Discrimination abilities of the SE and DFX.

[David]

I do not own either machine but I would please like to know from someone, between the Explorer SE and Whites DFX, which one has better surgical discrimination ?

1) What I mean by this is for example: To tell the difference between old and new pennies ? (So a person can knock out new pennies and only dig old ones. I live in Canada but tell me on US coins is fine as well.)

2) Can tell the difference between a silver dime and a penny ?

3) Which one can knock out brass and lead (trash) better and dig more good targets ?

4) Which one loses its discrimination ability faster as targets get deeper ? (In other words meaning which one has better discrimination ability at depth.)

5) Lastly which one discriminates out iron and steel, rusted iron and alloys, especially large iron pieces better without chirping and chattering ?

Although depth is important, the most depth is not the main deciding factor on which one to buy or which one is better but rather which one has better surgical discrimination is the most important factor. Is there another metal detector that is better than the SE and DFX at accomplishing these 5) tasks above or not ? Thank You.

 

[monindou]

I own both. DFX for 5 years; Explorer for 8 months. Both can be set to discriminate and clearly identify the coins you've listed in text book conditions and DFX can probably have text book discrimination manually set easier than the Explorer, where with the Explorer Learn function would be the ticket.

BUT why in the heck would you want to do discriminate anything?

Talking Whites talk.. ya, OK, on the DFX VDI scale silver dimes, quarters, halves are "zoned" into separate VDI ranges. But if you increase VDI Sensitivity it skews the scale UP and over into the negative VDI range. If you use a single frequency (3 or 15) and the scale is skewed up or down and now you've lost your coin. Or use Correlate to silence iron and the signal is totally tossed out under some conditions.

Mixing Minelab and Whites lingo... not all silver comes in at text book Conductive/Ferrous // VDI ranges. You're losing out on a LOT of coins by notching/discriminating and looking for "the perfect" signal. Why? Deep money, mineralized ground, money next to trash, etc., all skew the signal. Decide on your machine and run it open. Use your mind to discriminate out modern zinc pennies - because Indian pennies come in that same zone.

But do what you want here, both machines will do it.

-
Doug M.

 

[Southwind]

1) What I mean by this is for example: To tell the difference between old and new pennies ? (So a person can knock out new pennies and only dig old ones. I live in Canada but tell me on US coins is fine as well.)

In my opinion, the DFX has far better ID resolution than the SE. Telling a zinc penny from copper is a piece of cake, however, Indian Heads from zinc can be a tossup if the zinc penny has been eaten away some.

2) Can tell the difference between a silver dime and a penny ?

I can tell a silver dime from penny with the SE, but with the higher ID resolution of the DFX, I can tell a clad dime from a silver dime. I can't do that with the SE.

3) Which one can knock out brass and lead (trash) better and dig more good targets ?

Out of the box I'd say the SE will dig more good targets thanks to having a DD coil which covers more area on each swing. I don't know about the brass and lead as I prefer to dig all of these so I've never tried it.

4) Which one loses its discrimination ability faster as targets get deeper ? (In other words meaning which one has better discrimination ability at depth.)

It's a tough question. The SE tends to be more accurate after about 6" where the DFX levels off, but then the SE's ID'ing takes a dive and the DFX remains constant. I guess I'd say the DFX, again due to a higher ID resolution, is more accurate up to about 5-6" where the SE has better accuracy to about 8". After that the DFX tends to be a bit more accurate. If that makes sense.

5) Lastly which one discriminates out iron and steel, rusted iron and alloys, especially large iron pieces better without chirping and chattering ?

I think the SE has this one. It nulls a lot but not much chatter.

 

[mattockman]

n/t