I finally got a chance to take the 8500 on an actual hunt. Since it is winter where I live, I have only had "test bed" time with the 8500. Yesterday I had a chance to put my test bed findings to use in the field.
I first thought that I would be using four tone(proportional audio) and five tone(not proportional audio) as my main settings, but I found 5 tone to be very annoying in the trashy places I detect. My initially thought that D 3 was not any setting I would use, but that has changed. I found D1 with high sensitivity would be my best setting and it is the setting that most resembles the 8000. Here are my two main programs with the 8500. 1. disc 20, sens 85, D1, and 3 tones. 2. disc 20, sens 70-75, D3, and 3 tones.
The first place I hunted was a fairgrounds that is littered with every kind of modern trash. The worst trash here is small wadded up foil from hot dogs or other food. It is everywhere and has been used since the 50's. We are not equipped to dig all of this foil searching for gold. I just concentrate on high tones here. I started out in the D1 program and found a handful of modern clad. The mid tone on the 8500 is not a clean sounding signal. It sounds like static and it will take some time to be used effectively. The high tone is more like the 8000 high tone, but in my opinion, it is not the same. I think the people who had the 8000 and then purchased the 8500 are not liking the tones. If I had not ever had an 8000, the 8500 would seem perfectly normal to me.
After using D1 for half of the morning, I switched to D3. In my test bed, I saw no real depth improvement using D3, but after paying close attention to how hard the audio hits in my test garden, I did see a difference between D1 and D3. Now I had a chance to see if D3 would work where I hunt. I have found for D3 to be stable, you can't run it above 75 sens. I actually dropped it to 70. I also found it to favor a slower sweep speed which is what I prefer. Older coins here are pretty scarce, but I do stumble on to one ocassionaly .I got a pretty good signal reading between 76-81 and it showed up at three inches in pinpoint. I found a rusty nail at about 4 inches and re-checked the hole because iron does not read in that range. I could not get a signal with my pinpointer, but could get a perfect 84 with the detector. Finally I found a 191? wheat penny that was 4 inches below the nail and slightly off to the side. Impressive for any detector.
I was running out of steam, but wanted to take advantage of the 60 degree weather. I stopped at the old church camp and started detecting using the D3 program. I found a dozen clad coins from shallow depths and then decided to hunt along the limestone drive that goes through the entire camp. I was finding coins every couple of minutes, but the digging was tough in the mix of stone and packed dirt. I got a fainter, repeatable low 80's signal that pinpointed at 3 inches. I finally got to the coin at 7 inches or so and it was wheat penny. I found two more wheat at similar depths along side of this drive and they also showed 3 inches in pinpoint. I think this a quirk of the 8500 and thought back at thr first part of days hunt and did remember just about all signals in pinpoint showed 3 inches. More time in the field will bring this issue to light.
When I got home, I immediately went to my test garden to actually pinpoint my planted coins. The deeper(8 inches or more) all pinpointed at 4 inches. For the record, I am using the 11 inch dd coil and maybe the 8500 is programmed for the 10 inch concentric coil. Just a thought. As of right now, I prefer my F5, but I know enough to not judge any detector until you have used it for at least 40-50 hours. One thing for sure, the 8500 is a very capable detector with lots of adjustments for the people who like to "play". I almost forgot a very nice feature that I used yesterday morning. The backlight! I got an early start to beat the predicted rain and I used the light for about a half an hour. Not a game changer, but very useful when needed.
I first thought that I would be using four tone(proportional audio) and five tone(not proportional audio) as my main settings, but I found 5 tone to be very annoying in the trashy places I detect. My initially thought that D 3 was not any setting I would use, but that has changed. I found D1 with high sensitivity would be my best setting and it is the setting that most resembles the 8000. Here are my two main programs with the 8500. 1. disc 20, sens 85, D1, and 3 tones. 2. disc 20, sens 70-75, D3, and 3 tones.
The first place I hunted was a fairgrounds that is littered with every kind of modern trash. The worst trash here is small wadded up foil from hot dogs or other food. It is everywhere and has been used since the 50's. We are not equipped to dig all of this foil searching for gold. I just concentrate on high tones here. I started out in the D1 program and found a handful of modern clad. The mid tone on the 8500 is not a clean sounding signal. It sounds like static and it will take some time to be used effectively. The high tone is more like the 8000 high tone, but in my opinion, it is not the same. I think the people who had the 8000 and then purchased the 8500 are not liking the tones. If I had not ever had an 8000, the 8500 would seem perfectly normal to me.
After using D1 for half of the morning, I switched to D3. In my test bed, I saw no real depth improvement using D3, but after paying close attention to how hard the audio hits in my test garden, I did see a difference between D1 and D3. Now I had a chance to see if D3 would work where I hunt. I have found for D3 to be stable, you can't run it above 75 sens. I actually dropped it to 70. I also found it to favor a slower sweep speed which is what I prefer. Older coins here are pretty scarce, but I do stumble on to one ocassionaly .I got a pretty good signal reading between 76-81 and it showed up at three inches in pinpoint. I found a rusty nail at about 4 inches and re-checked the hole because iron does not read in that range. I could not get a signal with my pinpointer, but could get a perfect 84 with the detector. Finally I found a 191? wheat penny that was 4 inches below the nail and slightly off to the side. Impressive for any detector.
I was running out of steam, but wanted to take advantage of the 60 degree weather. I stopped at the old church camp and started detecting using the D3 program. I found a dozen clad coins from shallow depths and then decided to hunt along the limestone drive that goes through the entire camp. I was finding coins every couple of minutes, but the digging was tough in the mix of stone and packed dirt. I got a fainter, repeatable low 80's signal that pinpointed at 3 inches. I finally got to the coin at 7 inches or so and it was wheat penny. I found two more wheat at similar depths along side of this drive and they also showed 3 inches in pinpoint. I think this a quirk of the 8500 and thought back at thr first part of days hunt and did remember just about all signals in pinpoint showed 3 inches. More time in the field will bring this issue to light.
When I got home, I immediately went to my test garden to actually pinpoint my planted coins. The deeper(8 inches or more) all pinpointed at 4 inches. For the record, I am using the 11 inch dd coil and maybe the 8500 is programmed for the 10 inch concentric coil. Just a thought. As of right now, I prefer my F5, but I know enough to not judge any detector until you have used it for at least 40-50 hours. One thing for sure, the 8500 is a very capable detector with lots of adjustments for the people who like to "play". I almost forgot a very nice feature that I used yesterday morning. The backlight! I got an early start to beat the predicted rain and I used the light for about a half an hour. Not a game changer, but very useful when needed.