a stong back, a sturdy shovel, and a nice set of different mesh sized screens to shake the dickens out of the good target/bad target mix. Hombre gave you the best correct and 100% recovery method needed.
That said, you can opt for the less-laborious approach and use a great detector/coil team with the best settings possible. I have had some of my best success over the previous decades using some Tesoro's with 6" and 7" Concentric coils, or White's Classic series models with a 4½" or 6½" Concentric coil and more recently a White's MXT Pro, M6 or MX5 with a 6½" Concentric coil and occasionally an aftermarket 5" DD coil. I have/do enjoy using these models because the are 'simple' to set up and they 'work' quite well. My preferred sites are old and most often iron infested, especially with nails.
DigFella said:
Even though the Deus is crazy fast in testing, I still haven't harnessed it in the nails. I think I need more hours on it & a better program.
I have a couple of friends who bought into the marketing splash about the Deus and got one. They raved about what they could do with it ... but that was only if they tinkered with settings for one test scenario, then stepped to the next test scenario and tinkered around a lot more. At times they could fiddle with it and try to impress me with the Deus ability in one or two of the comparisons, but as we evaluated an assortment of actual in-the-field encounters and test scenarios, even they got tired in time with all the excess programming they had to do.
I like 'simple' and I also like 'performance' and 'functional' design. Both the Nokta FORS CoRe and Makro Racer are providing me with ample 'function' that is 'simple' to get into operation, and the results are excellent 'performance' in every environment I have hunted, comparing them with makes and models I own or borrowed. Oh, by the way, neither of those fellows who are pretty technical, one being an electronics engineer by profession, kept their XP Deus.
DigFella said:
I'm hoping the Racer can open up some possibilities cause I know a ton of small coins & buttons sit amid these nails that all other machines have missed.
The Racer certainly can, just use the right coil for the mission, keep the Gain and ID Filter [size=small](Sensitivity and Discrimination)[/size] under control and not use too much, then pick the 2-Tone or 3-Tone mode function that you feel suits you the best for the particular site you're hunting.
DigFella said:
Since the Racer is 0-40 iron range, I'm wondering if I can set disc on say 21 to break up nails & use 2 tones like I did with the T2.
Yes, just use the best ID Filter setting to just barely satisfy the iron task at hand. Remember, too, that even within one company you can have similarities and variables, such as a '40' break-point for Iron/Non-Iron and the point at which the detector and coil handle iron nails.
Yes, the FORS and Racer use a '40' numeric Target ID number to lump most iron trash at a lower reading. Teknetics uses the same '40' "break-point," but there are differences. The T2 breaks at '40' but it needs a Discriminate setting of about '21'/'22' to reject the four nails on my NBPT. Their own Omega also has a '40' break-point for ferrous, but the same iron nails are rejected with an Omega setting of '16'/'17.' Their Euro-Tek Pro also is designed with a '40' break-point for iron, but the same nails require a Discriminate setting of '38' to barely knock them out. So we can not always refer to a Discrimination reference as being the same from model-to-model, even within the same company.
On the FORS and Racer I use a rejection setting of '23' in the 3-Tone mode to just slightly reject the four iron nails. At that setting the Racer out-shines almost every detector I have up against it so far using the 'standard' coil, a 5½X10 DD and the 5ish" DD. I use an ID Filter setting of '10' most of the time in the 2-Tone mode because I do hunt some open areas and like to listen for
any metal at a site, and the 2-Tone VCO audio works great for my needs.
I think you will find the Racer's in-the-field performance to be a great match for your types of iron littered sites, and about the only thing better would be a total clean-out of the sites ... back to the shovel and screens and a stout back. With my bad back I am more than satisfied with my decision to change over to the FORS/Racer team of detectors to bring me results.
Monte