Confidence restored

[Knipper]

Though its still been a very slow year, I got out today and searched an old haunt that I haven't visited in at least 15 years. Great digging conditions with nice black dirt under the sod going down who knows how deep, and not very dry. Anyway, since this is an old site that was hunted well over the years, I put the 12" Excelerator coil on the SE and started searching.

Got a nice signal, what has been described as 'flutey' by others on the forum, and checked the depth reading. There was only about 1/16th" thickness of black line showing on the bar. Dug a nice, neat square trapdoor plug and proceeded to dig down almost to the full length of my homemade trowel, which measures 14", and cleared out all the loose dirt. Then I put my pinpointer probe in the hole and it screamed when it got to the packed dirt at the bottom. A few more gentle twists of the trowel and the signal moved. When I took the last scoop out, I was looking at a nice 1917 Merc dime.

That dime must have been 11+ inches deep and I still got a consistent signal that read good in any direction. Frankly, I was pretty amazed.

Though the dime isn't worth much, even in fine/very fine condition, it was silver and rare for me these days. The main thing is, it restored my faith in the machine and gave me a pretty good boost in confidence. At least I know two things....There are still deep coins out there and the SE is more than capable of finding them!

Knipper

 

[MikeW]

Nice merc and deeeep! Ive never found anything that deep but have a lot to learn on the ExplorerXs!!

 

[Doctorcoinz]

The deepest i have found a coin with the Se so far is 9 -10 inches..Not a good signal because it was on dry soil and iron infested , i think 10 inches is not no where near the max depth capability of the explorers...

 

[digitrich]

If you lower your gain to about 6 and go back to that same spot, listen for the softer high pitched signals (meaning the "deepies" as others have described) There are lots of those dimes at that depth and you sir have one of the few machines in the world that can see them. I had a similar incident in a pounded park where I dug a 12 inch deep Indian that was a sloppy hit but obviously deep. I then preceded to dig every signal that even suggested a high tone that was deep, turned out more than half the time it was a coin, some were as deep as 14 inches. I ordered the 15 inch wot for that very purpose, but it didn't seem to make the tones any clearer than the Sun Ray 12 or the 10 x 14 Excellerator I was using, The soil had become quite dry at the time, so I need to go back and try again now that it's been raining. But you're right on the mark, just remember once the target gets on the deep side the id tends to go towards iron even though it's not an iron signal. The only time I dig those is if I have found other coins at that depth and then yes. Otherwise I would be digging huge holes for nails which is less than fun.

 

[Hotcz70]

flutey tone on a deep coin. Many guys hunt with low gain of 6 or 7 but I usually run mine higher. I'm goin' back and forth between the 6" Excelerator and the 12.5"...but I can't seem to take the 6" off yet because it's finding too much stuff for me. Sounds like whatever settings you are using are working well for you.

 

[MyNameIsMud]

I have become stubborn and cranked the sensitivity up to high 20's to 32. At these points the threshold disappears. Sometimes if you swing really slow it will come in. I have found that targets will still set the machine off, just that many other things will too. If you have he patience, this may be a good trash tactic. I am only using the stock coil. I can not invest more at this time. I would like your comments on the threshold bit. Do you think that you absolutely need it? or just crank up the sensitivity and go slow. Or would you crank down the sensitivity to the point the threshold appears? I do not like the automatic, because I feel it misses deep targets too often.

 

[Knipper]

I too like to hear a threshold between hitting targets. The whole sensitivity thing seems to be really controversial. Here's what I believe to be true:

1. One can set sensitivity set TOO high! I know higher settings enable most detectors to find deeper targets, BUT...unless you have absolutely neutral ground, the price you pay is false signals and chatter. To me, that's counter productive. While its true that with the Explorers, you can discriminate by tone, the chatter and unnecessary noise produced by the sensitivity set too high will mask (confuse) good signals from your ears just as effectively as three large nails per square foot of ground...(just an example...)

2. Setting your machine in manual to the highest sensitivity level that is stable, smooths out all those rough spots, so you're better able to determine the difference between ground clutter, threshold, deep signals and nulls resulting from your level of discrimination, if you use it.

3. Gain setting may be a factor...The Explorer is one of the few machines made where the user can adjust the gain. Most other manufacturers set this internally at the factory, and unless you know which internal potentiometer to adjust, you go with the factory setting. Having the gain set too high may also cause some instability, in my experience, so I've never had it set higher than 8, though I'm thinking about going back one mark to 7.

4. Bottom line, in my opinion, is that the ultimate goal for detector settings is to find that sweet spot that gives you a good even signal with the gain and sensitivity settings at the highest STABLE level. That has always allowed me to pick out those faint deep targets better than having a detector with a 'hair trigger'.

5. Sometimes setting the Explorer to auto sens is OK. If it automatically sets itself to what the factory feels is appropriate for ground conditions, then, it shouldn't matter if you put it at 32 in auto as opposed to 20 in auto, unless you can achieve a stable signal greater than 20 in manual.....so why not always use a setting of 32 in auto? (I still prefer to use manual, if possible, as you really don't know how far down the auto mode sets sensitivity to achieve stability).

6. In trashy ground, you just can't achieve a stable threshold. Unless you're in all metal, trash will null the threshold sound out . More trash = more nulls.

7. The threshold sound should be set to the lowest audible level you can get away with.

Knipper

 

[James N.D.]

Good Post Knipper! I find it pretty amazing myself when I am out hunting and get small items down 8-10" Deep that shouldn't have even made a sound. The Explorer's sure are DEEP SEEKERS and I can't wait until Minelab comes out with a New Unit that will give another 3-6" of Depth. Then we should see more Seated and Barber Coins than previously posted. Hope the Confidence Booster holds up for you and you find more Old Silver and such on your next outing. Good Luck and HH.