New 705----Help!

[Sonora70]

All,
I'm relativity new to detecting. I've been using a Tesoro Silver Umax for a few years sparingly. I just purchased a 705 with the standard coil (9", 7.5khz). I'm really having some concerns, hoping I made the right decision. I took it out a couple times this past weekend and had no luck at all. I was at an old home site in the woods with lots of iron trash and couldn't really lock onto anything past 1 to 2 inches. I then checked my machine by placing a quarter (modern 1978 model) in an open hole I had dug. Roughly 5 inches down, face up, and did not cover it. My machine did not see the coin! I did the same thing with a civil war bullet I had found before and it didn't see it either. I came home that night and did an air test. The results appeared fine as it "saw" quarters, pennies, dimes, etc out to 10 to 12 inches. Could something be wrong with my machine or is it user error?????

I did lots and lots of research by watching videos, reading forums, etc.. before deciding on the 705. I have seen videos of folks finding coins as far as 9 inches down. I know soil type can have an impact but there has to be something else going on. Since that time I have read the manual over a few times and downloaded the Xterra ebook and read it completely through. I plan to hit it again this coming weekend. Again, could it be a bad machine or just me???? Any advice would be much appreciated!!!!

BTW: Great forum......have really enjoyed reading the posts.

 

[Old Longhair]

First of all, WELCOME!

Your problem sounds like it was most likely the abundant iron trash in connection with a concentric coil. That peticular coils is a good general purpose coil that will work well on more open ground, but not optimal where trash density is high. A DD configuration coil will separate much better and would be more appropriate for a site like that. The concentric coil's search pattern is just too large to not be over trash at the same time as a good target, masking anything that's deeper than the iron.

Try at an easier site to start with. Trashy areas are a challenge for even the most experienced hunters.

 

[mapper65]

Without seeing what settings you had your detector set for it could be a couple of things. In an open hole unless there were a lot of parallel targets or something underneath where you dug the hole, you shouldn't have had a problem. I'm a little concerned that you may have had your sensitivity too low or possibly ID number 42 discriminated out.

Although it's not a true test, in your case I would do an air test by putting your detector on a table and extending the coil out far enough from the table that it doesn't pick anything up. Then run your quarter past the bottom of the coil in a hand that doesn't have a ring on it and also not wearing a watch on that wrist. See if it picks up and gives you a 42. That should at least tell you if you have a major problem with your detector or not.

Old Longhair is right about that coil. I had my 9" coil on last weekend for the first time in two years. It's a pretty noisy coil especially if you are not using very much discrimination. The DD coils seem to be more stabile and better in mineralized soil. I'm sure there are people that do great with that coil but you have to consider the learning curve of the 705's controller and then each coil coil has it's own learning curve. It takes a little while for your ears and mind to get trained to your detector so do the air test and see if you get the proper readings and if you do, get out and practice a little more. I think many people get a little fed up in the beginning but then you eventually click with the detector and everything turns around and you're pulling up coins left and right.

Have fun!

 

[Sonora70]

I'm hoping the amount of trash was the problem. When I did the air test it read the quarter (42) out to 11 inches. Which really confused me. I'm ready to get after it again this weekend, I'll post my luck or lack of . Another "situation" I encountered was while detecting I picked up a target for example that read 38 to 40....solid passing back and forth over it. When I used the pinpoint feature it would then change to -8, which told me that it was probably trash so I didn't dig. That happened a few times. Does the pinpointer more accurately identify the target? Should I have dug those?

 

[Old Longhair]

If it was a consistant repeatable tone, and/or hit from more than one direction, then you should absolutely dig.
A 38-40 would likely be a clad dime, but could also be a copper penny.

 

[Mark in S.E. IA]

I do not know if you did this but before you put the quarter in the hole or even on top of the ground you should go in to all Metal mode and check the area to see if their is any iron or any other targets in that area. Their might of been a piece of metal in the hole and it masked the quarter. Always check the area first in All Metal mode before you do any kind of test like that...

I never did like the PP mode on the xterra's. I've had this happen to me several times when I locate a target that is 8" and deeper and I go in to PP mode and their is nothing there, the target is gone. I go back in to patt 1 and PP it with the coil and dig it and it turns out to be a deeep coin. The PP mode does not seem to go real deep.

If it was a good sounding 38 - 40 I would dig it.

 

[mapper65]

Don't trust the numbers that you get in the pinpoint mode. Lies..... all lies! ha ha ha

 

[Old Longhair]

Just another word on Pinpoint ID that new users might not know.

Whatever number is displayed when you enter the Pinpoint Mode it will lock on, and that will be the target that it will be looking for. In heavy trash, often it's difficult to not hit a trash target immediately after the good one, and entering Pinpoint Mode at the right moment can take several attempts, particularly when it's only a one way hit.
Missing the target can still be determined with the ID by watching the numbers even if the Mode was not entered correctly to operate as intended. On several occasions I've seen good numbers not being what was targeted by the machine. In those cases I usually leave and re-enter Pinpoint Mode to be sure that I'm not off by inches on my recovery, and to re-verify the target.

 

[Sonora70]

Thanks for all the info...feeling better about my decision. Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be better hopefully I can get it out for an hour or so after work. I'll post results------hopefully some coins! If I hit a dime or quarter at 8" I'll get a Minelab hat!

 

[Sonora70]

Took the 705 out today for a little while after work. Visited an old house just down the road. Lots of trash but managed to "pick" this 1956 wheat cent out. Dug it at about 5" down. My method was no discrimation and sensitivity turned up to 28....no head phones. Lots of chatter and iron but this one came through nicely among the rest. Starting to feel better!

 

[Old Longhair]

My next bit of advice, would be to slow down, and get a set of headphones. You have no idea how much you're not hearing by not using them.
And if I were you, I'd modify disc pattern 3 to also exclude -6 -4 & -2, and run that for a while. You won't likely miss good targets, it won't sound confusingly busy, and it will teach you how slow to swing while you learn how to search the edges of nulled objects. The idea is to maintain a threshold as much as possible with the sens turned up as high as possible. If it seems like it's constantly nulling, then slow down before backing the sens off one step at a time.

I run in AM or no disc C/T most of the time, and I look at my machine like a wife. If you take the time to listen to what she's telling you, you can learn to only hear the sweet things mixed in with the jibber-jabber.

 

[Sonora70]

Nice analogy with the wife!

Will be heading out tomorrow for a day of detecting. I have a set of headphones to use, will take them with me. While walking today I got lots of high pitches but obviously did not even try to dig them all. Typically they would disappear when I tried to get the sound again, other times I would get the high pitch a couple times but really faint and mixed into a mess of low tones. What to dig and what not to dig??? Also, nulled objects and nulling....not familiar with those terms. Thanks for the tips!!

 

[Old Longhair]

OK, first, the high pitch tone that went away are another indication that you need to slow your swing. You need to swing slow enough to be able to isolate each hit whether it registers a tone or a null.
And "null" referrs to the blank in the threshold that signals no tone when the coil passes over a discriminated object. You should be able to hear the low hum of the threshold tone and when there's a break in it, and running some disc and listening to multiple breaks is less taxing than being bombarded with too many tones.
Make it easy on yourself and find a place that isn't too trashy to learn at. The middle of open areas in large old parks are a good sort of site for learning. I've got one nearby that I've used for years, and I still go there to learn.

 

[michaelosully]

I had the same problem when I first started using the X-Terra line several years back. I was hunting 'highly mineralized' soils and trying to go at it with the stock MF CC. All that changed when I went with the 10.5" MF DD. I get good target signals up to 9" deep in these same areas ... just know it's not "user error" but getting the right tools for the job at hand!

You may want to have a read of Barnacle Bills post in the FAQ's about how to determine your soil condition with the 705, but if you are auto GB'ing at the lower end of the scale, you're probably in some pretty highly mineralized dirt.

 

[hotrod53]

Sonora70, welcome to site! You said that you were new to the 705 and you came from a Tesoro. I used a Tesoro Toltec 100 for about 12 years before I got my 705 2 years ago, I still have a Cutlass II as a backup. I had a lot of trouble transitioning, something different about the sounds and the reaction. While there are definately ground issues that can cause problems, in my experience, just time using the 705 was my answer. I was completely frustrated with my 705 and questioning if I made a mistake too. Mapper 65 purchased his first and was gaining experience and doing a lot of research. Thru spending time using the 705 and working with mapper 65, I got comfortable and began finding more than I did with my Tesoro. The two manufacturers are different, especially in my case coming from an analog machine. Spend some time getting used to it, check your settings, check your ground balance, use tracking if you think its wrong and let it correct itself, you'll get it.

 

[Sonora70]

A nice day allowed me to venture out some yesterday to see what I could find. Found (1) 2 ringer bullet, (1) piece of another bullet, a clad quarter and dime among some other trash. I've learned a few things thanks to the advice on this forum and experience. First.......for some reason an aluminum can is a dream wrecker! Those things lead you to believing you've found all sorts of treasures based on sound and id. Second, deep objects bounce all over the place as far as TID's go so basically I learned to listen more than watch the screen per the advice received from this forum. Third, typically if a high number beeps in a couple times, dig it! Still learning what to dig and what to leave alone however. Still some learning to do. Depth is coming in anywhere from finding a penny at 5" to finding trash aluminum at 12". Also finding modern rifle caseings at 5" encourages me on finding true relics. The challenge to learn the 705 has been a give and take adventure.......but based on what I have read and friends with other brands the 705 is coming along quickly. Now I just have to learn how to research and find new places to detect instead of those that have been picked over for years.

Overall, really happy with my purchase of my 705...happy enough that I ordered a cover and a lesche digging tool---ready for them to show up in the mail box. Because of funds I'm having to stick with the stock 9" 7.5 coil for now, maybe not a bad thing. The 705 makes me want to go detecting more!

 

[Old Longhair]

And it will just get better and better the more that you learn it.