Is the Safari a Dud?

[bugg]

I'll have to read up on your posts again about the settings. Some of these guys that come on here and blurt out a negative sentance , and then dissappear I have no use for....i encourage em to buy something else and move on.
I have not been out for over a month, due to work and the ultra dry weather. I haven't even tried the x5 yet. I like the stock 11 coil, it has great depth, and awesome seperation capabilities. But in heavy trash, I like to go smaller. I owned a few whites while up in Wisc ( still own a BHID) , but the depth of detecion really sucked in that soil.
I like the way the Safari finds nickels, I like the depth I'm getting, and the disc. circuit I find very accurate. Not having to mess around with the ground balancing is also a plus.Heck, if its a 35,36,37,38 39, or 40 Im digging it anyway. This younger generation is just too darn spoiled!!!
My first machine was the first discriminator detector on the market. If it beeped, you dug it, not having any clue what it might be.... down to a whopping 3 inches. And that huge 6" coil!!! LOL.
With the internet and the instant info age , it seems to cause alot of buying and selling, for folks spending thousands of $$$, to find the perfect machine. Back then ,the only means of finding out what was new in the detecting world was a new treasure mag once a month!
I watched the videos on the at pro, and in air tests , the nickel reading jumped around alot. I wonder how accurate that machine will be with ground targets. I will let the lemmings dive in , and evaluate it in spring.
We'll keep in touch.
bugg

 

[Prep1957]

Has anyone found anything good at number 40 on the Safari?I find huge square nails or a horseshoe ,4 bottle caps together,tobacco can, etc.and always about a foot deep.

 

[kschae4]

Prep1957- No, nothing good at 40, yet. Even with graph bar reading dead on "silver" and high, sweet sound, nothing good, but still digging them.

 

[The Fog]

This is a summary of my experiences with the Safari.

I've had my Safari almost 2 years now. I detect at least 10 hours per week, mostly in the woods. Personally I don't feel it's a turn and go machine and it took time and a LOT of holes to start understanding good tones from bad. I realized quickly that creating my own custom settings made the machine easier to use than the preset modes. Set your target parameters relevant to hunt/site and adjust sensitivity accordingly. If most of the targets you normally dig are at 4-6 inches try running the sensitivity at 12-13 for 30 minutes and see how it works for you. First time I set the sens at 14 the machine was stable, less chatty and tones were easily discernible and I was still digging targets at 8-9 inches. I've gradually increased sens as I gained experience with the machine, I now run 18-19 and have recovered very small targets at depths to 14". Be forwarned that running sens at max you will get falsing, Small sticks, roots etc. that hit the coil will even give a fleeting tones and the machine will sing songs but with experience you'll easily learn what to ignore. Ever notice that when a target gives you multiple odd VID #'s (38, 27, 16) it's usually junk? I've found 90% of the time it is and move on to find another target. Now if I get multiple VID#'s that are 32, 34, 30 or 26, 28, 25 I will always dig it because the numbers are in the same neighborhood. I know I've let a few good targets go by by adopting this rule, but I also dig less crap allowing me more time to find other quality targets.

As far as the Safari popping a high tone over an iron target... that's not uncommon for any detector be it an Excaliber, E-trac, Cibola, Garret, etc... they will all pop a high tone on iron occasionally especially if the iron is deep, same goes for small square nails. An old square nail can sometimes sound like a deep silver coin, until you get closer to it or get it out of the hole, those dam square nails get me every time. I can usually tell now with a good deal of certainty from the tones if it's iron, it will often only give you that nice 38 sound one way or only from a certain angle. As iron degrades it's properties change and you get falsing, that's just metal detecting. The sound of a coin next to iron will make a slightly cleaner more repeatable sound than just straight iron falsing In my experience. The VID #'s are just the machines calculation of the combination of the minerals and metal below the coil. I use my ears more than my eyes now when using the Safari. Sometimes a tone or # that you think is a winner is a loser, and vice-versa, but again that's metal-detecting. Fatty Indian Head pennies will ring at a solid VID of 18. If the machine told you exactly what you had 100% of the time I'd find the hobby boring, like seeing your presents before Christmas.

I would have to agree with coil comment, the stock coil is great for NON-TRASHY open fields, parks woods and beaches. Using it in trashy sites takes more patience and a good understanding of what you're hearing. I am going to get a smaller conical coil this winter to use at trashier sites. Conical coils IMO allow more accurate pinpointing and the ability to separate multiple targets by raising the coil and letting the cone tip "feel" around the target area. The Safari's Double-D stock coil does not scan in a conical pattern, which makes target separation more difficult IMO. It covers a wider spectrum than concentric/conical coils so the probability of picking up multiple targets increases. (see handy dandy diagram I attached.). BUT the Double D coil offers more depth and scans more real estate with each swing, so there are advantages and disadvantages to each coil style. Someone made a comment on battery life, I have both a 1600 NIMH stick and I have the stock sleeve for the AA's. I get about 10 hours out of either battery setup which is pretty good because I don't use headphones so the battery gets more of a workout. (yep I'm one of those non-headphones guys, but I hunt in remote areas so I'm only bothering the wildlife.)

Some of the peeves I have with the Safari. #1 - the foam, porous, spongelike handle... who was the genius in engineering that figured a sponge handle is a good option for something that involves dirt, mud and wet grass? Helllo? Peeve #2 - The cheesy rubber battery hatch cover.... did they try duct tape first and then settle on this design? Did 5,000 Safaris come off the line before someone realized they forgot about covering the battery? "Hey Joe lets just screw these non-fitting rubber flaps over it and call it a day." My 4 dollar Walmart flashlight has a better battery cover than my 900 dollar Safari. And my final peeve.... back in 82' I had a 14 dollar casio digital LCD watch that had a little button on the side. If you pushed said button it illuminated the numbers on the screen... it was amazing. Imagine being able to read the display on the Safari in low light conditions? Wow, now that's some cutting edge technology they could have put on the Safari,.

OK, if your still reading 10 points for you. IMO I don't think there is any machine free of anomalies, falsing, or design errors, there are trade-offs on any product, be it cars, corn flakes or metal detectors. I had a difficult time with it during the first 4 or 5 hunts so I'd say about 30 hours in I had begun to understand. Having had my safari for 2 years now I wouldn't trade it for another machine. The learning curve was steeper than I had anticipated, which was very frustrating especially since it was advertised as a great machine for beginners. Now that I'm over the curve I am thoroughly enjoying this accurate and deep detector. I've found colonial coins, buttons, buckles, seated coins, capped busts, draped busts, reales, and many other wonderful finds over the past 2 years and I am still learning the machine. If you stick with this machine until you are dialed in you will reap the benefits.

Oh and make sure to pop the coil cover off occasionally to clear out the debris that is between the coil and protective cover.... This made a WORLD of difference for me after I began getting a lot of falsing and didn't know why... it was caked with leaves, sand and dirt. Happy Hunting.

 

[Dan-o]

Good read Fog.
Thanks for taking the time.

 

[kschae4]

Fog-

Enlightening as well as entertaining. You're right on, highlighting those peeves ! Hope someone's figured out a modification for the poor low light issue on our existing Safaris/Quattros and can share it.

 

[ND Digger]

Give me 10 Points Fog! Good message. I've had my Safari for about a year and the only complaint I have is that it doesn't differentiate between pennies and silver very well with the numerical ID. I had a Quattro before the Safari and it would ID much better, but I think thats mainly because the Safari has the trash setting default on high and the Quattro default is low trash. It does take some time to understand what is a "good vs. bad" signal, but I usually only dig shallower targets if they repeat within a number or two from several directions. I also notice that when using the pinpoint mode, that the ID seems a little closer to what it should be. Deeper targets are more tricky, but if they give me a 38 or 39 reading (I'm mainly a silver hunter) even from only one direction with some consistency it will give it a dig.

 

[The Fog]

From reading other posts I also know that each machine gives slightly different VID #'s as well. I have NEVER had a coin ring in at 39. Quarters, silver halves, old large coppers and even a giant 8 reale all ring at 38 on my Safari. Dimes always 37, nickels always 14, IH's and wheats 32-36, and memorials/zinc come in anywhere between 34 and 37. And I have never found anything good with a 40 reading... so it is scrimmed out now. I run my machine fairly wide open, I scrim out 1-12 and 40, everything in between is open. But since I mainly hunt in the woods there are days when I'll hunt for 5 hours and dig only 6 or 7 targets. I've gone an hour at times without finding a single target to dig, but when you do get a nice 38 out in the woods it's usually an old 1700's copper or a US large cent.

 

[Dan-o]

Fog, You didn't mention if you run in Trash Density in High or Low. That setting can throw the numbers off a bit. Just curious.

Dan C

 

[ronaldj2]

Hey Fog, I think you did an excellent job on the pros and cons of the Safari. I found your analogy to be both accurate and enlightening, especially when it came to corroding iron or square nails. I ran into the same thing just today. I do wonder how many people who helped in the design of the safari actually spent a couple of years in the field using a detector. Well anyway, Hats off to you for a very informative and interesting post. One of the better posts that I have read in a while. And that was not meant as a dis on anybody else's posts. Ron

 

[The Fog]

Thanks for the kind comments gents.

Dan-O It depends on how much falsing I'm getting, I try both for while and make a judgement call. Anytime I'm running erratic I change the trash density and lower the sensitivity a few notches and the machine is quieter and more stable. Sensitivity set to 17-18 is probably the highest you should go if you aren't dialed in yet with your machine, 19-20 if you want your machine to sound like an Emerson Lake and Palmer song). Running your sensitivity at 18-20 is like driving a car full throttle, the engine is loud, increased vibration, tires squeal on corners etc., drop down to 70 and it will run smoother. I turn mine up until the machine is unstable, then back it down a notch or two. When your sensitivity is high it will chirp at all the tiny metal fragments and minerals. This is a pretty powerful machine with a large coil, you are covering a good chunk of real-estate with each pass. The machine has to decipher all of this information and run that against your discrimination so sometimes it's gonna chat while it calculates. If I have a questionable target I switch to all metal and usually I'll get just get that low iron tone with an erratic 39-40 tone mixed in just to make me scratch my head. Tough to pass up, but if you listen and watch the target area carefully sometimes you'll notice the high tone target moves around or disappears... when this happens to me it's almost always just iron.

So what I'm getting at is I had to let my guard down a bit and wait for the machine to find a good repeating tone. But I know how tough it is to pass up that fleeting 38 signal even when 10, 22, 17 is mixed in (which I call a "bouncer"). Listen to the tones, are they all over the place? Look at the numbers, how many repeating #'s are you getting and how random are they? If it's 14, 32, 38 you may have a nice little coin spill, if it's 10, 22, 29 you have probably found junk and it will always be under roots and rocks next to the beehive in the poison ivy patch.

The majority of my good finds, coins, buttons, buckles etc have been "no-brainers," the tone was loud and repeating even coins at 8-10 inches. On very few occasions I've retrieved a coin from a bouncing target... although I did dig a bouncer that turned out to be a blazer of a 1787 Connecticut Copper at about 10-11 inches in rooted soil, next to small piece of iron, and I bet that coin was on edge. I dug it because it bounced 10, 11, 38 over and over. Some bouncers could be the find of your life, but in my experience 98% of it was junk just as I had figured. If I detected target rich sites like parks and beaches I would blow over anything that wasn't a good solid repeating signal unless I had all day to hunt. Since I refuse to shut up I want also suggest you use a wide medium paced swing plane. Don't forget it's not a concentric coil, there is only a thin stripe scanning down the 12 and 6 o'clock position so use that nice wide non-conical deep scan to you're advantage!

Everything I've stated is just where I've come to after trial and error, a few thousand holes and several settings adjustments. I've used this machine well over 500 hours and if any of this helps a fellow Safarian it was worth the time to post. When I first joined this forum the machine was new so getting input was tough because we were all learning, the quattro info was helpful but it wasn't a Safari and there were subtle differences. I saw many posts from disgruntled Safari owners that had the "I could have used my old 300 dollar (pick one) detector and find more stuff!" Which is probably true because they were dialed in to their old detector and hadn't learned to use the Safari, as I stated before this is not a turn and go machine. I came very close selling mine, My hunting partner was sick of me saying I could find more stuff with my cibola, the cibola is a great little detector the Safari is far superior. I think if you try some of these things it might save you some time on the learning curve. It may not help the beach guys as i don't swing beaches... and ironically enough I'm 75 yards from the beach! Come this time next year I'll probably modify my methods and settings further.

I'll attach some pictures of some of my better finds over the 2 years, lots of buttons and buckles from the 1600's through the 1800's, colonial coins, US large cents, old silvers, bells, musket balls, and a littany of odds and ends. This has been a sloooow year for me at colonial sites but the fall has been good thus far. I've pulled 8 colonial shoe buckles in 3 weeks! HH, stepping off my soapbox.

 

[edjcox]

Of course it is...

Send your to me immediatly... You wouldn't want to be stuck with a dud....





I find mine extremely easy to use and always at the ready... Has it's own seat in my truck and dutifully wears it's jacket (case) and seatbelt as it rides the roads with me.... It could use a freind so send yours today....

 

[larryk56]

Did you see Garretts new AT Pro?
It's pretty impressive!

 

[markg]

Anyone compare the Safari to the F75 LTD?

 

[Sky1]

Anyone compare the Safari to the F75 LTD?

I've compared it to my T2 which is very similar to the F75. They are like total opposites both have their good points.
Safari is aweful when around a lot of iron. Need to use the 8x6 SEF coil and back the sensitivity way down. When the Safari hits silver there is no doubt.

The T2 is lighter and able to swing much quicker. For a shallow clad hunt the T2 is all over the Safari. But when deep silver is concerned it requires a bit more work and careful listening but yes, I get silver with the T2 as well. But since the T2 is so sparky, those deep finds are relatively few and far between for me unless I am using it on my test garden where I know there is a coin like right there.

Overall, I find that I come home with less stuff with the Safari, but what I find is pretty good. But the T2, is faster, lighter and to be honest, a bit more fun to use.

So, bottom line.
If I am going to hit a field where I know there is some old deep stuff, I grab the Safari
If I am going to hit the wet sand area on the beach, I grab the Safari
If I am going to hit the woods where there is little trash and I want to go as deep as posible, I grab the Safari

For EVERYTHING else I prefer the T2, this included TotLots, soft sand, trashy parks, and even my front yard.

 

[Prep1957]

Sky-Great post every Safari should come with small trash coil.Safari is a great machine best value for under 1000 dollars.I have had very good luck in in heavy iron locations with 6X8.I have a spot that could not be hunted is 90 year old gravel pit with lots of Iron rock and trash.Have tried many detectors to hunt this spot for over 30 years inch or two at best.Took Safari with pro coil could not get hardly to work natural iron and coal cinders to boot just was too erratic.Just for heck of it put 6x8 on was like whole new detector I am only getting coins to about 5 inches but I found over 200 dollars in clad and over 4 dollars in silver my oldest coin to date at the pit is 1942 Washington I still do not like hunting there.I think I might buy an x-5 this winter just to see if it might be better than 6x8.There is nothing wrong with pro coil I have found dimes to 9 inches away from trash it is more sensitive to old Iron then SEF coils.I use a 1266X fisher to follow up behind Safari finds plated toys and gold,lead better than Safari with equal depth.If I thought there was a better detector on the market I would buy it at this time there is not I am watching reports on AT PRO with great interest.

 

[pullringking]

Hi all, thanks for all the great info. I am in Ireland and have just ordered my Safari and hope to have it very shortly. After your great posts I cant wait to get beach hunting with it.
Please keep the info flowing to help the new Safari owners to handle the learning curve, just wish there were more beach + land videos around to see and hear first hand what we should be looking for.
Pullringking

 

[Biofilmz]

Well said. This is a very helpful post. My only disagreement is that I think that the DD coils are better than the cocentric in target separation - I think that the central detection beam is a lot narrower than that image suggests. . . HH

 

[Biofilmz]

I like the safari, especially the ferrous tones option, which I think is better than the e-trac's. I hunt the same trashy parks over and over again and have good success with the safari. If you can stand it - run it in ferrous with no or just a small bit of discrimination. When I get a probably iron signal that could be a coin or iron falsing I switch to all metal conductive - no discrimination, and look at the numbers. The machine runs very quickly this way and will usually let you know what you've got. It is worth taking the time to know this deep machine. Good luck.

 

[fpgrind]

Hello everyone. I'm new to this site and a newbie to metal detecting. I've always had the interest and recently found the time to really devote to it. I just bought a Safari w/ 11" coil, a Razor Gator, and all the extra freebies from Kellyco and it will arrive this Friday so I'm really happy about that. I also ordered a Sun Ray X1 Probe w/ upper shaft from Sun Ray and it should be showing up this week as well. I originally wanted a Pistol Probe because of it's depth but after much thought I chose the SR X1 for it's ability to run off the detectors batteries and box, it makes switching coils very easy and you won't forget it since it's attached (plus the pistol probe looks too much like a gun which could be bad news if you're in a city park and someone thinks it's an actual gun and calls the fuzz). Too bad because it seems to be the best pointer out there. I just have a few more basic things to pick up and should be ready to go soon. I'm very eager to learn all I can and this thread has been the BEST info I've found so far about the Safari. Really useful quality info and I really appreciate it. Thank you to everyone!

I have a question myself and I hope you guys can help. I'll be hunting in California around the lower foothills, city parks, old fields, etc. Like many others I've been told that a smaller coil will help with trashy areas and was wondering which you guys would recommend of 3 I had in mind. I'd also like to ask if any of the 3 coils listed would help in finding gold under 1 oz. I only ask because I'm told the Safari isn't good at finding gold nuggets under 1 oz. Prospecting isn't my main goal with the Safari but it would be nice if I had the option if needed. Here's the 3 coils I had in mind. Please add you favorites as well if you know of a better choice.

1. SEF 6x8
2. Sun Ray X5
3. Sun Ray X8

Thanks again to everyone in advance for all the great info!!
fpgrind.