Need a little T2 advice

[Kapok]

Teknetics experts, I need some advice. I recently won a T2 SE in a drawing and have been trying to get used to it after years of being a Tesoro user. I have read good things about the T2 (mostly from Europe not much from the US though.). I'm hunting old parks here in the midwest US with rather mild soil. My problem is that I'm not hearing any "soft" signals that come from deeper targets. Every signal is equal in volume. Since this is a digital detector, are all signals the same intensity regardless of depth? With my Tesoro it's those fainter tones that clue me in that I have a deeper target.

Also, I've been running it with 2+ or 3 with Sensitivity set to 60 or 70. However, if I increase sensitivity higher than that OR set discrimination higher than say 45, it starts to chatter excessively. So I have to back off on those settings, which makes me worry that I'm not hitting the deep stuff. At a recent outing I got outhunted badly by the other guys with Minelabs. Since I'm new to the Teknetics platform, there's a high probability this is user error, and I want to get it right. So any advice? Thanks in advance. I appreciate it.

Sorry this is so long...

 

[Fish N Chips]

I am a long time Tesoro user, and have a T2 classic. It is a good machine but is more sparky than the Tesoros, but gets a lot more depth. My T2 is my park and coin machine, and sees a lot of relic hunting. I find a smaller coil seems to settle the machine down. Now that I have spent a lot of time with it, I am starting to be able to use the 11" coil more and listen through the chatter but the smaller coils really lock onto targets and get good depth and just seem to run better than the 11". For old sites full of iron and nails the 5" coil is great. My general use coil is the NEL sharpshooter. It has to be pretty trash free and free of EMI for the 11" coil to come out, which is rare. It is my beach coil more than anything.

I run 70-80 sensitivity a lot. I rarely can use max sensitivity due to EMI and noise. Even at 80 I can get coins at 8" or more. Discrimination I use 24 at nail infested sites, and 50 at parks. I do not have the chatter issue at higher discrimination. One park I hunt has a RADAR station, the EMI is so bad I run sensitivity at 30-40 and discrimination at 70 to settle the machine down. I got several silver dimes at 5" there.

For the proportional audio use the + tones, that will change the volume to signal strength, although it is not as noticeable as with my Tesoros unless the target is really deep.

I do notice my T2 acts up more in dry soil during the summer, it seems likes a bit of moisture in the soil. It does work well and will ground balance even to wet salt at the beach. I can hunt wet sand with a ground balance of 5-9.

The T2 is a good machine and I am still learning mine. It is more sensitive to EMI, but is great for chasing deep targets. I think EMI is is greatest weakness, cell phones, Wi-Fi, my pro-pointer all affect my T2, but that goes with any sensitive machine.

 

[Kapok]

Fish N Chips,
Thanks so much for that reply. I see now in the manual that 1+ and 2+ offer pitch tone varying in proportion to target signal strength. I missed that in the manual but will give it a shot.

I was having a lot of issues that resembled EMI interference as well. I was in a park that did have some overhead power lines and with a guy with a CTX 3030 and the machine wigged out completely until I got about 20 feet away from him. But that's to be expected I suppose.

 

[BarryL]

Fish N Chips,
Thanks so much for that reply. I see now in the manual that 1+ and 2+ offer pitch tone varying in proportion to target signal strength. I missed that in the manual but will give it a shot.

I was having a lot of issues that resembled EMI interference as well. I was in a park that did have some overhead power lines and with a guy with a CTX 3030 and the machine wigged out completely until I got about 20 feet away from him. But that's to be expected I suppose.

you did not state if you had the earlier model or the model with DST for controlling the emi interference . I have the earlier T2se without the DST upgrade , did not get it sent in before they stopped doing the upgrade for a fee ,anyway I have not noticed a lot of EMI problems either way with mine unless I get close to someone using a minelab or newer whites machines. Hunt close to a fella that uses a Garrett and have not seen much interference from his AT Pro . As for as deep signals I do hear faint high tones but no TUD so I try to cross the target at every angle while listening to the faint tone and if its consise I dig if I loose it quickly I make a judgement call to dig or not . one time I made a judgement call on a faint tone and almost did not dig it glad I di as it turned out to be a nice seated dime about 10 inches deep the ground was moist one thing I have noticed is like the other fella stated they do get kinda noisey in very dry soil. and tend to bounce the TID numbers a lot more . Also I prefer the small coil over the stock 11 inch coil in urban locations in farm fields I use the 11 inch coil .

 

[Kapok]

you did not state if you had the earlier model or the model with DST for controlling the emi interference

Barry, I have no idea which one I have since I won it in a drawing. Is there an easy way to tell?

I also have the small 5" coil so I may try that. However, the Minelab guys all had the large coils and they were doing a LOT better than I was. Of course I was using a machine unfamiliar to me, so I have to be patient. I almost got my Tesoro out but wanted to stick with it.

Thank you for the input.

 

[Rick N. MI]

First you need a Nel Sharpshooter coil. My 11" coil is sensitive to emi. Or something might be wrong with it. With the Sharpshooter and 5" coil try setting sensitivity 99, 1+ and disc at 21 to take out nails. It will run quiet so you can here the soft signals.

Rick

 

[Fish N Chips]

What you describe really sounds like EMI. My Dad uses a EuroTek Pro and I can not hunt within 30 feet of him. You can try changing frequencies as well and see if that helps. I have had mixed results with it. What will get you is silent EMI, the stuff you can not hear. The radar station I mentioned, my T2 goes crazy but my Tesoro runs silent. Trouble it is the Tesoro is quiet but my depth drops to 2-4" depending on the day(the interfearance varies from day to day), but you can not hear that there is a problem without air testing. So audible EMI is a bother but at least it tells you there is trouble around and what to expect.

When I first got mine I figured the 11" coil was bad as well. I think it is just a noisy coil. My cell phone is enough to make it chip and sputter, and it is noisy swinging around. I have gotten better at hearing the good signals through the chatter but it takes some time. That coil is deep though and has its place, just not around any EMI. I love the sharpshooter. It air tests almost the same as the 11" coil and performs much better in trash and around EMI, and locks onto targets much better. The TID jumps around more with the large coil. I use the large coil for chasing deep signals and the beach.

The 5" coil is pretty amazing. Very deep and works great in carpets of nails. Not as well as my Tesoro detectors but not far behind. On Monte's Nail Board test my Tesoros get a 8 out of 8 with the 8" or 5.75" coils. My T2 gets 5 out of 8 with the sharp shooter and 6 or 7 out of 8 with the 5". My 11" coil gets 0 out of 8! It seems to do ok in the field though. I tend to relic hunt alot. I hunt a spot with the T2 and then return with the Tesoros to clean it up. I always find a few more goodies, not much but a few.

It will click for you. Those Minelabs are good deep detectors but the T2 will have better separation in trash. Use the smaller coil until you learn the tones. I make just as many finds with a small coil in a small area than covering a large area with a large coil.

 

[BarryL]

You can call FT and give them the serial number I believe and they can tell you

 

[Kapok]

Fish N Chips and Barry L
Thanks!

 

[Kapok]

So would you say the T2 is more of a relic machine than a coin hunter? Seems like a lot of the things I read about the T2 successes are related to relics rather than coins.

 

[BarryL]

Yes I would say it is leaning more towards the relic hunter but do not think it want find coins because it will without any problem

 

[Snap On Man]

Have not found any relics yet. But I did pull 11 pennies out of one hole. It loves nickels and quarters. If you hunt where the coins are you will find them. I was using a F2 before and not taking anything away from the F2. But this thing is a coin magnet!

 

[Mega]

I own and use a original green T2,the machine is about as good as you can get as a general all round detector,its equally at home as a coinshooter as it is also for in my case deep hoard/artifact hunting,i cannot recall the last time i used the stock coil as i found it too be the weak link in the T2 design,infact it was one of the original problems with the machine.

The coil that i use are the superb 5'' coil for trashy roman sites and also stubble,NEL Sharpshooter as i direct replacement for the stock coil as its far more reliable and although a fraction smaller in size i dont personally find and reduction in performance.My favourite coil is the NEL Storm this will not only give me additional depth and ground coverage but also still very sensitive to very small roman minims.

For real deep pasture sites then i use either the SEF 15x12 or BIG Nel,these do pretty amazing depth but mainly on larger items like say a hoard,they will find coins as well but i wont hide the fact that large coils are mainly for big target and it does go deep.

One of the biggest problems when someone get a new T2 is too crank the settings right up and it can get very sparky,i rarely go over 85sens,2-4disc,2+ and dig everything over 40,i mainly use my machines as audio only,mainly because screen info over say 8'' become very unreliable but audio is much more reliable at greater depths.

The T2 has found me my best finds including celtic gold staters and other gold coins as well,but the staters are from 55BC so my oldest coins,the T2 is just a total joy to use,mine is a original one from i think 2008/9 and never had any problems with it apart from the coil connector on the original coil.

 

[Kapok]

Thanks for all the input, guys. I am going to stick with this detector. I've bought a 9x5 NEL Sharpshooter coil, so we'll see how it goes.

 

[BarryL]

Looking for one for my T2 as well let me know how you like it going to be about a month before I can get one

 

[G.A.P.metal]

Kapok
To find what T2 version you have....hold in the Menu button ,and push the pin point trigger froward...turn the T2 on.The software version will appear on the screen.

Gary

 

[Fish N Chips]

Mega is the one who convensed me to get the NEL Sharp Shooter. It really makes the T2 into a different machine.

 

[Kapok]

It says 7.6

 

[Kapok]

I did get the sharpshooter coil. I did an air test and it wasn't so great--but neither was the stock coil. About 6-7" max on a quarter.

 

[BarryL]

It says 7.6

That's what mine is but mine will airtest a quarter at 12 inches with the stock coil in all metal mode and about ten inches in disc mode with sens cranked up to about 80 indoors