The Apex Is Turning Out To Be A Great Coin Shooter For Canadian Coins

John-Edmonton

Elite Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Messages
2,559
Location
Way up North, Canada


Out detecting for a couple of hours this afternoon after it stopped raining. I hit a sports field which I haven't hunted for at least 20 years. I managed to get coins in each denomination except the 2 dollar coin. I had sent 2 sets of Canadian Coins quite a while ago for Brent Weaver at Garrett to see if he could tweak up the Apex for our difficult to read Canadian coinage. One set was in pristine shape, the other was a set of rusted coinage as shown below. The Apex has it's own program for US coins.



Here are some rusted out coins.....two quarters and a dime. That's what happens to nickel plate on steel coins after they have been in the ground for a while. The Apex, on these coins still gives a strong signal, but it bounces around the VDI of 60-70's -80's. Once you get used to these tones (with practice) it becomes very easy to dig Canadian coins.
 
John, what is your experience comparing the depth capabilities of the new Apex vs the AT Pro?

The Apex has decent depth. I did manage to pull out a silver quarter at around 10 inches. It gave a quiet but distinct high audio signal. Compared to the AT Pro, it is close. I can't really get too specific, as they use different coils. If the Apex comes out with a larger coil, it will of course get even more depth.
 
The Apex has decent depth. I did manage to pull out a silver quarter at around 10 inches. It gave a quiet but distinct high audio signal. Compared to the AT Pro, it is close. I can't really get too specific, as they use different coils. If the Apex comes out with a larger coil, it will of course get even more depth.

Thank you for that info! In my soil, I get about 8" on a silver dime or copper cent, a bit more on a Silver Quarter. So the APEX sounds like it might do just as well or a bit better in Multi Freq.
 
The Apex has decent depth. I did manage to pull out a silver quarter at around 10 inches. It gave a quiet but distinct high audio signal. Compared to the AT Pro, it is close. I can't really get too specific, as they use different coils. If the Apex comes out with a larger coil, it will of course get even more depth.

Thank you for that info! In my soil, I get about 8" on a silver dime or copper cent, a bit more on a Silver Quarter. So the APEX sounds like it might do just as well or a bit better in Multi Freq.

I am not sure how the soil mineralization etc is in Canada but here in the midwest I am seeing dramatically lower depth with Apex. I have yet to find any coins deeper than 6 inches. I have been hunting side by side with Apex and Equinox so I can locate deep coins with Equinox and run Apex over them and the Apex has not given any but Iron grunts on coins deeper than 6 inches. The testing in my coin garden confirms this as well. The only coin deeper than 6 inches the Apex was able to hit was an 8 inch Morgan dollar which was iffy but diggable tone. To be fair the AT Pro results were very similar so the Apex is comparable to the AT Pro in my soil. Neither is deep enough to find the older coins around most parks here. Most older coins are 8" plus deep.
 
I am not sure how the soil mineralization etc is in Canada but here in the midwest I am seeing dramatically lower depth with Apex. I have yet to find any coins deeper than 6 inches. I have been hunting side by side with Apex and Equinox so I can locate deep coins with Equinox and run Apex over them and the Apex has not given any but Iron grunts on coins deeper than 6 inches. The testing in my coin garden confirms this as well. The only coin deeper than 6 inches the Apex was able to hit was an 8 inch Morgan dollar which was iffy but diggable tone. To be fair the AT Pro results were very similar so the Apex is comparable to the AT Pro in my soil. Neither is deep enough to find the older coins around most parks here. Most older coins are 8" plus deep.

Thanks detectorben you’ve been a great source of information on the Apex!
 
i have for sure hit coins deeper than 8 inches but thats on wet salt water beaches if i was a coin guy i would consider a bigger coil i'm sure they will be out soon
 
LovestheShiny!: said:
In my soil, I get about 8" on a silver dime or copper cent, a bit more on a Silver Quarter. So the APEX sounds like it might do just as well or a bit better in Multi Freq.
Just some opinions from a bit of experience.

First, I don't own an AT Pro or AT Max so I can't give an Apex comparison there.

Second, I do own at least one model from four other manufacturers and could compare depth performance, but they don't have a comparable search coil, and search coils can make a big difference.

Third, I live in Vale, Oregon, on the far east side of the state near Idaho. My ground mineralization varies and some places are kinder, but not mild or mellow. Most of the places I hunt produce a rather high Ground Phase read-out of '87' to '92', but that's with the Apex and it tends to read just a bit higher than I imagined. However, keep in mind that all detectors will have different read-outs from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Fourth, I very seldom hunt locations where coins are deeper than 6" to 7". I know they are out there, but the bulk of my hunt sites haven't had fill brought in, haven't been tilled or otherwise worked or modified, and are not subject to a build-up of leafage, nor a lot of grass clipping build-up.

Most coins are surface to 4", and the left-overs are in the 4" to 6" depth range. Only a 'stray' gets into the 6" to 8" or so depths. So far, my Apex has rewarded me with coins to 7"-8" but I feel it can do better if I get the coil over the target.

Fifth, when people say "in my soil" it would sure be nice if they could describe where they are so readers, like me, might get an idea of the gerund make-up in various places we might like to visit.

Sixth, you made one of those 'blanket statements' I hear quite often with: " ... or a bit better in Multi Freq ..."I've been using SMF detectors for over twenty-five years and all too often I have manage to get better depth with a Single frequency, or Single Selectable Frequency detector compared side-by-side with a SMF unit. no, not always, but far more often than many would believe.

Don't get me wrong, I own and use a couple of SMF detectors and, yes, there are times when I get good depth using their Multi-Frequency function ... however. I would never, and won't ever, credit SMF operation as being the deepest detecting mode or frequency choice. A lot depends on the target, conductivity, size and shape, ground mineral make-up, and we can't forget the coils used and the individual detector's circuitry.

I think that overall, we are going to see a lot of very satisfied consumers who have chosen the new Apex as the model to handle their needs. The only thing we need is a decent smaller-size search coil to handle trashier conditions.

Monte
 
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