Minelab Explorer II
Price: $1200
Avg. Score: 
4.33
Based on 97 reviews
4.33Based on 97 reviews
Avg. Durability:
4.40
Avg. Ease of use:
4.00
Explorer ii
September 21, 2012
I am new to MDing and only got into it to help someone find some Jewellery.
That hunt will be next month, in the interim I've had the minelab for two
to three weeks and I've been trying to learn the machine. First up, this machine is not for newcomers unless you are able to learn and adapt to a lot of new concepts, lingo and configurations. However, if perseverance is in your locker and you're bright enough or technically minded, then by all means you can take on this detector and master it.
The manual is not the most user friendly and could be simpler, but importantly all the information you need is there. I read the manual and watched every youtube video and web article relating to this machine that I could find.
I also bought some patterns so that I could learn proven patterns and so that I would not just be limited to the default discrimination patterns. I now use my own pattern, which is working well on my local beach.
My first few beach trips(2 hours per trip) yielded a lot of junk, ring pulls, etc. By trip 6 I was pulling out coinage to junk at a ratio of about 7:1 using the advanced smart screen and tone audio to decide on whether or not to dig a target. A few short weeks ago that ratio was easily 1:25 in junks favour!
If you are experienced with MDing then you will piuck this machine up a LOT faster and you will get productive a LOT quicker.
There are a few bad points. It's heavy and if you're new to MDing then you'll probably get a sore elbow, like me, after a while. This is down to me gripping the detector too tight though. If you just relax a little then you should be fine. You have to go slower with this machine but it pays off in the end. The number values on the screen can jump around a lot if your sensitivity is not set right or if you're over thrash.. . As a newbie this confused me at first. The learning curve is STEEP, it's not for the faint hearted. But as I said you will master it if you persevere at it.
There are many good points to this detector, it goes deep and after a while you get a good handle on the audio signals. The detector is fully customizable and handles my beach, that has high mineralization, very well. It takes the wet and dry sand in its stride. Last time out when I go to the beach a guy had left his trail in the sand and I thought that it would be pointless to detect, he had covered so much ground. I focused on learning the machine a bit more and I was picking up a coin every 4 or 5 minutes that this guy had missed! For locating the target in the ground The 'pinpointer' on the explorer II is spot on. But once you have dug out the hole/target I'd recommend a probe, I'm using the propointer and it has sped up my recovery rate a lot.
There are a few ways to hunt using either basic or advanced options. Basic means you can select coins/jewelery and start hunting.
Advanced means you can fully customize the discrimination pattern to suit your requirements. Your sensitivity and threshold are key and these can be individually manually set. The detector can also adjust the sensitivity automatically if you so wish.
It's my first detector so I have nothing else to compare it with but overall I'm very happy with it. You will be too.
Overall Rating
Beachsands from
Ireland
304
Minelab explorer 11
May 07, 2012
Forget all other machines, the explorer 11 is the best machine by a million
miles, 170 sceats in 3 years and thousands of coins n artifacts, if you
know how to use this incredible machine then you can laugh at everybody
else.
Overall Rating
Ricky from
East yorkshire
306
Bunch of Cry Babies
May 03, 2012
After reading reviews almost all bad reviews were people who cannot even
use a computer let alone anything digital. You just don't know how to use
this detector right. Dont buy a digital detector if you are dumb with
electronics. 99 percent of the time its user error or abuse like one post
complained about heavy use and it broke. Have used Minelabs detectors for
years with no issues. All you haters go and stay with analog meter type
detectors. .
Overall Rating
Troy from
Washington State
234
Explorer se 2 TOTAL RUBBISH
January 22, 2012
NEW to detecting read all the reviews so I bought one BIGGEST COSTLY
MISTAKE I have ever done, the second getting married. This machine has
been so hyped up.. The instruction book you need to have studied at Oxford
to understand it ...my mate also has a cheap Garrett, the stuff he finds
blows me away, mine is usually tractor bearings, horse shoes, brass door
knobs, rubbish ... Decided enough was enough Part exchanged it best thing I
have ever done for fisher f75 looks good very lite and easier to use and
doesn't gobble batteries like the miss s downing 6 pints in half
hour...FEELs LIKE I was conned by all the hype now really looking forward to enjoying my hobby without feeling frustrated with a dreadful machine which is over priced ...
...warning to anyone starting this hobby don't go out and blow your dough on gadget that will do your head in go for something ...SIMPLE...
Overall Rating
Graham from
Lincolnshire
1940
Expensive or cheap detector
October 07, 2011
I have had three minelabs, whilst they may take time to learn, its worth
persevering, this year with the explorer 2 which I've had a few years, I've
played around with the sensitivity with brilliant results. Peaces of ground that I've found very little have proved productive. I've compared against my mates garret 250, the only pluses we can see in the garret are in very small deep targets. We have checked each others finds and guessed what they may be, he has pulled far more tiny finds whilst I have been able to save a lot more digging, by having a good idea of the cartridge cases etc that are everywhere.
So many people that write reviews are biest to a particular company why free detectors etc, we have compared out of interest on what they cost and is it worth spending the extra amount of money, our conclusion is yes, we would be interested to hear of others experiences or findings, regards Albi.
Overall Rating
Albi Pinnion from
Suffolk
183
New to the Explorer
July 04, 2011
I have had my Explorer for about 2 months and used it probably half a dozen
times with little success. On my last outing with the club I was getting the usual noisy sweep and deep nails giving a good signal, so decided to instead of turning down the sensitivity I turned it up, for some reason this made it less noisy and I did not dig another nail at all ?
I tried this again on yesterdays dig but it just would not work and the noise was so bad I gave up.
This is a very deep seeking detector and in fact the deepest I have ever known but it can be just too noisy to use.
I love it and will persevere with it, but I am not 100 percent convinced it is worth the money I paid.
Overall Rating
John from
Cambridge UK
126
Using explorer 11 for 7 months
January 10, 2011
My first time out with this machine was in may 2010, my first impressions
were good, hammered 6 pence etc - since then the detector as produced large
Victorian silver down to the smallest 4d.recovery iron is very slow not had
great success on iron infested sites, on clean ground this detector can not
be beaten coins at 12 inch easily registered.Number 1 tip- never run this machine too hot, always noise cancel and keep coil cover clean - would give the explore 11 5 star but does seem to struggle on iron but still learning. People thinking of selling, stick with it like playing a guitar one day Eurica.
Overall Rating
STUART from
ENGLAND
214
Nay sayers
November 15, 2010
This machine rocks if you know how to use it right....
Overall Rating
E D from
Reno
1715
Minelab beat other machines hands down heres why
August 05, 2010
People who write a review here and knock the Minelab are either barking mad
or work for another company. One of my first finds was a ring that was tiny for a babies christening or such. It was roman made of gold and copper and weighed hardly anything could not fit it on the tiny end of my small finger. I found that ring after much digging around about ten to twelve inches under the ground. When I did finally dig it out it took me more time to find it when it was out of the hole as the signal was so strong I naturally thought it would be much larger.
On the beach it is a dream as long as you have sensitivity at a good level and threshold not to high. Tom Dankowski builds detectors and works with Nasa. EEERRR I think he knows a thing or two and The minelab is one of the machines he loves. So people who don't take the time out to learn their machine get no prizes...take my word for it they are hot hot hot.
Oh and by the way minelab runs in 28 different frequencies unlike most others in one or two. Deeper targets are located by lower frequencies so you will find what others miss. You can also detect in ferrous mode or conductive mode.
Overall Rating
Patrick from
London
7112
Works well but to much work!
July 31, 2010
I would much rather use a Troy X5 less buttons for a old fart like me.
Overall Rating
Richard A. from
La
820