First Day With My New SE

[DukeOBass]

The SE arrived just before I got home last evening. It was already dark so after supper I unpacked it and put it together. I watch the video that came with it and really soaked in the LEARN mode part. I went straight to some silver coins I had, laid the detector on a wooden table with the coil hanging way out and put it in learn mode. I ran a Merc, Walking Lib, Frankin half and Peace dollar under it 3 times each plus on end for each of them. I then saved the pattern under S1.
I hunted for about 2 hours this afternoon and found nothing but rusted metal and shotgun shells.

BUMMED OUT.

I'll have to spend some time with it and try some other things. I set my sensitivity up a little above factory and even put the iron mask on to about 5/6 of a full screen. I also tried the coin mode. Nuttin Honey!

Don

 

[digitrich]

Rusted metal (nails) will come up where silver hits in the top right corner and there is no way around that period....however it will come up as an iffy signal, broken, non repeating and definitely not the same in all four directional sweeps when you try to pinpoint; so that's how you tell the difference real quick. Now sometimes silver coins on edge or next to iron trash will give broken signals and in time you will learn the difference, stick to it and you will. Absolutely worst thing you can do is WHAT YOU ARE CURRENTLY DOING-----USING WAY TO MUCH DISCRIMINATION. Silver coins don't always hit in the top right corner, more like the top right quarter of the screen and only if your not also seeing trash (iron) targets nearby. The simplest thing you can do is hunt in coin mode, coins accepted and dig all solid REPEATABLE SIGNALS regardless of where they land. Yes you will start to dig pull tabs, bottle caps, license plates, Jimmy Hoffa's teeth, but then you will also find valuable tokens, Indian heads, buffalo nickels, and gold my son, go west young man. And then after you learnnnnnn where these different things land on your screen, and the different tones they make you can then learn to hunt blank screen with ferrous tones in iron mask completely wide open, pushing your sensitivity to the limits, using different audio settings, ten or so different coils and pulling every last thing out of the ground that can be possibly found with todays technology. Don't use allot of rejection, or very high sensitivity (for now, leave it in auto) and noise cancel properly, and often, coil held 12 inches off the ground, held level with the ground, hit the noise cancel button and try and keep it as still as possible while it beeps those 11 times going through the different channels, if you don't do these things you are going to have less than desirable results for sure. When I first got my SE I made everything to complicated trying to stop the evil pull tab and bottle cap while ramming the sensitivity through the roof and that will frustrate you. Try auto sensitivity of 26-27, fast on, deep off, gain 7 or below, volume limits max, volume max and dig the ones that sound repeatable. The reason I'm telling you to turn down gain and off deep is because they will enhance the rusted nail pretending to be silver syndrome that you are experiencing. Fast helps the machine to pick stuff out of the trash better. The less discrimination you use, the less blanking you'll get from the threshold and less chance you'll miss targets nearby the trash. Instead you will hear both targets. At first this sounds confusing, but then you learn to listen for the high tones and it all will come together. Good luck to you.

 

[DukeOBass]

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Don

 

[DIRT2]

This is what I enjoy reading.
The information you and some others give really help out the first timers.

Thanks again

 

[jeff & Maria]

Tough to understand what they are trying to tell us sometimes, but after spending a lot of time together we finally catch on.
Don't get frustrated you have a great machine that you need to spend some hours with getting to know her.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

I agree with everything you said except the deep off and fast on part. Turning fast on doesn't give you as good of ID on either audio or visual, according to the manual. I run with fast off and deep on and just slow my sweep speed. Id rather have more of a correct ID. With a little practice you can tell the difference between a coin and a bad target. USUALLY.... but not always.
If you get trash right next to or touching a coin it can and will throw a wrench in it.

I run I'm all metal or "wide open" so I don't get the blanking of discriminated targets. Once I started putting up with all the noise of all metal on my old EX II I really started to find things in the ground Ive been over SEVERAL times that I missed running discrimination.

Keep in mind this is the way it works for me.......everyone has the way that works for them.

HH, Stoops

 

[DukeOBass]

Thank you to everyone for your help! I think I'm going to love this machine once I figure out the settings that will find coins. Are you all using the stock coil?

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

Although I really like the new Slimer coil on my SE The Sunray X-8 will get really close to stock depth with ALOT better seperation! Next to the X-1 probe its almost a must in my opinion.

 

[DukeOBass]

What about the 5" EXcelerator coil?

 

[James N.D.]

You are correct that Deep On will give you a better idea of the item in the ground but only if there is enough space away from Iron and Trash. I was like you running Deep On all the time until a friend of mine, Dale Sellner, told me he was running Fast On and never Deep On. The way I found this out from him is he was hitting Silver Coins like crazy and I asked him what he had for settings on his Explorer XS. And I am not talking about Coins 6"-8" deep, I am talking about Coins he was digging 10"+ deep without any problem hearing them and being able to tell if there was a deep Coin there or not. He then told me he was on Fast instead of Deep which I myself thought was impossible. I then started to run Fast On and Deep Off and it took me a while to get use to the response time, but you know what, Dale was right and I am now convinced and now use Fast On all the time unless I either check a deeper signal or I am hunting in a clean area with little Iron or Trash Objects. The part that you are wrong about is that if you run Deep On only and you are in a Trash and Iron infested area, no matter how slow you go, you will miss Coins that are too close to Iron or there is more Iron around the Coin than the Explorer can see thru making the Detector oversee the Coin and just cancelling it out. If there is too much Iron, the Detector will average out the items and you will get a null. The only way you could accomplish using Deep On would be to run in Ferrous Tones and in All-Metal and I still think it would be a tough signal from this Coin even running in this setup. And like you said, you started finding things running wide open but Fast On would be a lot better to run here when in Trashy Sites. I should know, since I have been going to places that have been pounded to death with Explorer's since they have come out in 2000 and I still get a few good Silver Coins that others have missed due to using Deep On or running too much Discrimination or too High of Sensitivity. I have good soil in North Dakota and I can run with High Sensitivity without much of a problem but have started using 22 Semi-Auto with Fast On and running in Iron Mask -8. I have no problems finding Coins 10"+ this way and all it takes is going Slow and listening for those nice iffy signals that others would just pass up as deep Trash or Iron. I hope that you give Fast On only a try for a while and see what I am talking about in Iron Infested and Trashy area's and if you do, I think you will see as I have what the Explorer can really do. Good Luck and HH.

 

[James N.D.]

I run the Stock Coil most of the time but if I find an area that is Trash laiden and a lot of Iron also, then I break out the Joey Coil made be CoilTech. It is a 5"x10" Coil that gets between the Trash and Iron really well and is choice #2 for me when I am out detecting a site. I also have the 8" Minelab Coil which is also good in the Trash and also the 12" SunRay Coil. The X-12 doesn't weigh as much as the Stock Coil and it gets a bit more depth but I haven't put much time in with it since I bought it last year. I currently let a friend borrow it and he thought it was a good Coil and said that it was just as good as the WOT 15" Coil he has. So, it just depends what the conditions are and also how much time you have. If time is limited, then you may want to use the Stock Coil to cover more ground but if you have a lot of time, then you may just want to use a smaller coil if the site isn't as clean as one was hoping for. Hope this helps and Good Luck and HH with your new Explorer SE.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

I dug up a email from Nenad Lonic of Minelab and he did say FAST does in fact recover faster even in all metal but with the loss of target ID. Considering the the slow sweep speed I use I don't think I miss much. When your not nulling/notching out anything the SE has a great responses. Ill try Fast next time I'm out but I really like what i got going now. Again....this is what works for me. Everyone has their own way of skinning the cat. ha ha

I have read the Explorers do not average targets like others do. They give a separate signal for target they run over. I'm trying to find confirm where I got this info. I had Whites MXT that averaged targets and thats one of the reasons I bought my EX II few years back.

 

[Mike Bearden]

And ... most importantly is what works for them and their site conditions.
As for me, I like to run in iron mask one notch away from wide open, ferrous tones, gain at 6-7 with FAST on and the stock coil. For the trashy sites I use the 4.5 X 7" EXcellerator ... it kicks a$$ on the tight co-located targets.
I also learned a LONG time ago that the Explorer WILL indeed average targets when given the right scenario, like a coin spill or brass and silver laying close together.
Nothing wrong with using disc or preset coin patterns, allot of folks are very successful with it, but it's just not my cup of tea. I hunt 99% of the time by sound only and hardly ever change my main settings unless the site dictates it. Even then it's only a matter of bumping the sens up or down a notch and maybe I'll play with the threshold if the targets are hitting real deep and are few and far between. Running the threshold volume up will bring enhance the iffy targets considerably ... yeah it takes some getting use to but if you've never tried it, give it a shot, ya might be pleasantly surprised
Just my 2 zincs worth
Good Hunting
Mike

 

[Steve(MS)]

I think I read where he is using audio 1 or long, if that is true, he will not miss much but I will let him speak for himslf on that, with audio 1, you have more time to hear those deep or weak signals, it's just a lot more busy than normal however. I will give a try to what James is using (22 auto) in trash and see how it works in my ground.

 

[Rick(ND)]

That is a great coil for trashy area and will get a lot of coins the other miss many will tell you. The very first coin I found with mine was a walking lib half in a well worked area I know I have had 5 or 6 different detector over it, but the little 5 inch coil could see the half with no problem. I have dug merc and barber dimes plus many Wheaties out of well worked area with mine as it can separate so nice those trash and coin signals. I just picked up a 8 inch concentric coil for my SE and this coil may be great in iron trash too as I put a coin right on top of a big nail in my floor and still get a good signal, first coil other than my 5 inch coil that can do this on the Explorer.Now I just wish our weather was better so I could try it out in the field.
Now being I am making this post I will also mention that I read on the SE that with neither fast or deep on will work the best for all around detecting with the SE. Now if the area has far a few targets that can be deep then deep is better, but you have to go slow. In area with a lot of target than unless you want to go super slow you should run fast on.
I will also say I feel the new Slimline coil on the SE will go deeper than the older stock coils from some test that was done and notice the hot spot for pinpointing is further back from the tip as the other stock coil are.
Like most detector you will see the first impressions may not be as nice as what they will be after you have learned what the detector is telling you, takes a while with the Explorers and those that stick with it will tell you it is well worth the time to get to know it.

 

[digitrich]

Put on deep, fast off; air test a quarter, then air test a quarter and a nail close together, then do it again with fast on, deep off and you will be using fast from that moment on. Both deep and fast cause your positive id to suffer some, but a whole heck of allot less than iron right next to your target would. Now, if I was hunting in virgin, never hunted by another detectorist ground, I would first hit it with fast off, but let's get real the last virgin I saw was about 20 years ago. The only targets left in parks, schools etc are being masked by close by trash, so you let me know where you're hunting and I'll come there with fast on and you'll think your machine is broken, literally. Fast helps your machine recover quicker from nulls and falses and two coins close together. You hunt with little discrimination so that you don't get good targets nulling out, right; So then why wouldn't you use fast to try and also help that same situation???? I personally don't use deep because I can't find clean enough ground and or it slows my machine's reaction speed to the point that I know it's caused me to miss deep targets. I know that sounds weird, but it's true, I think deep is a wash, better would be a bigger coil, or clean out the shallow targets and the trash and then go slow with deep on, I can't see me doing that in a public park. Fast is like a faster, little less accurate processor, deep is like a slower more accurate processor but only if there is no iron near your target, in a public park setting there is always iron masking, thats why that target is still there. And if there is no iron around whether you are in fast,deep or neither your Mine lab is going to nab that target anyway. Try fast in some place in a 20 x 20 area after you pound it with deep and let us know what you find.

 

[digitrich]

The stock is a little hard to learn the machine with because it is kind of large 10 1/2 inches and hard to get good target separation with. When I first started learning my SE that coil frustrated the heck out of me. The 8 inch was much easier and still got really awesome depth. The second accessory you are definitely going to need is sun ray's x-1 probe, Read people's posts on that, I find targets in half the time it took without it, and I have found at least a 100 extra coins in holes with or next to other targets and trash I don't think I would of found without it. And when you switch that probe into pinpoint mode it locates the target like metal to a magnet, I mean a blind man could dig up a coin and not even scratch it because of that x-1 sun ray probe. They put it on your machine so it is like having a 1 inch Minni-coil you can put in the hole your digging and there is a switch that you can switch back and forth between the detector and the probe. Absolute necessity for me and many others would just plain cry if someone took theirs away too. It's just that effective.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

That was my first major thing I started using after I learned to use my old EX II. MAJOR difference on deep and/or close targets. Really helped me hear through bad targets. Coins REALLY stand out. I would almost say it makes them hard to miss.

On the new SE I think it may even be a bit better. Probably cause I'm in love with it.....ha ha
The new Girlfriend is always better than the last......right???

 

[James N.D.]

You may have to use Higher Sensitivity or Lower Sensitivity in your soil conditions. It will depend on the Iron Content and Trash Content and don't forget about the Electrical Interference. You may also be able to play with your Gain Settings also. It just depends on what works in your area. But if it works fine for you I will tell you this. You may have results like I did at a Park me and a friend found. I have pounded a Park that me and a friend of mine come across last fall driving to a different location and we never made it to that spot due to this Park being virgin ground to us. I was running Deep On and I worked areas that had Trash and Iron in them and I thought I had gotten it all but this spring I went back to this Park and went to Fast On and hit the spots I previously detected before using a Pattern and I started to pull Silver Quarters, Dimes, Wheats and Indians, and a few old Nickels that I missed before using Deep On. This has changed the way I hunted big time and the only way I will hunt Deep On is if the spot is fairly clean. I hope that you go out and find a few old coins trying Fast On only and see what I started seeing with my Explorer XS. I haven't tried using Audio 1 yet but I might just have to give that a try. Good Luck and HH.

 

[savage]

Greetings, DukeOBass. I'm not sure how much experience you have with the Explorer, but try hunting in the factory preset. Raise your sensitivity a couple of notches And increase your gain a little. If you are fairly new at the hobby, you will have time to learn your machine and still hit the good stuff. Happy Hunting Grounds,

Savage.