Hey 'Yall,
I realize air tests for max depth don't accurately show depth possible in ground...
But the info just isn't out there...I found one site but using old brit coins.
I just want to compare my brand new machine (SE PRO) with others, max depth air tests to make sure I'm all good (while the warranty is too
Any info of max depth where you still get a signal would be greatly appreciated -
(clad coins (non silver quarter, non war nickle, penny, and a silver dime is fine)
also please list your settings so I can reproduce the experiment as close as possible
Thanks heaps guys.
I'm sure some of the other guys might be able to help, as I don't use an SE. But...
As you said, take air test results with a (big) grain of salt
Especially on the ML's, as their true strength is in-ground performance.
Joe
yea Im just making sure I don't have a big comparison lack of depth to others machines same settings.I know they air test poorly in general , but amongst t he same machine/settings they should be comparable.
Quite true
If you don't get what your looking for here, head over to Tom Dankowski's website. It's VERY technically oriented. Tom is, well, pretty much a genius in terms of the minutiae of detectors
Joe
(07-31-2013 07:12 PM)49r Relics Wrote: [ -> ]I drove a Minelab SE Pro for 12 months and have owned just about every high end detector before and after. I expect Ron will chime in with more detail but, I assure you that you have one of the best machines on the planet for finding deep silver. There are a few other detectors that might be able to detect a silver dime deeper in ideal soil conditions, a couple that come to mind are the Blisstool and Fisher 12-66x, but the reason the SE Pro is so good is because of its ability to see through bad soil conditions and trash to hear the deep silvers colocated in these bad conditions. I have hunted side by side with Whites V3's, Fisher F75's (w/boost and cache) and have compared signals. Trust me if they were better than my Minelab I would have jumped ship a long time ago.
I can understand you wanting to compare and do air tests but again, I assure you that you have a premiere detector that you will be very happy and sucessful with once you learn to hear and recognize the deep, desirable targets. As far as settings go, I yield the remainder of my time to the gentleman with the S on his chest! 
GREAT feedback, Mark! I run with a Safari, which is basically a turn-on-and-go version of the SE's, E-Tracs, etc. One thing I'd like to add to Mark's excellent sentiments...
The TONES! The tones on a ML are unlike any other detector...at least IMO. I can tell fairly often by tone alone when I've got a silver under the coil. It's just a smooth, high pitched flute sound. Like music to my ears
While the tones should be what you go by first, If I must say, the VDI info on the ML's are pretty damn good...even at depth.
Joe
Hi,
If someone was to judge the fbs and bbs minelabs by airtest, they would be greatly disapointed. Ron is the explorer guru. I stuck with the sovereign for 10 years, but did have a few explorers, and like Mark said, for deeep coins they are hard to beat, but they do best in undisturbed soil. The disc on the minelabs is second to none. Stick with it, and learn what those real deep signals sound like. I know I didn't really recognize them with the Sov at first, but my explorer buddies would have me listen to a deep coin they flagged, and it clicked. Also it helps to sweep slower than you may be used to. Ray
As for max depth, that will REALLY depend on soil. When I detected parks with my explorer buddies, I dug an indian head that was deeper than my Lesche is long, and most guys believe the explorer is deeper than the Sov (I don't, haha).
Thanks for the words of encouragement guys -
again I know the Minelab Se Pro is an incredible machine for depth...
What I'm checking for is that my particular machine (with my particular serial number) is working as good as others' Minelab Se Pros.
Not as any kind of benchmark vs other detectors out there.
I only asked in the forum as no one at Minelab has any of that info to give out...
I did some tests and will post them here just in case anyone in the future wants to compare them...
I saw on kinzli you met staydetuned...that's the dude who can help ya immensely.
Ok, so I found a guy in the UK who had done some tests with some clad coins and I got almost the exact distances...so my paranoia is set at ease.
Here are my results for anyone in the future whos looking for that info..
These are the depth distance maxes that I could still get a repeatable (same tone ) signal:
Settings:
IRON MASK – AM
DEEP – ON
FAST – OFF
SENSITIVITY – MANUAL 25
GAIN – 10
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Silver Dime 11.5 inches
Clad Dime 10 inches
Nickel (non war) 12 inches
Quarter 13 inches
Zinc Penny 11.5 inches
UK 1 cent 11 inches
UK 10 cent 14 inches
Why don't you plant a test garden? Plant a quarter,nickel,dime,penny at 6" and start swinging. Coins will pick up deeper after they are in the ground a while it's called the halo affect. Do another test garden at 8" and try the same thing.