or would not RECOMMEND then I will stand corrected.


All the nonsense aside, I would choose the GTI 1500 under the guidelines given. (While under normal circumstances I would 100% of the time spend the extra on a 2500,) but for this purpose I need to be below $1000. In coin mode with the Graphic Target Imaging you will have a quick confident reading, the first post 1964 coin you find you would simply press the reject button and no longer worry about that metal composition. From that point on when you get a belltone and the proper reading you can be rather confident you are getting a pre 1964 coin.

This coming from someone who has not used a Minelab, but has had much success with Garretts. Following the which would "I" choose I have given MY answer.

A dealer actually saying to find more old coins, you need to turn UP the discrimination?

So you dig a 1965 penny and decide to notch it out. Ooops, no more digging wheat pennies for the day.

Since you are such an expert, what I want to see is a video of you going out and getting a deep coin hit, telling us exactly what you think it is and how deep it is. And then digging it showing us what is in the hole as you dig it out. Then do this 10 times over in the course of a single day.

How many 10 silver days in public parks have you had in the past year or two using a Garrett? Could somebody link me to some posts like that on this site? I would LOVE to see it.

I feel sorry for the people that walk into your shop and you only know a couple of brands, so you can't offer advice about any other machines, so you steer them in the direction of the WRONG machine for them.

 

[Shambler]

For turf hunting the Explorer can't be beaten. It's not good at everything, but it is good at that.

the first post 1964 coin you find you would simply press the reject button and no longer worry about that metal composition.

You can't be serious. Theoretically if all coins were 2" deep, that would probably work (in clean ground). Although, I'm still not sure a clad half would hit a whole lot different than a silver quarter or half and you'd be really messed up with copper targets. The deeper the coin and the more trash, the less accurate your TID becomes so you have to rely on experience and the bounce of your target ID to make a dig decision.

Does the GTI1500 even come standard with a DD coil?

Now, if you can find where in the thread it says which one you would or would not RECOMMEND then I will stand corrected.

Seems like all but one post answers or debates an answer.

 

[birdman]

This type of post always starts a brand war. There are many great machines out there and many knowledgeable people on this forum. The ace 250 is a great machine for the price but it is a low end machine . The best thing to do is get a machine and learn what it is telling you. There are people with a 200 dollar machine that can out hunt people with an etrac or a DFX because the simplicity of the machine. I have hunted with people and have outhunted people because they spend more time messing with their machine while I am digging targets. I have also seen people with the top of the line machines that made me want to run out an buy one because they knew the machine well. Pratice is the way to go with almost any machine. Good luck.

 

[Hosensack]

I was answering the question posed. Which detector would I use, in the situation presented? I attempted the reject method before posting it(bed test only, naturally a situation where you would actually reject clad coins would be rare to say the least). It is more a strategical question based solely on the presented situation, and was answered as such.

However in the thread, you are given time to learn the machine first, therefore you would have a better understanding of what you are digging based on what the detector is telling you.


As far as being a dealer, I gave my honest answer which is what I will always do. I will not "steer" anyone towards any detector unless it is right for their needs. My reply to this thread( Good detector to "see through" iron? found in the metal detecting forum)the other day expresses that I give my best answer based on my research regardless of brand.


I also admitted my choice was based on no hands on experience with a Minelab, There was no mention of them being the wrong detector for the situation.

A little more reading and less reacting will go a long way. My first post being just as guilty of reacting as well, it was a good post with good answers and then I got to your attack of the moderator and reacted out of frustration instead of just answering the post.