Basic Guidance, Settings, help a noob please

[EXPllnoob]

Just bought an explorer last week, maybe too complicated? maybe doing something wrong? I'd love to know what settings people use, like iron mask or discrimination and levels, I seem to be getting junk targets everywhere, the thing lights up to everything, according to the display there are coins and rings all over my back yard.

Also, What do you guys think of the Quattro or the Sovereign Gt. I was thinking of getting another less complicated detector.

Thanks for your help.

 

[mattockman]

 

[Jim C (Mich)]

The best thing to do is put a coin on the ground or whatever objects you are looking for. Make sure the ground is trash free before ya do this. Run the detector over the object and listen to the sound it is making. This is the sound you want to listen for. Keep backing the detector further from the object to hear what it sounds like when deeper in the ground. If you are after old coins, listen for the sound you learned and when you hear that sound check the depth meter. If its less than half way more than likely it will be clad coins. If the meter shows near the surface. It could be a hunk of junk or a coin. Its all in learning the sounds of the detector. The explorer is so good I think just about any settings will land you the goods once you learn what it is telling you.
If you are after rings and things that may be closer to the surface I can't help you. Seems like you would have to dig a lot of trash to find em. Not for me. My two cents. Jim

 

[Cody]

The detectors you are thinking of getting are great detectors. I keep a Sovereign Elite as a backup for my Explorer. However, consider that there is nothing that can be done with another detector for coin and relic hunting that cannot be done with the Explorer. In addition there is a lot more that can be done with the Explorer.

The factory presets and a little detecting is most often enough for a new user to become sure they should keep the Explorer. Some of the advanced features will be a little more than one should start out with. As an example if DEEP is ON then small pieces of surface metal is amplified in sound as are deep ones. This is good and bad in that you hear a lot of hits on surface trash. An experienced user will recognize these hits and pass them up. Trying to run the detector too hot is going to be more than a lot of new user can deal with so stick to the presets for a while. THE EXPLORER IS A VERY HOT DETECTOR WITH ALL THE ADVANCED FEATURES BUT KEEP IN MIND THE ADVANCED FEATURE ARE FOR THE MORE EXPERIENCED USER. It is not because they are hard to use but rather to give a new user some time to learn the machine and they may or may not be needed depending on the type of hunting and preferences of the user. It is a mistake to think a user has to go to Advanced to get depth and performance. It is important to go by the suggestions in the Owner's Manual to get started on the right foot.

Let me suggest that you give this a try. Go to the factor presets and ground balance in your yard. I would suggest you always NOISE Cancel prior to using anytime. The accuracy of the ID is going to be optimum if properly NOISE canceled. Follow the manual exactly when it comes to the other setting, don't skip anything, and then slowly go over your yard. Also, don't go by a single site as you may have one of those yard full of roofing nails and other nails and junk that are very difficult for any detector. Take the Explorer on a spin in a park and other areas where you can search. Really give it a good run before you sell and buy another machine. THE EXPLORER IS A PROFESSIONAL GRADE DETECTOR AND IS GOING TO REALLY WORK FOR YOU AS YOU GET TO KNOW THE DETECTOR. After a good fair go with the detector then think about keeping or going after another detector. I would also take a look at the forums and see where most of the older and deeper coins and jewelry finds are posted. I have been at this for over 40 years and for serious bank for the buck I know of no other detector that will match the Explorer. The Minelab machine have been at the very top for performance as since the first one was put on the market. So, think real hard before you sell a machine and then as you progress will be looking for another one. I cannot count the people I have run into over the years that have done just that.

 

[Robin (MI)]

The first thing these guys should have told you is to use the machine in factory default settings for the first month/40 hours or so (depends on how often you go). That way a lot of the junk signals get discriminated out while you are learning the sound and positions of good targets. That should simplify things for you. Just press the power button and hold it down for a few seconds while the machine starts up and it will return to factory presets.

My advise is to go to a beach or ball field where there is some clad (and some junk) so that you can hear and recognize coins as you come onto them. If you have a beach nearby go there because the digging is so easy it will help while learning. Dig up every repeatable signal for the first while, but before you do check out where the target is registering on the smart find screen. Before long you will be able to guess what the target is before you dig. Go slow and have fun with it.

Also, usually if the signal sounds like crap - it is.

Hope this helps and HH - Robin

PS Give it a good try to learn the sounds before you go with a less "complicated" machine. What you will be getting is a detector that gives you less information about what is down there.

 

[Cody]

I keep these post to the Classroom Forum as a rule but will post here this once as this seems to me to be an area that is not understood very well by new users. The old pros know this so I trust they will bear with me on this one.

A major feature of the Explorer, as we all know, is that has TID (Tone ID). With that in mind we can then equate the Digital Reading to Tones and also as Crosshair positions. There are only 31 tones but they can represent the Ferrous or Conductivity of a target. While the Explorer has has 1024 discrimination for accepting and rejecting target there are only 31 tones. I have read some post that believe it has 64 tones since there is are 31 for Conductivity and 31 for Ferrous but there are only 31 to represent both Ferrous and Conductivity. A reading of 3/28 is one most of us can see in our mind