Manual vs Auto with regards to target separation

[TrpnBils]

All other things being equal, is there any evidence to support the idea that there is a difference in target separation ability (desirable and undesirable targets under the coil at the same time) in auto versus manual sensitivity? Obviously there's quite a difference in depth and stability in those modes, but I'm wondering if one over the other would help in unmasking targets near iron.

 

[IDXMonster]

It’s my opinion...(ahem ahem!)... that auto will be better at discerning a target in close proximity to another. It doesn’t have anything to do with what the machine is seeing in the first place, but how many different things the machine is going to have to process. In Manual, more items are going to be “allowed in” to be sorted out and reported, in Auto...well...not so many. To me, it’s just that simple. I’m sure there’ll be some contrarian “know it all” who will chime in with their relentlessly combative point of view, but brother...all I gotta do is look at the coins in my collection. If the target(s) in question can be seen by the machine in both settings, Auto will give you(as it has ME many many MANY times) the best chance of a co-located recovery.

 

[TrpnBils]

It’s my opinion...(ahem ahem!)... that auto will be better at discerning a target in close proximity to another. It doesn’t have anything to do with what the machine is seeing in the first place, but how many different things the machine is going to have to process. In Manual, more items are going to be “allowed in” to be sorted out and reported, in Auto...well...not so many. To me, it’s just that simple. I’m sure there’ll be some contrarian “know it all” who will chime in with their relentlessly combative point of view, but brother...all I gotta do is look at the coins in my collection. If the target(s) in question can be seen by the machine in both settings, Auto will give you(as it has ME many many MANY times) the best chance of a co-located recovery.

I know you use Auto pretty much exclusively, right? The reason I'm wondering about this is that I got invited by a coworker to hunt an 1850s homestead this Sunday that had a blacksmith shop on the property because the bank is auctioning it off in a couple of weeks. This might be our only shot at it, so I wanna go at it with as few question marks as possible!

 

[IDXMonster]

It’s my opinion...(ahem ahem!)... that auto will be better at discerning a target in close proximity to another. It doesn’t have anything to do with what the machine is seeing in the first place, but how many different things the machine is going to have to process. In Manual, more items are going to be “allowed in” to be sorted out and reported, in Auto...well...not so many. To me, it’s just that simple. I’m sure there’ll be some contrarian “know it all” who will chime in with their relentlessly combative point of view, but brother...all I gotta do is look at the coins in my collection. If the target(s) in question can be seen by the machine in both settings, Auto will give you(as it has ME many many MANY times) the best chance of a co-located recovery.

I know you use Auto pretty much exclusively, right? The reason I'm wondering about this is that I got invited by a coworker to hunt an 1850s homestead this Sunday that had a blacksmith shop on the property because the bank is auctioning it off in a couple of weeks. This might be our only shot at it, so I wanna go at it with as few question marks as possible!

Absolutely. In cluttered places the audio can become unintelligible if sensitivity is run too far up, even to the most seasoned operator. With the CTX, I will run Auto+3 ALMOST all of the time, using the 17” coil. The Explorer is a different deal, almost NEVER Auto anymore with it, due to the way it responds to differing conditions. If I were you, which I’m not...but if I were...I’d use the stock coil with Auto+3. IF for some reason you have high EMI which the machine will not compensate for, I would THEN go to manual sensitivity and dial it down to stabilize it. Even though you COULD use one of the lesser Auto settings, in a situation like that I want to have complete control over what is stable and what is not, and I can adjust that best in Manual sensitivity. If you truly have only one shot, do NOT second guess that machine, unless you’ve gridded the entire place and have found very little, and now you’re on the second trip around.
Good luck out there, we’re having an ice storm right now so I’m toast for awhile....

 

[sube]

If I only had one shot at the site I would run auto+3 and noise cancel often ,Manual sensitivity will have you checking twice as many targets as to auto making it take longer to cover the same ground so speed is important to you to get it done .

As far as separation go's I give the nod to manual the reason being auto is dumbed down 2 of the channels and only giving full power to one of the channels as where manual is giving full power to all 3 channels .Now running in manual 2 of the channels this is why manual is noisier than auto now auto compensates for this by lowering sensitivity in the 2 channels which makes the machine run smoother with less noise .

Auto is set by the machine you can only go as high as auto+3 to bad we can't go to auto +4 or 5 and so on but there has to be a reason did not do this .Manual set on 20 is deeper than auto +3 at 20 (fact) Now when running manual we start seeing depth readings flashing on the screen at 8 to 11 inches deep all the time we don't see this in auto small ground signals and rust flakes showing .This may have to do with that were 2 of the channels in manual it's seeing more than auto . Auto seems to be down I can always run higher sensitivity than machine wants to run at .If we push to far the machine becomes unintelligent audio wise .

As far as separation because we hear all the signals in manual compared to auto it's going to find more targets There is a price to pay for smooth operation with less noise when running auto .I have to ask this ? when was the last time you could get a hit on a target that was in auto that manual would not see .I have see plenty of times manual would see a target auto would not.

So auto must being using some form of disc to compensate for that ground noise and rust flakes we hear in manual there by reducing depth .sube