Introduction

[Chris/MA]

Hi folks, my name's Chris. I've been lurking for a bit reading stuff here.
I'm currently a DFX user, and have made a bunch of good finds with it.
I've been listening to people speak the praises of both DFX and minelab, and I figured the only way I'd figure out which I like better is to have both, so I just bought myself an SE from kellyco, plus a 14" excelerator coil. Will be getting a sunray probe like I have on my DFX for it shortly.

I'm from massachusetts and a member of MTHA (masstreasure.com) I tend to hunt older sites, rather than parks or playgrounds. Fields and woods, commons, old houses, the occasional crawlspace. I'm mostly a coin hunter, that being the interest that got me into the hobby to begin with, but I generally dig almost anything that sounds even remotely like it's not iron. Like relics ok, don't care much about jewelry. Two of my main reasons for picking up the SE were hopefully better depth on fields and some other older sites, and what I'm told is good performance dealing with iron.

A couple questions:
1. On the DFX forum there is a link to a page for user programs. Is there any similar page for Explorer programs? I've seen some people post screenshots of settings on the machine.
2. I've looked a bit at the battery design for the SE. As I understand it uses a long battery pack that slides in the rear piece under the armrest. There's a holder for alkalines, and then a NiMH battery pack as well. Am I correct to assume that the NiMH pack is a single monolithic battery pack, rather than a holder for smaller cells? If so, what is the method for charging it outside the unit? (cradle, cord that plugs into it, etc) I'm thinking of using the alkaline carrier right now and filling it with NiMH AA cells like I've been doing with the DFX.

Oh, and here's a few pics of some of the better things I've found here in mass. That last photo taken on the scanner is of a 1723 hibernia halfpenny (the one on the left) and a 1657 french "liard de france" (the smaller thing on the right with no detail easily seen)

Looking forward to starting the learning curve...

 

[Steve(MS)]

On the programs for the Explorer, I recommend Andy's book as it goes into good detail about how to form different programs, also it will help you get aquainted with the other adjustments and how they work. Many users just use the iron mask feature and listen to the tones, some use ferrous sounds with no discrimination but one can create programs for different situations.

There are also some websites that have programs that you can look at.

I believe that you should receive a rechargeable battery pack that will plug into the wall, you have to take the pack out of the unit to charge it, along with another battery pack that you can either put rechargeable or alkaline batteries in.

Good luck with your new Explorer, take the time to master it, I don't think you will be disappointed. Try out the various settings to see what fits you best. Keep in mind that it is different than any detector you have used. If you have any questions along the way, drop me a PM and I will be glad to help you out.

 

[Dok-Ath]

n/t

 

[Dan-Pa.]

There are learned detectorists with either and every unit has it plus and minus features..To me an Explorer was a piece of cake to learn compared to the DFX so I feel an Explorer shouldn't be a problem for you but indeed is a different animal than a DFX..Type in Minelab Explorer in Google and should come up with lots of informative info and remember what works in one State or area might not work as well in your neck of the woods so read the sites with a grain of salt but admit they do offer a lot of info. Main thing is to find out what works for you. Start out with Quickstart as in its own right is not a bad program...It appears you are in prime hunting area for super oldies so good luck in your journey...and may your learning period be short..PS: perhaps a clubmember or experienced Explorer user could be a mentor as it will shorten your learning period greatly...

 

[keithinvestigations]

How did you ever get those photo's to upload. Everytime I try to upload ANYTHING it get's rejected as being too large. BTW I have about 40 hrs on my explorer. I am by no means an expert but I would be glad to help you out with any questions or tell you what works for me. Thanks, Davy Keith.

 

[Chris/MA]

I was able to do it by reducing the image quality in photoshop. If you "save for web" as they call in photoshop as a jpeg, you can actually set the quality pretty low without seeing any real visible degradation in image quality.

As far as getting the detail, I used a rather high-end digital camera with a macro lense on it, mounted on a tripod.

Sure beats those tiny photos of stuff, huh?

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

Here is Mike Moutray's Explorer setup:
http://66.51.97.78/coinist/mikesmtipspage1.html

I'm sure it is for the Explorer XS but you can learn lots from it.

Basically, here is what I've learned in a nutshell:

Go into IM (Iron Mask) and make the screen almost all white with just a little blackness on the left hand side.

Set your sens (sensitivity) all the way up to where it is unstable (to where the cursor is bouncing around on the screen and then back it off to just stable.

Set gain up to around 7
Go out and have fun. If the curson hits upper right hand corner and down a tad also, you have silver. Real deep coins will do a bounce. In other words a real deep silver coin will bounce from the silver position and possible over to the left quite a bit then back to the silver position. You want to dig those.
To the left of silver are copper coins. A little lower are IH cents.
Nickels on mine are bottom of the screen near middle almost kissing the bottom.
Check your own coins with your detector outside away from interference. Raise your coil to just where the coin is barely being picked up by the detector and you will get a feel for the sound and how the cursor reacts on a deepy.