What Is The Best Metal Detector?

 If there is a definitive answer to this question, the company producing that machine would likely put their competition out of business. The question should be, what is the best detector for me? I have watched a low- end metal detector, in the hands of the right person and under the right circumstances, find many great targets that were missed on a site covered by some of the most popular high-end machines. How is this scenario possible?

metal detection

There are many factors that will help or hinder finding targets in a given area and influence what detector would be the best for you. Included, but not limited to, are the control knobs of your unit, size and type of coil, soil minerals, soil moisture, user's coverage techniques, and user mindset at time of search.

User mindset is so important in determining success. I do not have a treasure hunting mindset but instead a treasure finding thought process. In a few minutes I am going to the old foundry building on Disston Avenue in Tarpon Springs, FL. I have never hunted this site and am unaware of anyone ever searching there. I know when the building was built and and have a high expectation of finding silver as well as Buffalo and War Nickels. My search techniques will be critical here too.

How well an area is covered and the techniques used will impact success more than the instrument choice for searching any site. The foundry building site will be loaded with junk as a new roof was recently installed and old and new roofing nails as well as the nuts and bolts of a foundry will be plentiful. The area to search is only about ten by one hundred feet and a slow overlapping coverage walking the length will be used first. Then I will change pattern and walk methodically the width.

April is not normally a very wet month in Central Florida. This year is an exception and the ground has a good level of moisture with a couple of good rainy days this week. This will permit me to use a detector with a 3-4 inch coil to work a very trashy area and not lose too much depth. A non-trashy area and dry ground would lead me to use either a 7-8 inch coil or an elliptical 8 by 9 inch.

I do not know the mineral content of the foundry site but will ground balance my detector when I start the search. Many lower to mid price detectors are calibrated by the factory for ground minerization and you can not adjust the instrument except for lowering the sensitivity setting to handle signal noise from mineralization of soil. Adjusting other settings on the detector can increase your find level also. Here is a surefire method of testing to see if one detector is better than another. Hunt a specific site or a part of it very carefully and then search it again in the same manner but lower your sensitivity level by half. If you can say that the finds on the second search were actually missed targets then hunt the area again but this time reduce your rejection level down to iron only. If you find enough targets this time to warrant another search, keep all settings the same but increase sensitivity back to the level of your first search. Now many of your targets found hunts 2-4 will will be the junk or trash due to reject control levels. This experiment should be proof that missed targets are most likely about control levels than one detector being better than another. I have used metal detectors from about 15 different manufacturers in my nearly 40 years of treasure finding. I know the best detectors for me but different settings and sites will even change my mind about what is the best.

Here are the results of putting this test to work with my favorite detector at the foundry site this past Saturday. A 1898 Barber Half dollar was a surprise as were the 2 turn of the century V Nickels. I expected to find WWII era coins and the very fine 43 S Mercury, and the 43 & 45 War Nicks met my treasure finding mindset. A 1939 and a 1942 Wheat Cents were nice additions along with a 1964 Roosevelt Dime. Yes, I dug up a lot of trash to be able to locate those nickels but I know what the best metal detector is.