Metal Detecting discussions and finds

I use to work in the dunes (Glamis) and found a few things just on the surface. Mostly cheap Chinese tools but did find an interesting Cresent wrench. No telling what a person will find with a metal detector. People lose all kinds of stuff bouncing around on their buggies, atv's, motorcycles and whatever other toys.

 

A bag full of money! That's awesome! You should work that homestead as often as you are able. Good stuff to be found there. And perhaps ask around on the history of the place. When scouting for new detecting locations, research goes a long ways.

 

The finds must be very interesting when a nor-easter rolls up the coast where I live and really turns up the sea/sand, thereby brings lost items inland.

 

No, that is how it is. You can mount it with different setups. The one thing I admit is that, THAT is the most common setup???!!! So you would THINK Garrett would have done it a bit differently, in that sense???!!! LOL!!!

I like my PI machine, but man, not going to lie about it, I'm very used to the VHF machines (i.e. discrimination settings and such). I've practiced with it at parks as well, but have never found anything worth mentioning.

The Power Double D coil is very heavy, but yeah, what you have there looks pretty BEAST???!!! Just by the picture alone.

The GTI, I've only taken that one out a few times. That's another one I haven't used that much, but I can tell you that the settings are a bit more in depth than my 250. I took it to a couple of parks that I frequent and started learning the settings better. With that said, things are definitely going to be a bit different here within the next few weeks. Funny you mention the GTI, there is a park I just drove by the other day and it looks to be fairly old just judging the area it is in. Anyways, I plan on using the GTI there and some other spots I'm going to see if I can get access to?

Anyways, I have a little research to do in the mean time.

Finally, I just WISH there were old homesteads I could swing my coils at, but getting to places similar like those are an easy 2.5hrs drive AND I would have to find out and talk to the owners of the property let alone the drive itself.

 

Those are nice "heaters"!!! I hunted with a guy that had one.

 

That's a good article!!!

He's right about there not being best metal detector!!! Also, there are some people on the forums that if you don't have THIS particular detector, then it's "CRAP". Me, I was brought-up better than that and not judge people by what they have/use.

Anyways, a good read for sure!!!

 

Even though I don't know anything yet, I did agree or could see his point on "no best". And that goes for a lot of stuff. I've been into motorcycles since I was a kid and read a ton of articles and comparisons over the years. Then figured out that taste, preference and budget play into most of what we have. So it's all very subjective. I only read down as far as the 300 because I was looking for info on that machine and, since the info about comparisons seemed very basic and to the point it helped me have a better understanding of what I'll probably own by the end of the day. I'm sure it'll be an interesting adventure.

 

Here is my whites DFX

 

Coming from the very confusing and time consuming Whites XLT, the CTX3030 is very intuitive (to me). With the Whites XLT, you could fiddle and tune absolutely everything, and create specific programs. It was all on screen though, with no PC support. Then when you wanted to simply switch between programs you had to do the "dance". This is lift the coil in the air, click a button let it air balance, then put the coil on the ground, click a button let it ground balance.

With the CTX3030, I can create and edit on the fly programs directly on the CTX. Or I can create, edit, share custom programs on my PC in the XChange2 software. Really easy to upload or download between the CTX and the PC. Now, when using the CTX it I can quickly click a few buttons and switch programs with no need to rebalance. Each program used in the CTX is actually two that can be toggled with one button. Usually people use one side of the program with discrimination, and the other wide open. Things like tone bins/frequencies, search preferences, and a host of other program specifics stay the same. Then there is the "user defined button". It can be used for things like turning the backlight on/off, jumping to specific pages in the menu or how I use it - last program. Sooooo, what this means is I can create several different programs with varying specific things I want the detector to be able to do. Load the first program up (which actually has a duplicate with same settings, but run without discrimination). Then basically load a different program with completely different settings than the first program (again, it too has a duplicate with the discrimination opened up). So while hunting, say I get a target hit. I swing back and forth and hit it from all sides, and at different swing speeds trying to find that sweet spot in the signal. I can hit one button the panel and it opens up the program without discrimination to tell me if there is any iron mixed in that could be hampering the signal of a coin. Or, I can just hit the "user defined" button and it will instantly swap between the two different search programs. Sometimes this is enough to get the signal of the target clearer so I can make a choice on whether to dig or not.

Now, keep in mind I am hunting for deep targets and signals can be REALLY jumpy and not at all or even close perfect because the target is 6-8" deep. I don't want to dig every target that is that deep. So being able to toggle between two search programs instantly, and be able to toggle the program itself between discrimination and no discrimination is freaking awesome.

 

That is exactly the same beast as my XLT only it runs with two frequencies. Great machine and great company.
I live about 3 hours north of the factory, and have been down there several times. Get there when they first open the repair shop and drop off the detector with what symptoms it's having, or broken part and they will usually have it back to 100% by mid afternoon. They have retuned everything on both my Whites, replaced displays, and screen covers, gave me new rechargeable batteries. My buddy purchased a used DFX with an aftermarket Whites 12" coil. They tuned his DFX, and tested the coil and decided it was not within their specs, and just gave him a new one that was. Again, Whites has phenomenal customer service.

I think the XLT as well as the DFX would both have greater ground penetrating abilities in my ground if they could run a double D type of coil.
With the concentric coils these have, total depth is a the peak of a cone. The coil shoots a signal the size of the coil circumference straight down. The signal tapers to a cone as it goes deeper. You really need to overlap your swings to hit stuff deep. If you swing one way and there is a target say at 5" down you essentially have about a 2-4" coil signal at that depth. Then when you swing back the other way and barely overlap your swing, the odds are good that you'll miss the target again as the signal is now gone past the target. In non mineralized soil, they do pretty good a bit deeper. I've never seen any Whites concentric coil reach past 6" in my area.

Double D coils don't send a coil sized signal into the ground (circumference wise), rather they send down a diameter sized signal about 2-3" wide (front to back) and shaped more like a dull spade. They tend to reach much deeper in mineralized soil than the concentric coils due to the amount of soil that is being hit with the signal at once. Sowwith every swing the shape of the signal is more like your hand sweeping cereal off the counter. The front and rear edges are rounded slightly, so overlapping swings is still important.

 

I have had zero issues with this thing. I used this on the beaches Cocoa, Sebastian, and south on the east coast I tryed to hit after big storms....

 

Don't get me wrong. It's a great machine, just difficult in our highly mineralized soil in Oregon. The Whites V3i uses double D coils and can reach deeper coins. My buddy with the DFX has both that and the V3i. He much prefers the V3i. The V3i has a much much sharper color display than my CTX too.

If you ever have issues with it, you can send it in to Whites and they'll fix you up. Not sure if they do as much free out of warranty repairs with shipped in detectors, but you never know?

 

Subd

 

@Whitebutler

 

I had sent in a white vsat about two years ago and a note/ email for todd who is the repair guru. Replaced two pots on the control box and new speaker board with new headphone jack all free. Cost $12 shipping. Always going g to return to them.
Now the opposite happens with minelab. These guys try and get out of everything even under factory warranty. Had issues with my GP 3000 and my Zed 7000 they wouldn't budge. Cost me 1500 to ship the 7iron back to OZ and then home but it's all great now. That's all my warranty business.
I dont hunt coins or jewelry so I can't say much on the dfx or the v3i. As far as the ctx? Great in it's place, but so is each machine. All are different and all work great in the correct area and proper soil.

 

Yeah Minelab is a different company for sure. When I got my first CTX it seemed to act up randomly to the point it drove me nuts. I sent it in to the US based repair center. They had it for quite some time, but finally agreed it had issues right out of the box. They sent me a brand new one. Then I had an issue with my factory 11" coil. It was so sensitive that it would freak out the machine if there was any kind of EMI within a mile of it (so it seemed). I could not run it in my soil at all, but my 6" and 17" coil ran fine. Sent that one in, and they said it had a problem with the circuitry inside the coil unit. They sent me a new one. That was several years ago, and haven't had any issues since.

I really wish they would do a software update with any of the proposed suggestions from the users. A bigger clock on screen is about the only update I really want, as my eyes are 47 years old and can't read small print very well. The clock is super tiny on the top of the screen.

I know..real world problems, right?

 

Well, I own it....already found my Jeep and a manhole cover in the street!

 

I'm going to go out in the backyard in a bit after it cools down. It's too hot to play right now.

 

Right on!

Take your time with it and learn what it is telling you. Over time you will be able to distinguish the slightest differences in the tones and know what is in the ground before you even look at the screen. Tones are everything!

Looking at the screen is kind of a handy cap until you have the tone language down. Later it is mostly reassurance. I would suggest making a simple cardboard cover for your screen and dig everything. You're brain will associate tones to targets much much quicker.

Some folks make target sticks. You get a bunch of paint sticks and bolt like 6 of them together loosely like a feeler gauge set. Hot glue a different target to each stick.
Build several sticks, ones with clad coins, ones with common junk targets.

Common junk targets are pull tabs, bottle caps, single keys, dog tags, nails, pencil eraser rings, and gum wrappers. If you hunt public parks, schools, or curb strips, you WILL find a lot of each of these.

Go outside where there is no other targets in the ground, and practice listening to what your machine tells you as you swing over each target. Alter the distance between the target and the coil as you get better at depicting each target. Cover your screen until you get these tones down. I guarantee your learning curve will be much quicker and you will be on your way to faster and faster good finds.

Like this.

 

Well, after playing for about 10 minutes directly adjacent to the road and hearing the tones I went directly to the manhole cover then to the Jeep. The wheels had a different tone and reading than the door and both of those were different than the manhole cover. So I can see the value of the targets and just ppaying around. My back yard is going to be interesting. This whole area was away from town for many years and people from town use to dump construction waste here. There's a lot of rubble, nails and whatever out here. Shortly after moving in one of my sons almost stepped on a pair of scissors that were sticking up. I've been picking up all kinds of junk but I know there's more.