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Metal Detecting Questions & Answers

For too long now Detectorists have been fed a diet of hype followed by even more hype, whether it be from the manufacturer, dealers, or “my machine is the best” from self opinionated contributors on the forums. I want to change that and offer an alternative.

The object of this site is to provide down to earth and honest information for those detectorists that are looking for that little bit more.  There is no bias to one particular brand of detector, it doesn’t matter whether you use a Scan master or a Minelab GP 4000; you will have questions that need a straightforward understandable answer that will be based on facts not opinionated thoughts. Primarily, this will be for the European conditions, but “a detector is a detector”; no matter where in the world it will be used, it is only the conditions that alter its performance. The bottom line for any detectorist is how his machine can cope with differing conditions and how he will be able to get the optimum performance from it. You have a problem? Throw it here for us to chew over and give you a reply.

 

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What Machine?

Hi John, What, in your opinion would be a good all rounder for ploughed and beach? I'd like to buy her indoors a decent machine that I could back up my GMP with. thanks for your time John, Kind regards Alan.
Hi Alan, it depends on whether she will use it on the wet or just the dry sand as well as the ploughed soil. If it’s dry sand only, then it’s anything from a garrett ace 150 (or 250) upwards. If using it in ernest on the wet sand, then in my opinion you need to go down the multi-frequency route; I use a Sovereign Elite on both beach and pasture and produced good results on each. John.

Hi John I am thinking of getting a C-Scope 1220R or the XP ADX250 which one do you think is the best one of the two and why kind regards gary bham.
Hi Gary, I don’t like “knocking” any detector, but the XP ADX250 would be my choice, if only for ease of use. There is a helluva lot less of a chance that you can get the settings wrong on the 250.
John

Hi John, I know that I've made a big mistake when I sold my Shadow X5. It was a great detector but you know boys need new toys to play with. At the moment I'm using a Whites MXT (sold the shadow because of the display)-not a bad detector but a friend of mine from the Netherlands uses a Lobo and I must confess that he is finding the small stuff at places I've detectet with the MXT.
Anyway, the display is a nice thing but the FIRST info you get about a target is the sound. So I'm looking for a lightweight machine with no display. I've never used a machine "hipmounted" but it seems logical for me when you are detecting over a long time. So my ears are ok and they want to hear the sound of the power. Here at the lower Rhine area close to the river Rhine you'll find a lot of roman and medieval coins - even Celtic coins are to discover. What is your opinion- is the goldmaxx ok for me. Seems to be as lightweight and flexibel as the Shadow. Hope my English is not too bad! greetings from Cleve, Germany, Stefan.
Hi Stefan your English is far superior to my German! The Goldmaxx Power is ideally suited to those sites you mentioned, it will really excel on the smaller Celtic and Medieval coins. We are actually going to be selling XP detectors and accessories as well as the Garrett Aces from this site by the time you read this reply. That is how much faith I have in the products. Regards John

Dear John . I've just found your website and would like to approach you regarding some advice on purchasing a metal detector.  I've been out of the hobby for over 20 years and now live in Devon.  I am considering buying either an XP Goldmaxx Power or a Minelab Explorer SE (although am open to other suggestions that you may have).  Detecting will be on arable land, with the odd field of pasture during the winter months). I would be grateful for any advise on which detector would be best to purchase (but perhaps, I should buy both and not have the dilemma of choosing!).  Secondly, I would be very interested in attending the courses that you run and would like to be sent details of locations, dates and fees for the courses.  Many thanks and best wishes, Rob.
Hi Rob, I hate having to recommend a detector to someone that I know nothing about. Both detectors that you have mentioned will do a job for you, but will need working at to get the best from them. A lot of people just don’t get the maximum from them, (hence my courses and DVD’s). Rather than jump in at the deep-end why not try beginning again with a more middle of the road detector? Something like a White's MXT or an XP ADX250, Adventis, any of these will produce the goods and will encourage less head scratching and frustration until you get back into the swing of it. As I’ve mentioned before, my courses rely on someone in the locality to arrange things with the farmer and then it is a question of having enough people turning up on the day to make the whole thing a viable proposition. John

Hi team, great site, love the book and DVD. If there was no such thing as XP detectors, which of today’s models would you be using? Assuming you had a budget of £600 for a new detector. regards Gary.
Hi Gary, not too difficult, I think I would go back to using the Troy shadow 5 with the option of a widescan head, until the XP’s came along this was my number one machine for my ground. It’s extremely light, has a 10 turn ground balance and operates at 19 KhZ, although the recovery isn’t as fast as the Goldmaxx, it isn’t a slouch in this department. I’ve cheated here as you can no longer buy them new. So if I must buy new then either the Tesoro Lobo or Tejon, if I had to have a metered machine it would be the T2, not the Fisher F75. John

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Land & Beaches

Can you tell me how to go about getting permision to metal detect on forestry commmission land, as described in one of your articles. Regards Peter.
Hi Peter thanks for the interest, but what are you like boy? Come you on, tha’s bin a plastered up on there questions an’ answers page a couple o’ times now. It’s under the heading of Land and Beaches, as far as I know it is only the Norfolk Forestry Commission giving permission at the moment and even this could be changing back to a no go area in the next year or so. John. P.s. don’t mind me trying out my Norfolk speak. I’ll get the lot o’ yer at it in time.

I am thinking about an XP Adventis 2 or ADX 250 either if both good for beach (same) and land depth than I might go for the Adventis 2 because of the discrimination and ground reject. I have XP Goldmaxx Power but look for low khz for more depth than the Goldmaxx Power. Steve
Hi Steve, unless you are only going at the top of the beach on dry sand, I definitely wouldn’t advise you to go for either machine. I have used both the Adventis and ADX 250 to great effect inland, but as regards the beach definitely not. If I’m doing the beach, then I go for a multi- frequency machine. Hope this helps, John.

John, I read with interest your diary article regarding detecting in forests. How do you get permission from the Forestry Commission and can anyone apply for a permit? Kind regards, Simon.
Hi Simon, I have answered this question on an earlier post (didn’t know so many people read "my diary"). Once again, the Thetford Forestry Commission is the only one allowing detectorists and unfortunately this might actually come to a halt in the next couple of years or so. The only requirement has been the 40 odd quid and a letter of recommendation from an archaeologist and that all finds are recorded. What I have tried to convey is the fact that there are loads of woods to have a go at, they don’t necessarily have to be large tracts of forestry for there to be something worthwhile to find. (I’ll go into this in more depth in the diary) John.

Hi Norfolk Wolf, I read with interest your article on forestry land detecting. I have looked at the forestry site and they don’t mention detecting, so I e-mailed them. Is it true they grant a license for 40 quid a year.
Hi John, is it true? Well I wrote it, so it must be! Although only the Norfolk area is doing this at the moment and even this area looks like it might be coming to a halt in the future. John.

Hello, i'm an oldie who can do very little detecting, but when I go to visit family and go on beaches my detector will not work on wet sand. Can you tell me best lightweight machine that will do dry land and wet sand thank you for reply. George brown.
Hi George, there aren’t that many machines that will fit your criterior of doing the two jobs and being lightweight at the same time. The first that springs to mind is the Troy Shadow X5 or perhaps the Teknetics T2, Fisher F75’s or Cz’s(dual frequency). Myself I prefer a multi-frequency for the beach and use a Minelab Elite and have it hip-mounted. A single frequency detector (the first three I mentioned) will do a “job” for you, but the multi-frequency does reign supreme when on wet sand conditions. John.

Despite all the comments regarding the XP Goldmaxx Power and beaches I tried mine on the beaches of Portsmouth yesterday - using the elliptical coil I found that the machine worked like a dream, no chatter, and deep. Setup: - sensitivty 10 O'clock, discrimination 12 O'clock, silencer - 2, ground reject at just past 12 O'clock. I detected on pebbles, black sand, wet sand. If anything it was a bit too sensitive, picking up tiny bits of ring pull so I turned it down to min for some coin shooting. Could it be that the small coil doesn’t allow the black sand to overpower the machine or am I just lucky with the beach I have here? I would welcome your thoughts. Lee.
Hi Lee, I have always said that the XP Goldmaxx (or Power) isn’t the best of machines to use on wet or black sand. The reason being the conductive attribute of salt and then couple that with the mineralization of the black sand with which the single high frequency machines have difficulty coping. However, by using the elliptical coil, because of its smaller footprint it doesn’t “see” so much; therefore is less affected by the conditions than if you were using the standard 9inch coil. Undoubtedly it will work to a certain extent, but as you said the Sensitivity needs to be turned very low to maintain stability, (as is the case with all single frequencies).
With a multi-frequency or pulse, the Sensitivity can be used at a higher level with no loss of stability and giving an increase in depth. Good to see that you are taking the Goldmaxx Power to the max! Regards john

Hi please could you let me know if any of the XP detectors do well on the Beach, Regards Maurice
Hi Maurice, you might get away with using the low frequency XP’s on the damp and dry sand, but there are far better detectors for that purpose. Even  the entry level Garrett Ace 250 has the benefits of being able to use a notch facility to get rid of the ring pulls and bottle tops whilst still pulling the coinage and jewellery that are prevalent when beach detecting. I know a lot of detectorists advocate using an out and out pulse machine, but you would need to go along way to beat a Minelab multi-frequency as an all round beach detector. John

Hi, I’m new to the hobby (well 1 yr old) and live in Kings Lynn. Could you point me in the right direction of how and where I can find some land to detect on as I am finding it near impossible, the beaches are ok, but there isn’t much history in them :(
Hiya Sy, I thought I might get the odd message from other good old Norfolk boys, but didn’t expect one from my home town this quick. I do sympathise with you, I had the same trouble when I first started, you’re all fired up to get out there and it breaks your heart with all the refusals. I’ve got to tell you Sy, you really are going to have a problem in getting land around the West Norfolk area, most of it has been sewn up ages ago. It really is difficult around here, you just have to keep knocking on the doors and asking. The other route is to try a little further afield, even into Lincolnshire, the farmers there don’t seem to have had years of hassle from people asking.
One route I can recommend is that you join the King’s Lynn metal detecting club, this is now under the new leadership of a real good bloke called Kevin who is not only a good detectorist but has also graduated to become an archaeologist. This way you will get to meet other detectorists who will hopefully not only show you the ropes but invite you out for a days detecting. John
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Ground & Habitation

If you remember i asked about celtic coinage and finding it on my brother in laws farm in Northants. Hi John, I wrote to you a few months back and mentioned that i detect on my brother in laws 2000 acre farm.  I wanted know back then is staters were common in Northants. Well since then i have found a small Roman site, i pulled off around 20 Roman bronzes and lead etc.  This was great stuff as the site was un discovered.  Then on the 24/02.08 i returned to the field for a second days detecting i was getting the usual more bronzes etc.  Then out of no where i broke the earth to reveal a Waddon Chase gold stater.  This was the first gold and the first celtic coinage i'd ever found so killed two birds with one stone after only 4 years detecting. What i'd like to know is, how likly is it that there is more there when i next return or do they just come in ones. Also does it indcate a previous iron age settlement.  Thanks Ed Holley.

Well done Ed, the chances are that there will be more, it could turn out that you might have a hoard of them somewhere on the site.
Regards John

Many of my sites here in essex are subject to alot of coke.  I already own the Goldmaxx and am purchasing the Adventis 2 either today or tomorrow, can I use the hot rock method of discrimination by turning the ground control left to right until the sounds disappears or will I still have to rely on the discrimination being set on Max to eliminate this pesky coke. Many thanks in advance. Jonjee.
Hi Jonjee, The ground reject/accept is for ground mineralization and mineralized rocks only. Coke has conductive properties, so will only be affected by the use of the discrimination control. You do not need to have the Discrimination set to max on the Adventis to handle coke. It is possible to Disc out coke and still retain the ability to signal hammered silver. I suggest you dig a couple of pieces of coke and note where on Disc 2 they will be discriminated; if the coke problem is so severe, it will pay you to check each signal by flicking the switch from Disc1 to Disc 2. You didn’t exactly give me much time to answer, so I don’t know whether you have already made your purchase; but I will help with any other problems along the way if you need it. Regards John
Not a question more a thank you.  I have read much that you have printed on the methods and use of the adx250 (Which is the sister to the Adventis 2 of which I could not find anything) and applied the info to last Sundays dig on well worked pasture.  I performed great the only other machine to keep up was (surprise, surprise to me as I have only just sold mine could not get used to it)Teknics T2.  So a big thank you for your help and also for your prompt reply to my other question on the discrimination of coke, Johnjee
Thank you for the kind words Johnjee. I’m glad to be of help. Regards John

Hello John, just some advice really. I am at the advantage of have a brother in law that owns 2000 acres in Northants area. Firstly is this an area that holds Celtic finds. Also i have looked at maps etc for reasearch tips i do own your book which has helped a great deal. Is the best advice to just get out and look?? What are your thoughts on the Minelab SE
Hi Ed, 2000 acres eh? You lucky dog!! I don’t personally know the area, but Mark’s “Three Counties” metal detecting club, has a certain amount of land in Northants and they do pull out the odd Celtic here and there along with a shed-full of Roman and Mediaeval. When looking for Celtic sites, I’m more attracted to the higher ground (as this is where all mine has come from). The smaller Roman-British settlements might throw up the odd one here and there amongst the Roman coins.Obviously there are no written records, but there are chances are that if any coins do come to light, they should be either of the Catuvellauni or the Trinovantes and if you are very, very lucky the odd Iceni.
As regards the Explorer SE, a good machine in the right hands. Good ground coverage and good depth on the larger items; not so good amongst the nails and the tinier stuff.
I’ve just remembered that some parts of Northants have an underlying soil strata called the Greensand Ridge; depth capabilities of the detector will be diminished somewhat by the mineralization. John

I have been using the XP Goldmaxx Power on roman villa with bad ass soil. Iron keeps throwing me. Have been told to use it like this     iron auto    silencer 2    iron threshold  off     Sensitivity 12oc    does the silencer still work when iron in auto and threshold hold off ? Please can you send me some help  thank you john, good hunting, Craig.
Hi Craig, this is how I set it up for my XP Goldmaxx Power on Roman sites. Silencer 1, having the Silencer in 2 and in auto will give the slowest recovery speed possible on this machine. In these conditions you need it faster, but not so fast that signal recognition deteriorates. Iron volume 12o’clock, hearing the iron volume sound out over signals makes you slow down, which is what should be happening over naily ground. Ground reject 11o’clock, Iron threshold, 11o’clock (ish), depending on the size of iron encountered, nails okay, but bigger lumps need more iron threshold, even up to 3o’clock. Sensitivity, anywhere from just on, to 11 o’clock max. You are in a real naily area, depth doesn’t come into it, you are trying to get the odd object and coins from amongst iron. Having the Sensitivity too high only overpowers the detector with all the signals coming through and with the iron being near surface, guess what you are going to hear most? These can and will stop you from hearing those good signals amongst them, slow down the sweep speed and keep that Sensitivity low! Your mates have told you to put it into Auto. Why, have you got a load of “coke” on the fields? That is the only reason to use Auto, otherwise you would be just as well off in buying a cheap Tesoro, because that is how the Goldmaxx Power is being used. A lot of “Nighthawkers” use it in Auto to begin with, just to get the really good signals near the surface in a hurry, but the intelligent ones wised up after awhile. Hope this helps John.

How can I tell if a site is mineralised or not?
Hi Terry, the first thing you will notice is that the metal detector will be producing a degree of background “chatter”.  Two adjustments need to be made, one is the Sensitivity which has to be turned down, and the other, depending on what Ground- balancing system you have, will also need to be altered. The metal detector will be “seeing” and therefore be more affected by the ground conditions. If your ground-balance system is manual, it will need to be adjusted to cope with this. Other systems have a “fixed ground balance”, so you will only need to adjust the Sensitivity. John

My question is have any of you ever detected on a merl pitt , I think that’s how you spell it. The reason I ask is that a Roman hoard was once found at one near me some years ago; also numerous other items from a separate pit other than the hoard. ty badger pardy
Hi Gary, there are two types; Marl pits and Dew ponds. They used to dig out the marl (clay) and spread it on the fields to help bind the light soil and give it a bit of goodness. The dew ponds would be dug where water sources were scarce; these were lined with clay (to retain the moisture) and seeded with grass (to promote the moisture or dew).Clever buggers weren’t they?
Now, if you were going to bury something in the middle of nowhere, away from any prying eyes; what better landmark than a pond? You would be really annoyed if you buried it near a tree and some smart-arse came along and cut it down to build a house!
I have always wondered which were the oldest, the marl pits or the ponds?
They were still digging and spreading marl up to the early part of the last century on farms around this neck of the woods. However, the ponds could have had another purpose than just supplying a bit of water for the early farmers livestock. They could also have been the ancient fore-runner of a decoy pond for all the wild game. Instead of chasing after the birds and animals out on open land, give them something they want (water) and let them come to you. Like I said, clever buggers weren’t they?
I always like to have a good snoot around these when I come across them and have found some nice gear around one or two, but it doesn’t work on every single one. John

Hi John, Great Site!! 
I have a couple of roman occupation sites which contain lots of iron and detecting them with my White's MXT gives me a real ear-bashing !! However, I like the detector as it seems to perform better amongst the heavy iron with the DD coil than the minelabs etc that my mates use. My query is as follows - although the iron on these sites makes metal detecting difficult I can always make finds amongst the iron even in the 'busiest' areas when the field is in stubble or grass. However, when the field has been ploughed/harrowed and even after seeding I find detecting amongst these iron laden areas almost impossible - target seperation is really poor with the iron overpowering everything else. Can you comment on why these differing field conditions have this effect? Cheers.
Hi Paul, good question. The trouble when something comes along that gives you a problem, is actually identifying the true problem and not all the false clues so to speak. Is it the iron that is causing the problem or the ground conditions, or both?
Let’s start with the ground, the stubble and grass bit. The ground conditions will be compacted and for the most part, at that time of year will be dry, or at least the top couple of inches or so.
Now let’s look at freshly ploughed/seeded soil. The compaction is less, which means the soil is aerated and at that time of year will be moist from the surface down. The best conditions for metal detecting, is when the soil is compacted and the top couple of inches or so are dry and beneath that is damp.
Damp soil will induce a stronger signal, not just from metal objects but also the ground mineralisation, but if the top couple of inches are dry, the ground effect which is closest to the coil will be less. Aerated soil is more difficult for the electro-magnetic field to penetrate.
Iron has one property that other metals do not possess, its called permeability (a posh word for being magnetic). It also has another property and that is it rusts, the rust will hold the water (dampness) which induces a stronger signal. To prove it to yourself, dig up one of the nails which give you a signal and place it on the surface. Then go over it with your coil at a height of about 3inches or so, the signal compared with that when it was in the ground is miniscule.
The only real answer to overcoming the problem is either to drop the Sensivity, or to use a smaller coil, say an elliptical. One thing you won’t get when in amongst the nails is depth, so by using Sensitivity settings that were used when on stubble and dry soil, the iron in damp conditions will overpower the metal detector.
There have been occasions when I have found it necessary to drop the Sensitivity right the way back just to wheedle the stuff from amongst the iron. (Dropping the Sensitivity always seems the hardest thing for any detectorist to do, but it does work). John.

I found my first Stater a few months back and was wondering what the likelihood of more being found on this site, the field is full of coke, iron slag and pottery, other finds that came up was a fibula silver roman, a bronze coin and a disc brooch, is it common to have single iron age coin find on these sites? I have to wait until crop is out to go back. P.S it’s a Dobunni Gold Stater Corrio type.
Hi Maxine, nice find, I can understand you hoping that there are more. You have certainly got chances, seeing that you have identified the area as a site of occupation. I have found a fair number of single Staters that have been well away from any form of previous habitation and put this down to losses whilst the person was traveling. However I get that tingling feeling when one is found on a site, I know that I slow right down and definitely concentrate that bit harder. One thing I would like to suggest is that you take a good sampling of the different kinds of pottery and get the museum service to identify and date them for you. You could have Iron Age as well as Roman pottery (which will be a good pointer to there being more than one Stater), also the fibula, brooch and bronze coin, which will also be dateable evidence. Supposing you did have iron age pottery say from circa 50 B.C, and the other pottery, coin or artifacts were of the 3rd or 4th  century; this could indicate habitation over a period possibly spanning 400 years or so. Good luck with your searching Maxine and it would be great to get an update when you go. John

Thanks so much John for your advice and help with my detecting, I will certainly let you Know how it goes. Maxine.
No problems Maxine, especially seeing it was for you, (one of two lovely Welsh ladies I met at a rally), thanks for visiting the site. John.

Having used the XP Goldmaxx mk1 for 2 years now (still a fantastic machine) I have noticed a drop off in the finds rate in dry weather, I know this is due to the lack of moisture in the soil. My question is which metal detector works best in dry conditions? Any particular frequency range or make.
That’s a really good question Brian; the conditions now are such that everyone must be noticing of late the loss of depth due to the soil drying. The answer to your question has so many variables it is quite complex. Here are a few to be going on with, frequency, conductivity, permeability and resistivity, this is not only of the soil but also of the sought object and now to this you must also add size and thickness. If I ask, you would be non-specific in what you were searching for, which is quite understandable; but until you do so I can’t give you a qualified answer. The easy option for me is to say that all metal detectors suffer loss of depth under these conditions. Someone once said that surely a low frequency is deeper on pasture. So I asked on what size of object, if it was a Celtic gold quarter stater, the higher frequency had more chance of finding it; but if it was a Roman Sestertius then the lower frequency would be the choice. “Yeah, well I’ve never found any quarter staters on pasture” Really, or any cut halves? What you gain on the swings you lose on the roundabouts. John
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XP Goldmaxx Power v Tesoro Lobo

Hi John, Firstly I'm a good mate of Lez in the Blaydon MD club, you know who I mean the quiet shy lad!!!! I just wondered how you rate the Tesoro Lobo against the Goldxmaxx XP power, I'm a newcomer having about 2 years experience, hope to hear from you soon. By the way my son has just set up a new trading site for anyone wanting to buy/sell take a look its www.coindealing.co.uk. All the best Ron.

Hi Ron, I think you know what my answer is going to be if you have spoken to Les. The Lobo is good (don’t waste your money on the wolftrax), but it ain’t and never will be in the same class as the XP Goldmaxx Power.

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XP Goldmaxx V3 & V4 chip

Hi Guys first of all a really great Sight*** I'm a dutch guy who has a little question:-) what is the main difference between a V3 and a V4 chip?? I bought a Goldmaxx power with a V4 in it, a friend of mine told me the V4 is a improvement what the disk abilities consurns, can you confirm this?? with friendly greetings mikel, and keep on going:-)
Hi Mikel, the V4 chip was introduced to improve the detectors performance on the deeper quieter signals. It gives better amplification on those signals whilst at the same time limiting the volume on the bigger near surface items. It has nothing to do with the discrimination abilities of the detector. Hope this helps you. John.

Name: Gary Saunders Detector: XP GoldMaxx Mk1 Ground: All Question: Wolfy, Have just bought a Mk1 Goldmaxx, kind you tell if it is worth my while upgrading the chip to a V3. If so, what improvements am I likely to see ?
Hi Gary, I think you might find that your Goldmaxx already has the V3 chip, check inside the battery compartment. regards John

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XP Goldmaxx Power

name: erik, detector: xp goldmax power, question: hello john I read all the post over and over,in most of the settings you are talking about silencer in 1 (busy roman sites) but i thought that silencer in 0 has the fastest recovery speed, so when do you use silencer in 0? beause when you are in a naily area you need fast recovery speed ?! or not? Erik
Hi Erik,in answer to your question, yes the Goldmaxx does have a faster recovery speed in “0”;. So why do I advocate using it in “1”? Although it is slower, it is only slightly so; what is more important (for me) is that it gives a better tonal quality to the signal. In the “1” position it just has that slightly longer sampling period to be able to give a better I.D. You have so many different ways to combat naily areas besides just sticking the silencer in “0”. Like dropping the Sensitivity, using a slower sweep speed. Using a smaller coil, increasing the Iron threshold and upping or lowering the Iron Volume and even adjusting the Ground accept/reject.
When do I use the silencer in “0”? Whenever I feel that it gives a real improvement over the other two settings,. Believe it or not, this is usually when there are less nails and iron about, more relateing to the outer areas of a Roman site rather than the heavily infested areas. John

question: Hi,  I telephoned a couple of days ago and spoke to a very helpful gentleman, about possibly purchasing the above mentioned detector.  I was wondering what your best cash price would be for the Goldmaxx Power. Cheers Rudi.
Hi Rudi, as I explained on the phone, all European imported detectors have gone up in price just recently and I think you might be better waiting until September time before parting with your cash. john

I have been watching your videos on ‘youtube’ and your site with interest, I have also bought your DVD. I own an explorer SE and a GMP V4 which I was lucky enough to win. I do really well with my SE, but I'm struggling a little with the GMP to be honest. I have only been detecting 2 years now on and off and my 1st machine was an explorer II. I wondered, and I know its a long shot, if it may be possible to meet up with you sometime and get some lessons? and do a little detecting with you? I live in scotland but I’m willing to travel and learn, I can pay if necessary also, I’d really love a chance to learn from someone who knows their stuff and on some nice land for a change. I see on your site you mention gold panning, I do this in scotland often and have some I can show you, I can also if you want take you out up in scotland and show you how to get gold and some of the rivers if you wanted. Hope to hear from you soon Rob.
Hi Rob, I was going to do a an XP training day at Newark but is has been put back until Aug/ Sept. time if that will be any help to you. In the meantime throw a few of your problems to me and I’ll sort them out for you. John

Name: alan luton Detector: Goldmaxx Power Ground: ploughed.
question: Hi John, I have often noticed when out with the goldmaxx  searching stubble that I get a good positive signal dig it check the the hole nothing, check what I have just dug out nothing, now I know its got to be somewhere so I flatten what I have just dug out with my boot and bingo its there, is this just down to compaction of the the soil when the object was in situ and after its been disturbed by my gigging it out . I have never noticed this situation as being so apparent with other machines. Alan.
Hi Alan, I bet the object isn’t anything like the size of a Victorian copper penny or even something quarter of that size, is it? Imagine the object (small) as being just below the surface, but you are detecting say 4-6 inches above it because of the stubble. You dig your normal depth of hole, bring the spade-full of soil to the surface with the object and then bury the object under the soil from the spade. Just for a minute think of the object in the ground as being a coin laying flat and giving a good signal. Now dig it out and it’s mixed in with the soil but now it is no longer flat and therefore showing less of it’s surface area to the detectors coil. Yep smaller target, smaller signal, it works for all targets not just coins. It can also be down to soil compaction, it can also be down to the fact that you are detecting closer to the ground when you have dug out the target and mineralization now plays a bigger part. There are so many variables to contend with, that there is no glib answer, I would have to experience it for myself to be able to pass a judgement. Don’t get me started on the dampness of the soil either or we could be here all day giving different scenarios. One remedy stands out, use a smaller spade, and don’t bother sifting the soil for tiny bits of metal that are not only useless but also time wasting. John.

john  kineavyjj: hi john, Ijust got some new land and after having walkbout picked up some iron age pottery,[id from your book] the field is in rough plough at the mo but I got a nice woad grinder out, Im hoping to find my first celtic coin here and wondered if I should use any specific settings for the goldmaxx power I'm currently around 11 oclockish on all and silencer on 1 the soil is norfolk clay and a little trashy in places thanks john k

Hi John, You have got them about right, but you might want to try upping the Sensitivity to 12 -1 o’clock, when it is dry and over the less trashy areas. The other bit of advice (seeing as there is a chance of a Stater or few, is for ME to come on the field and give it a go!!!! Only joking, get on there mate and give it some real welly, pull yourself a Celtic Stater. There’s nothing to match the feeling of 2,000 year old gold. Good luck, John.

Hi could you tell me what the best settings for my goldmax  many thanks  allan walder.
Hi Allan, I have to assume that you are a “newbie”?? If so, I would recommend that you start off by having ALL the controls set at 12o’clock, apart from the Silencer which should be set in the middle at 1.
Better still why not buy my DVD XP explained. This will answer all your queries and goes into great detail on how to set up the detector for different ground conditions. Go on, you know it makes sense. John

I have been fortunate enough to have been given permission recently to detect on 150 acres of farmland in Buckinghamshire which is split 50/50 ploughed and pasture. So far I have only searched the ploughed fields with little success finding only two Victorian copper coins. The problem is that in the four ploughed fields I have so far searched I have been plagued by bits of silver foil! The fields have been under the plough for ten years, before that being home to a herd of 150 cows. The farmer does not know why so much silver paper is in the ground. My question is: is there any way I can knock out the silver foil or at least get my xp to differentiate the signal between foil and hammered(!) coins. Enjoyed the dvd XP explained, it has been a great help-. Many thanks, David.
Hi David, you’ve got problems my friend, but because there is so much of it, this can be an advantage to you. There are two types of silver paper, one is that which comes out of cigarette packets and the other which is far worse, is the sort that jam tarts or other small cakes are packaged with. What I’m about to tell you will not give immediate results, but if you stick with it, it can be done. I could recognize silver paper every time with the previous Goldmaxx, but the Power has taken that bit longer to work it with this stuff.
Stick the Silencer on 2, this will give you better tonal separation. Turn the Sensitivity down to about 10 o’clock, don’t worry about loss of depth, this will still give you good depth. Turn up the Iron threshold to nearly full on,(not Auto) this still only discriminates medium iron and you will not lose hammered coinage. Take a hammered coin with you (if you have one, if not a 5p). On EVERY good sounding signal, throw the coin down near it and go over it with the coil about 3 to 4 inches above it, go back over the original signal and then back over the coin. Listen to the signal on the coin and I mean really listen; the signal will be completely smooth and rounded whichever way you approach it. If it is silver paper, the signal will start good but WILL END less “sweet” than the coin. If the silver paper is just below the surface, this will just bang out with a thud, if you bury the coin to the same depth the signal will have a different tonal quality. Still fooled? Try lifting the coil a couple of inches, the coin will always sound sweeter. To begin with this can seem very time consuming, but remember that you are not looking for anything at the moment; you are just trying to suss out the signal from the silver paper. I still get fooled when I come across a single bit in a days detecting, and then kick myself for not recognizing the signal for what it is. However, with a fair amount in the field the recognition comes back very quickly.
An hour or so devoted entirely to learning the difference ain’t that bad, even if you only have a 50% success rate to begin with. As I’ve said it isn’t that easy to begin with, but it can be done with a lot of patience and concentration. Say to yourself on every signal yes or no, don’t be in a hurry to dig it, play around with it by coming in at different directions. Hope this helps you out, John.
P.s. why is there a different sound (at the end of the signal) when the conductivity values of the two objects are pretty close? The answer is more of the shape and then to a lesser degree, the relative conductivities.

Many thanks John for your answer to my query on conquering silver foil. Really nice to find through your website people giving so generously for no financial gain. best wishes   Dave.

Thanks Dave, much appreciated. Regards John

I did a bit of experimenting on Sunday using the XP Goldmaxx Power and got a shock or two!
Now don't get me wrong, just lately I have been blown off my feet with the performance of the Goldmaxx Power, in fact it is now definitely my numero 1 detector even over the ***** with which I have found quite a few goodies but my hammered coin find rate has tripled since I started getting serious with the Goldmaxx Power.
I was pratting about finding different targets and then trying to improve the signal trying altering settings and sweep speed.  I then buried a small hammered penny (in one of those plastic coin cases) at about a depth of 2 inches on edge; the edge was in line with my direction of walking.  The resulting signal was very scratchy to say the least even when sweeping fairly slowly.  In fact at normal speed it was just one of those little squeaks that you hear regularly when searching and usually ignore, usually just passing over a bit of coke or some tiny fragment of metal.  The only way I got the signal to improve was by turning the ground reject anticlockwise to about 10 o'clock but even then it sounded a bit 'double toney' like a shotgun cartridge sounds.
I then reburied the coin again to a depth of about 2 inches on edge with the edge in line with the direction of sweep this time, and then swept over it at normal speed.  All I got was an iron buzz!...............I had to really slow my sweep speed down and sweep over the target again and again to get any sort of response.  However, I wouldn't have done this if sweeping and searching at my normal rate which is certainly not too fast. 
It just made me wonder how many little coins we are passing over and missing even though there is currently no better machine on the market than the Goldmaxx Power, of that I am sure.
After that I concentrated so hard on all the little squeaks and farts checking and rechecking to see if the signal would develop into anything decent.  It then made me think that we have just got to be happy with what we are actually picking up because if we concentrated on every little sound then our finds rate would probably drop due to the lack of ground coverage by paying too much attention to all the little squeaks and farts.
Any thoughts? Neil.
Hi Neal, how yer doin'?  When you think that a detector is set up and optimised to find a coin sized object, they don't do that bad a job do they? With a coin (small) on edge there just isn't enough mass for the detector "to see" (generation of eddy currents). Then, although you don't hear it, you have all the background clutter of ground mineralisation; as shown when you reversed the ground reject to 10o’clock (so that you are now accepting more of the ground) and it gave the iron buzz... Try the same thing indoors, no iron buzz... Like you say, it's a question of diminishing returns to stop and investigate every squeak and fart in the course of a normal days detecting, especially on pasture. However, on ploughed soil, that's what yer right foot is there for boy. We already know that this type of signal is small and will be near the surface, so kick the soil and have another butcher's. Differing ground conditions can either improve or what is more likely, make the signal worse. I have a couple of sites that throw up quarter staters, so that every single signal in that area is double checked (and it pays to), but on a naily Roman site doing that would drive you to drink! The name of the game is sensible ground coverage until you hit the hot areas. As regards to you trying different sweep speeds, this is important. More people should experiment with this, although they actually do it without realising in the course of a days detecting. How many times do they get a signal when they are sweeping the coil and then re-sweep over it at a greatly decreased speed and more to the point, why? Okay, we know the answer, but why do they then rush off at the same speed as before? You can actually sweep too slow and lose targets, especially when at depth; there is a different optimum sweep for different sized objects and metals.  I tell you what Neal, I wish that I had had meaty questions like this on the talks I gave, we could have carried on talking and discussing it down the pub in the evening. John.

I have always used the XP Goldmaxx and now the Goldmaxx Power without the use of the Iron Volume, I have just realised how important this control is after being told to use on full. The person who told me said that this is the setting that you recommend. Thanks for the info. John.
Hi John, sorry mate but I’m not guilty. Here is the reason why.
The iron volume should be worked in conjunction with the Iron Threshold. The larger the iron, the higher the Iron threshold and Iron volume. On a busy Roman site I have never had the need to exceed 11-12 o'clock on both iron volume and threshold. One problem with having the iron volume too high will occur on medium to high Ferric mineralised ground. (Although nails will be present, it is the Ferric mineralisation which will affect the detector, as follows). Under these ground conditions, it is possible for the detector to give an Iron volume growl on some smaller targets, you will still receive a good signal as well, but this is always after the iron growl whichever way you sweep. (This is how you can suss it)  If the ground is wet from the surface down this makes the problem worse, it increases the effect of the Ferric mineralisation, hence more Iron volume growl. Having the Iron volume on full makes the situation very much worse and can actually hide that good signal on a small target. (Small hammered, sceattas, etc.)  It’s okay to have the Iron Volume on full to acclimatise yourself to understanding what it does, but it needs to be set (as every other control) according to the ground conditions. As I have written before, be aware of where the Iron Volume actually works in relation to the coil. It ain't the Centre, but the edges of the coil. Try this at home with a nail. Now try it with a flat bit of iron, 2-4 inches square about 4-6 inches from the coils centre, now run the same distance from the coil's edge. Bingo!  Now you are using the Iron Volume, you will really get the best from the XP Goldmaxx Power, without it you might as well use any other detector. Hope this helps, john

How do you ground balance the XP Goldmaxx Power as it does not say in the instruction manuals.
Hi Martin, I’m not surprised it doesn’t tell you how to ground balance in the manual, the XP’s don’t have a ground balance system, it has a ground reject instead this works differently but ends up with the same result.
Think of how the ten turn ground balance was used on some other detectors. You set it up spot on for the ground conditions, but if you want to get rid of “hot-rocks” you needed to turn it a further turn and a quarter to a turn and a half more positive. With the ground reject on the Goldmaxx Power, the 12oclock position will eliminate hot-rocks and mineralized pottery (terracotta). However on both systems by having it set to eliminate hot-rocks you actually lose a bit a depth when compared to the actual ground-setting. With the Goldmaxx Power, the sound a hot-rock gives out is unmistakeable, after you have heard it for the first time. It’s a very high pitched double-beep, no other signal comes close to giving this sound. So after hearing and understanding the signal for “hotrocks”, you can afford to turn the Ground Reject more on the negative side into the accept. “Yeah, but how far, as there is no threshold to listen to?” I hear you ask. This flummoxed me when I got the first one to test, (I always liked the ten turn Ground balance myself). I have found that 11o’clock position on the ground reject to be able to handle 99% of the ground conditions and give a bit more depth and remain stable. To me it is pointless trying to grab anymore, as signal quality deteriorates with added interference.(This happens even though you don’t hear it). Hope this has made some sense to you, John.. P.s. When I write about “hot-rocks”, I’m referring to rocks more mineralized than the surrounding ground; not “coke” which is unburnt coal and has conductive properties that can only be silenced by the use of the Discrimination system (Auto on the Goldmaxx Power).

I want to buy MD XP Gold maxx power! please send  me price list.
Hi Kyle, check out our products page

Hi John, what in your opinion would be a sort of standard setting for the Goldmaxx power on normal plough land (not too mineralized) the sort I encounter where I live (co Durham)  regards Alan.
Hi Alan, it would help to know how long you have had the Goldmaxx power and how much you understand it. These are the settings I would use as a general start-up on any new field, however I would change them if conditions dictated. Silencer in 1, Ground reject/accept 11o’clock, Iron volume 10-11 o’clock, Iron threshold 10-12o’clock (depending on size of iron in the ground), Sensitivity 12-1o’clock. Hope this is of help in your particular fields Alan, but be prepared to alter them as there is no hard and fast rule, as conditions do change. John

Hi John, I must of watched your DVD 20 times and finally got my Goldmaxx Power yesterday. I took the plunge and went straight out to the Turvey Rally Today with great results. 1 x Mary Groat, 4 x Roman (bronzes), 1x 15century gilded buckle, loads of other bits and bobs. It just felt like I new the machine and have always had it all due to your DVD, so many thanks for that. I now have a great machine that tells you so much more than I have never had before. Best wishes Steven Peppiatt
Wow! You have got off to flier with the Goldmaxx Power Steve, looks good for the future. John
John, I am now up to 12 Hammered coins (in 3 weekends) since getting the Goldmaxx Power and just love it to bits.Thanks again for your advice and DVD which really helped. Attached pictures of last weekends finds. I have even found a cut qtr which I have never done before. Steven Peppiatt.

Kind John, I have metal detector, White's M6 and of they are happy, I would appreciate to buy a second machine, I thought next to the XP. My search is general on all lands preferring small coins and precious vary, rings gold. quale XP model me councils for lands mineralize to you Italian?  Thanks for the answer. Antonio, Parma, Italy.
Hi Antonio, grazie per scrittura, esso è buono da sentirsi dai detectorists in altri paesi. L'alimentazione del goldmaxx soddisferebbe perfettamente voi e le vostre circostanze. riguardi John

Hi John, what machine would you say most compares with the Goldmaxx Power for, performance, value for money, and weight when hipmounted, but not a digital machine, Thanks Shuggie.
Hi Shuggie, at first I thought “bloody hell, what a question”, but on thinking about it, although not hip- mounted, it would have to be the Tesoro Tejon and the Lobo and not forgetting the XP Adventis and ADX250 from the same stable as the Goldmaxx Power. If a person can’t make good finds with any one of these, they should really think of taking up some other interest,------ like knitting. John

Hi Norfolk Wolf, I bought a Goldmaxx when they first came out and I have had some good results from it, but I just feel sometimes I am not using it to its best. Please could you let me know if you have any specific settings, and would buying your DVD help me? Paul.
Hi Paul, although the DVD doesn’t feature the original Goldmaxx, most of what is covered with the Goldmaxx Power is related to the Goldmaxx. A lot of mark 1 owners have bought the DVD and said that it has helped them to understand their detectors a great deal more. John

I've just watched your new DVD about the XP range and my question regards depth when air testing. In the DVD you were showing that reducing the sensitivity doesn't mean a great deal of depth is lost and you demonstrate this with an air test using Victoria half-penny. Now I tried this with my Goldmaxx Power and I cannot get a signal at more than 8 inches with the exact same settings as you were using which is far less than the distance you achieved. Is there any reason why this should happen i.e. a faulty machine? Hope you can help, Great DVD by the way it's about time someone did something like this, regards Ian.
Hi Ian, I had to dig out the DVD to find the spot you mentioned, (it was that good I watched it all the way through)! No seriously, thanks for your kind words. As regards your question, I’m pulling the half-penny at around 12 inches, this is in air with the Sensitivity and ground reject at 12 o’clock and the iron threshold the same with the silencer on 1. Be aware that there are no metallic objects or electrics anywhere near the machine.
Check your Ground Reject, make certain that it travels from 7 o’clock (accept) through to 5o’clock (reject), and that your Sensitivity clicks off with the white line on the pot directly above the "E" of Sensitivity on the box. If either of these are out, it’s just a question of pulling the pot off and realigning it on the splines. Obtain a hot-rock and at a setting of 12o’clock this should be rejected. When I say "hot-rock", I’m not referring to unburnt coal (coke); the hot-rock will be magnetic. You might find that your machine rejects the hot-rock before 12 o’clock, if this is the case; try turning the Ground reject more into the accept (anti-clockwise) and see if this improves the depth capabilities. If this still fails, either let me know or see your dealer. I hope this will be of some help to you. John

Hi, I have just brought the XP Goldmaxx Power do you have any tips for maximum depth have 9" coil.
Hi Martin, here is the best tip of all, FORGET ABOUT DEPTH and learn about the detector first. I know these aren’t the words you want to be reading and they might seem a bit harsh, but if you try and run with this detector before you can walk, you will be in all kinds of trouble. Write again in three months when you will have a semblance of understanding of what this detector is all about. Honestly, I know you are going to feel miffed, but that is the best bit of advice you will ever receive. John

Is there any difference in usability, depth, or anything else if the controls are pre-set to their known positions before switching on, or is it best to switch on and then set the controls?. OK I know it is a daft question but I was asked and I don’t know. So throw it to the experts.
Hi Ron, Actually it isn’t as daft a question as you think. When you first switch on, the Goldmaxx Power goes through an air-balancing routine; (checking inductance and resistivity of the coil at the ambient temp). This has nothing to do with ground balancing or ground rejection. It doesn’t affect depth capabilities or anything else. If the controls are in the positions as when you last used it, or at the pre-set marks, you won’t encounter any problems or gain/lose depth or sensitivity. John

Hello, I have seen your XP Explained DVD, very good. I have one question somewhere you say if you have a clean field (hardly no iron) you can put your silencer in 2 and you will have more depth. So when I am in field with very little (iron) sounds I should do that ? and I will not lose the small (silver) targets ?
Hi Eric, putting the Silencer in "2" will lose a little of the recovery speed, (which you don’t require on clean ground), but it will give you better tonal quality and separation. It doesn’t affect the discrimination, so you won’t be losing ANY good targets. John

Thanks very much for the excellent DVD which I received yesterday. It has been very helpful and interesting even if to confirm that I wasn't doing much wrong with my Goldmaxx Power. It also opened my eyes to the capablities of the bottom of the range machine, it's looks like an excellent choice as a second machine.
I have one question regarding the Goldmaxx Power that crossed my mind whilst watching the DVD and this is in regard to overhead power lines. This may be a stupid question but would you do the same kind of thing when close to electrified fencing ie the type protecting a horse enclosure? Many thanks, Andy
Hi Andy, yes, just point it at the fencing; there really is no difference. However, I have come across two types of electrified fencing; one will have a continuous current running through it, whilst the other will send a pulse about every minute or so. The second type is obviously harder to deal with.
You cannot overcome electrical interference, you have to accommodate it (make allowances) by reducing the Sensitivity. It is still there and you will only be able to get so close, so unless I’m fairly sure that it could be a good area for finds in the vicinity, I tend to give them a wide enough berth not to interfere with the detector. It is a suck it and see situation with electrified fences. Am I making any good finds under these unfavourable conditions? No? Better to move away and utilize my time more productively. John

Hi John, First let me congratulate you on your website - it's very informative. I'm considering buying a new detector.  In your opinion would the Goldmaxx Power - outperform my existing White's XLT Spectrum. The majority of my detecting is on plough land.  You may like to visit my website to view my finds: ancientobjects.co.uk. Your advice would be much appreciated. Kind regards, Baz
Hi Baz, It would be very easy for me to say “ Go ahead mate, I use one and regard it as the bees knees; but to recommend any detector is a responsibility I don’t take lightly. Ground conditions (mineralization and ferrous content) play a big part in making any decision over a new purchase; alongside what you have been finding on your fields in the past. Something else to ponder is, will you miss not having a meter to give you a second opinion besides the tone of the signal. I do know a lot of people that have changed from an XLT to a Goldmaxx and have never looked back, but I also know the odd one that misses the old meter. The XLT is still a competent detector in the right hands, it operates around the 6-7KhZ frequency which will give you the depth on the thicker, larger objects and yes you will still find the smaller stuff but not as easy. Whereas the Goldmaxx really excels on the small stuff and has (in my opinion) the fastest recovery speed of any detector out there; so will be better at finding the goods in amongst the nails. The Goldmaxx Power is as it’s name suggests, more powerful than the mark1 and will give a definite increase in depth when conditions allow, however I tend to think that the earlier version gave that little bit more tonal definition when over a target. Hope this hasn’t added to the confusion. John.

I have recently acquired a Goldmaxx Power and two points of interest cropped up yesterday while detecting a very clean pasture field. It was after leaving the field that I realised just how deep I had been finding items and that made me go over the settings I had had, this leads me the first Question. Does the Sensitivity have a bearing on setting the Ground Reject. As in would the Ground Reject react differently with the Sensitivity at 9 o' clock than it would if set at 2 o' clock, the Sensitivity is picking up more ground at a higher setting, my other machine works best when noise cancelled at the setting it's going to be worked at. Why I ask is after setting up as normal and finding little or no mineralization and there bee very few iron signals to sort I was able to run the Ground Reject at 10 o' clock with no ill effects and I can only put this down to the vast increase in depth even though the Sensitivity was just set at 1.30 and that gave the odd spit. Second Question. Three times I had signals lost in the holes after taking out a spade full of soil (first time with the Goldmaxx Power) all to be retrieved with the next spade full (1 pence sized buttons) Does this knock the theory Detectors find more through air than soil. Thanks. Mal.
Hi Mal, to get optimum performance the detector must be set to the ground conditions first, then adjust the sensitivity accordingly. Think of it in terms of a radio, set it to the station (ground) and then increase the volume (sensitivity). Once you have set the ground reject/ balance on any machine, that's it; it doesn't matter whether the Sensitivity is high or low, it doesn't affect it. Obviously the Sensitivity will affect the depth capabilities and will only go so high before distortion comes into play, (the same as having the volume to high on a radio, it eventually becomes a jumble of sound and you can't pick out the notes). Now for the can of worms,--- conditions. When you say a vast difference in depth, what are you comparing it to, another pasture or ploughed soil? You mention the lack of iron, which normally signifies non-habitation, which in turn can mean less mineralisation, plus the fact that as the field could have been pasture for a great many years the soil would be really compacted. The actual size of the objects found, were they larger than normal? Horse harness buckles and large Georgian coin-sized objects, because of their SHAPE and mass can be found at good depths, but did you find anything tiny at good depth? Believe it or not, the weather will play a very important part in depth. If it has been slashing down with rain for a few weeks and then you get a bit of dry and wind, it makes a big difference. The top couple of inches will be dry (less ground effect), but the soil underneath will retain the dampness and actually enhance the signals. As regards loss of signal Mal, you said they were 1p-sized buttons (this really helps). When you dug the soil out, the hole you made creates a NEGATIVE low frequency and gives an increase to the ground effect and by you having the Ground reject set lower than normal and the small size of button would have been lost. With the ground reject set less into the accept you would have a better chance to still be able to pull the target. Leeching (halo effect), is governed by the electro-potential of the objects metallic structure, also by the acidity of the soil, neutral ground will not have this effect. Also the size of the object will have a distinct bearing, the smaller the object (if all the above is in operation) the less the effect. As you say Mal, you have never encountered this before, but the ground conditions and you're settings (ground reject) made this effect possible, so the "theory" still stands. Unless it is a multi frequency, when they will give more depth in ground (salt water beaches) than air tests. Regards John

John, I too have a Goldmaxx Power. Can you just go through how you Ground Balance the Goldmaxx Power and set the sensitivity as I cannot get the machine to crackle or spit when adjusting either the Ground Balance or Sensitivity on my fields so how do I know when I have found the right radio station and then set the volume right - good analogy that, thanks Neil.
Hi, Neil. The ground reject, what it does and what you can expect from it. Let's start right from scratch. The ground is made up of many minerals, the main ones we need to be concerned with are Magnetite and Hematite which are both iron oxides, magnetite is found in sedimentary rocks (lowlands), whilst hematite is found in igneous rocks (highlands). The ground gives off a low frequency which effects the electro-magnetic field of the coil, the more mineralisation, the more the effect. (So far so good? well here comes the hard bit!). The electro-magnetic field of the coil is made up of lines of flux (simply put, think of these as leaving one side (left) of the coil going in the ground and coming up to the other side (right) of the coil, forming loops. Now the closer these lines are together when the coil passes over an object the better the detector will "see" that object. The more lines to hit the object, the better the signal. (still with me? 'cos it's all downhill from now on). Now we bring the ground into the equation. The more the ground is mineralised the more it affects these lines of flux and the more "noise" it generates through the detector so much so that it can blanket out or hide other wanted signals. So manufacturers have a choice in what they give you to eliminate this noise.
• factory preset ground balance, which includes the elimination of "hot rocks".
• a 10 turn ground balance (GB) which needs a "true" all-metal threshold.
• a ground reject/accept which does not require a true all-metal threshold.

In my book, 1 is the least effective, 2 is the most effective but a lot of people have trouble in setting this up and I am now going to explain this to you so that you will understand how our Ground reject works!! On a GB system switch to all-metal mode and get a low threshold, lower coil near to the ground. If the threshold increases turn the GB more positive (clockwise/reject) until the threshold remains constant. If the threshold decreases turn the GB more negative (anti-clockwise/accept) until it remains constant. When the detector is "balanced" correctly to the ground, it will take another turn and a quarter to a turn and half more positive (clockwise) to knock out hot rocks. By doing this you will lose depth. Right now back to our system. As you can see it is better than the factory preset method, but it is nowhere near as accurate as a true ground balance. But we know that the 12 o'clock position knocks out the hot rocks and I've found that even in the worst of conditions I can maintain an 11o'clock position without any ill-effects. To try to go below this setting you are pushing it and in trying to go for that little extra it just isn’t worth the hassle with increasing signal deterioration. I have been on some ground where I can turn the ground reject right into accept with no outward signs of chatter, but if I hit a lump of mud or a stone it sounded off. So although I couldn't hear it, I was using a setting that made the detector unstable. I played around with just the settings for a good hour and eventually went back to the 11 o'clock position. I have a "special" area on what I call my goldfield, where I do run the power "on the edge" but it takes me three good days to do an area of 30 square metres. It takes awhile to set the machine up each day and I have to continually make adjustments every few yards; there is no way that I would employ this set up anywhere else. Don't get hung up on this ground reject. Just remember, 12 o'clock (preset) hot rocks, Hot rocks are isolated finds, the ground will never consist of solely hot rocks so learn the high pitched double beep. Turn the reject to 11 o'clock for that bit more depth. You want to take it further into the accept, you are on your own matey! Regards John

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G-maxx 2

Name: paul vernon. Hi does the G-maxx 2 have the same response speed as the Goldmaxx Power? look forward to reply thank you Paul.
Hi Paul, the resonse speed is about as near as dammit the same for both detectors, however, the Recovery speed is a different kettle of fish altogether. The 18kHz Goldmaxx Power has a lot faster recovery speed than the 4.6kHz G-maxx, making it a far superior detecting machine when over large accumulations of nails and other ferrous. John

Name: Michaelis Detector: G-Maxx 2
Dear John, thank you, because of your article "Tips and hints in Xp Forum" I already know how the Iron Threshold works -Iron -Volume and Sense. But how does the Ground-Balance work? I mean, if the coil gets over some minerals, small signals arising. Might the Xp Detctor-Ground balance , working like a adjustable diode, to blend these signals out? And the Tesoro-Balance, what happens in the electronic, if I adjust the ground balance, is there a anti-voltage? .... sorry for bad english, thanks, Michaelis.
Hi Michaelis, as regards ground balancing, there is no voltage drop or adjustable diode Think of the Sine wave pattern that is common to all VLF detectors. We shall say the top half of it is 0 to plus 30, the bottom half of it is 0 to Minus 30. Somewhere along that wave pattern you will have a timing gate sampling, offset by so many degrees and the ground crossover of time will be at the 0 position so you hear none of the ground effects. You could alter the position to make it more positive or more negative, taking it to the extreme you could “balance” out a good signal say from a coin. Hope this helps John

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Coils

John, as you may perhaps recall I have a XP Goldmaxx Power with a standard 9" coil which I bought last year. The best detector I've used. Would there be any advantage to be gained in buying the 11" coil that is available?
Most of the ground on which I detect is pretty normal, not troubled by hot rocks etc, apart from the one field with lots of iron that from your previous e-mail (Feb 2008) would benefit from the small elliptical coil.
I understand from Nigel at Regton that it has some extra electronics built into it.regards,  Jim.
Hi Jim, yes the 11 inch coil has an amplifier built into it. Normally with widescan coils, as you increase the size so the small stuff can start to slip through the net so to speak; the bigger the coil the worse the problem. However with the amplification, this brings up the sound of those quieter more elusive smaller targets and with having a “limiter”, it doesn’t blast your ears off on the larger items. Very simple, very clever and very effective. John

Hi there, You mentioned in a review of the Compass Coinmaster Scanner regards possible old problem of coil being affected by wet leaves. How do I know which coil/detector affected if I buy an old XP Pro?  thanks for your help JB Blackpool 
Hi JB, I actually said that the coils weren’t fully electrostatically sealed and so they would sound off when sweeping through wet (longer) grass or stubble. This problem appeared to be on all the models at that time, ( I didn’t test every single one though!) The later models (4-5years ago) had the problem resolved. It wasn’t that great a problem if you take into account that I pulled 74 hammered off one field, 11 of them cut quarters and halves. The Compass I owned (still do) was an XP PRO and on this particular bit of difficult ground, left some newer and more expensive detectors for dead.

Name: Alan Burgess, Detector: Goldmaxx Power + elliptical coil, Ground: ploughed, Question: Hi John. I've been detecting on some ploughed land without much success, ie not many (good) signals. On this field I've found a very trashy area about 30x30 yards. I intend to use my elliptical coil on this area. I feel very confident with said coil, (used it for the first time on a different field and found a cut half within ten minutes! 
question is John, what in your opinion would be the optimum settings on the Goldmaxx Power using this coil? Thanks John. P.S. Love the dvd, you should have swept the board with the Oscars!
Hi Alan, The first thing you need to know is that the Ground Accept/Reject “preset position” for the Elliptical is 1 o’clock as opposed to the normal 12 o’clock on the standard coil. The rest of the settings will always depend on the make up of the soil, mineralization, ferrous content and dampness. The most important aspect of the elliptical is to work slower than normal, if you can work fast you have the wrong coil on. Thanks for the comment on the DVD, as regards the Oscars, I drew the line at appearing in high heels, fishnets and a low cut frock, so just dipped out. John

Frank lindsey: I have the standard 10.5 dd coil am after another coil that is better then this good depth good stability no false signals when you hit rocks ect good on bad iron sites am after old coins small hammered roman looked at {coiltek wat 15"but say it wont find small coins coiltek platypus not sure what would you recomend please regards Frankie.
Hi Frankie, both the coils you mentioned will find the small coins. However, a larger coil is normally used for increased depth, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will find small coins at increased depth on all types of soil! On some soils it will actually find them at less depth than the standard coil, because of the size of the coil being more affected by the mineralization. (This is generally why people say they won’t find small coins, it ain’t the coil, it’s the ground they are working).
As regards which coil. If your ground supports it, the coiltek platypus, a lot of gear has been found with this particular coil by friends of mine.
John

Steve D: I bought your DVD last week and I am already into double figures in terms of watching it. Before I watched your DVD I had my heart set on the Goldmaxx Power, but after watching the DVD I decided I would be better off going for an ADX 250. Seems like a great beginners detector. When using the standard 9 inch coil with the detector, how much depth can it achieve approximately for a roman bronze or silver hammered?
Cheers for your time John, Steve.
Steve, you will make a good choice in the ADX250, one word of very good advice though; don’t go down the track of worrying how deep it goes! These detectors have the ability to find all you want. It isn’t ever going to be the detector, it is operator mismanagement that loses the gear. John.

Hi John, thought I would ask an expert rather than posting on the forum. would a 11" coil for my mark 1 g/max improve my finds [its on e-bay at the moment it does work on my mk1 ive checked] I have the standard 9"coil and im not doing to bad at the moment .I don’t want to spend £90-100 if its not going to make a lot of difference .its a toss up between buying the coil or some cordless headphones .by the way your DVD is spot on -cheers Pete awalsh
Hi Pete, it does make a difference on clearer ground (but not as much as some people make out) and for around a £100 it would be well worth going for. You will also get a bit more ground coverage which is handy when signals are few and far between, but don't expect more than a very fractional increase on depth when over the real small stuff. (Cut halves size). Mind you when I tested the first pair of cordless headphones (before they came into the country) I just had to have them. Between you and me I prefer the sw2's not the latest full earmuff type. The latest ones are more robust but the tone isn't as sharp, so try them for yourself before buying. If you go on rallies, you will need to take your corded ones with you as so many people have them with their Goldmaxx's there is always interference when they are near you.
If you go for the coil Paul, don't use it all the time like most people do, there are a lot of times when the standard 9inch will beat it. My mate bought the 11 inch and never took it off, until he realised that every time I put the 9inch on (because of the conditions) I was always finding a lot more. Funnily enough, it was only last week when we were detecting a certain area when I said to him, "the old Goldmaxx was made for these conditions, it would pee all over the Power today". Don't be in a hurry to get rid of yours mate; there have been a lot of times when I wished that I still had mine.  John
Cheers john, a lot of the land I go on is infested with iron but I have had about 30 roman coins this last 6 months using the mk1 with the 9" coil. as I cant afford both it looks like getting the cordless headphones sw2 first .as the 9"coil would be better on the land I go on, then get a bigger coil later .many thanks john for your advice, if I had posted this on the forum I would be confused by now as you tend to get conflicting answers .thanks mate,your a star. Pete.

Will a concenses coil give me better depth and more sensebility 
If the Concentric coil was that good why didn’t the manufacturer put it on the detector in the first place? Stick with what you have Allan. Regards John

Pros and cons about fitting a larger coil thanks
larger coils will give more ground coverage and under the right conditions a bit more depth. They are more affected by mineralization (thereby giving less depth).
Target separation suffers because of the size. Not the sort of coil you want to take on a naily or ferrous ridden site. It depends on your ground and the type of sites that you detect. John

Hi John, I have your Advanced Detecting book and DVD. Both superb and recommended to anyone thinking about buying them. I also follow you around the web sites reading and re-reading all information you give about the XP range. (priceless). Suppose I'm a stalker (in a good way :-)). My question is you mentioned on your DVD the large 18" coil in your opinion is not recommended for the GoldMaxx power. Why is this? I have gone with your suggestion for the small elliptical coil and never looked back as it pulls coins on my roman sites where the standard coil can't cope. I also have access to a pasture field with busy areas and quiet areas in it. I wanted to go deeper in the quiet areas as finds tend to be deep in the busy areas. I was thinking about investing in an 18" for the GoldMaxx, would I be gaining a lot less hassle with an 18" on an XP 4.6khz machine? I have been using the GoldMaxx for about 18 months now and know it pretty well. I know the 18" coil would only be suited for quiet areas. I know you do do not like to say what equipment people should buy and I respect that however your usual pros and cons on the 18" for GoldMaxx Power or for the XP 4.6 machines would be most welcome.  Kind regards Glenn
Hi Glenn, thanks for the compliments! The reason that I don’t recommend the larger coil for the Goldmaxx Power is as follows. You would be negating everything that is good about a great detector, the fast recovery speed (Not the best speed for depth, you want something a lot slower). 18KhZ. Not the best frequency to deal with mineralization,(Putting on the larger coil makes matters a great deal worse) the high frequency isn’t the best for the larger objects.(it’s forte is the small thin sectioned items). The actual depth gained on most items wouldn’t be that noticeable than if you were using the 11 inch coil.
However, sticking it on one of the lower frequency(4.6KhZ) Xp’s would be more beneficial.
The 4.6 KhZ’s handle mineralization better, recognize iron better and will give greater depth on the thicker and larger items. You must have noticed that discrimination on larger iron beyond 8-10 inches falls off alarmingly on all higher frequency detectors, the 4.6 KhZ will be better (within reason)
I’m not saying that you won’t find the odd deep item (or hoard!) using it on the Goldmaxx Power, but the returns over the 11 inch coil for the outlay don’t add up in my book. Hope this helps John

Great machine the XP Goldmaxx Power but would it be a much better machine if i added the 5x10 elliptical to the party?
I already have both an 11" and a 9" DD coil but there is a small part of the farm which is full of junk with the possibility of some good bits among it.Any help would be great. Have a Happy Christmas John and a great 2008. Joe.
Hi Joe if you’ve got nails and you haven’t got the small elliptical, you’ve only got 3 wheels on yer wagon, so to speak! That little elliptical has earnt me easily as much as the 11 inch widescan. It is a must have accessory in my opinion. One other thing, you will get a real buzz out of pulling the odd bit of gear from near impossible situations, it seems as though you have earnt it more than when you are just walking along swinging the bigger coils. you have a good Christmas and New year too Joe. John.

Is it true the 11" coil for the Gmaxx has an amplifier?. I was at a weekend wanderers dig on a roman road outside Aylesbury and using the 11" coil pulled out 8 roman bronze, a hammered farthing and a small roman bird ring. This was over the ground that the herd of stampeding explorer owners had already gone over (they were complaining how there was nothing there). I tried a quick comparison and put the elliptical on - didn't get a single signal, and then commited a sin and had a go with my Minelab quattro - again nothing out of the iron range. Is the 11" coil that good?  I did however notice that all the roman coins had a slight twang of iron growl at the very end of the signal and normally I would have left them but I hadnt been detecting for a month so I was in need of a bit of digging practice. I wonder if that hint of iron was the reason the Minelab Explorer users were having such a crap day - or it might have been the fact that they tried to cover the entire field in 5 minutes, with their coils at knee height for the majority of the sweep - good luck to 'em I say, they leave more for me that way!
Hi Lee, Yes it is true. The 11inch does have an amplifier, but not a lot of people understand the reason why. (and I ain’t about to tell you!!) Come on laugh yer miserable bugger, it was a joke! The reason is, that with a widescan (DD) coil above a certain diameter, it develops a “hole” in it’s magnetic field. The smaller and deeper objects start being overlooked because the size of the coil is more influenced by the ground mineralization than the standard or smaller size. XP realized the situation and have alleviated the problem, (I don’t know of any other manufacturer doing so). As regards you hearing the iron volume growl, when you were finding. I bet that all the coins you found came from within the first 4 inches or so. That ground has a high ferric mineral content, beside the amount of nails. Next time mate, try using the standard and drop the Sensitivity down below 12o’clock. I will guarantee that you will find even more. Good hunting, John

I've watched your DVD many times now in preparation to owning a Goldmaxx Power. A brilliant presentation. At times I've turned up the TV quite loud in order to listen to the individual sounds. The neighbours must think that the Aliens have landed. Simple question - Is the coil cable you are using on the Goldmaxx Power standard or have you extended it? I'll be waist/chest mounting to be as light as possible. Many Thanks Alan
Hi Alan, thanks for the compliments about the DVD. The cable I use is the standard one. I prefer to have the box on my left hip as I’m right-handed, I can then alter the controls with my “digging hand” without having to look each time. John. P.s. If you thought the DVD was good wait until you see the one we are doing of my book on “Advanced Detecting” to be released early next year.

Bonjour my friend, can you ask Mr loubé to build some kind of 6"  round widescan coil for the Goldmaxx Power? Merci beaucoup. Bruno, France.
Bonjour Bruno, Monsieur Loubé already makes one, it is the small elliptical. I love using this amongst the nails and the shape makes it superior to having a round wide-scan. Regards John.

Hi, I'm an italian boy, my names is Ulderico and I live near Rome. My compliment for the DVD "XP Explained" very interesting!!! I would want to ask, which it is the best coil (for the g-maxx2) between the elliptical coil 25x11 and the concentric coil 25x21 on normal and very mineralised soil and iron infested site's. Thank's, Bye Ulderico
Hi Ulderico, thank you for the compliment about the DVD. The coils to use are as follows:
• Iron infested sites = the 11/24 cm elliptical coil.
• Very mineralized = the 22.5 and 27cm widescan coils.
• Normal ground = the 25/21 cm concentric or widescan coils.

The “best” all-round coil has got to be the standard 22.5cm widescan, my number one choice for most applications. John.

Just purchased and watched your XP Explained DVD. Excellent!!! You know you like the hobby when you get enjoyment from watching someone else finding gold quarter staters!! I have the Goldmaxx Power and I loved it the first time I went out with it on basic auto settings. I asked a question on the 11inch coil a few days ago how long dose it usualy take to get back with an answer? Good site fantastic DVD all good. Best regards Mike
Hi Mike thanks for the compliments. The reason that I’ve been a bit tardy in answering any of the questions, is that I’ve been on holiday. Well, I deserve it as well don’t I? (don’t answer that, I’m getting it the neck from the website people already) I’m back in the saddle again as of now . John 

Have had the Goldmaxx Power almost a year now and I am very pleased with it slowly using my Minelab Explorer less and less. My question is this, I purchased the 11inch coil which I was told is a must have but I find myself going back to the standard coil as it seems more sensitive and I simply seem to find more small stuff. Are people say you simply find more with the 11inch coil getting ground coverage confused with more sensitivity. I'm not concerned about depth but the sensitivity I would hate to lose for greater ground coverage? What are your thoughts. I paid a bit of money for the coil and would like to use it but not if there are losses! Many thanks, Mike
Hi Mike, let’s start right at the deep end with this one. I have the small elliptical, the 9 and 11 inch coils, but if my life depended on it, for overall performance I would use the 9 inch coil. I know a lot of people that automatically go with the 11inch no matter what the conditions, it seems to give them confidence (misplaced most of the time) in thinking that the bigger coil will find more. Each coil has a specific job to do dependant on the conditions under the coil at the time. The 11 inch coil is good, normally as you go up in size, so the smaller stuff can start to be missed; however it has a built in amplifier to avoid this happening. In saying that, it has a larger “footprint” than the 9inch, so the ground must be reasonably clearer of iron for it to be effective. In my opinion what the 11 inch does is “smarten up the signals that would be on the very limit of the 9 inch coil. (when they start to be broken). So it will give a slight increase in depth in favourable conditions, but if amongst the iron or more mineralized soils on some sites change down. I hope this has been of some help, John

Hello Norfolk Wolf. I have a Compass Coinscanner Pro. I need a new coil for this machine. Any idea where I might obtain one in the uk. Thanks in advance. Gary Owens
Hi Gary, sorry about the delay in answering your query. You could try Sean at Pulsar electronics, they were the last importers of Compass detectors. The other would be Kevin at Staffordshire detectors. I have an early Coinscanner pro coil, in actual fact it must be one of the only widescans in the country. The downside being that it isn’t fully electrostatically shielded as were the later models, so long wet grass affects it to some extent. Let me know how you get on. John

I have just purchased the elliptical coil for the XP GoldmaxxPower and am looking for some advise on the settings to use. 
Hi Simon, the only difference you really need to bother with is the ground reject/accept. Where you have the preset mark at 12o’clock on the Ground accept/reject for the nine inch coil; the preset position for the elliptical needs to be at 1o’clock. As long as you don’t overdo it, you might manage a little bit more on the Sensitivity setting. This is one cracking good coil for those naily sites. Oh, One last thing, watch out for those quiet “whispery” signals; a lot of the time they can turn out to be deep iron. So turn up the Iron volume after you take out the first spadeful. Hope this helps John. Please also see my test report.

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Teknetics T2

do you know the T2? I v heard here in France that this detector is is almost as good as the SOV GT on sea and almost as powerful as the Goldmaxx and Gmaxx put together. What do you think? Thanks, Yann.
Hi Yann, Yes I do know the T2 and no, it is nowhere near as good as the Minelab on the beach. So you actually believe people when they tell you that their single frequency machine is almost as powerful as two other machines put together that have different frequencies? Come on Yann, next you will tell me that there really is a Santa Claus. The T2 is an American machine built for the American market, if it was that good why did they bring out the Fisher F75??? John

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Teknetics T2 or Fisher F75?

Hi John, how you doing. Whats your view on the Fisher F75 then, I have tried one and thought it is pretty good, quite deep for a high frequency detector and very sensitive, its better than the Teknetics T2 rubbish, they go wrong all the time.  Andy.
Hi Andy, sorry about the delay, I’ve been ill. (I still am.) The Fisher F75 will find you gear and at times can be deep on the bigger stuff as long as the ground conditions (mineralization) are fairly good. The recovery speed is fast there is no doubt, however I do feel that they have over-cooked this a bit. The faster the recovery speed, the less chance for proper analysis of the target, especially at that frequency of 13KhZ. The F75 has an expanded discrimination at the top end for pull-tabs etc. (for the American market); where as the T2 has it expanded at the bottom end (iron/foil) where we need it on our soils. The T2 did have build quality problems in the beginning, but I think that they have been sorted now. I have tried the F75 for some time now and have never managed to get consistent results with it on my soils. One minute it’s pulling gear quite deep, the next half an hour it’s driving you up the wall with false readings, then something nice again that is either tiny or deep. This has been on my sites and until I can get it on others that are less fussy I have shied away from writing a report up. I will say that if the T2 build quality has been sorted, then this is the one I would go for on my sites. John

A question for John. I read a lot of good things about the XP Goldmaxx Power before I took the plunge. For the last 17 years I have used Tesoro's but not anymore. I really enjoy this machine and have found it very easy to get to grips with. It gives me so much information. I have found 3 hammered after 3 outings, one which is a Scottish groat in need of some professional cleaning before it can be identified. The question I have is have you used either the T2 or the F75 yet?
Hi Simon, it’s good to read that you are getting on well with your Goldmaxx Power. Regarding the T2 and the F75, the answer to your question (and to a lot of other people as well) on whether I have used either is, "No, not at the moment". Whenever a new detector is launched there is always a lot of "ballyhoo" not just from the manufacturers, but also from guys who rush in just to say that they were the first one to have one, or the first one to test one. I like to let the dust settle and get informed reports from people who don’t have a vested interest or pride of ownership, whose opinions I rate and can trust. These are good detectorists using them where it matters, day in day out in the fields. A friend of mine is actually field testing one, for one of the metal detecting magazines; he has suggested quite a few times recently that I should get one and give a real serious evaluation. He thinks that I would definitely enjoy trying one to get the best out of it.
Looking at the spec of the F75 it certainly has the qualifications of what makes a good detector and a lot of people do feel more comfortable using a meter. I also like the idea of the ferric ground content readout and the true all-Metal threshold with manual and fast-grab ground balancing. So from a purely interested party in how well it performs, it looks like I will be getting one to try. However it is very rare that I would advocate any anyone to exchange their current detector that is perfectly capable of making a great job of doing the biz and also parting with hard earnt cash for something which at best might perform the same. Whenever a new detector comes on the scene, the improvements are only marginal at best; they might gain in one department but lose in others. The bottom line is that with any detector, it is always down to the operator and what gives him confidence; you sound as if you have that. John

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Red Heat Tornado v Goldmaxx Power

Bonjour my friend!! Red Heat Tornado vs Goldmaxx Powere. Merci beaucoup. Bruno from France.
Bonjour Bruno, bienvenue à l'emplacement. C'est une question courte, ainsi je te donnerai une réponse courte qui l'additionnera succinctement vers le haut. Hi Bruno, welcome to the site. It is a short question, so I will give you a short answer that will succinctly sum it up.
Red heat tornado vs Goldmaxx Power
Citroen dyane vs Mercedes Benz.

Mercedes t'obtiendra te la destination rapidement et sans l'agitation.
Citroen pourrait,----------------------- (par la suite). Salutations, John.

The Mercedes will get you to you destination quickly and with no fuss.
The Citroen might,-------------------------- (eventually). regards, John.

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Fisher F75 v Goldmaxx Power

Have you been out with the F75 as I am interested to know how you find it compared to the Goldmaxx power? Regards, Simon.
Hi Simon, I am still in the process of trying one out, so far the results don’t match the hype that surrounds this machine. Admittedly, because of lack of places to go at the moment I need to do further evaluations before drawing an honest all round conclusion. However results so far haven’t persuaded me that the Goldmaxx has anything to worry about overall. The F75 like the T2 will have their devotees, the same as any other brand and a "week-ender" will more than likely be pleased with the results; however for day in day out detecting your ears are your first communication with the machine, if the manufacturer gets the tonal quality right, a meter then becomes superfluous. Unfortunately this isn’t the case with the F75, yes, when like all other machines going over an "easy" target it will bang out and talk has been made of its depth capabilities. Unfortunately these same depth capabilities fail to recognize deep iron; either by sound or meter until you’ve dug down eight inches plus and can then see the iron object for yourself; it then belatedly tells you on the meter "yep that’s iron old mate". I might be overly harsh at the moment and could possibly alter my views when over more productive ground, this has been my reason for not having anything in print as of yet. John

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Goldmaxx vs Coinscanner Pro?

Name: Simon, Question: hi I was given a Compass XP PRO SCANNER, but am not sure what batteries it takes or what voltage it is. I have tried 3 pp3’s but not a squeek.  Also is there some site online I might be able to download a manual thanks, Simon.
Hi Simon, You are right to use three pp3 batteries, but you won’t hear anything until you use some headphones with it, as it doesn’t have a speaker. Keep the Disc to no more than 4-5 (Iron), you can run the Sensitivity at quite high levels (within reason!). Don’t expect great depths, however until the Goldmaxx came along this had the fastest recovery of any detector out there. I found an awful lot of gear with one of these in conditions where other detectors just couldn’t cut the mustard. John

Goldmaxx vs Coinscanner Pro? Merci
Hi Bruno, it is nice to get questions from France and the rest of the Europe. I own both machines, but I must say that the Goldmaxx Power is the only one that I use these days. The recovery speed is slightly faster, but it has more usable depth capabilities. However, if you like a metered machine, the Compass XP Pro still does the business. John

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Troy Shadow 5 or Goldmaxx MK1?

Hi John. Would like to know if you still use your troy shadow 5 or did you find the Goldmaxx MK1 better? Regards .Gary.
Hi Gary. After field testing the Goldmaxx MKI, I was so impressed with it’s performance that, I traded in the Troy Shadow 5 for one. Although the Troy Shadow 5 works well, it just didn’t cut the mustard on my ground conditions. Within a week of purchase I had to buy the smaller 7 inch coil to cope better with the mineralisation and spent about a year and a half phoning Troy Galloway asking when he would be producing a widescan head for it. One other gripe I had was with the discrimination; because it was aimed primarily for the American market, the top end of the Disc had been expanded (for coinshooting). Whereas here in the U.K. you need the expansion at the bottom end of the Disc. to give better iron recognition. The exact setting of the Disc control was essential to finding Gold quarter staters, a tad too much and they were lost, a tad too little and you were digging iron. The recovery speed just wasn’t in the Goldmaxx’s class and to overcome this I needed to work in All-metal if I wanted to find the goods on certain "busy" fields. Don’t get me wrong, I made some nice finds with the Shadow, but something else came along that worked better for me. John.

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Troy Shadow X3

Hi, I read with interest your report on the Troy Shadow X5 and having just acquired a Shadow X3 at a very affordable price I just wondered if you had any plans to field test one in the near future. I only ask because I am so pleased with mine (deep, sensitive and very light-2.2lbs) it would be nice to see a UK review. I am sure it can rival many £350 machines currently on the market. Not many people seem to know much about these machines. Keep up the good work, super site, read about this site in Treasure Hunting magazine. Regards, Mick.B
Hi Mick, unfortunately I don’t have any plans to field test the Troy Shadow 3; mainly because they are difficult to come across now that they are out of production. I feel that this is a great shame as I do rate these machines and they certainly offer real value for money, "big bangs for your bucks" so to speak. I have one or two friends in Norfolk that use the Shadow 3 and they are more than pleased with the performance, lightness and simplicity of them. Trouble is, a lot of people don’t feel happy unless they can look at a meter even though it might be an inferior machine. If you are pleased with the detector Mick and you have confidence in its abilities, to me this is 90% of what detecting is all about. I will be interested in knowing how you get on with it. One word of warning though, be careful of the Discrimination, the low-end settings (iron/foil) are very close together. John

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Minelab Sovereign GT

Using de tec 17 1/2 inch search head can you tell me what settings I need to use to maximise depth. Thanks
Blimey Adge, what are you hoping to get with that size coil, the sky sports channel?
I hope it’s because you more than suspect that there is a real possibility of a hoard on one of your sites and that you haven’t bought it just for ground coverage. If it is the former, I can understand, but if it is the latter, you are going to have problems. These problems will manifest themselves when over "naily" or mineralised ground. You need to follow the same method of setting up as you would do with the standard coil, obviously you won’t be able to get the Sensitivity as high before the threshold starts to become erratic. That last bit is the whole key to maximising depth, you need the Sensitivity as high as stable threshold will let you. John

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Adventis 2

Hi John, This isn't a question or an answer for that matter. It's more of a confirmation of understanding and thanx. After reading your book, playing your dvd (so often it about half thickness), reading your answers and advice in forum and spending many many hours in different field types in all conditions, the penny has finally dropped.  
I went to a new field a few weeks ago and it turned out to be a Roman field which yielded 5 Roman brooches and various pieces of pot and lead, only 1 poor condition Roman coin though Is that strange on a Roman site?. However on further inspection some of the lead finds proved to be 3 halves of Roman forgers coin moulds 2 with blank discs but no coin image in and 1 with image of Septimius Severus. I was using the Goldmaxx Power (my only detector at the time). The lead finds were about 7-8 inches deep and I was wondering that with 3 different halves of forgery moulds at that depth in would there be anything deeper like perhaps a complete mould? Enter into my thoughts the Aventis 2 remembering all the pros and cons. I knew it would not be suitable in the busy part of the site but 1 half of mould was found on outskirts of busy area. The following week I bought one.  
Well to cut a long story short I did indeed find a complete unopened coin mould at a depth of a good 12"+  in fact it was the deepest non iron find I have made to date. So with all the knowledge gained from you I actually found the very item I was searching for at a depth and conditions that the detector was made for. All I need now is for someone to professionally open mould so I can see what’s in it. I'm waiting on a call from the PAS. Now..... I just need to get the same thoughts again but on that pirates treasure chest! Thanks for helping it happen. Kind regards Glenn
Hi Glenn, it’s people like you that make all my writing worthwhile. Someone that has actually taken on board what I’ve been banging on about for years and put it into practice and to justified it by coming up with the perfect result. Thanks Glenn, you’ve made my day! John.

Name: Glenn Miller Detector: Aventis 2 Ground: Ploughed and seeded. Hi John, this isn't a question or an answer for that matter. It's more of a confirmation of understanding and thanx. After reading your book, playing your dvd (so often it about half thickness), reading your answers and advice in forum and spending many many hours in different field types in all conditions, the penny has finally dropped.
I went to a new field a few weeks ago and it turned out to be a Roman field which yielded 5 Roman brooches and various pieces of pot and lead, only 1 poor condition Roman coin though Is that strange on a Roman site?. However on further inspection some of the lead finds proved to be 3 halves of Roman forgers coin moulds 2 with blank discs but no coin image in and 1 with image of Septimius Severus. I was using the Goldmaxx Power (my only detector at the time).  
The lead finds were about 7-8 inches deep and I was wondering that with 3 different halves of forgery moulds at that depth in would there be anything deeper like perhaps a complete mould? Enter into my thoughts the Aventis2 remembering all the pros and cons. I knew it would not be suitable in the busy part of the site but 1 half of mould was found on outskirts of busy area. The following week I bought one.  Well to cut a long story short I did indeed find a complete unopened coin mould at a depth of a good 12"+  in fact it was the deepest non iron find I have made to date. So with all the knowledge gained from you I actually found the very item I was searching for at a depth and conditions that the detector was made for. All I need now is for someone to professionally open mould so I can see what’s in it. I'm waiting on a call from the PAS. Now..... I just need to get the same thoughts again but on that pirates treasure chest! Thanks for helping it happen. Kind regards Glenn
Hi Glenn, what a great story, well done, it’s brilliant getting positive feedback, I really appreciate it.
The Adventis will definitely be a plus factor for you, however I read through your words a couple of times and would like to make a suggestion if I may. The roman site, does it contain much pottery? What are the nails and other ferrous situation like? If the answer to both questions is “quite a lot” may I suggest you slow down your sweep speed? I’ve had people complain in the past that they’ve gone on a Roman site and all they’ve pulled has been lead, the reason being was that they were sweeping to fast for the conditions. I’m not saying that you are, but if pottery and nails are in abundance then it does seem more than a little strange that you can only pull the five fibulae and the lead moulds.
As regards the forgers moulds, what a rarity, I would certainly like to find something like that myself. You must be as chuffed as can be and it’s good to see you using the PAS. Let me know how you get on and keep on writing in. regards John

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XP Adventis or ADX250?

Name: Jan, Ground: woods, ploughed, pasture, Question: Hi John. I have Garrett ACE 150 for one year and now I looking for new detector. With Garrett I found many beautiful coins and some things from WW2. But I want look for deeper treasures with some XP model. I hope you can give me your advice. And sorry for my mistakes, but I hope you understand me. Greetings from Czech Republic.
Hi Jan, your English is very good with no mistakes at all. After reading where you detect, I would recommend either the ADX250 or the Adventis 2, I have had great results with them myself in the same type of locations. It is just a matter of whether you want the Ground Accept/Reject control as to choosing the Adventis rather than the ADX250. Read my reports first, and Yes we can deliver to the Czech Republic. Regards John.

I have a Tesoro Cibola 14khz and am looking for a second machine. I am considering an XP Aadvetis 2 or XP ADX 250 as they are in the lower frequencies and I am led to believe, may be better for pasture land. I live in Inverness and the ground here is not highly mineralised or "trashy". Your thoughts on these two machines and their merits would be appreciated. Vince.
Hi Vince, either detector would be a good choice, (see my field report on the ADX250). They both use the same motherboard and filter system, the only difference being that the Adventis 2 has a manual ground reject as opposed to the factory preset of the ADX 250. So you could have two avenues to go down, the standard Adventis 2 or an ADX 250 with possibly an additional 11 inch coil for nearly same amount of money.
I can recommend either as I honestly do rate both machines and have never had the thoughts "I wish I’d got my other detector in my hands". John

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Adventis 2 or G-Maxx

Marco, detector: XP Goldmaxx power, ground: ploughed, question: Hi John, just went through your dvd for the Xth time... congratulations and thanks, it is very well done, I finally manage to understand my GMP after 2 years. Am now looking for more depth together with the capability to find small stuff (I think am now able to push the machine as I like, but you know detectorists are never happy), so am considering to either buy a 4.6khz (adventis2 or gmaxx2) or the 11" coil.  I know that the choice is completely different, but would like your advise. I am more oriented to pair my GMP with a lower frequency... have the feeling the coil itself would not give huge depth increase (lets say 3 cm?). If that is also your opinion then the second is more an hamletical question which have seen several times here and will ask again just to increase stats: gmaxx2 or Adventis2? Motherboard is the same, ok, but the discrimination is completely different and that is not a detail... adventis is winning the competition at the moment, but the price gap with Gmaxx is thin nowdays, so worth to explore. Your advises in the dvd made me understand much more on my machine... now hope can get a good hint for making the good compromise. Cheers and thanks again for all your support, Marco
Hi Marco, it’s good to read that you found my DVD worthwhile and of help in understanding your detector. After reading your query, it seems to me that you are strongly looking to buy a lower frequency detector. Right, now the hard bit, what makes you think that you need another detector? Is it that you have a lot of pasture, or heavily mineralised sites or perhaps larger objects are more predominant on your land? If non of these are true, then you could be laying out a fair amount of money for very little return. (I actually sell the detectors in question on this site, not much of a salesman am I?)
It was nearly two years before I bought the 11 inch coil for my Goldmaxx; I placed a lot more importance on getting the smaller elliptical coil ages before I even contemplated the larger one. Intelligent use of different size coils for different conditions really does pay dividends; far too many people buy a larger coil and just use that to the exclusion of even the standard one. Right that’s the coils, now for the machines.
I use the Adventis 2 alongside my Goldmaxx. Why the Adventis 2 and not the Gmaxx? Simple, it suits me! To me the Gmaxx sounds too much like the Goldmaxx and can over certain targets become a bit confusing when swapping over machines. The simplicity of the Adventis leaves no such ambiguity over any signal. I don’t know whether this has helped you make up your mind or not, Marco, but it will be worthwhile not to rush into anything in a hurry. Regards John

First of all I'll apologize for my poor English since its not my mother tongue. I've just bought your XP Explained DVD and I have already watched it several times. I am going to purchase in a week or two an XP machine and I am really hesitating between XP Adventis 2 or Gmaxx. Could you give me a hint or two that would help choose between those two machines? I read you prefer using the Adventis rather than the Gmaxx can you develop a bit please?  Thank you very much for your time. Mario Switzerland :)

Hi Mario, I must commend you, your command of the language is far from poor; I have had far worse from a lot of English readers! Let me first say that I don’t rely on one detector alone, no one detector can be “best” for all the conditions that you will meet.
One of the reasons that I have chosen the Adventis rather than the GMaxx is it’s simplicity when interpreting signals. The dual discrimination and All-metal can be accessed at a flick of the switch. Let me give you two examples of how this would work. Firstly, relatively “clean” ground. Disc 1 set to around 2 o’clock (small iron). A small, quiet signal received seems fairly good (normally means fairly deep), but with a hint of a slight “chop” at the end, flick to All-metal and if the sound level increases it’s iron. If sound level remains about the same, flick to Disc2 , (still below foil level) if it’s iron, it will disappear.
The second example is on a more ferrous ridden site, so set to minimum Disc 2 (7o’clock), anything other than a real good signal can be checked by flicking into Disc1 and if necessary verifying by flicking to All-metal. It is the speed with which you can verify the signals that I like. I have my control box hip-mounted, so it takes no more than two sweeps of the coil over the target (2 seconds). Also you don’t have to keep looking down at the control box to check what you are doing all the time, as you can keep your finger on the flick switch.
The Gmaxx on the other hand, has virtually the same controls as the Goldmaxx Power, Iron volume, tone ID and Silencer switch and it goes without saying how effective these work. In actual fact, this is the other reason I chose the Adventis, as you use a specific machine for a period of time, you develop “a library of sounds” whereby you can confidently predict what you will be digging up and also at what depth. You will be able to tell the difference between metals, even foil and a hammered coin; or whether it is lead or just a pewter button to name a few. So changing over to a Gmaxx from a Goldmaxx Power can be tricky, the signals don’t always register in the same way and this confusion can lead not only to loss of finds, but also loss of ground coverage when having to repeatedly check a signal.
It isn’t a question that one model will find more than the other, they both have the same capabilities, they just approach it in a different way. Also you have to bear in mind that I also own the Goldmaxx Power and use this when conditions dictate that the higher frequency will be more productive. It is a difficult decision that you have to make if you will be using the one detector. I do know that the Gmaxx will take a little longer to fully understand but as you are aware, this is the key to all successful detecting. If this is going to be your only detector, I will sum it up for you Mario.
. The Gmaxx edges it for me with it’s subtlety over targets, but to learn these subtleties won’t happen over-night. Both machines will find the easy stuff straight away, but to fully understand and get the best from their capabilities, the Adventis will take at least 6-9months solid detecting, the Gmaxx at least 9 months to a year. Learn either detector and they will repay you, lots of people own them, but lots of people would be just as well off if they had bought a cheap Tesoro. These are serious machines, built for serious detectorists.
Hope this helps you in your decision making Mario and good hunting for the future. Regards John

I am from Bulgaria. My name is Petar and I have a question about depth of Adventis 2 and G-Maxx. I'm not admirer of Multi-Tones mode. I wonder if you could tell me will I lose from depth when I'm search for coins if I buy Adventis 2 toward G-Maxx. Thank you for the answer in advance.
Hi Petar, thanks for the question. It’s nice to get one from as far afield as Bulgaria. The answer is no, you will not lose any depth if you buy the Adventis 2 instead of the Gmaxx 2. They use the same motherboards and filter system. I own an Adventis 2 and prefer using it rather than Gmaxx 2. Let me know how you get on with it. John

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Adventis or Goldscanner

I can't choose between two second hand detectors. An old goldscanner and a XP-adventis. I would like to know if the XP-adventis does better on larger bronze object (like bronze age axes) because of its lower frequency. I belief you are familiar with both machines. Would it make a big difference if I was going to use the large 38 x 45 cm DD coil instead of the standard coil on the adventis? And what about using the 16" concentric coil on the Compass. Thanks Marc (Netherlands) 
Hi Marc, The XP Adventis every time! The Old Goldscanner with the 16inch coil becomes very unbalanced and is only suitable for someone built like Arnold Schwarzanegger. There is quite a difference between the frequencies Adventis 4.6KhZ, Goldscanner 14 KhZ. Over mineralized ground the Goldscanner becomes unstable using the Concentric coils and Sensitivity needs to be reduced. The Adventis can use a higher level of Sensitivity due to the lower frequency and also the use of widescan DD coils. Finally, the Goldscan uses old technology (the wiring eventually deteriorates and will need renewing) whereas the Adventis uses the very latest. I’m not saying that the Goldscanner is rubbish and won’t find, it’s just that detector technology has moved on and makes life easier. Regards John

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Adventis V Adventis 2

XP Adventis £335 (still in stock) adventis 2 £475 both new in Regton Ltd is both same power and depth do you think adventis is worth? I don’t want coreless headphone. advertis is cheap than adx 250.
Hi Steven, have a word with Regton’s themselves they won’t put you wrong. John

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XP ADX 250

name: Andy Griffiths, detector: XP ADX 250, ground: Ploughed and pasture, ridge and furrow, question: Dear John, I have an ADX250 that I use on ploughed soil and pasture, which optimum discrimination and sensitivity levels would you suggest? My main interest is hammered.Thanks and regards. Andy
Hi Andy, that’s a good machine you’ve got there; if the ground your searching isn’t heavily mineralised or really ferrous ridden; you should be able to have the Sensitivity near to “pre-set” (not more).
If the ground is “cleanish” (not a lot of nails), Run in Disc. 1 at about 2 o’clock. If you are not sure of a signal, check it in All-Metal, if the signal is then louder or longer, leave it. it’s Iron!
If you still can’t tell, flick to Disc. 2. Have Disc. 2 at it’s lowest setting, if the sound remains the same, dig it, if the sound disappears leave it, it’s iron. If you are plagued with “coke”, this can be “Disc’ed out just before “foil” on Disc.2 and you will still be able to pull the hammered.
If the ground is “naily”, use to Disc. 2, on minimum. If larger iron still comes through just up the discrimination. NEVER, EVER, go above foil in Disc.2 !! If I hear that you have ,I’ll come around yer house an’ shoot yer!! See how you get on with these settings Andy, and give me a shout if you get stuck and need more help. Regards John.

Name: john hill: ADX 250: Pasture question: Hi John, I went out for the first time with my ADX  250,found plenty of finds with it, very pleased with it...however I was with three other detectorists that were using minelabs whenever I got within 30ft of them i got a pulsing interference off them...my question is,how do i stop interference from other machines if at a  rally? Thanks John Hill
Hi John, Those Minelab multi- frequency detectors are the bane of all single frequency detector users at rallies. Sometimes I think the buggers come near to other detectorists just for the hell of it!! What most of them aren’t aware of, is that their multi frequency detectors give out a square wave as opposed to the normal sine wave of a single frequency detector so they are actually pulse machines. Hence the “Pulsing interference” you have to put up with. How do you get rid of it? The best method is a twelve bore shotgun!! john

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XP ADX 100 or 250

Hi there, what do you think. I want to buy a metal detector for me. So I want to search at the most places I can search here in germany. What do you think what is better for a beginner? ADX100 oder ADX250 what are the differences? Do you have some find pictures from the adx100? thanks: ulric.

Hi Ulric, you are lucky that I have done field tests for both the ADX 100 and the ADX250 and they can be read on this site. You alone know how much you have to spend on a detector, I can tell you that either one would be suitable for a beginner. It remains just for you to decide which one suits you and your finances. John

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Earning a living from Metal Detecting

Good Evening Gents, I am an avid detectorist and, given half the chance would detect 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I read your website whenever I get access to the internet and greatly appreciate the information that you provide. Now for the reason for the mail. I am going to ask you a question which I am sure you get asked very often. Can you earn a living from metal detecting? I would readily give up my 9 to 5 job and do the kind of thing that you gents do given the chance. Please could you mail me back as I would love to hear from you all. Regards, a big fan always, Paul Andrew Catterall
Hi Paul, Why haven’t you given it a go yet? Come on in,