1st Trip to Beach with Quattro

[fllawboy]

After reading through, "Mastering the Quattro" I took mine out for a spin on Crandon Beach in Key Biscayne, Florida. I thought I knew it all after reading the book, needless to say I need to go back and read it again. It ended up being a good practice run, but I realize now that I am going to have to put in some serious time to really learn this machine's language. I thought I understood it, but now realize I have minimal understanding that will only improve with a lot of hands on practice. The positives: I think I got the cross saving thing down pat. I also am impressed with the ability of this machine to hit Nickels at the beach, I only found three, but they were deep! I also liked the stability of the detector, though at times I felt I was getting some falsing. The negatives: It is heavy!! I need to get used to swinging it compared to my Chest mount MXT. I am really feeling it right now. Also, it seemed to false on occasion, or maybe I was doing something else wrong. I did use Noise Control a lot as I moved from dry to wet sand to water. I wanted to take no chances. I also realized that at times I was swinging too fast and would catch myself and slow down. Here is where to problem arose. As I would sweep the coil, I would get a low beep and a visual display of "1" and "ring." I would attempt to get the same signal in the same area I just swept to try and confirm the signal and readings and I would no longer get any signal, audio or visual. This happened on other visual displays "1, 10, 11, 14, 26, 31" and different audio signals as well , both High and Low. I am probably not explaining this very well. Long story short, I got a ton of signals once and could not get them to repeat and therefore could not dig to see what was there as I could not be sure of where I got the signal on the sweep. It was a little frustrating. Anyone ever encounter this issue, if so what was I doing wrong? Additionally, there were at least a dozen times that I got an initial signal in the "20's" and after I took my first scoop out and checked the hole the signal dropped to the "10 to 17" range. I also had at least a half a dozen times where the signal disappeared completely after I dug my first scoop out of the hole. I could not get a signal from either what I took out of the hole or the hole itself. Again, if anyone had this issue, I would appreciate some feedback. Very frustrating. Lastly, I had about 15 different occasions where I would get a nice strong signal in wet sand and when I went to Pinpoint mode to try and pinpoint, there would be no signal for the pinpoint and the bars remained low. No matter where I moved around this point, I could not get the pinpoint bars to raise. When I would go back to search mode I would get the signal again. For some reason it would not pinpoint properly. I dug a few of these for the heck of it and found 1 pull tab and the rest after going down about 18" I stopped because I could not get a repeatable signal. I also notice in the water I would get a lot of 1 time audio signals that I could not get to repeat when sweeping the coil over them a second, third of fourth time. It was like whatever was there disappeared. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. All and all, I do not want to sound discouraged, because I am far from it. I knew getting into this that it was going to take some time. I like the Quattro and am getting comfortable with it. My totals for the day are as follows: 2 Nickels, 1 dime, 2 pennies, 51 pull-tabs. All coins were recent except for one Nickel which was 1964. The 64 Nickel was about 9 inches down in the wet sand. I did not dig one piece of foil or any iron. With my MXT I would have gotten a lot of foil along with the pull-tabs, but I dig everything that is borderline. Today, I was following the advice from the book. Any feedback from some experienced Quattro users would be appreciated. Best regards,

 

[JohnA]

Sounds like you may be getting falsing from too high a sensitivity setting, especially if the signal won't repeat from a different direction. I rarely use pinpoint with the Quattro on the beach. I just use the right angle/ 2 direction tip of the coil method for pinpointing as it is acceptably accurate. Targets not infrequently will move and fall further into the hole out of detector range or at right angles, so if you are chasing a good signal, you may have to re dig several several times to recover the target. I hate to think of the targets I left in the hole when I first started detecting on the beach by not continuing to dig. I use the Quattro with a bungie cord to lessen the weight effect. These are available from Forum sponsors and a necessity, especially if you decide to use a bigger coil for more coverage and depth. I now use the Quattro with a 10X14 Excelerator and Sunray 12 inch coils in heavily detected beaches and my X-70 the rest of the time, so I don't wear myself out. Good luck.

 

[fllawboy]

JohnA thanks for the advice. I think I figured out part of the problem. Last night, I just rinsed off the outside of the coil with fresh water. Today I decided to do a more formal cleaning of the coil. So I took off the Coil cover and there staring back at me was a ton of sand! It was caked on to the coil cover and to the bottom of the coil. I cannot believe that much sand could get in between the coil and cover in a 3 1/2 hour hunt! I think this might have some thing to do with the falsing I experienced. I have been thinking about this first hunt a lot today and realize that the falsing did not occur until about the last 1 hour of my hunt. This was the point where I was following the low tide out and was going into the water about shin deep. After that is when the falsing became a real issue. I am going to seal the 10.5 coil this week so that next week when I go to the beach I can determine if the sand between the coil was the issue. On an unrelated note, I have completed my fist read of "Mastering the Quattro" and think the book is fantastic! I modified the Coins program as described in the book and took the 8" coil for a test run in the backyard. I had 20 minutes to try the settings out, so I did not think I would be able to fully evaluate this tip. While, I was wrong!! On my first sweep over ground I covered with the Quattro last week and ground that had been previously covered by my MXT and Silver UMax I got a good repeatable signal of 33. I pinpointed it and dug about 6 1/2 inches and staring back at me was a 1964D penny. About 4 sweeps after that I got another repeatable signal of 36. I dug down 9 inches and found a 1976 penny. About two seeps after that I got a really strong 36 signal and thought I was going to get the trifecta! Alas, I was wrong I dug down 8" and hit a copper handle. I pulled the handle out and it was approximately 14" long and the area of the handle in my hole was about three inches. I have no idea what it is a handle to or if it is in fact a handle. Needless to say, given that I have hit this area hard with my MXT and Silver Umax, I am a believer in the "Good Coin Program" outlined in Mastering the Quattro. I am really starting to enjoy this detector. I cannot wait until I fully understand all of its capabilities!

 

[JAKETHESNAKE]

Hello Fllawboy I also use a MXT and so far have done realy well with it,but here latly wonder if its cuttin the mustard Ive been realy looking into these MINLAB's. Today I stoped by a dealer and looked at the Quattro and the Explorer Im wanting something that will do a little more and go a little deeper. Ive thought about a DFX,but dont think ill get much more out of it than my MXT. Anyways my point is I was wondering if you don't mind telling, what made you decide to go with the Quattro and not the Explorer and why MINLAB. THanks ...

 

[fllawboy]

Originally when I was buying my MXT, I was also looking at the Quattro and Explorer SE. I picked the MXT because I have always been a White's guy, since I was a kid. My uncle started me on a whites, so I leaned more towards them when I got back into the hobby after an 18 year break. I did do some research at that point and was impressed with what I saw from Minelab. My choice of the MXT came down to familiarity with White's and price. I really liked both the Explorer SE and Quattro. Between them, I have to admit the SE intimidated me with all of the settings. I also was not to keen on the weight of the Minelabs, as the MXT I purchased was a special edition chest mount. I strap it on and can go 8+ hours and not even know I have been detecting. The minelabs are heavy, but not that heavy. You get used to them. I think my swinging arm is actually getting a good workout from the Quattro.

After using the MXT for a bit, I picked up a Tesoro Silver, loved it. It is a simple machine, easy to use and it finds coins quite well. It brought me back to my days with my Whites Coinmaster 1DB, all tone detecting. I was also hoping my wife would want to detect with me and that she would use the Silver, but that did not happen. Since she was not interested in detecting, I wanted to have a backup detector that could do some damage and frankly the Silver was not that detector. I started to look at the Minelabs again. This time, though I decided to go the used detector route because my wife does not understand why I need another detector when I already had an MXT with the stock coil, the 4x6 coil, 6x10 coil, 1400DD, and the 12" Spider. She just does not understand that you can never have enough detecting power! Originally, I was going to keep the Silver and have three detectors, but I quickly learned that was not a good idea, again wife just does not understand that 1 or 2 detectors is not enough!

So I decided I would keep my eyes open for a good deal and sell the Silver when I found one. I did look at the DFX because I liked the idea of being able to interchange my existing coils between the DFX and MXT. I decided against the DFX because of the price and my research into the technology of the Minelabs made me really want to try one. Minelab has a great reputation and now I know why!

I had done additional research on the Explorer SE and Quattro and had determined for what I wanted to do, now, I did not need all of the customization of the Explorer. I liked the power of the Quattro same FBS as Explorer, but it was simpler to make adjustments. I had seen a lot of negative postings on the Quattro and was a little concerned about my choice. I also know from experience that a lot of people do not take the time to learn the detector they purchased and when they do not find tons of coins or jewelry they blame the detector. So based upon the positive positive postings from users who took the time to know their detector and my understanding that aspects of my hunting style would have to change to use the Quattro effectively, I decided to give the Quattro a shot. About a two weeks ago, I found a great deal on a Quattro, with 8" coil and 10.5"coil ($425 shipped) and jumped at it. Frankly, for $425 I felt I could not go wrong, worse case, if it was not what I wanted I could sell it and get back most of my investment.

Right out of the box, the detector impressed me. First of all it was in incredible shape, looked barely used, only negative it came from a smoker's house and smelled of cigarette smoke. It took a day or so to air it out! Secondly after scanning the owner's manual for 10 minutes, I was out in the back yard putting it through its paces. You do have to swing it a lot slower than the MXT, but it is stable and it punches deep into the ground. On the beach it was incredibly stable, the only falsing issues I encountered were caused by sand getting between coil and cover, this issue has been resolved by sealing the cover to the coil. It is a bit on the heavy side, but it is worth it. Since getting it, my MXT has not seen much action. In fact I would have to say that the MXT has become my backup detector. I would never sell my MXT, because I love it, easy to use and is very versatile. I have found some great rings with it and a lot of coins. That being said, I just feel that my chances of finding those finds of a lifetime are greater with using the Quattro. It is an amazing detector and I have to say I am becoming Minelab fan. I will be swinging the Quattro for a long time and when I am ready to by a new detector to add to the arsenal, I will be looking at Minelab first.

If you are really interested in trying a Quattro or Explorer out, I would suggest keeping your eyes open for a good used deal on the forums. If you end up really liking the detector you can always trade in and get a new one with warranty etc. If you don't like it you can always sell it and recover most of your investment. At least this way you keep your risk low. If you get the Quattro make sure you purchase the book "Mastering the Quattro" I have read it two times now and am on my third read, it is the key to making the Quattro perform. I hope this was helpful Jakethesnake.

 

[backslyder]

Dear fllawoby, You really got my blood "pumping" on this email, because you sound so much like the way I feel about the detector and Andy's book, I almost thought it was me writing that email. I'm just saying I can relate to you a lot on this. I need to be careful on my answers, here, because the last thing I'd want to do is mislead you in any way, and I haven't used my detector for some time now, because of personal problems, but I too read Andy's book, carefully, thought I had it "all down", and went out in the field and had almost a carbon copy of the problems and issues you talk about in this email. Whatever you do, don't get bummed and put it in the closet. I think the most important thing you said in this email, besides talking about real life Quatro issues, was something like: "Even though I read Andy's book, thoroughly, I need more "hands on practice". I couldn't agree with you more, and for me, that goes for anything in life we're trying to do. I once studied a book on a sound mixing board I purchased, and put in 10 or 20 hours studying, and even doing little mental tests with myself on what I'd learned, and I could tell you the signal path of any button or dial on that board, and in what order they came in, but one day, our band had to do a recording "in a hurry", and I damn near fell on my ass trying to make it all work. I was flabbergasted, because I knew that I knew the board MENTALLY, but what I had to admit, reluctantly, later on to myself and others was, that I didn't have the "HANDS ON' practice with it, so when other weird things came up, that might not have even been in the book, I could learn to handle them better. I swear that's a true story, and to me it's the same darn thing with the Quatro. I still think this is one of the best detectors in the world, literally, but like any of them they're not ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. I could be wrong on that, but, I've had the same experience, where I would hear a signal, ''especially at the beach", start digging, and it would either disappear, or be intermittent, or I just couldn't find it. I think your doing all the right things, and I swear I don't have an answer for this unless it comes under the category of voodoo, or something from outer space or something. I just don't have an exact answer for the "disappearing object" thing, other than to say that once in a while or on a bad day, it might happen multiple times, but, the only advice I can give which you've answered one of them in another post below. Here's my feeling on it. When I get the "spurious noises", signals that appear and disappear, and it bothers me enough, I stop and "ground balance the detector" like Andy says, with it sitting still on the ground I'm searching in. The other thing you might do is put the sensitivity on auto or even go manual but go really low on the sens number. Try some different settings, but the main problem I think there is, (and you nailed it in your other post) is that wet salty sand gets under the coil cover and causes all kinds of funny little noises that will drive you nuts" I thought about sealing my cover on too, with silicone, so I could take it off later if I wanted. My only suggestion is REALLY CLEAN BOTH THE COIL AND THE INSIDE OF THE COVER, B E F O R E , you seal it with a cleaner, and then use alcohol or something to take off any residue and then let them both dry completely before you seal it. Any other advice, you probably also, read in Andy's book, and that might be to approach the target at different angles, at a slow enough swing speed. Beyond that, you probably need to talk to one of the "real" experts on the forum like Golden, or some of the other people.
I'm so glad you also took the detector to a park area, other than the beach to see how really good this "bad boy" can do in different types of environments. I felt the same discouragement you did, especially at the beach, but once you get more used to it, I think your gonna love this thing as a beach detector. It almost completely ignores mineralized sand and salt water, and certainly goes very deep, even at the beach. I'd stick right with your plan: Go re-read Andy's book. Try and build a test garden. Keep practicing as well as doing regular detecting with things, and your gonna learn this thing inside out, and I swear, it starts to clear up and come together after a couple of weeks of detecting, and your gonna get excited again about it. Your on the right track, for sure. Marc.

 

[fllawboy]

Marc,
Thanks for the advice and encouragement in response to all of my posts on this forum. They were very helpful, and most importantly, I know I am not alone in my issues with dealing with learning the Quattro. I took the Quattro out yesterday in TN to go Civil War relic hunting with a friend. I had a lot of issues, but I did find my first shot pistol bullet. That one find in 6 hours made up for all of the iron I dug. The main issue I was having yesterday was that iron was coming up in the 30's on VDI in relic and all metal modes. It sounded good, but when dug it was pieces of old barb wire fence or old nails. I threw me for a loop. I also think, since it was my first time Civil War Relic Hunting in TN, it was a very different environment than I am used to in South Florida. I am hoping to get back on a second hunt on Friday and see if I cannot do better. I had a great time and the Quattro hit the pistol bullet at about 9 1/2 to 10 inches.

Best regards,

 

[backslyder]

Boy that's sure weird, alright, about the iron coming in at a 30. I might expect lead to maybe come in there or aluminum sometimes, but not regular old iron. I wonder if your soil there has a ton of iron, and/or minerals or some kind that's giving you those high readings? I don't know, but maybe one of the savvy Quatro owners out there might have an answer. I know this issue has come up before on the forum in some of the earlier posts, but I can't remember if it was resolved or not. I'm glad you found the bullet though. That's a nice find, and just keep researching these and other posts and I'll bet you come up with some kind of an answer. If not, you may have to dig more, in this type of area. I know Golden will dig a lot of stuff sometimes, because she loves relics (which some of them are iron) , but you know, at the beach, I iron always seems to come in at a negative number for me, but that's at the beach, not in the war relics fields of Tennessee. Let us know what you find out, or if it keeps doing that next time you go out. I'd sure be curious. Marc.