I have 2 questions. More like a poll.

[NH Bob]

n/t

 

[NH Bob]

When I hit a trashy area I'm not in it long enough to bother switching it on. But then again, I don't hunt parks, schools and other areas like that.
When I do old cellar holes I go slow.

 

[Tinfoil]

1 22Gram 10kt mans ring with blue stone, with SE and 10X14" excellerator down 10"s. 1 14kt,Miami Hurricane neckless charm 5 grams with the GT, 10" stock coil down 8"s. 1 real nice 1/2kt Markee diamond with 5 diamonds on each side ladies ring with F75 down about 8"s running all metal. That one paid for the trip and my Sweetie is really going to like that one. Piles of dimes and quarters. Last two days it is getting sanded in. Black sand is really bad up high to 1/3 way down to low tide mark. Tough beach to hunt but I really like hunting it. Later bud and keep digging the old stuff and you will have everything replaced in no time. I know how you feel. Happened to me too once. : : Later Jerry AKA Tinfoil

 

[MikeK]

Bob: If you're like me, you spend a lot of times in fields. I have found through reading and hitting the fields as much as possible, that fast and deep OFF is the best choice for our NE soil. Iron mask at -16 and I reject only nails. Sensitivity is as high as possible in manual, but if near a road (near power lines, broadband, telephone, etc), I crank it high in auto. Gain is also set high at around 8, epsecially with the 8" coil. I don't like the clipped sounds that fast gives around cellar holes and I instead plan on getting a 5" coil.

So, sensitivity and gain are the important items I think; forget about fast and deep.

 

[NH Bob]

after lots of reading and debate. Deep and Fast off and Manual sens. set according to conditions.
Gain at 8, Variability at 9, All metal and now looking for a more quality tone and TID. Thus, D&F off.
I also use the ML 800 around cellar holes and the like. Also use FBS 1050. Slimline is collecting dust in the closet.

 

[digitrich]

I usually hunt fast on, deep off auto sens about 24 sometimes 27. Gain 7. After reading your post yesterday, I went out and hunted with both deep and fast off, and I didn't like what I saw. In moderate trash my SE was missing targets with both fast off, and deep off. And I mean allot of signals were not showing up at all. So I'd be careful with that fast off. Even in areas with little trash, say one nail in a thousand square foot area, HOW DO YOU KNOW THERE ISN'T A SEATED DIME NEXT TO THAT ONE NAIL and because the place your hunting has been hunted before (imagine that) that's the likely place for that coin, right next to the only nail in the entire county; and with fast off, it's going to stay there. I only use deep on, fast off in a situation where I have allot of modern clad sitting above older coins or I have evidence that the older coins are much, much deeper. Then I'll turn on deep, fast off and turn down my gain down to 4 or 5 and concentrate on the deepies. As for manual or auto sens, my SE literally sucks in manual, even with it set low and lower, it still falses allot, when bumped, almost acts like the gain is to high (above . So it's auto for me and I pull coins out at record depths that I post and people instantly question. I hunt allot at night and electrical interference is less at that time, that's why I can run 27 instead of 24. Power lines and such are not pulling the same load at night as opposed to the day. I would have to echo James ND post on this subject -Fast on, deep off, auto-sens and let my baby do her thang.

 

[NH Bob]

I understand using fast in a trashy site but under normal conditions you are distorting the signals.
Are you using all metal or some discrimination?

 

[mattockman]

A school yard with lots of noise.....made things unstable.(Digital #'s,curser,and sound) I had sens. at 24 and got a deepy soft sound but broken up and reading low silver high crown cap...had 7.5 coil on......turned up sens. and it made it come up some more and sound better..but it made digital #'s worse jumping around....I dug a merc at 7 "....so went to put on 12.5 sunray....cause I was going to have to get deeper...to hear coins at that depth in this ground........it worked......got all old coins at 6-8 inches.....18-20-30's.........wheats and merc......the more I turned up sens the better they sounded.but the more unstable everything else was......but still had good reason to dig...If I turned down gain any more I would not hear targets ....I run at 7 and can tell a deepy from a shallow one.....I tried to up the gain and could not tell the diff....I can barely hear deepies at 7 so turning it lower would not be good....from this I concluded that sens. high will make the target stand out better but will make digital #'s unstable so it won't help ya....and curser will go to better ID but will dance around more....sound is much better depending on how corroded coin is.....I was getting a low sound but a high sound also......the High sound was the core and the Low sound was the blanket of corrosion,....corrosion will try to disguise the voice of a beautiful copper coin. Unmasked by the XS...The more I use it the more I learn....I try to always pay attention to everything while I hunt and also experiment with all options settings ..try new things...its amazing how much things change from site to site....

 

[garyflal]

Bob,
I'm a two month Explorer newbie but I think the ID is better with FAST OFF, DEEP OFF. Depth also is better in manual sens because IMO the auto sens lowers it too much in heavily mineralized dirt to maintain stability. ML should have had the auto sens meter show what the actual level of sens is in real time. Good poll. Gary

 

[NH Bob]

n/t

 

[NH Bob]

n/t

 

[garyflal]

Thanks Bob. I'm thankful for Steve (MS) emails and FMs Explorer forums for flatting out my learning curve. The Explorer continues to find old coins that I've missed with my other detectors. Best detector I had so far.

 

[digitrich]

All Metal, but if you don't turn your gain down while using deep, you can't tell the deep signals from the shallow ones, which defeats the purpose of turning on deep. On my SE, there isn't much difference in volume (loudness) between deep signals and shallow ones until my gain is set lower than 6. And my comment about fast, wasn't that it should be used in only trash, but just about always, because anywhere there is any type of trash, no matter how minimal, especially in a place already detected, which is just about everywhere; the stuff that's left is butt up to that trash, and that trash is the reason the targets are still there in the first place. I would imagine if you're detecting cellar holes with nails and tin and such, you'ld have a hard time without fast and maybe audio long for that matter. As for missing signals at a gain of 4 or 5, I don't think so, I can hear a dime at 12 inches, sloppy as hell, but repeatable, and from ten to twelve inches, it ID's pretty close. That's with the stock ten, go to the Sun Ray 12.5 and it's not just that you get a little better depth as much as your id is allot more accurate at that depth.

 

[NH Bob]

n/t

 

[mattockman]

you took the words right out of my mouth....

 

[digitrich]

Didn't mean to sound defensive there Bob, but you posted "I have 2 questions. More like a poll." and I am sorry if I didn't realize it's purpose was so you could critique or comment on others settings that you personally liked or disliked. I obviously missed that part, or you,...... yes, you didn't include that in it's general description. "By turning your gain down to 4 or 5 you have already lost a lot of signals." .......You got that from where???? Now I have sat over weak signals and changed every setting I could think of on my two different SE's, with several different size coils, trying to see if there was a telling difference, a hidden advantage to this setting verses that one, and I know as a fact that a difference in gain between 7 and 4 while using deep on, and fast off is not making people loose lots of signals as you stated, and in any trash what soever, fast off, will definitely cause people to miss targets. In fact, there is such a thing as silent masking where a simple tiny piece of foil or little metal staple too small to cause your machine to sound off can completely mask the signal of a silver dime to the point your Explorer doesn't even make a peep and in that situation, fast on does make a huge difference. Not always, but often enough that while fast is turned off, I feel like I am naked in a snow drift. If you were to ask any serious Mine lab hunter on this form, other than weight or the yet impossible depth, what improvement on their Explorer would add the most to their number of finds and they all would post faster recovery and separation of targets. Fast on, is the Explorers fastest recovery and it is still not fast enough. So people buy little coils and still that speed and separation is not enough, yet you tell them to turn fast off because it chops the signal's sound???? I thought we were looking for coins, not prettier sounds. I also know as a fact that auto sensitivity set on 32 doesn't cause people to miss dimes on the surface as people have posted, and if your unit does, send it in, cause it's broken. What I don't know, is why people make these outrageously, ignorant statements that they have heard or read in another post. And then they'll say in my test garden, blah, blah blah; I'm not talking about some cruddy test garden, I am talking about in the real world, in a real situation, with an unknown actual target, that's where these statements have to be proved to go from being ignorant theory to actual known fact. I don't mean to pick on you, or anyone else for that matter because I know guys are just posting to try and help others but unless they have actually truly done such experimentation, their blind statements are not helping as much as hindering others learning and I don't believe that's their true purpose and that's a shame. I know you are trying to help and I think it's great that you are, and you do, help, but on this one I am going to have to disagree.

 

[NH Bob]

I have told no one that my way was the Golden rule. I thought this little post went very well. I'm sorry it riled your feathers.
As I said to you before, What ever works for you my friend.

 

[digitrich]

Bob I like your post, I think it was a great idea......but I am still confused as to where you got turning your gain down to 4 or 5 would cause you to miss lots of signals, while in deep, loking for fainter, sounding deep coins???? See, I don't really bother with the screen ID until the tones tell me to.

 

[Mike2]

Guys for a new SE user with very limited time clocked up, this has been a very interesting topic. I think at this stage I might run with deep off, and fast off. I am still working through this detector, but I don

 

[NH Bob]

n/t