Nokta The Legend
Nokta Legend Depth Chart: Realistic Depth by Target, Coil and Soil
Quick answer
Nokta publishes no depth specification for The Legend, because depth is a property of the ground rather than the machine. A coin sized target in clean mild soil is commonly reported in the six to ten inch range with the 11 inch coil, less in mineralised or salt ground, and more with a larger coil on quiet soil.
Any chart that tells you a detector goes to a fixed number of inches is selling something. Depth depends on the size and shape of the target, its orientation, how long it has been in the ground, the mineral content and moisture of the soil, the coil on the end of the shaft and the settings you are running. The same machine that reports a quarter at ten inches on clean pasture will struggle past five in red mineralised clay.
What a genuinely useful depth page can do is give you the shape of the relationship, tell you which variable to change when you want more depth, and hand you a method for measuring your own ground. The bands below are owner-reported expectations for The Legend, not a manufacturer specification, because there is no manufacturer depth specification to quote.
Top pick
Nokta The Legend Pro Pack
The Pro Pack ships with both the 11 inch and 6 inch DD coils, which is the cheapest way to see how much of your depth problem is actually a coil problem.
Price was accurate when this page was compiled and changes often.
How deep will the Legend actually detect?
Read every figure below as a band that assumes a stable machine, a properly ground balanced setup and a target lying reasonably flat. A coin on edge can halve these numbers on its own.
With the stock 11 inch coil, coin sized targets are commonly reported around six to ten inches in clean mild soil and closer to four to seven inches in heavily mineralised ground.
| Target | Coil | Mild clean soil | Mineralised or wet salt | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small gold, thin chain | 6 inch LG15 | 2 to 4 in | 1 to 3 in | Tiny low conductors are a sensitivity and coil job |
| Small gold ring | 6 inch LG15 | 3 to 6 in | 2 to 4 in | Small coil sees small targets best |
| US nickel | 11 inch LG28 | 5 to 8 in | 3 to 6 in | Mid conductor, a fair proxy for ring sized gold |
| Clad dime or cent | 11 inch LG28 | 6 to 9 in | 4 to 6 in | The standard reference target for most owners |
| Silver quarter | 11 inch LG28 | 7 to 10 in | 5 to 7 in | Highly conductive and reasonably large |
| Silver quarter | 13.5 by 12.5 inch LG35 | 8 to 12 in | 5 to 8 in | Big coil buys depth on open quiet ground |
| Large silver, crown or dollar | 13.5 by 12.5 inch LG35 | 10 to 14 in | 6 to 9 in | Large high conductors are the deepest coin targets |
| Musket ball or large lead | 11 inch LG28 | 6 to 10 in | 4 to 7 in | Depth tracks mass more than composition |
| Buckle, buttons, small relics | 9.5 by 6 inch LG24 | 4 to 8 in | 3 to 5 in | Elliptical coil for iron-heavy relic ground |
| Large iron object | 11 inch LG28 | 12 in and beyond | 8 in and beyond | Iron is detected deep, which is rarely a benefit |
Owner-reported expectations rather than a published specification. Nokta does not publish a depth figure for this machine, and no honest chart can give one without naming the soil.
Why does nobody publish a depth number?
Because it would be meaningless without the soil it was measured in, and the moment it is printed it gets quoted without the conditions. Detection depth falls as target size falls, as conductivity falls, as mineralisation rises and as the target sits at a worse angle. Those variables interact, so a single figure describes one buried coin on one day in one field.
The variables you can actually control are the coil, the settings and your sweep. A bigger coil puts more energy into the ground and sees a large deep target further down, while losing the ability to separate targets that are close together. A smaller coil reverses that trade. The coil chart sets out which coils fit, and the coil size selector turns trash density and target size into a recommended diameter.
How do I measure the real depth of my own ground?
- Pick your reference target. A clad dime or a copper cent. Use something you can bury again next season and compare against.
- Dig a narrow test hole. Cut a plug, then dig a slot at the side of the hole so the soil above the coin stays undisturbed. Loose backfill reads deeper than packed ground and flatters the machine.
- Start deep and work up. Place the coin at ten inches, sweep, then raise it an inch at a time until the machine reports it reliably from two directions. That is your honest depth, not the depth where you hear a flicker.
- Repeat with your other coil. The same hole, the same coin. This single comparison tells you whether buying a larger coil is worth the money on your soil.
- Record wet and dry. Do it again after heavy rain. Most people are surprised by how much moisture moves the result, in both directions depending on mineral content.
Does a deeper machine actually find more?
Not usually, on the sites most people hunt. On heavily worked public ground the shallow targets have been taken and the remaining finds are masked by iron and aluminium rather than merely deep. Separation, recovery speed and coil choice recover those targets; raw depth does not. On an untouched permission, depth is the whole game.
Decide which problem you have before you spend money solving the other one. If your issue is trash, work through the settings by site type and fit the small coil. If your issue is genuinely virgin ground, the large coil earns its price.
Sources
- Nokta The Legend user manual, coil and ground balance sections
- Nokta LG15, LG24, LG28 and LG35 coil published listing specifications
- Nokta The Legend Pro Pack published product listing specifications
Frequently asked questions
How deep does the Nokta Legend go on a coin?
Owners commonly report coin sized targets in the six to ten inch range with the stock 11 inch coil in clean mild soil, dropping to roughly four to seven inches in heavily mineralised or wet salt ground. Nokta publishes no depth specification, so any figure including these is a reported expectation rather than a promise. Your own soil decides, and burying a known coin is the only way to find out.
Will a bigger coil make my Legend deeper?
On large targets in open quiet ground, yes, and the larger LG35 is the coil for that job. On trashy ground a big coil often finds less, because it covers several objects at once and averages them into one unhelpful signal. Bigger coils also weigh more and tire you faster, which costs you ground coverage. Match the coil to the site rather than buying diameter for its own sake.
Why does my machine read deeper in a test garden than in the field?
Because freshly disturbed soil is loose, damp and free of the mineral halo that surrounds a target which has sat in the ground for a century. Loose backfill lets the signal through more easily than compacted undisturbed earth. Always test by digging a slot beside the hole so the soil above the target stays intact, otherwise you will record a depth you never achieve in real hunting conditions.
Does depth change how accurate the target ID is?
Substantially. As a target approaches the limit of detection the machine has less signal to work with, so the reported ID becomes an estimate and then unreliable. A deep coin often reads lower than the same coin near the surface. This is why the bands on our Legend target ID chart are bands, and why a deep signal should be judged on repeatability and tone rather than the number alone.
Is the Legend deeper than the Simplex?
Neither machine has a published depth figure to compare, so the honest answer is that the Legend offers simultaneous multi frequency profiles and several selectable single frequencies, which gives it more ways to handle difficult soil. More capability in mineralised ground usually shows up as stability and better target ID at depth rather than as headline inches. On easy clean soil the practical gap is smaller than the price gap suggests.
Researched, not professional advice. This page is compiled from published specifications, manuals and owner-review consensus, not hands-on testing. Target ID numbers, depth figures and settings vary with soil chemistry, moisture, target size, depth, orientation and firmware version, so treat every figure here as a starting point and verify it against your own machine's manual and your own ground. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.