I have had an Explorer ll for 12 months bought used. Tried learning this machine on and mostly off. Lately I have been able to operate it in basic Smart mode but when it comes to pinpointing the target it is a dissaster! For every coin I find I leave the next 3 targets in the ground. I mostly locate with a long screwdriver, I'm too embarrassed to dig craters everywhere even thou I fill them back in. It is a stock 10" double "D" coil. I'm used to using my MXT with a excellerator 5/7 coil. I sure could use some advice or if anyone lives in the Lakeland Fl. area maybe we could hook-up. Bob
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HELP! Pinpointing Frustrated
- Thread starter digntyme
- Start date
toewarmers
New member
Practice pinpointing something you can see to see how non motion mode works. The centre stripe is the 'hot' spot, once you have the loudest noise (diectly over the target) move the coil forwards and backwards to hear when the sound cuts taking not of the position in relation to the target you are pinpointing.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps.
Hope this helps
JJI'm just getting started so I don't know much, but I figured out a way that works for me .
...... when you find a target hit pinpoint and slowly sweep back and forth over it until you get the loudest sound... the center of your coil will then be directly over the target ...... stop your coil there and slowly slide the coil straight back until you lose the sound..... slowly slide it forward again until you get the sound back and your target will be about 1 1/2 inches inside the front edge of the center of the coil ..... even closer towards the center for deeper targets..... Try it with a coin on the ground and raise your coil2 or 3 inches above the coin ....... You will get it ..... 
Before I figured this trick out my detecting method looked more like a Comanche massacre than a neat retrieval of targets.
...... when you find a target hit pinpoint and slowly sweep back and forth over it until you get the loudest sound... the center of your coil will then be directly over the target ...... stop your coil there and slowly slide the coil straight back until you lose the sound..... slowly slide it forward again until you get the sound back and your target will be about 1 1/2 inches inside the front edge of the center of the coil ..... even closer towards the center for deeper targets..... Try it with a coin on the ground and raise your coil2 or 3 inches above the coin ....... You will get it ..... Before I figured this trick out my detecting method looked more like a Comanche massacre than a neat retrieval of targets.
dewcon4414
Well-known member
Centering the target is the most important thing so you know what you have and how large it is. Then wiggle your coil back toward you until it disappears it should be right there on the tip. Doc of DOC's detectors showed elevating the rear of the coil and just using the tip. Also, remember every coil has a sweet spot at depths that spot will move more toward the center of the coil. Its more difficult the with a high sensitivity because your coil tends to put out a larger halo. Thats why sometime you may find the target at the back and to the left of the coil. Good luck on that screw driver ... its going to be tricky with the explorer not digging a flap. I sure miss my whites pinpointing but its something you have to learn.... and man its the tuffest lesson.
Dew
Dew
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?19,1068688,1068917#msg-1068917
I came from using the White's XLT and pinpointing with it's concentric coil, which pinpoints differently than the DD coils. I use the Explorer (EX) SE which has variable tone and loudness in pinpoint mode. I think some of the earlier EX models didn't have the same pinpoint feature, which may make the task a bit harder. You might want to try the "wiggle" method I read about in Andy Sabisch's latest book on the Explorer (EX). This helped me a lot to improve my pinpointing. Basically, with the EX in normal detecting mode (i.e. not pinpoint) make very short rapid sweeps (the "wiggle") back and forth across the target. Where the beep occurs in the swing will let you estimate a line straight out from you along which the target is located. Then WHILE using the wiggle, slowly back the detector up until the beeps stop. At this point the target should be along the imaginary line we described and right off the front edge or "nose" of the coil. This technique also works by wiggling over the target as you slowly move the coil foward. When the beeps stops, the target should once again be along that imaginary line and at the back edge ("heel") of the coil. I find "wiggle" pinpointing off the nose and heel of the coil gives me a very good idea about the size of the target. Hope this helps.
Bob, all the guys gave great advice. I personally use the "wiggle" technique. For you as someone who is having trouble, dig several small plugs and bury a couple of coins about three to four inches deep and mark them with a golf tee so you know exactly where the coin is. Practice all of the methods mentioned and see which one works for you. After you dig thirty or forty coins you will get to know exactly where in relationship to the edge of your coil where the coin is. Good luck! R.L.
Well, first of all I am very impressed with the response I got from all of you. I'm also sorry for late post but I was out all day spending money at Kellyco's and doing other things. I'm going totry all the methods mentioned and work at it until I master it. So once again Thanks a lot! Its great knowing help is only a click away. Digntyme
Captain Kirk
New member
Generally speaking: With practice using the techniques described you should be able to locate a target within 3/4" in less than 10 seconds.
Glenn
Glenn
See Labrador Bob's 1st post with the image of a detectorist isolating target for 2 directions.
Many have trouble learning how to pinpoint with a DD coil if they are used to pinpointing with a concentric coil. A concentric coil allows you to move the coil left and right, forward and backward to center the coil over the coin using the audio signal.
A DD coil doesn't work in the same manner. It allows you to pinpoint 1 axis of the target (i.e. graphing days in school of X and Y axis) by moving the coil left and right and then centering over the loudest audio. The target will be under the coil and along the line you just identified if you drew a line through the center of the coil extending in each direction in front and behind you. Now you must make a mental record of that line and then turn 90 degrees, as shown in Labrador Bob's picture, and pinpoint again. Again, you are identifying the line along which the target will lie, but now you have an 'X marks the spot' with the two lines. This is the center point of the target if it is laying flat. (coins laying on an angle will pinpoint slightly off center).
As you become more proficient with X-ing the target you can start using the other method mentioned above where you identify the line on which the target lies, and slowly pull the coil towards you until the target disappears. If it is a surface coin, it will be right at the forward tip of the coil. This takes more skill because the depth of the target influences how far from the center of the coil the signal disappears.
Good luck,
Many have trouble learning how to pinpoint with a DD coil if they are used to pinpointing with a concentric coil. A concentric coil allows you to move the coil left and right, forward and backward to center the coil over the coin using the audio signal.
A DD coil doesn't work in the same manner. It allows you to pinpoint 1 axis of the target (i.e. graphing days in school of X and Y axis) by moving the coil left and right and then centering over the loudest audio. The target will be under the coil and along the line you just identified if you drew a line through the center of the coil extending in each direction in front and behind you. Now you must make a mental record of that line and then turn 90 degrees, as shown in Labrador Bob's picture, and pinpoint again. Again, you are identifying the line along which the target will lie, but now you have an 'X marks the spot' with the two lines. This is the center point of the target if it is laying flat. (coins laying on an angle will pinpoint slightly off center).
As you become more proficient with X-ing the target you can start using the other method mentioned above where you identify the line on which the target lies, and slowly pull the coil towards you until the target disappears. If it is a surface coin, it will be right at the forward tip of the coil. This takes more skill because the depth of the target influences how far from the center of the coil the signal disappears.
Good luck,
sovereign-fan
New member
explorer pinpointing...........my personal thoughts....always remember to move the coil away from the targeted area before pressing the pinpoint button. i always raise the coil about 10" of the ground before pinpointing. when you start to move the coil side to side try not to move the coil up and down at the same time because the pinpoint mode looses depth if you do for some strange reason and the target will seam to of disappeared, try it the next time you are pinpoint a target and you will see what i mean. so keep the coil as steady as possible whilst you move side to side.
the pinpoint mode has a fix depth which some times on deeper targets doesn't seam to reach as it does in detect mode, so this is why some times a terget can't be pinpointed properly.
the pinpoint mode has a fix depth which some times on deeper targets doesn't seam to reach as it does in detect mode, so this is why some times a terget can't be pinpointed properly.
Patrick(MI)
Active member
My method is a little different. I have my XS set up to hunt in a mostly open Disc pattern and have IM wide open. If I get into a heavy trash area and am having trouble pinpointing then I get out of pinpoint mode and go into IM, which is wide open all metal, and then just move the coil slowly to get a very close location of the target I want to dig. Because you are in all metal mode it will tell you how many targets are around the good one you are after. Now I can't take credit for this idea as I read it on one of Charles' posts and he is the one that gave me the idea.
Before I set it up this way sometimes I would get a deep sweet signal between two pieces of iron and when I went to pinpoint mode the iron targets would pull the pinpoint signal from one side target to the other. Then when I went back out of pinpoint mode I could hear the good target between the two but couldn't figure out where I was going to dig. This got very frustrating fast. Then when I changed my settings to those suggested by Charles I just switched over to wide open IM and could easily hear/see the 3 targets very close to each other.
This works very well for me.
Before I set it up this way sometimes I would get a deep sweet signal between two pieces of iron and when I went to pinpoint mode the iron targets would pull the pinpoint signal from one side target to the other. Then when I went back out of pinpoint mode I could hear the good target between the two but couldn't figure out where I was going to dig. This got very frustrating fast. Then when I changed my settings to those suggested by Charles I just switched over to wide open IM and could easily hear/see the 3 targets very close to each other.
This works very well for me.
sovereign-fan
New member
yes the iron mask wide open is a good method in heavily iron trash areas i often use this method myself. but in general the pinpoint mode on the explorer isn't the best of pinpoint i have used on a machine, minelab could of used a higher tone i think than the growling tone it uses and it should of bean much more stable, like i says if you move the coil up and down whilst in pinpoint mode say because your moving the coil on top of awkward stubble the depth starts to disappear.