E-Trac auto with small coils

[saamdigger]

I am wondering if anyone is having depth problems running auto sensitivity with smaller coils such as 5" sunray or 7.5 " minelab . I know I had to run much higher sens on my exp sv with the smaller coils to get respectable depth.

 

[saamdigger]

Well I guess:
1. No one use small coils
2. no one uses auto
3.No one uses them together
4. I didn't put on deoderant this morning

 

[wildherre]

I don't use either of the smaller coils that you mention. Using a smaller coil should allow the auto sens to run at a higher level . Best thing to do is before you dig a target try some different settings. Deeper on an air test doesn't necessarily mean deeper in the ground. If your in an area that you think there are deep targets & you feel you can stand a little more instability than what you are getting in auto, switch to manual. When using a smaller coil I usually am able kick the gain up gain a couple notches.. I normally run my gain as high as possible with out hearing a lot of deep iron falses. If you keep losing your threshold either slow down your sweep speed or lower your sensitivity. Learning to quickly adjust for constantly changing conditions is the key.

The Pro coil separates nearly as well if not as well as the 7.5 Minelab coil.
The SEF 6X8 separates better than the Pro coil but doesnt give up as much depth as other smaller coils.
The 4.5 X 7 is an excellent coil & is probably not as deep as the 6x8 but has the ability to get close to playground equipment , fences & stuff much better than the 6x8..
wildherre

 

[Frank in NH]

Found a 14K charm at 5 to 6"s with the 8X6, it was smaller then a dime.

 

[Arturo de Zorro]

it's time to change your depends

 

[3RINGER]

wildherre just about covered it. Another thing I would say to do is set up a test garden so you have a known target at a known depth to try it out on.

HH

 

[John(Tx)]

n/t

 

[saamdigger]

n/t

 

[In2Deep]

This might not count but I dug up a square nail at around 6 or 7" with my 6" eq2, that was in the first 10 minutes I had my detector a few weeks ago. I just turned it on and went out in the front yard. I actually mentioned it in a post, I was impressed that a little coil went that deep.. even if it was just a really rusty nail.

Was out at the school today, started with the stock coil. Lots of targets but my back hurt so I was being picky and I dug a few coins. I had to run off for a few hours and I came back with my 18" SEF. That made it quite a bit harder pinpointing for me. I am brand new, but I think I am going to stick with the 6" coil and get everything off the top over a period of the next 20 years (haha) and then go to the bigger coil for them extra deep treasures.

 

[Arturo de Zorro]

When I run out of depends a doggie blue pads used as a diaper can save the day..

 

[JohnnyI]

Indeep, you've got some fun ahead if you've got an old house. as I posted a few weeks ago, I've hit my place (1680's) for the last ten years. Every inch over and over with the white's, fisher, the first minelab for awhile, and now the etrac. I'm using now the 6" coil you mentioned your're using. Apparently the other machines worked pretty well, or else they were pretty good at distinguishing the "iffys" because I haven't found much more on a clean surface hunt, other than smaller boot tacks, irregular shotgun shells, buckshot, and one button that I'd missed because it was directly against the foundation and I continually thought it was a part of a cable.

Finally I dug an area near the house about 8' by 12' by roughly 19" deep. Most of the better stuff, infact all the better stuff lay at the very bottom, and included the monroe button, several shoe buckles, other buttons, a large cent, and various small shards of brass. The first half of the trench I dug and detected as I went along to greater depth. The second half I sifted, just to see what was there making detecting so difficult. Here are the nails from the second half (8' by6' by 19") which managed not to fall through a half inch grid sifter. They don't count all the nail heads and other small peices that found there way through. By the way, this was the "clean" side of the house. I figure if your your is even a quarter as bad as mine is, you're going to have that machine down cold before you are done and a nice open field hunt will feel like a party. One nice thing about all the garbage is you can be fairly certain that something is still down there somewhere, plus when you hit that same area over and over you know when a setting is really working and isn't just blind luck. Have fun!.

<img src="http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj255/johnirwin_2008/nails001.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket">

 

[John(Tx)]

Is he liking that Etrac? I'm trying to justify buying one but this Fisher F70 goes pretty deep. HH John

 

[saamdigger]

Yeah, Art your to hard on me . Lighten up !

 

[In2Deep]

I did it again tonight, I dug a hole that was 1" longer then the minelab digger tool. I was using the 6" DD eq2 coil. Short funny though.. I think its a newbie mistake.

Hardly any trash on this site, its pretty nice. Got this tone, decided to dig it. It was a 1958 Penny. Thanks to the x1 probe I made short work of the penny.. Ran the detector back over the hole to make sure there was nothing left in it and all was quiet.

Got up started detecting again.. Realized that it was still in probe mode.. No biggie, just switched and started detecting again. I got another beep, it was bouncing around. So I pinpointed and got my shovel out to cut the plug.. Heh! It was in the same hole.. So that plug was easy This time it was a nail and it was way down there.. But I rescanned the same hole again and got a solid 12-50.. Used the probe and I still got a 12-50. But this time it would of ment me digging out the side of the original hole and I already was up to my elbow...

Filled it all in, made it look like it was not there and I will return tomorrow to find what is down like 9" ringing 12-50

So 3 things in one hole.. am glad I had the 6" coil on

Has anyone ever admitted how addicting this hobby is?