Excal Sensitivity Settings....I have checked the stickys & tried various searchs but still cannot find an answer to my questiion so here goes

[foiled again tab hunter]

the Excal II manual states that in Auto the Sens.that it will select the optimum level to suit the soil conditions....& in the manual setting the user has to determine the settings for the optimum level of sens.....so why do some say that your depth will decrease in the Auto Setting....if in fact both settings will get you to the optimum setting then why even bother & waste time trying to figure it out manually ?....has any research been done to verify any depth loss in Auto ?...& why does the manual not state that their will be any depth loss or is it just that something someone said & now everyone just goes along with it ?....Thanks... all imput will be appreciated.....HH...Tab.

 

[GeorgeinSC]

I certainly am not qualified to answer your question. I swing a sovereign GT which is about the same as the Excal. When I am land hunting I run the machine in Auto and when on the beach I usually run it in manual. The reason I run in auto on land is the ever changing climate that I encounter. Electrical lines, etc. I have tried running in auto and then going back over the same area in manual and did not find anything in manual that I had missed in Auto. As with a persons selection of Machines I think it may just have a lot to do with personal preference and what one believes is deeper.

 

[Rick(ND)]

For those new to the Excallibur and Sovereigns it is recomended to use auto sensitivity as it will run smoother and easier to understand than in manual. Now once you know the BBS detector then running in manual will give you more depth and you will have more signals too than you ever would with auto as it is made to run smoother so you don't have to listen to all the small change in threshold and false signals. This is why for those new to the BBS detectors it is wise to run auto until you get to know the tones more so when you do go to manual you will know what a good tone is.
Many don't see the difference as they are swinging too fast or not listening close, but there is a difference in auto and manual if you want the deep older coins others have walked over, but you will have to put up with more noise in manual. On my Sovereigns I seem to be able to run them in around the 10-11 o'clock position and go slower than I ever did in auto and dug many deep coins other missed. Some of these deeper one in auto got no response in auto when I check them out, but like I say it is a bit noise compare to auto.

Rick

 

[foiled again tab hunter]

n/t

 

[hershey1]

I use my Excallibur II primarily for salt and fresh water hunting. Experience has taught me that manual sensitivity is a must for deeper targets and also helps fine tune your threshold in different environments. Beach conditions are constantly changing and to get the most out of my machine in the water or out requires sensitivity changes. YOUR hunting environment and hunting style will dictate what changes should be made. A two or three o'clock setting is not uncommon for me in some situations. I can remember people talking about running in pin-point vs. disc. again it all falls down to conditions in the areas YOU hunt and your style. Now I think air tests are useless but try one with your Excall in AUTO then go up in manual sensitivity gradually and see if there is any difference. This will probably answer your question better than someone trying to explain the difference. No one setting works in all hunting situations. Experiment with different swing speeds and settings and you will find your Excallibur is a beast waiting to be turned loose. The main thing is to find out what works for YOU at your hunting sites. HH

 

[goodmore]

I have hunted places with my Sovereign where auto was my only choice. The ground conditions were just too bad. But auto hunting is very few and far between.

 

[Buried Crap NJ]

Tab, the auto setting on both the Excalibur and Sovereign will auto match the changing ground just not as fast as we want it too, some times several feet till you hear it. The machine needs to see the different strata and make adjustments. We can do this in manual much quicker by hearing the threshold change in our ears, remembering these are not set it and for get it settings. This applies just as much for the beach as it does dirt. On the beach we tend to run from hard packed sand to loose sand to iron infested sand. These all become very noticeable in one's ears as we hunt. Clive Cylick when asked how long it takes to get a good threshold setting.... he.answered in a 6 hour hunt certainly not more than 6 hours! Its a constant change of the all the controls all during the hunt.
BCNJ

 

[birdman]

Turn the sensitivity up until it gets erratic and starts falsing and then just back it down a hair to where you can stand it. I run as wide open as I can get . I only use the excal on salt water beaches and for max depth this seems to work the best on my machine.

 

[Buried Crap NJ]

As an after thought the only indication of too much sensitivity is lack of finds. There isn't anything telling the user that some of those 17 frequencies are bouncing off the surfaces do to over sensitivity! The Excalibur is a powerful detector and sometimes less is better. Don't be afraid to try different settings.
BCNJ

 

[Ytcoinshooter]

I have been trying auto vs manual while in the salt water. I found another consideration are the wave swells giving falsing. Between the matrix of the bottom and the wave action I move the sens to find what works for me. If the water is flat I usually can run manual sens around 12 O'clock. I also check how much "lift off" noise I get too. I've been curious at what setting in manual is there a correlation to auto's most sensitive peak. An example would be if it could be shown that auto gets no greater depth than say 5 or 6 on the sens dial. That would have me thinking that if I have to adjust down to 4 or less for stability that auto would be the better choice. Anyway I'm happy with the Excalibur and dialing in the sens is mainly in a salt water submerged coil hunt. Wet salt sand is easy to set and test. In fresh water I can usually run it wide open.

 

[Buried Crap NJ]

From my personal experience I have had to turn the sensitivity way back to 4 position to calm the unit down in iron sand beaches. To my surprise I was digging targets a great depths more that 14 inches in discriminate. This was an eye opener to me that more isn't always better. Most of my hunts on NJ beaches have been around 4-6 dial positions. But in heavy iron I turn it to max sensitivity and set no threshold and dig any tone. Works great but its hard to get use to not hearing no threshold again!
BCNJ

 

[John(Tx)]

Mostly I hunt with manual sens set at 7 but sometimes have to cut back to 6 to settle excal down. Manual is deeper. Last time I checked it out, I had gotten a weak signal with setting at 7, switched to auto and could not get signal. Turned out to be a very deep dime, close to 12", got it three scoops later. Only time I ever use auto is if I'm getting many false signals and I'm just after fresh drops, otherwise, it's manual. Hope this helps. John

 

[dewcon4414]

Many of us learn when the Etrac came out how conserative Auto is to ensure smooth stability. Ive not tested the Xcal.... but on the Explorer i can tell you auto has a definate cut of.... i mean move the target a 1/4 inch and it cant be heard.... where as manual it continued to ID the target even if it had to NULL. My Xcall II reacts differently than my blue..... for some reason i can crank it full manual sensitivity and have no problem switching back and forth from PP to manual sensitivity. So it gets great depth. My blue seems to be a little more normal after 7 it really starts talking to you. If im running PP with high sensitivity i can barely hear the target from all the chatter.

Dew