The Troy Shadow X5 - On My Ground
My sites contain coin and artefacts from the Celtic, Roman, and Saxon to medieval periods. Although conditions mainly consist of light soil with an underlay of chalk, there is also the presence of hot rocks and ironstone, so the ground is mineralised to quite a degree.
Once I have purchased a new detector I do try to persevere with it, trying it out in a number of different circumstances; but I have tried and rejected quite a number of detectors over the past 25 years in my attempts to combat the problems caused by mineralisation. The good finds are there; it’s just a question of finding the right machine that will reach them. My criterion is simply to be able to pull out the tiny quarter staters from this type of ground. Did I also mention the large amount of iron that exists in these sites as well?
Buying a new detector that has just been released onto the market can be a bit worrying. I read the field test reports on the Troy Shadow X5 and in general they gave glowing accounts of how much it is capable of finding, a rundown of the controls, how it works in stubble, and its performance on a beach (at the wrong time of the year!). I guess that with any product that is being tested, detector-related or not, there is a tendency to leave out a few things that could sound damaging to a potential buyer. This may sound cynical, but it was my money that I would be spending, and today’s detectors are not exactly what you might call cheap. I therefore phoned around to a few contacts for information on the Troy Shadow X5, and continued to trawl the Net. In the back of my mind I kept in view the heavy mineralisation that I encounter on my fields in Norfolk, and whether the new machine would be able to cope with it.
I was making plenty of finds with my current detector, but I knew that I was also missing some as well by the amount of time the threshold “lost the plot” and went silent (and that was in auto!). To be honest, this wasn’t the only machine I had owned that couldn’t cope with the mineralised conditions. I therefore took the plunge and purchased the Shadow X5. The fact that it had manual as well as fixed ground balance gave it an edge against its current competitor.
The first thing I found was that the standard coil was too big for the ground conditions that I was encountering, so I had to pay out another £150 for a smaller coil. That smarted a bit, but I did find that the smaller coil improved things and did make life easier with no loss of depth. I have found that when using the Shadow X5 I have been digging up more iron that in the past. But on going over the same ground that I had searched previously it managed to pull out some tiny gold and silver coins (eg quarter staters and an Edward III farthing) at a bit more depth than I had experienced before; nothing outrageous, but definitely deeper. Other coins and artefacts also came to light, but for me the small stuff was the “icing on the cake”. I found that the discrimination settings to find small items were really critical. At the very top of segment “3” and just touching “4” the detector rejects most small iron. However, with anything over “4” it will lose the quarter staters in the type of ground I am searching; so there isn’t any room for error.
When I tried using the beach discrimination mode (because of the trashy site) I didn’t find the objects I was looking for, although at home with “in air” tests it was a different story. The Shadow X5 is handling my ground conditions with the 7in coil, albeit with the sensitivity turned down a notch or two from the “preset” position of “8”. I have found that when using manual ground balance it is possible to use a slightly higher setting. If such a setting was used in fixed mode it would occasionally result in “hunting”. If “hot rocks” start ringing out, the booklet tells you to turn the ground adjust one and a half turns to positive. This will get rid of some hot rocks but with a consequent loss of depth! (The more positive the ground balance setting the greater the depth loss). When using the bigger coil the position is reversed. I found that fixed balance with the sensitivity turned down were the easiest settings to use, as at times the larger coil is at times difficult to manually ground balance. In actual fact, the black sand mode gave the best results on this particular piece of ground in all metal. However, because of the large amount of iron present, it was more practical to work in the discrimination mode. I have also found that one or two of the signals were not what I would call “true”. I put this down to the “halo” effect from long-buried pieces of iron that were in close proximity. The other reason could be that I might have been at the very limit of detection range. No doubt you’ve heard it many times before, but to achieve any success in detecting “When in doubt, dig!”
The response speed of the Shadow X5 (ie the time needed for a detector to recover from a bad signal and respond to a good one) is not what I would call the greatest. On trashy sites such as the ones I search, a slower sweep speed is required and it is necessary to turn the sensitivity down. (My other detector is better in this respect on such sites). On a more positive note, I have to say that this is the lightest machine that I have ever used. As I on average detect eight to ten hours a day, and four to five days a week, this is an absolute boon to me. It now means that I can take a break for something to eat rather than a break to stop my arm from falling off.
This detector does let you know what’s below your feet at all times. Most hot rocks give a double “ring” similar to a coin on edge, but if you flick over to all metal the signal nulls out followed by an after ring. As with most detectors, medium-sized pieces of iron can fool the discrimination. In some instances it is possible to scuff a little of the soil away over the target with your foot, and then run the coil at quite a fast sweep backwards and forwards over the response area. If this is done a number of iron targets will either disappear or give a broken signal.
With others, after digging a couple of scoopfuls of soil out and chasing the signal round and round, I remembered the VCO button. With repeated pressing this detunes the detector, pinpoints the target, and informs you to desist. The reason that this facility is not in the front of my mind is that I still believe that I am going to find another hoard). However, after digging up a 10in chisel and a large lump of iron, I began to believe that what the detector was telling me was correct. As with any detector, iron washers and nuts will still come through.
I believe that the Shadow X5 does live up to its reputation as a deep machine. In saying that I’m not talking about “12in for an Elizabeth I six-pence”. I have only encountered that type of mineral-free ground in my dreams. But if a detector will give me even half an inch or an inch extra depth on a quarter stater, then I certainly wouldn’t complain. The Shadow X5 definitely has a liking for deep silver “denarii” as well.
I am fortunate enough to have a very large amount of land to detector on, and as a result I haven’t tried my new machine on stubble or beaches. As a result I am not in a position to comment how well it works on either of them. However, I did conduct some in-air test to compare the Shadow X5 with my previous machines. The results were very impressive. When I turned down the sensitivity a bit and realised how small the depth loss that resulted, this gave me the confidence to do the same - when needed - in the field.
If you use the beach discrimination or the black sand modes they will drop the depth capabilities of the detector; however, these are both intended for specialised search conditions. People experiencing normal ground conditions will find this a very deep-seeking detector, which does have the ability to find very small targets. In passing, I would say that the “Zinc-Normal-Nickel” three-way switch is not something that I would use very often, as I make it a policy to dig everything that registers above the discrimination level of iron.
The comprehensive booklet that accompanies the Shadow X5 is some-thing that must be studied to get the best results from this detector. It is very clear and concise and makes the use of this machine very easy to understand. A lot of thought has gone into the placing of the controls. The most-used switches are on the left so that you are not crossing your arms to gain access to them (for a right-handed person). I found that after a short period of detecting I wasn’t even bothering to look down to make minor adjustments to them.
This article is not intended to be a field test but simply an honest assessment of the Shadow X5 - “warts and all” - from an ordinary detectorist’s point of view, in the hope that this article will be of some use to readers who are experiencing ground conditions similar to mine.
Did I make the correct decision in buying a Shadow X5? At this moment in time - albeit I have not owned the detector very long - I have to state a very definite “Yes”. This detector has given me something that no other machine has been able to provide for the tracts of land that I search - confidence.
It is necessary to bear in mind that I have been going over my sites for many years with a variety of detectors. With the Shadow X5 more iron is being dug, but I am also finding more coins and artefacts, at better depths, than I have before. All the finds were made by going over the same sites immediately after I had worked them with my previous detector.
My thanks go to Craig of Crawfords and Coinshooters for their helpful advice and for Troy Galloway for producing the Shadow X5. By the way, I do not work for him...but his detector certainly works for me.
John Lynn