Metal detector depth test will go a long way to guide you in selecting your suitable metal detector. But mind you, metal detector depth test is just a guide, because you may discover that the instrument stated to detect objects at a particular maximum depth, detect less or greater than the expected maximum depth, which could be as a result of the environment of the target.
For instance, a metal detector that detects an object at a maximum depth of 11 inches in a particular environment detects the same object at maximum depth of 8 inches or let’s say14 inches in your own yard.
The variations may be due to some factors that affect the depth of metal detector or you can say factors that can turn metal detector depth test to a lie, in this case, it has nothing to do with the machine, but definitely has something to do with the environment of the target.
However, it is worthy of note that for a metal detector to detect metals at greater depth must possess a large-sized coil. The larger the coil size the deeper the metal detector can detect.
Factors that determine how deep a metal detector can detect
Soil type: the type of soil has a mega role to play in the metal detector depth detection.
Consider the clay soil and silty land for instance. It is possible you’ve been getting coins at 10 inches, but you may be surprised to see the machine struggling to detect coins at 7 inches on a thick clay land or silty land.
Why? Clay is a mineralized soil also silty land i.e. it contains lots of minerals, and mineralized soil give fakes signals. Your metal detector can give a signal of valuable object, whereas it is a nail. Mineralized soil also causes low probe depth.
But a metal detector with ground balancing function that allows the opportunity to decrease or increase the sensitivity mode or increase discrimination patterns will thrive in such scenarios. However, clay soil can be helpful with discrimination, because of its iron composition.
Size of object: The size of object matters in metal detector to detect deeper metallic objects. The larger the size of a metallic object, the deeper and easier the metal detector will detect.
The period of time an object is buried: The longer the time an object is buried, the deeper the metal detector will detect.
Wet ground: deeper detection is difficult for metal detector on wet ground. However, frequently moist ground favours metal detection of newly buried coins especially after a soaking rain.
With all things being equal, this is the list of different brands of metal detector with their respective maximum depth. This should give you the rough estimate of how each metal detector should perform, and you can have more information on them even as you read on.
| Product name | Maximum depth (inches) | Search coil (inches) | Dimension (inches) | Product link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garrett Ace 250 | 7 | 6 x 9 | 11.1 x 22.1 x 5.1 | |
| Garrett ACE 350 | 8 | 8.5 x 11 DD | 22 x 11 x 5 | |
| Teknetics Omega 8500 | 10 | 10 | 11.2 x 6.5 x 40 | |
| Fisher F75 | 20 | 12 | 23.2 x 17.4 x 5.9 | |
| Garrett ATX | 20 | 12 | 23.2 x 17.4 x 5.9 | |
| White's TM 808 Metal detector | 20 ft | N/A | 44 x 9 x 12 |
Metal detector depth test review
Contents
Garrett Ace 250 Metal Detector with Submersible Search Coil
You should have no problem running Garrett ACE 250 at 6 to 7 inches sometimes 8 inches even deeper in optimal soil conditions. However, you won’t get deeper than 4 inches on the beach near the salt water, luck on your side you can get up to 5 inches on the wet sand, but your luck may run out on skegness beach because of its high mineral content.
The Garrett Ace 250 has a rugged design, easy to use and tune. It also has a notch option to ignore unwanted items coupled with the adjustable 8 sensitivity levels to differentiate ground conditions, and gives clear signals on coins even on jewelries.
This unit offer electronic pinpointing for excellent speed recovery, and excellent iron discrimination in clay soil. It is suitable for newbie or old pro to hunt relics, artifacts, old coins and other valuable treasures.
Features include:
- Provides target depth indicator
- Has sensitivity control
- Intuitive display
- Weighs 4.48 pounds
- Dimension: 11.1 x 22.1 x 5.1 inches
- Size coil: 6 x 9 inches
|
PROS
|
CONS
|
|
|
Garrett Ace 350 Handheld Metal Detector DD Coil + Headphones
Irrespective of the soil condition you shouldn’t have problem exploring at 8 inches with Garrett 350. And with constant use, you can get an old coin up to 11 inches and quarter up to 17 inches.
Garrett ACE 350 provides 12 segments enhanced iron discrimination to differentiate between good targets and iron. Also provides good detection depth even in mineralized grounds.
With the electronic pinpointing of this unit, you will precisely locate target and it has good speed recovery. It offers preset discrimination pattern with continuous depth indicator to pinpoint probable target depth. And the battery indicator shows battery life continually to find more coins, jewelries even relics.
Features include:
- Improved iron discrimination
- It has electronic pinpointing
- Weighs 2.8 pounds
- 2-year limited warranty
- Dimension: 22 x 11 x 5 inches
- Frequency: 8.25KHz
- Search coil size: 8.5 x 11 inches DD
|
PROS
|
CONS
|
|
|
Teknetics Omega 8500 Metal Detector
Teknetics omega 8000 will detect coin, relic hunting even gold prospecting up to 10 inches and 9 inches in a medium mineralized soil. You can use it for a whole day without low battery.
Features include:
- Has depth indicator
- Large LCD screen display
- Offer 4-tone discrimination display
- Can work for straight 25 hours
- 11 inches DD search coil
- Dimension: 11.2 x 6.5 x 40 inches
|
PROS
|
CONS
|
|
|
Fisher F75 Metal Detector
Fisher 75 metal detector has 11 inches coil, to detect an object up to 15 inches maximum depth. However, it can detect quarter up to 16 inches, also detects quarter at 12 inches frequently.
This unit can perform ground balance even in difficult terrain, and the LED screen display clearly read out all important information such as the target ID, depth indicator as well as iron readings.
Features include:
- Has double-filter discrimination
- Comes with back light for low light
- Double D water proof
- LCD screen with target ID and
- Uses 4 AA batteries
- Dimension: 7.5 x 11.5 x 52 inches
|
PROS
|
CONS
|
|
|
Garrett ATX Pulse Induction Military Grade Metal Detector
Garrett ATX can detect gold nuggets up to 24 inches. It is super quiet and responds to all kinds of large objects. It can also detect tiny gold nuggets up to depth of 4 to 6 inches.
It can even detect target up to 3 ft+ depending on operating technique, control settings, and target response segment. This unit uses pulse induction technology to detect metallic object in a mineralized soil to maximum depth coupled with the 12 inches DD coil.
Garrett ATX is your perfect metal detector to detect gold without the need to switch modes or coil to enhance the detection of small gold while ignoring the large gold nuggets. And it can detect target up to 10 feet in the water.
With this you unit, you can set your desired level of discrimination, set the desired sensitivity, do a frequency scan also perform ground balance.
Features include:
- Uses 12 inches DD coil
- Uses 8 AA batteries
- Dimension: 23.2 x 17.4 x 5.9
- Weight: 14.6 pounds
- Numerical settings with the range 1 to 13 LEDs
|
PROS
|
CONS
|
|
|
White’s TM 808 Metal Detector – 800-0320
This metal detector is specially designed to pinpoint large target, however, not suitable for small objects like coin so to avoid disappointment look elsewhere for it is made to make you lose some energy, digging deep for those large and deeper objects.
With White’s TM 808 you should be able to detect large objects such as underground tanks, pipes and cables, cache of coins, and relics up to 20 ft.
This unit allows you to save your settings and recall it with a push button. And you can reject interfering ground minerals in the path of your target with the adjustable ground balance function.
Features include:
- It utilizes dual-race track antenna
- Weighs 3.62 pounds
- Product dimension: 44 x 9 x 12
- The meter is easy to read
|
PROS
|
CONS
|
|
|
Metal detector depth test serves as a guide to what you should expect from a metal detector as it regards the maximum depth. For instance the White’s TM 808 Metal detector detects deeper compared to other metal detectors in the Metal detector depth test review, but is not made to detect small-sized objects like coins. The Garrett ATX can detect deeper up to 20 inches also suitable for shallow search, and others, too offer good maximum depth with the Garrett 250 being the lowest at 7 inches.
Brian Fielding
Hi, My name is Brian Fielding, for the last 10 years ive been taking metal detecting from a hobby to my full time research. I love the idea that you can just relax and kick back while you listen to the noises, ive been lucky enough to love the sport, keeps me healthy and keeps me going!