Well I got my feet wet today with a used Explorer XS I just picked up. I have to say Im really impressed.
I hunted a colonial site Ive been to a few times with another detector. This past Saturday with my other detector I was only able to find maybe 3 good targets, colonial flat buttons. I had a friend with me who cleaned up with his Minelab Explorer XS. He got a VA Half Cent 1783, 2 large cents, a nice seal used for marking the wax seal on a letter, at least a dozen colonial flat buttons, part of a riflemans buckle.... and the list goes on. We also had someone else with us and he was using another detector other than the Minelab and doing much better than I was but not as good as my friend with the Minelab. The other guy had an XS with him but cant use it anymore because of the weight. Thats where I lucked out. After seeing how good the Minelab was doing I bought it from him and took it out for about 3 hours today.
I went back to the same site today. This is an 1770s house that is loaded with iron. Iron everywhere! It is tough hunting. I found more with the XL the first time I used it than I did all day Saturday with a detector Im pretty used to. Finds wrer nothing to brag about but I still have a lot of learning to do and I did dig a lot of rusty nails. But I got a LOT of good targets. When I say good I mean non-ferrous. Im trying to dig everyting except iron here. The site also has turned up CW relics. Today I dug a few shotgun shells, some pull tabs, about 10 square nails, 3 colonial coin buttons, some misc. colonial brass items, a wheat cent and a large gold class ring. This isnt an impressive list I know BUT besides the nails its a lot of non-ferrous targets that I could not find with another detector. By the way, the class ring was lost in the 1980s by someone who worked on the farm, the farm owner is going to return it to the family. The gold ring is a lot less important to me than the good will it bought by giving it to the farm owner. I know there is still plenty of good colonial and CW stuff to be found there and Ill be going back.
Also... I spent some time in a plowed field. This soil here in Virginia can be real tough when its plowed. It tended to null out the detector but I still picked up a few targets.
Im impressed with this detector. I dont think Ill use it all the time though. If Im racing through the woods I think I can do better with my other detectors. For trashy sites, known camps, house sites or very mineralized ground Ill be taking the Explorer.
I hunted a colonial site Ive been to a few times with another detector. This past Saturday with my other detector I was only able to find maybe 3 good targets, colonial flat buttons. I had a friend with me who cleaned up with his Minelab Explorer XS. He got a VA Half Cent 1783, 2 large cents, a nice seal used for marking the wax seal on a letter, at least a dozen colonial flat buttons, part of a riflemans buckle.... and the list goes on. We also had someone else with us and he was using another detector other than the Minelab and doing much better than I was but not as good as my friend with the Minelab. The other guy had an XS with him but cant use it anymore because of the weight. Thats where I lucked out. After seeing how good the Minelab was doing I bought it from him and took it out for about 3 hours today.
I went back to the same site today. This is an 1770s house that is loaded with iron. Iron everywhere! It is tough hunting. I found more with the XL the first time I used it than I did all day Saturday with a detector Im pretty used to. Finds wrer nothing to brag about but I still have a lot of learning to do and I did dig a lot of rusty nails. But I got a LOT of good targets. When I say good I mean non-ferrous. Im trying to dig everyting except iron here. The site also has turned up CW relics. Today I dug a few shotgun shells, some pull tabs, about 10 square nails, 3 colonial coin buttons, some misc. colonial brass items, a wheat cent and a large gold class ring. This isnt an impressive list I know BUT besides the nails its a lot of non-ferrous targets that I could not find with another detector. By the way, the class ring was lost in the 1980s by someone who worked on the farm, the farm owner is going to return it to the family. The gold ring is a lot less important to me than the good will it bought by giving it to the farm owner. I know there is still plenty of good colonial and CW stuff to be found there and Ill be going back.
Also... I spent some time in a plowed field. This soil here in Virginia can be real tough when its plowed. It tended to null out the detector but I still picked up a few targets.
Im impressed with this detector. I dont think Ill use it all the time though. If Im racing through the woods I think I can do better with my other detectors. For trashy sites, known camps, house sites or very mineralized ground Ill be taking the Explorer.