farmer85j said:
Could anyone give me some opinions?
Compared with all other "low-end" detectors [size=small](which I consider to be in the $400 and under price range)[/size], I found the Coinmaster GT to be very competitive, surpassing most in many respects. Most seem to have a factory preset Ground Balance, but not the Coin GT. Instead, it has a fast automated Ground Balance with Auto-Trac™ or you can 'Lock' the GB setting.
Most limit the reject to go no higher than Screw Cap/Zinc Cent, but the Coin GT has 9 Discrimination 'segments' or 'notches' and you can accept or reject any of them.
Some models have either a single tone or maybe a 3-tone audio, but the Coin GT lets the operator pick between 1-tone or a 9-tone ID that is associated with the 9 Discrimination segments/notches.
Backlight, a salt beach GB offset, and a large, easy-to-see VDI numeric display are other nice features for just under four-hundred dollars.
Does it have any negatives or weak points to it? Yes, in my opinion, because it can be a bit sensitive when close to metal fences or structures like in a playground and need a lot of Sensitivity reduction. Also, the Prizm/Coinmaster series are very limited on accessory search coils. The standard 9" Concentric is fine for hunting a beach large grassy park or other places that are more open and have a lower metal target count. For smaller coils, you only have the 4X6 Prizm elliptical Double-D coil to select from. It works fine, just that my personal preferences is for a round-shaped search coil, and I prefer a Concentric coil for most hunting applications I encounter.
farmer85j said:
Deep enough, is my best answer here. I used the Coin GT a good deal and found coins at depths close to what I was getting with all the other main-use detectors in my arsenal [size=small](as noted below)[/size], and in side-by-side tests with competitive models in the same lower-cost price bracket, I felt the Coin GT would match or better what the other models gave me.
Do I have one in my personal detector arsenal? No. Why not? Because for me and my hunting sites, and the preferences I have in performance afield, I am more than willing to spend a little more to move up to models that provide me the in-the-field performance I want and need at the iron infested sites I hunt. In the case of White's detectors, that move-up was to the MX5. Same size and shape package and stock search coil size, but much difference in performance.
The MX5 retails for only $200 more than the Coin GT, but for me it is well worth the added investment, and then I only use two coils on it. The stock 9" spider Concentric and the 6½" [size=small](5.3 Eclipse)[/size] Concentric, the latter being the coil that stays on my MX5 most of the time. However, I have a could of friends who have other models, like an M6 and MXT, and they each have a Coin GT as well as a 'back-up' or extra detector to use at times or as a loaner for friends and family. Oh, they also use the 4X6 Prizm Shooter DD coil most of the time.
They also report back on decent depth-of-detection, but that's always going to vary from one individual to another based upon their settings, coil choice and sweep speed, not to mention the target type and alloy content, the ground mineral conditions, target depth, target shape, target position, etc. Trust me, in most applications the Coin GT does just fine in the depth department.
Monte
