CZ6A or CZ3D anyone choose the older model?:smile:

[coinspader]

I have a CZ6A and I am considering the purchase of a CZ3D, just wondering if the CZ's have improved enough to justify buying the newer model.

 

[therover]

The CZ3D was designed for pre-1950 spots where older coins may be hiding. The Enhanced Mode brings some of the older coins into the high tone area where on the older CZ models, these coins may hit as a mid tone. It also has 4 tones instead of 3 so the foil range (I believe) has its' own sound separate from tabs. 6a lumps tabs and foil into mid tone.

As far as performance goes, if your 6a is hitting dimes in the 10-11 inch range then you got a good one and a 3D would only help out in those older site conditions. Not sure how much more depth you could squeeze out that you aren't already getting with the 6a.

Last thing.....you can hunt without headphones with a 3D.

 

[coinspader]

I think I want them both.

 

[therover]

I have 4 CZ's so the more the merrier !

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Remember CZ6A is water resistant while the CZ3d is not....if you hunt extremely old areas the 3d is a plus...if not why fix what aint broke....

 

[coinspader]

I hunt in a very old park and it is carpeted with nails, we have gone over it many, many times with a multitude of different machines. The only targets left are masked, we still pull the occasional silver out but it is getting difficult, I was hoping to grab some older deeper coins with the CZ, We have pulled out seated dimes and shield nickels at great depths in this park, I even got a civil war mini ball at about 12 inches with a Minelab musketeer.

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Fortunately CZ's go deep unfortunately they are easily masked by junk so may not be the proper unit under these conditions...

 

[Blissterd1]

Whatever you do, don't buy the newer "Chinese" (not really but many think that they are from there!) CZ3D's! They have nowhere near the depth of the older units. If I were you, I would find a CZ5 and have it converted to a 3D by Tom Dankowski. That is if you are looking in older sites for the old coins, otherwise an older CZ5 will outperform the newer CZ3D's hands down. The only difference is that the 3D will ring high on nickels and old deep coins. My CZ5 reads DEEP and is extremely accurate on ID. I can dig twice as many coins as my buddies with new machines!

 

[coinspader]

is the CZ6A as deep as the CZ5?

 

[marcomo]

Whatever you do, don't buy the newer "Chinese" (not really but many think that they are from there!) CZ3D's! They have nowhere near the depth of the older units. If I were you, I would find a CZ5 and have it converted to a 3D by Tom Dankowski. That is if you are looking in older sites for the old coins, otherwise an older CZ5 will outperform the newer CZ3D's hands down. The only difference is that the 3D will ring high on nickels and old deep coins. My CZ5 reads DEEP and is extremely accurate on ID. I can dig twice as many coins as my buddies with new machines!

Not true that all the newer 3d's are not up to snuff. There are newer El Paso units that have been certified as quite stable and proper by Dankowski with depth in his soil around the 12" mark. Then again, I remember seeing one El Paso unit for sale that had been certified to only 8.4". So there is risk involved with buying a new cz-3d unless you can put it together and test it first.

Part of the newer cz-3ds bad reputation apparently came from the early years of First Texas when, according to Dave Johnson, the techs were using an improper tuning procedure.

And while the Los Banos 1021 units are deservedly revered, there was still variance between the hot and cold ones.

I can only speak based on the cz's I've had myself and anecdotally from what other cz users with certified units have reported.

The only one who truly knows the numbers story would be Tom Dankowski.

 

[marcomo]

Fortunately CZ's go deep unfortunately they are easily masked by junk so may not be the proper unit under these conditions...

Dan hit the nail on the head, so to speak. The last place I would want to run my cz-3d would be in a carpet of nails scenario.

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Rel depth of either depends on tuning...better chance of CZ6A being deeper...

 

[coinspader]

I am finding out the hard way when it comes to hunting in a nail infested area, I'm getting a mixture of high tones and grunts all over the place, a lot of the bent nails are giving me good signals in both directions when I X on them, getting highly frustrated because I like the machine but it just isn't cutting it in the park that I hunt in most of the time. The only success I am having in this park is with my Deus, even my X Terra is having major issues there.:sad:

 

[therover]

That is what you need in that park. Seems the Deus fits the bill.

The CZ with it's concentric coil, slower sweep speed and moderate recovery speed will not hunt that park as well as the Deus.

Possibly using the small 5 inch coil on the CZ may help out. Not sure if you have one. In either case, I still don't think it will hunt that park as well as the Deus from what you are telling us.

 

[Bill_S]

The CZ3D was designed for pre-1950 spots

I think it's funny that they have the pull tab and square tab which were introduced after the 60's.on the face plate But I like to use them in modern parks loaded with them so it works out good for me.

 

[mrwilburino]

I've had plenty of success hunting parks with the CZ3D. It depends on what mode you are using. Salt mode uses the standard US coin hunter's settings. It assigns the high tone to newer nickels and the copper/clad/silver range. Enhanced mode offsets the nickel window just a bit to pick up older, long buried nickels that read lower on the conductivity scale. It also drops the high tone down into indian territory. Unfortunately you're picking up a lot of pulltabs, screw caps, and zinc pennies in that range. I usually use it in enhanced mode and dig all deeper targets that high tone. If it's a shallow target, i'll check it by switching over to salt mode. Then if it still sounds good it's worth digging. The ID is very accurate if you don't mind using icons instead of numbers. It does have that annoying multifrequency habit of falsing on every piece of pointy iron, so can be a challenge in iron trash.

I know a lot of people have turned to faster machines to squeeze a few more targets out of their hard hit sites, and they will do that, but what you gain in target separation however, you may lose in target ID, which means digging more modern trash and missing some good deeper targets that might not read where they're supposed to. Every machine is a compromise in one way or another.

 

[pasttom]

Having owned most models of CZ and now just a pair of 3Ds, I feel like I have paid my dues. You can get a lemon or a monster with any of the different CZs. However, you have to know how to hunt with them and its not like most other units. They bang on lots of different targets, but you need a good signal response from both axis and tone as well as meter (least accurate) indication. Lots of old help buried in past posts really help. Most everything else in this thread is right on. IMHO. ;-)

 

[Up to my ____ in Pulltabs Grant]

I have a CZ6A and I am considering the purchase of a CZ3D, just wondering if the CZ's have improved enough to justify buying the newer model.

Well coinspader, did you ever get your CZ3D ?