My SE arrived this morning at work and, whenever I could grab a minute, I was assembling it and figuring things out. Thought I could grab an hour and get out while the ground was still soft--hit mid '30s here today--but no luck. Didn't get out of work until about 7:45 and the ground had frozen pretty well by then. Since I'd only brought my rudimentary digging gear--no headlamp or good shovel primarily--I loaded up everything into the nearly empty backpack I'd brought along (tight fit!) and decided I would just wander along the ("love that dirty water") Charles River and make up my mind as I walked whether I'd dig then or head home and then go back out. The ground was frozen solid as I walked along the south side--listening to the ice crack (loudly!) periodically--but, after I crossed the Weeks foot bridge and started west on the north side, I noticed that the ground was soft enough to dig w/ a small, steel trowel near the edges in some spots.
Stopped at a park bench and assembled everything. (First time I'd even put the lower rod and coil on. Had put the X-1 probe on earlier in the day before I'd taken it down to show the 60ish?-year old (female) detectorist I know at work) After everything was together it took me a little while to figure out which buttons were which--first off was figuring out which as the back light! Finally got it together and started off in the default start-up mode. Walked one step away from the bench and got a good signal on the surface. Bent down and, even in the dark, could see the coin shape. Was a clad dime which I managed to drop (and didn't even bother looking for it again when I realized it wasn't in my pouch after taking a phone call). Started to walk away with the coil on the ground again and got another strong surface hit and decided heck with it, I'm not spending time on this frozen ground digging clad and moved on down to the edge of the bank where I'd found soft ground and started again.
Since the Head of the Charles races in the fall, the bank weeds have been cut short and, with the water a bit low, some of the rocky shoreline is exposed so, after a few sweeps on the bank, I dropped down to the shore and swept a few times only to hear a nice signal pegged in the top-right corner. But--I couldn't even get the first small rock loose out of the frozen shore! So figured I'd leave that aspect for early spring and jumped back up on the bank.
Started sweeping along and got another top-right corner sweet signal looking to be about 4+" down by the scale. Dug down and about that distance found an '80 quarter. Can't remember most of the specific sequence from this point on but a bit later hit another '80 quarter that measured about right on the depth. Is this thing calibrated for depth about where a clad quarter falls? For the next 1.5 hours or so, I dug 7 pennies, 5 twist-on bottle caps (going to have to learn that one more but was starting to recognize the signal by the end of the night--last couple I dug I thought that's what they would be), and one nickel--that I just knew was a nickel before digging it (I'm still fooled more often after a year with the Sov than I was with that signal). Only had one other signal I thought might be a nickel but kind of thought it wasn't and it turned out to be a beavertail (which fools me on the Sov all the time, ringing out at the same tone). I was more sure this was something else this time than I normally am. All the pennies that were about 5-6" down read as at about 9" on the scale but most everything else I could tell, one way or another, about what the depth would be. Did I say I'm loving this detector already?
In the process of all this ot a bit confused at first because of trying to find buttons in the darkness and, at first, thought the light demarcation on the pinpoint was the opposite way around--so I early on I was thinking "#@!&, this sounds like pinpoint" until I realized it was! Got that straightened out and went on w/ the default settins for a bit then started playing with the iron mask. Eventually knocked that all the way to all metal but, after realizing that it was helpful for me to recognize iffy iron signals as iron (perhaps because of what I'm used to with the Sov) I raised it to -30 so I could hear a null next to those and then it seemed to click a bit more. But I still was recognizing separation more than I'm used to and dug at least 3 of my good targets near iron that I might have missed with the Sov. (Note: I've wondered if my Sov--bought used off of eBay--might have been messed with or otherwise off-calibration.) Did I mention I love the SE already?
Hit one patch where I was getting a repeatable good signal but it was mixed in with so many other sounds that I decided I'd try the Sun Ray X-5 I'd also purchased. Swapped the 10.5 for the 5--boy, was that a quick swap!--and hit that spot again. Couldn't get that iffy sweet sound again but everything I dug was what it sounded like and I could tell more exactly where all the pieces were lying. If there was a true sweet sound in that spot, I'd guess it was only lost through a lack of depth difference between the coils but at this point figure I actually got a more accurate reading w/ the X-5. Left that on for the next half-hour and it seemed a bit easier to distinguish what I was hearing from all the other garbage around. When I got a sginal as I was figuring I should quit soon that was up on the frozen ground and it took me at least 10 minutes to dig, I figured that was it for the night. Packed up, took a slug of Jim Beam, and headed home.
Some of my impressions:
- The Explorer can sound like R2D2 on acid. (Guessing at this point that the Sov sounds are analog and the SE's are digital.)
- I like iron mask around -30 at the moment--letting me hear most everything but, because I'm leaving just a touch of null, I can recognize the iron-edge signals that sound good that aren't as I'm used to on the Sov.
- Dropped the default gain from 8 to 7 as I've read. Didn't notice much difference but hoped that would help me recognize deeper signals. No such luck yet.
- Think I probably left it on auto but, by the end up the night, had upped the sensitivity to about 28, I think.
- The white zip-ties that came w/ the X-1 are ugly! on an all black (I like) machine. (Ralph, if you're paying attention, you might want to ship w/ black zip-ties if you're not already (might have been swapped by dealer). I thought I'd found a good location for where to pull them tight (at the angle below on the left side) but, while it worked well while detecting, it did NOT work well for packing it in a backpack. I'll have to see what I can figure out instead since I want to swap them for black ones anyhow.
- The Koss headphones sound great BUT there is no volume control on them , which is furstrating, but it's much worse that that there's no balance or independent volume conrol fo reach ear, which really bites if you have worse hearing in one ear than the oher.
Overall impression:
I LOVE this detector! After I got home, I realized I hada hell of a wheat penny ratio (thought a couple might be wheats but had 5 of them!( and only 2 memorials (copper (pre-'82)), no zincs (post-82), the two '80 quarters, one surface (non-silver) dime that I'd immediately lost, the nickel which I knew what it was before I dug it--and that's hard to determine on any detector I'd tried--and the only trash I dug was one giant nail (knew it was iron after I got into it a little bit but dug the rest anyway, and about 5 bottlecaps. That's a heck of a good ratio--and on the first time I used it. I'm sold!
[might edit more later]
Stopped at a park bench and assembled everything. (First time I'd even put the lower rod and coil on. Had put the X-1 probe on earlier in the day before I'd taken it down to show the 60ish?-year old (female) detectorist I know at work) After everything was together it took me a little while to figure out which buttons were which--first off was figuring out which as the back light! Finally got it together and started off in the default start-up mode. Walked one step away from the bench and got a good signal on the surface. Bent down and, even in the dark, could see the coin shape. Was a clad dime which I managed to drop (and didn't even bother looking for it again when I realized it wasn't in my pouch after taking a phone call). Started to walk away with the coil on the ground again and got another strong surface hit and decided heck with it, I'm not spending time on this frozen ground digging clad and moved on down to the edge of the bank where I'd found soft ground and started again.
Since the Head of the Charles races in the fall, the bank weeds have been cut short and, with the water a bit low, some of the rocky shoreline is exposed so, after a few sweeps on the bank, I dropped down to the shore and swept a few times only to hear a nice signal pegged in the top-right corner. But--I couldn't even get the first small rock loose out of the frozen shore! So figured I'd leave that aspect for early spring and jumped back up on the bank.
Started sweeping along and got another top-right corner sweet signal looking to be about 4+" down by the scale. Dug down and about that distance found an '80 quarter. Can't remember most of the specific sequence from this point on but a bit later hit another '80 quarter that measured about right on the depth. Is this thing calibrated for depth about where a clad quarter falls? For the next 1.5 hours or so, I dug 7 pennies, 5 twist-on bottle caps (going to have to learn that one more but was starting to recognize the signal by the end of the night--last couple I dug I thought that's what they would be), and one nickel--that I just knew was a nickel before digging it (I'm still fooled more often after a year with the Sov than I was with that signal). Only had one other signal I thought might be a nickel but kind of thought it wasn't and it turned out to be a beavertail (which fools me on the Sov all the time, ringing out at the same tone). I was more sure this was something else this time than I normally am. All the pennies that were about 5-6" down read as at about 9" on the scale but most everything else I could tell, one way or another, about what the depth would be. Did I say I'm loving this detector already?
In the process of all this ot a bit confused at first because of trying to find buttons in the darkness and, at first, thought the light demarcation on the pinpoint was the opposite way around--so I early on I was thinking "#@!&, this sounds like pinpoint" until I realized it was! Got that straightened out and went on w/ the default settins for a bit then started playing with the iron mask. Eventually knocked that all the way to all metal but, after realizing that it was helpful for me to recognize iffy iron signals as iron (perhaps because of what I'm used to with the Sov) I raised it to -30 so I could hear a null next to those and then it seemed to click a bit more. But I still was recognizing separation more than I'm used to and dug at least 3 of my good targets near iron that I might have missed with the Sov. (Note: I've wondered if my Sov--bought used off of eBay--might have been messed with or otherwise off-calibration.) Did I mention I love the SE already?
Hit one patch where I was getting a repeatable good signal but it was mixed in with so many other sounds that I decided I'd try the Sun Ray X-5 I'd also purchased. Swapped the 10.5 for the 5--boy, was that a quick swap!--and hit that spot again. Couldn't get that iffy sweet sound again but everything I dug was what it sounded like and I could tell more exactly where all the pieces were lying. If there was a true sweet sound in that spot, I'd guess it was only lost through a lack of depth difference between the coils but at this point figure I actually got a more accurate reading w/ the X-5. Left that on for the next half-hour and it seemed a bit easier to distinguish what I was hearing from all the other garbage around. When I got a sginal as I was figuring I should quit soon that was up on the frozen ground and it took me at least 10 minutes to dig, I figured that was it for the night. Packed up, took a slug of Jim Beam, and headed home.
Some of my impressions:
- The Explorer can sound like R2D2 on acid. (Guessing at this point that the Sov sounds are analog and the SE's are digital.)
- I like iron mask around -30 at the moment--letting me hear most everything but, because I'm leaving just a touch of null, I can recognize the iron-edge signals that sound good that aren't as I'm used to on the Sov.
- Dropped the default gain from 8 to 7 as I've read. Didn't notice much difference but hoped that would help me recognize deeper signals. No such luck yet.
- Think I probably left it on auto but, by the end up the night, had upped the sensitivity to about 28, I think.
- The white zip-ties that came w/ the X-1 are ugly! on an all black (I like) machine. (Ralph, if you're paying attention, you might want to ship w/ black zip-ties if you're not already (might have been swapped by dealer). I thought I'd found a good location for where to pull them tight (at the angle below on the left side) but, while it worked well while detecting, it did NOT work well for packing it in a backpack. I'll have to see what I can figure out instead since I want to swap them for black ones anyhow.
- The Koss headphones sound great BUT there is no volume control on them , which is furstrating, but it's much worse that that there's no balance or independent volume conrol fo reach ear, which really bites if you have worse hearing in one ear than the oher.
Overall impression:
I LOVE this detector! After I got home, I realized I hada hell of a wheat penny ratio (thought a couple might be wheats but had 5 of them!( and only 2 memorials (copper (pre-'82)), no zincs (post-82), the two '80 quarters, one surface (non-silver) dime that I'd immediately lost, the nickel which I knew what it was before I dug it--and that's hard to determine on any detector I'd tried--and the only trash I dug was one giant nail (knew it was iron after I got into it a little bit but dug the rest anyway, and about 5 bottlecaps. That's a heck of a good ratio--and on the first time I used it. I'm sold!
[might edit more later]
