New SE - a few questions...

[popsmoke]

Hey -
I just got a new SE and this is a world of difference from my Whites. I'm not a convert yet but I have an open mind.
A few questions -

The SE seems to favor a slow sweep speed - yes?

It seems very sensetive to small bits of metal, producing lots of sounds - correct?
How do you cope with the large array of sounds? It's caliope-like?

Lowering sensetivity doesn't do much to settle it down - is this a chatty noisy machine by character?

I have not got a feel for target size or 'dig-worthiness' yet. What is your practice for confirming to dig a hole?
How do you determine or get a guess at target size or worthiness?

Changing the sensetivity dosnt really affect air testing too much - correct? I seem to get 6 inches at sensitivity 1, and about 10 inches at sensitivity 31 while air testing - is this about right?

I have not had it out hunting yet - only in my test garden and back yard.

Any tips on best practices with the SE anyone can provide would be appreciated -

Thanks!

Popsmoke

 

[RonNH]

JUst curious pop, which White's do you have? I have a DFX and an Ex XS.... yeah, a world of difference. A little crazy at first, sounded like a bunch of apes whooting. That was in Factory Preset, now I run with Iron Mask almost wide open, but you got to get a feel for it. It's deep, I'll tell you that. I'll let the experts answer your questions, but most of them would be a yes from my limited experience with the Explorer. Ron

 

[Jerry/Oregon]

Hi Popsmoke,

The SE seems to favor a slow sweep speed - yes? YES

It seems very sensitive to small bits of metal, producing lots of sounds - correct?
How do you cope with the large array of sounds? It's Calliope-like?
Yes it is sensitive to small metal, when i first started using the XS 7 years ago I thought the noise would drive me crazy, but after awhile you get used to it.

Lowering sensitivity doesn't do much to settle it down - is this a chatty noisy machine by character?
The Explorer is noisy, you can discriminate out all metal items or none and anything in between

I have not got a feel for target size or 'dig-worthiness' yet. What is your practice for confirming to dig a hole?
How do you determine or get a guess at target size or worthiness? It all boils down to the sound of the target, and where the cross hairs are on the screen, it takes lots of practice. I use sound first and then look at screen.

Changing the sensitivity doesn't really affect air testing too much - correct? I seem to get 6 inches at sensitivity 1, and about 10 inches at sensitivity 31 while air testing - is this about right? Air testing does not prove much on any detector that i know of.

I would suggest you leave all settings alone, just learn it on factory settings until you feel fairly confident with your SE. Your test garden is a good way to start, but I think it would be helpful if the targets in your test garden were in clean soil free from other metals so you get a good idea what a perfect sounding target sounds like.

When you take your SE in the field I think its a good practice to dig all repeatable targets paying attention to the SOUND and screen. After a while you will become familiar with the good sounds your looking for.

Again, when I started using my first Explorer I was about to hang it up, but I'm sure glad I spent the time to learn it. Once you learn this machine (assuming your after coins) you will start finding coins your whites can not even begin find. I know thats a bold statement, but I have proven it many times in the field with other people.

Jerry

 

[Yooper]

Welcome to the SE.

I am new to the SE myself and came over from a Garrett GTI2500. World of difference too.

It is a noisy beast, but you can quiet it down with discrimination, if you like. I run wide open right now, with the exception of discriminating out bottle caps.

I am starting to get the hang of determining the size of an object. It is easiest for me to tell the size of the object while in pinpoint mode.

 

[tomtowns]

Hey popsmoke, yes I came from the whites also (MXT) & damn near collapsed when I powered up the SE......I called it culture shock...Like Yooper I'm new also & have had mine for almost two months...first thing you need to do is set the tones for the type hunting you do...I'm pretty sure most everybody who coin hunts will run ferrous, but it's a matter of choice...I started in conduct but after a week or so I switched to ferrous...I personnaly hunt all metal as I can't stand the nulling...as far as hearing all the chatter, it all depends on what's in the ground, a park I hit regular has areas that you can swing away with not much in the way of hits & then there are areas that will drive you crazy with signals...you'll see after a couple months that it's not hard, it just takes a little getting used to...my suggestion is to start reading posts from the past & gradually figure out what works best for you...don't be afraid to ask questions as there are a lot of really good people here that know what they are talking about...TT

 

[GaryM]

Pop, I also came from the White's world. I went to Explorer XS now Explorer SE. I found it to be an easy transition over to the Explorer. Just more the coil slower ( that was real hard for me), leave it in factory preset and dig all repeatable flute sounds until you learn the machine. Don't give up on it, it will pay off.

My backyard must have been used as a landfill it was impossible to detect with my White's detector but with the Explorer. I have been hunting it successfully.

 

[LincolnLeg]

You all sound about as new as I am with the Explorer SE. Do any of you have a problem with getting different depth readings with the pinpoint mode, than you get on the sweep? Even different target ID numbers between the sweep and the pinpoint. Or just inaccurate readings in consideration of the 0 to 12 inch meter. This is my first Minelab, and I have nothing to compare it to other than my DFX and Garrett 1500 which give pretty accurate depth readings. Thanks PP

 

[sgtm8411]

I get the exact same problem... different digital readings when in pinpoint then when in detect. I dont trust the pinpoint numbers (they lie). The depth is also different on mine when in each mode. Wish i had an answer for you but ive found myself of late pulling out my whites XLT more and more. The depth of the SE is unsurpassed but i have a hard time stabalizing it near ANY buildings even after noise cancelling and turning the sensitivity down to 12 or 13. Dont know how much longer i can stand this.

 

[LincolnLeg]

PS I'm not trying to change the subject, I just have a group of newer SE owners that I hope will all check there Exp SE for this possible issue, so we can all learn the detector better. Regarding the subject of chatter, have you tried the noise cancel? I was having a serious problem with chatter in a park I was hunting and that seemed to stop it, aiming the coil toward any visible power source while waiting for it to adjust itself. PP

 

[LincolnLeg]

SGTM8411 I spoke with Sandy Burton at Minelab about this, It didn't sound like this was something that should be happening. She gave me a number of things to do to remedy this, and said to call her back if it don't. She seems to be a very smart lady where these machine's are concerned, and very customer oriented. She is very good for that company! I was just wondering if I was by myself with this problem. I hope there is more discussion about it. PP

 

[tomtowns]

But I always start it & noise cancel...First deep signal I get I try to adjust the sensitivity to maximize the signal response...If you are near power lines, either above or below ground, sometimes you're just S.O.O.L....TT

 

[tomtowns]

If you go back through the posts you'll see what I'm talking about... I thought my numbers weren't updateing properly...The cause... The threshold needs to return BEFORE the numbers will update...When pinpointing, try, once you have it pinpointed to make a short sweep dead center across the target & see if you don't get a good readout. If you do happen to have two targets close together you may get an erroneous reading...So try sweeping TWO short strokes across, one each way...but in-between let the detector update...If you really want to learn the machine go back through the posts like I did & read EVERYTHING available...You will still have questions, but like I've said before, there are a lot of really good explorer users here on the forum to help you...I've only been at it about 7 weeks so I'm no expert, but TRUST me...IF I CAN YOU CAN....no joke...TT

 

[tomtowns]

I got to thinking about an earlier post & figured I'd better post again...The chatter some of you are experiencing may be from cell phone towers, or cell phones themselves. Or police & fire radio transmissions, underground power wires or the overhead electrical lines...there may also be other reasons, like a layer under the ground from a fire a long time ago...In which case you need to either deal with the chatter or move to a different location...I've been to three different parks that were semi unhuntable, one was directly behind a police station & every five minutes or so their transmissions would kill my detecting...even noise cancelling wouldn't help...one park I'm not sure about but everytime my coil got within three or four inches of the ground it would start singing to me...I moved to a different park a half mile away & had no problems. My back yard is next to unhuntable because of the power lines...every park I have hunted has had areas that seem to have some kind of wires underground & I can actually follow this wire from above useing my detector...it is quite sensitive to electronic transmissions & electrical interferance...just something to be aware of...TT

 

[tomtowns]

I get One reading I like then whatever is in the ground is getting dug up. I don't usually pay much attention to the numbers "AFTER" I commit myself to digging...I've found that the Pinpoint SEEMS to be the more accurate but the only REAL accurate way to KNOW is to dig...Just MY opinion...TT

 

[saltwater jim]

hi pirate i have a se now for 2 weeks and have been getting falsing at the beach in wet sand which is very hard to get used too after usinga excal and sov. i also talked to sandy what she told me was to run gain at 6 noice cancel towards any towers and then noise cancel on the ground . im really confused about noise cancelling twice seems like the second time u noise cancel would nullify the first noise cancel also told me to run in fast not deep which i didnt understand . she told me i should be able to scrub the sand this way but as soon as coil hits sand big falsing . im not sure what the answer is half the people i get messages from say they get falsing the other half say they run high sens at the beach with no problem . i can here the quarters and dimes though the falsing but lower sounds like nickels and gold are gonna be a problem . i think my next step is try it at a park and if it works there without falsing then just use my sov and excal for the beach , im beginning to think its not a good beach detector however i may have a bad machine i hate shipping it to minelab pay the postage and have it come back the same way or internally lowered sens done to it as i like the depth on the quarters and dimes im dissapointed as i thought it would handle the ground like the other minelabs i have used esp with it being the top of the line detector for minelab and btw took off the search coil and tried all different settings i think it may be detecting salt in the wet stuff when i use conduct i get low falsing when i use ferrous i get high falsing. also i do get different numbers when i use pinpoint after u change from disc . from what i read this is nor supposed to happen either plus the vco doesnt work like the whites it seems to detune targets out or get real load maybe in my case its the wet salt i hope this discussion continues as more users use the se HH jim

 

[tomtowns]

n/t