By Norfolk Wolf 

I use a Goldmaxx, so I was quite looking forward to field testing it’s stable mate, the ADX 100 when being asked; but, it would have a lot to live up to. Although coming in at the bottom of the range, the build quality is once again up to the high XP standard. 

Using a frequency of 4.6Khz it utilises a 9 inch open “Double D” widescan coil.  As this is the only coil available for the ADX 100, the coil-cable is permanently fixed to the waterproof ABS control box. This sits in the slides under the armrest, or can be hip-mounted if desired; either way the detector is very manoeuvrable and light enough to use for a full days detecting as it weighs in at only 200 grammes. 

Powered by 8 AA batteries, 4 in each of the two “wire-less” drop-in pods, these will give around 50 hours use with headphones.  (The batteries and back-phones are included in the package.)

Assembling the ADX 100 took just a matter of minutes, however the manual would be better if it were a bit more in depth.The ADX 100 has just two controls, Sensitivity and Discrimination, the ground balancing being automatic. 

Playing around with it indoors using different metals, I was astonished to find that I could run a very large and rusty Suffolk Punch size horseshoe across the coil and the only reaction was a short “spit”. And this was the Disc. setting at it’s lowest, so any ferrous, up to the size of very large nails, were completely ignored. 

On the other side of the coin, it did have trouble registering a .177 pellet, unless virtually scraping the coin.  This, because of the lowest frequency, was not unusual.

However, there was no problem in the ADX 100 registering a cut hammered.  These came through loud and clear; the signal giving an increasingly higher tone the further away from the coil, until cut-off. 

 In The Field 

The first test area I used was a site of moderate mineralisation. Although I knew finds would be a bit thin on the ground, at least I could familiarise myself with the 100 and put it through it’s paces. I found that holding the detector parallel to the ground and switching on, the 100 will give a long low signal, followed, after a few seconds, by a higher double beep; signalling everything is ready to go (ground balance is automatic). I set the sensitivity at preset and Disc. at minimum. 

Before I continue with putting it through its paces, a few words about the discrimination system on the ADX 100. With Disc. switched off your in All Metal.

There is no threshold in either mode, so both the Disc. and all-metal are silent modes.  All iron rejection occurs on the minimum setting. Between 6 and 10 loses ever-increasing sizes of foil. Cut quarters are being lost at 8 fi, halves at 9, whilst full hammered pennies will be retained even on full Disc. 

With me not being used to such a high level of discrimination at the minimum setting, it seemed unusually quiet, but by switching to All-metal, it made me realise just how effectively the discrimination was working. The odd large piece of iron would either split or give a loud “clipped” signal if close to the surface. Anything else that was ferrous it just ignored. 

Finds, whether coins or small artefacts, would give an unmistakable sweet, higher toned signal.  The deeper the target the higher the tone. 

The ADX 100 definitely liked the larger deeper objects, such as crotal bell and Georgian/Victorian copper coinage, but still managed to pull a rather grotty Edward hammered penny and some smaller stuff. 

Apart from when I worked under power lines, there was no time when it was necessary to lower the Sens. Setting.  In actual fact, on this particular field it was possible to go right into the red sector on the Sens. With no adverse effects.  Not too shabby for first time out. 

Roman Site 

Being aware of the slower response speeds of lower kHz detectors, I knew that this site, with it’s heavy mineralisation and large amounts of ferrous material, would be a different kettle of fish altogether. The problem being, that now the Discrimination was too good, anything lying close to iron would be lost. If I were going to find, I needed to hear the iron signals and adjust my sweep speed accordingly, to give the 100 a chance to recover them. This would mean working in All-metal and checking out the signals in Disc. 

One problem using this method is that a faint signal in All-metal could be a deep coin just on the edge of detection range, switching over to Disc. would lose it, signifying for all intents and purposes it was iron. Still, that’s what my right foot is for in these situations, kick the soil and get a better signal! 

It was necessary to work really slow, the odd Roman bronze started to come to light, for example, an indistinguishable Sestertius.  This was at a good depth for this particular site. The problem was, that in the worst areas, on each sweep I would receive three, sometimes four signals.  I wouldn’t have heard them if I was inn Disc. and if I didn’t have prior knowledge of the area, my sweep speed would have been to high for these conditions. However, having the control-box hip-mounted made working this way a lot easier and faster.  I dropped Sensitivity down to half, and even lower in the really bad areas. 

Turning it right back to just on, the 100 still gave acceptable depths for the conditions.  Moving out to do the cleaner surrounding areas, it was just a question of increasing the Sens. and switching to minimum Disc. 

The Beach 

I had heard a lot of conflicting reports on how well the ADX 100 worked on beaches.  Some said “brilliant”, others said “Too unstable”.  Not too much to go on, is there?

All I can do is tell you how well this one performed. Dry sand?  No problems. I just whacked the Disc. up to 6 to get rid of the foil and iron and was still bale to pull the full range of coinage.  (So do most detectors). But what about wet sand with water on the surface? Well, here there was no chance.  The detector sounds off, even on low Sensitivity. On damp sand including black, the ADX 100 was somewhere between the two. 

At the time I tested, the tide had been ebbing for about 4 hours, which gave me the opportunity to get down to some gulleys and damp black sand.  I found that I needed to drop the Sens. down to about half to get rid of the intermittent false signalling.  Disc. was between 4 and 6. 

Moving along the gulleys that were parallel to the sea, I found it necessary to continually adjust the Sens. grabbing a bit more here, then backing off a bit there, as conditions dictated. 

The beach I tested on is a holiday resort and popular with the “heavy brigade”, detectorists who uses pulse and other dedicated beaches machines, but its always possible to make a few finds each outing.

The 100 started pulling the odd coin at what I considered good depths, the signals were unmistakable, a dog whistle was the deepest, but the best find of the day was a silver ring from the aforementioned black sand.

It was at good depth, but how deep I couldn’t honestly say, the sand just got sloppier and sloppier with the ingress of water the more I dug down!  (I don’t know the demarcation line between wet and damp sand, so erred on the side of caution). 

Any Other Business
 

Iron 

With this machine, it’s not a problem.  Horse-shoes and very large iron, if they do come through at all, will give a low tone, sometimes clipped, but unmistakable. Large nails and smaller give no signal whatsoever.  No matter what type of signal, if it moves when sweeping from different directions, leave it.  Conversely, if it doesn’t, dig it. 

Coke 

Turn the Disc. up to lose coke and the 100 still has the ability to pull a cut hammered. 

Hot Rocks 

The automatic ground adjust has been set positive enough to ignore them completely. 

Response Speeds 

In this department it’s not the fastest dog out of the kennel, the low kHz of 4.6 means it is absolutely essential to work very slowly in “naily” areas.  On the more infested Roman sites it would be beneficial to work in All-metal, checking the “shorter” signals in Disc. 

Pinpointing 

There is no pinpointing facility on the ADX 100, but by sweeping at the usual 90 degrees to target, this will easily find the target centre. 

The Coil 

It’s an open Double-D widescan.  Once again it’s to a high standard, but be aware of the fact that although it manages to signal cut Quarters, tiny items like these give a far better signal closer to the centre of the coil, the further from the centre the less signal definition and subsequent depth loss.  This obviously isn’t so noticeable on complete coinage or artefacts.  Where it really comes into it’s own is on the Dupondius and Groat size coins.  Depths on these were extremely impressive. 

Mineralisation is also handled well with noticeably less cutback than some detectors I’ve tried. 

Conclusions 

I have been most honest in this appraisal, brutally so over some things.  I can see no point in lying by omission either, because those who own one will know, as will those who eventually buy one. The entry model ADX 100 has a good pedigree, and although it has only two controls, this machine has hidden depths. 

Where it really scores is in the perennial complaint of detectorists who hate the thought of digging iron; with this detector you won’t, full stop. With a little thought, it can handle true beach conditions, enough to pull a ring and coin from damp black sand. 

It performed well on Roman sites, pulling not just larger coinage at depth, but also small bronzes. It has the abilities we all look for in a detector, it’s just a question of utilising them in the right way to produce the finds for you. 

Would I recommend it?  Yes, but I don’t need to.  Look around.  Where can you buy anything comparable to £300, or even £50 more?  Then look second hand and see how many of these there are for sale compared to other “newly introduced” makes.  People buy the ADX 100 and keep it.  Ask yourself why?  

© Reproduced with kind permission of Searcher Magazine.