I have a question about the 10 pre-programmed "accepting" patterns under the Discrimination sub-menu. I understand some of them (All Metal, Coins, Jewellery, etc.) but I'm having trouble understanding the purpose of the patterns for "Foil", "Pull Tabs" "Crown Caps", "Nails", etc. For example, how can I use the pattern for "Pull Tabs" to good effect unless I'm detecting a park for pull tabs? I've done quite a bit of studying on this so far and can't seem find out how to put these paticular patterns to good use. What am I missing?
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Pre-programmed Disc Patterns
- Thread starter Indotguy
- Start date
That is exactly what you are missing ..... Pull tabs, rusty iron nails !!!! Its called discrimination and is designed to block out these unwanted items. Now, with that said some gold and nickles fall in with the foil pull tab discrimination, however in most cases the discrimination out weighs these when coin hunting silver. Good Luck in your hunts !
Sorry, but I'm still confused because the patterns I'm talking about are designed to ACCEPT "pull tabs", "foil", etc., and BLOCK everything else. For example, the pattern for pull-tabs has the entire screen blacked out except for the small section where pull-tabs might fall. If these patterns were intended to "Block out" pull-tabs, foil, etc. shouldn't the entire screen be white EXCEPT for the small area where pull-tabs would be?
I'm not being critical of the E-Trac, I'm just trying to learn how to use all of it's features to their fullest potential.
I'm not being critical of the E-Trac, I'm just trying to learn how to use all of it's features to their fullest potential.
I don't have my detector nearby so I can't tell you the button but as you are adding or combining those pre existing patterns to a new pattern you have the option of reversing them...from accept to reject. So you would add the pattern for pull tabs and reverse it from accept to reject before adding another pattern or saving the one you are working on. Probably would be easier if minelab simply made the obvious reject patterns reject by default but instead they chose to make everything accept by default so you have to hit one extra button to get what you really want.
Maybe they want you to wear out your keypad so you buy a new detector
....smart!
Maybe they want you to wear out your keypad so you buy a new detector
....smart!Just to be clear, I'm not a total 'newbie' at this. I've been metal detecting off and on for over 30 years. I own a Delta 4000, an AT Pro, an X-tera 705, and now the E- Trac which I am confident I will love once I get a chance to get it outdoors (I lived in the Midwest so it may be a while). I understand the pros and cons of using descrimination. I've read the E-trac manual, Andy's book, Forums, and anything else I can find regarding the E-trac but I can not find anything describing how to put the pre-programmed trash patterns to good use. Are they meant to be used to help remove foil, pull-tabs, nails, etc. from a trashy site to make it easier to find good targets? I'm open to suggestions.
Forget the pre set patterns . They are all crud. They are for beginners so they can get used to the machine . If you want to find good stuff then open up the machine to reject Iron only .
Settings are the most important part not the patterns .
If you discrim a section of the screen you will miss tons of good targets that read in that area too , Pull tabs and Ring pulls come in the Gold section . Bottle tops come in where UK Pound coins come in and maybe US Quarters .
Also if you have a ring pull next to a Quarter or maybe a Silver ring , the null affect of the Pull tab area will if discriminated cover a good target that you want to find.
Its the same for all targets if next to something that is discriminated out .
Dont fall in the trap of using the E.Trac like a cheapy machine , otherwise you may as well buy a cheapy machine .
As for except or reject patterns , say you have a blacked out screen and you select Pulltabs and it goes clear then you will find Pulltabs and anything that reads like one .
If you have a clear screen and select Pulltabs and it is blacked out then you will find most targets that are not near Pulltabs and all others .
Only when a section is blacked out is it discriminated out.
I have a few patterns and programs i use but they are much more open . Its about getting used to the capability of the machine , The E.Trac is a formidable machine if used right .
Settings are the most important part not the patterns .
If you discrim a section of the screen you will miss tons of good targets that read in that area too , Pull tabs and Ring pulls come in the Gold section . Bottle tops come in where UK Pound coins come in and maybe US Quarters .
Also if you have a ring pull next to a Quarter or maybe a Silver ring , the null affect of the Pull tab area will if discriminated cover a good target that you want to find.
Its the same for all targets if next to something that is discriminated out .
Dont fall in the trap of using the E.Trac like a cheapy machine , otherwise you may as well buy a cheapy machine .
As for except or reject patterns , say you have a blacked out screen and you select Pulltabs and it goes clear then you will find Pulltabs and anything that reads like one .
If you have a clear screen and select Pulltabs and it is blacked out then you will find most targets that are not near Pulltabs and all others .
Only when a section is blacked out is it discriminated out.
I have a few patterns and programs i use but they are much more open . Its about getting used to the capability of the machine , The E.Trac is a formidable machine if used right .
The ability to use minimal discrimination is pretty much dependent on the level of trash at the site. We all like to say you should dig it all (other than iron) but at some sites that approach may not work well and you will end up wasting a lot of time doing it. For example one site I search is a picnic / party-pavillion area where major amounts of beverages are consumed and lots of food is cooked on loads of barbecues (tin foil, melted aluminum can bits, etc). Although I'd like to dig it all there in hopes of finding some jewelry others have missed every time I've tried it severely reduced my finds. So my advise is...use minimal descrimination as just another tool in your arsenal...try it at a given site but use a different approach if it results in little to no good finds.