CZ-21 question regarding small gold

[Bill D. (VA)]

I've been using this machine for a full year now on wet salt beaches as well as in the saltwater. I've finally got the GB thing down pat, but I need to set it all the way down to 4.5 to get stable operation. Also, the GB setting has to be lowered all the way down to "1" on most (but not all) of the beaches I hunt. I'm also setting the disc to "1" to eliminate the bobbie pins and other small pieces of wire, etc. I'm still getting pretty impressive depth with these settings, but have one issue. When air testing small, thin gold rings I have to swing within 2 inches of it to get any signal at all. I can raise the sensitivity way up and pick it up a lot better but I can't hunt like that at the beach. I've also tried hunting in all-metal and that makes no difference either. I'm afraid I'm passing over most or all of the small gold and was wondering if there are any other adjustments I need to be making. Larger gold rings come in just fine at impressive depths. Appreciate any input.

 

[therover]

They will go deep on larger gold targets, silver, clad, etc. Are built like tanks and can take a beating. The only draw back is that due to them being locked in salt mode, they are not very good at finding smaller gold jewelry. Being in that mode allows the unit to run nice and stable on wet, salt beaches but the result is less sensitivity to smaller gold.

Also, bear in mind that on wet salt beaches, most units will not be that good on small gold anyway due to the smaller gold being so close in conductivity to the wet, salt sand, that it may get ground balanced out ( or at least it will be very difficult to detect, and not at any depth)

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Thanks for confirming what I thought would be the case regarding picking up small gold targets. But I'm sure this machine will do better in the wet sand than during the air tests I performed. Appreciate you taking the time to respond.

 

[icurabeachguy]

yup, what rover said^^^^

I think the smallest gold I've found with my CZs was a small children's ring at about 0.9 grams...that and some earrings around 1 gram.

pretty sure Tom D. also stated that the CZs are more sensitive in disc mode as opposed to some saying their units are deeper in autotune (all metal mode)...but don't quote me on that! I've tried both methods (sensitivity has to be turned all the way up to be effective in the salt in autotune) and the disc mode (0) is deeper for my various CZ20/21s I've had. of course...your results may vary

happy hunting!

 

[Tony from Tidewater]

Bill: Theover is spot on. Since we (you and I) hunt alot of the same beaches, a couple things you might want to try after you GB with the sens on 10. As you start walking the beach and you get a false target at the end of your swing, start lowing the Sens until it stops, I can run mine between 6-8 without the falsing. I hope that makes some sense to you. Another tip is set the Disc. to "0''. If there is a good target next to the Bobbie pin or another small piece of iron, you will hear both targets and you will need to dig it. On one it could mask a good target. They are alot deeper then the Excal, but you need to be over it to get that depth. I have been using both of them for at lease 20 yrs. maybe one day I will master them. Good luck.

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Tony - there's only one beach around here out of the 4 I've been hunting where I can properly GB the CZ without having it maxed out at "1" due to the high mineralization. And on all these same beaches I have to turn down the sensitivity to just under "5" for the machine to be completely stable. I was thinking I would lose a lot of depth with that setting, but I keep amazing myself when pulling targets from up to a foot down. And on the subject of small gold, the other day I found a small, lightweight gold ring that banged really hard and it ended up being deeper than my first big bite with the scoop. So I'm feeling better about that as well. Like many detectors, this one goes much deeper in the real world than when air testing. Too bad I'm finally figuring all this out just when the season is winding down.

 

[u2robert]

Run it at 0 disc. sens as high as you can go, if I use any disc. I will loose small gold items. and I dig all hits on the beach, so easy to dig, signals are few and far between.

 

[scubadetector]

I do not hunt salt water, BUT I do know air testing is NOT a good way to test the machine. I would tie a piece of thread on the ring and bury it at one of your beaches and try it. I bet it will hit the ring deeper. No the CZ-20 and 21 will not hit SMALL gold. Chains with small links, ear rings and such BUT a small gold ring with a hole large enough for a finger it should hit at depths greater than 2 inches. They do in fresh water. I can't even turn the sensitivity up over 4 in fresh water and still hit them. I am talking rings less than a gram of gold.