Are explorers still relevant?

woodbutcher

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I’d say so. Went across the road to my churchyard I’ve been beating up for years,and about two hours later here’s my results. Nothing majorly worthy but nothing there is less than 6 to 7 inches anymore.The explorers a nickel hound too,pulled 7 tonight that were deep,spot on ID...just wanted to show the trash to coin ratio, This is where fbs excels I’m my opinion.
 

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Hey Woodbutcher. I certainly agree with you about digging less trash with the Explorer. I am using the Anfibio Multi now, and I really like it, but I sure seem to dig more trash than I did with the Explorer. Although, part of that could be that I used the Explorer for 20 years, and am just starting my second year with the Anfibio. On the positive side, I am also finding old coins in places I could no longer find any with my Explorer. The Explorer definitely found me more good finds than any other detector I've ever owned.
 
I still have not found anything that can beat the Explorer II in old-town-urban-deep-turf scenarios on deep-silver.

Yes It would get spanked by many other machines for ghost-townsy iron-ridden type situations. Since, go-figure: Power-house machines aren't generally "see-through/around" averaging machines. But, barring a few locations/situations, my "dinosaur" Exp. II has kept up with most anything it spars with :cool3:
 
I will always have an explorer in my arsenal, I prefer the SE, but all are deadly. Nice haul man, and stay safe out there!
 
Kinda surprised your even asking that question Pete. The Explorer is still used and cherished by many including yourself. They are very capable in the right hands at producing some great finds. Facts that you have just proven. Congrats! Trapper
 
No. They’re junk. Send yours to me for proper disposal.

I’m going to go make a video tomorrow that is going to shock the SH*T out of a lot of people. I’ll link it to this thread when it’s on YT.
 
My Explorer 2 head developed some problems and I sold it to someone who wanted it anyway . I had all the other necessary parts for it left over and just couldn't sell them .
So I saw an Explorer SE head for sale and scooped it up .I'm glad I did .I always preferred the Explorer 2 over the SE for the tone but I like the simpler settings of the SE . I got to try it out on some test coins on my lawn and it was like reuniting with an old friend . Haven't been able to get out with it because of this Wuhan virus lurking about but I am definitely looking forward to using it and my other detectors again (good Lord willing). Stay safe !
 
I have found a ton of great finds with my Minelab SE Pro since I bought it more than 5 years ago and I love it. That being said, had I known it was going to discontinued right after I bought it I would have bought an E-Trac if for no other reason because so many of the YouTbe detectorists had E-Tracs and I think it would have been easier to learn...far more YT channels featuring E-Tracs than Explorers.
 
I’d say so. Went across the road to my churchyard I’ve been beating up for years,and about two hours later here’s my results. Nothing majorly worthy but nothing there is less than 6 to 7 inches anymore.The explorers a nickel hound too,pulled 7 tonight that were deep,spot on ID...just wanted to show the trash to coin ratio, This is where fbs excels I’m my opinion.

I bought a used Explorer II at the beginning of March. I spent a few hours reading the manual while testing it in the backyard alongside my Equinox over various test targets. I had already watched forum member IDXMonster's Explorer videos on YouTube and they were really helpful.

I took it to a 1 acre permission I've hunted over 50 times and have found many great coins. Hours and hours with the AT Pro and Nox on that site over the past year, plus I've invited two other detectorists to join me and they made good finds. But it's drying up. 1 mercury dime in the most recent 14 hunts. Clad quarters became rare long ago. I keep going back because I'm still digging older nickels, copper and relics.

From everything I had read about FBS technology I thought this was an ideal property for the Explorer due to the trash mostly being composed of mid conductors rather than iron, and the presence of deep coins.

Here are the first 5 hunts with the Explorer on that property:

Hunt 1: Silver quarter (GW) @ 10 inches; 5 wheats

Hunt 2: Silver dime (Barber) @ 6 inches; 2 wheats

Hunt 3: Silver nickel (1944) @ 5 inches (in a hole with a clad dime); silver heart charm; 4 wheats

Hunt 4: Silver dime (Mercury) @ 6 inches; 6 wheats

Hunt 5: no silver; 3 wheats

Plus, I dug more clad dimes and quarters than I had in awhile at that property. The other remarkable thing was the low trash to coin ratio. On the third hunt I dug 27 plugs containing good targets and 3 with only junk. The two dimensional VDI allows you to really focus in on those high conductors.

Some other early reactions:

-- I can't say what signals the Nox hit that the Explorer couldn't beacuse I didn't test that out and have already pounded the place with the Nox. I do know I found a lot of great coins with the Nox on that property. Any time you're using a different detector, or just spend more time withe the same detector, you're going to open up new signals. But the Explorer's performance can't be written off that easily.

-- I did bring along the Nox to compare some Explorer-found signals pre dig. The Nox (Park 1 and Park 2) hit some of them and not others. I simply missed some of those signals but in a few cases the Explorer hit them from more angles. Obviously, the more angles you can hit a target the more likely you are to find it. That can't be overstated.

-- In some cases where the Equinox (Park 1 and Park 2) couldn't hit the Explorer-found target, I could get a hit by adjusting settings. Going to 5 kHz was particularly effective. This really wasn't a great solution because the Nox in 5 kHz gives off plenty of high tones in mid-tone trash. My early sense is that this is the core strength of the Explorer. The frequency blending in the Explorer allows it to not throw high tones from mid tone trash (as well as rusty and large iron if it isn't too dense). Not just discriminate, but to seemingly see through it to hit those deeper coins.

-- I also took the Explorer to a demolished old house site that is carpeted with nails and iron. The Explorer was a disaster, but I admit I didn't fool with the settings from the earlier permission and I didn't have much experience. The Nox picked through that iron and sniffed out solid, repeatable coin signals.

-- It seems pretty common to use the Explorer with fairly strong discrimination (the default coin program) and not feel like you're missing anything. Turning on the iron audio usually just confirms an already good ID. My typical hunting with the Nox and AT Pro has very little discrimination; I only use "coin program" type discrimination for specific reasons otherwise I feel like I'm missing signals that can be teased out.

--- I can consistently pick nickels out of mid tone trash with the Nox without looking at the screen. I haven't figured out how to do it as reliably with the Explorer. I need to get it over some dirt with enough nickels still left in the ground to get some real world examples to get a feel for them. It's not clear to me it can hit deep, difficult nickels in mid tone trash the way it can hit higher conductors in those conditions .

--- The coin is in the middle of the coil pretty much every time with the Explorer. I don't have the pinpointing issues other people report with the Nox, but I've been pretty impressed by the Explorer.

-- I don't swing or move very fast to begin with, but at first I wasn't too thrilled with the slow screen refresh speed of the Explorer. It's a much slower process of scanning promising targets a few times each, but it's usually just confirming the first reading and not an attempt to tease or average out tones. But, when you aren't wasting time digging junk, I suppose it all evens out.

---Still, I have no doubt I can survey and pick apart a new permission with the Equinox much faster. The Equinox will remain my main detector, but in some parks and some yards, the Explorer could come out first.

-- The Explorer is heavy, the battery cartridge is clumsy and a pain, I have to use aftermarket solutions for wireless headphones, the shaft wobbles, it's not waterproof, the screen is slow and not brightly lit, and it just has an outdated plastic-y feel. So, it says a lot that people still put up with all of that to scoop up silver.
 
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I bought a used Explorer II at the beginning of March. .....

Great post toy-soldier. Thanx for the report.

My experience (hunting along-side Nox users) has been that : My explorer spanks them in the turf, for deep-silver-strategy hunting. But they spank me in iron-ridden ghost-townsy sites.

JMHO
 
absolutely amazing machines that people just pass up on!! Best Bang for the buck right now
 
I loved my Explorer and dug alot of awesome coins and relics but I saw the hype and low price of Equinox...The Equinox made all past permissions new again.Thats not a knock on Explorer...Its just Equinox is that good.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
 
I loved my Explorer and dug alot of awesome coins and relics but I saw the hype and low price of Equinox...The Equinox made all past permissions new again.Thats not a knock on Explorer...Its just Equinox is that good.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

I wish people would include one little disclaimer in posts like this, such as...
“The Equinox made all past permissions new again...FOR ME”. I think that’s what is actually MEANT, but without the disclaimer, it leads others to believe something which may or may not be true...for the individual.
The EQX is nice, but hasn’t made anything “new” for ME.
 
Yup,gotta agree with you IDX. I could say the same about my vanquish,I’ve taken it to curbstrps I’ve hit already with the nox and they’re alive and producing silver and wheats with the 440.
 
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