Question for Excal Users: Silent Mode or Threshold?

[JEAN IN MIAMI]

Hello Everyone,


I was just wondering how many of you Excalibur users prefer hunting in silent mode versus threshold? I am also interested in your results. Which do you think is better? I switched to totally silent mode a few years ago and I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing. The last couple of years here in Miami, my partner's and my finds have dramatically decreased, and I'm just trying to rule out any potential problems due to hunting style and equipment. For almost four years my hunting buddy lived off his finds, and now he is starving. Thank God detecting is just a hobby/obsession for me!!!



Your Feedback is Much Appreciated,

Kind Regards,


Jean

 

[Steve from Ohio]

For me the best way to hunt with the Excalibur is in all metal (pinpoint mode). To check my finds I flip into discriminate to see if it is iron.

I run with a threshold of just above being silent and then a bit more. See the Oldbeachnut videos on you tube or here on Findmall for how I hunt. He has some good videos that show how hunting the beaches should be done.

Could be the reason for the decrease in finds is the decrease in the number of people going to the beach.

The economy the way it is means less people going on vacation and less people on the beach.

It could also be that the last few years the winter in Florida has not been as warm and people just are not going to the beaches. Where is global warming when you need it? The water off Florida is pretty cold and no one in their right mind is going in the water.

Another problem is Florida's insistence on re sanding the beaches. They dump tons of sand on the beaches and it is kind of hard finding anything under 4 feet of freshly dumped sand.

Your best bet is to go to the beaches that are not as popular with people. They are less likely to be hit by detectorists and still have some pretty good finds in them.

 

[mtpockets]

everyone's different... I hunt in Disc and truly have never used Pinpoint mode. I just don't like to switch back and fourth..

I set it and forget it..

 

[ratpack]

I hunt in both pinpoint and disc but I will tell you this, if you turn off the threshold (on the beach) you cant tell where the iron is and the other heavy metals that accompany the iron like gold. I never ever ever hunt in silent as I want to know where the heavy metals are. Just my $1.25

 

[John (west central FL)]

I believe it's best to run a threshold that is just loud enough to hear. If you let it drop below the silent level then you really don't know where it's set. If it's set too low then you will not get signals on small or very deep targets. You can run some tests to prove this to yourself.

I personally don't like to hunt in pinpoint unless I know I'm in a target rich area and have already cleaned it out in discriminate mode. Then I go back and hit it again in pinpoint and get the targets that were too deep for disc to detect. Hunting all the time in all-metal is just too slow. Time spent digging iron and switching knobs is time you are not swinging the coil over potential good targets.

 

[kered]

The threshold should be audiable although very low, quite often the only indicatin of passing over a very deep target is the change in the threshold tone(in disc mode) if you had it completely silent this would not be heard and missed, it also helps to tell when you pass over iron as you get a null as we all know. The threshold can also be used to help control the sensability and pass speeds, lots of short nulls tells you its strugling to keep up with your swings peed(and losing depth/performance) with the amount of sens you have set, so you have to slow down or reduce the sensitivity.

You can tell when its right by the smooth threshold(this goes for all metal/pinpoint mode too, if its pulsing you have too much sens).

Taking all this into consideration i would say its a necesity although its up to you

 

[Waterdog]

well put John. I too enjoy hearing what is going on under my coil and the null tells me. Sometimes just a simple change in threshold tells me to go back and double check it. Maybe take a little off the top and recheck it.
I feel because of the people out of work, people helping people, selling gold too make ends meet= less gold for us. Don't give up there is always a brighter day ahead

 

[bdahunter]

I find I can goose the sensitivity a little doing this, I also get better coverage than with AM Mode. I never use Discrimination, it is set at the minimum and I just let the iron nulling allow me to pass over regular ferrous targets - cast iron cannon balls and SS still register of course.
To each their own but for me in my hunting conditions - Silent Mode has proven to be the way to go.

 

[Micheal_R]

n/t

 

[kered]

I find I can goose the sensitivity a little doing this, I also get better coverage than with AM Mode. I never use Discrimination, it is set at the minimum and I just let the iron nulling allow me to pass over regular ferrous targets - cast iron cannon balls and SS still register of course.
To each their own but for me in my hunting conditions - Silent Mode has proven to be the way to go.

Hmmm i think i'm confused, if your in silent mode how can you tell its nulling? ie." I just let the iron nulling allow me to pass over regular ferrous targets"

 

[bdahunter]

I find I can goose the sensitivity a little doing this, I also get better coverage than with AM Mode. I never use Discrimination, it is set at the minimum and I just let the iron nulling allow me to pass over regular ferrous targets - cast iron cannon balls and SS still register of course.
To each their own but for me in my hunting conditions - Silent Mode has proven to be the way to go.

Hmmm i think i'm confused, if your in silent mode how can you tell its nulling? ie." I just let the iron nulling allow me to pass over regular ferrous targets"

If is nulling it is not provided as input for a target that needs to be dug. Knocking out the iron without having to raise the disc is the benefit in my mind. By silent mode I mean threshold down to barely audible with the sensitivity set to the point where it just falses, then pull back the threshold so that it just disappears.

 

[OldBeechnut]

Those who have hunted in Almetal, On your Excal, in the very low unstable area of the threshold, just audible.......can you hear your threshold cut out as you turn the knob to off, basically what I am asking, is there a area of threshold you can't hear................

thanks joe

 

[Steve from Ohio]

Those who have hunted in Almetal, On your Excal, in the very low unstable area of the threshold, just audible.......can you hear your threshold cut out as you turn the knob to off, basically what I am asking, is there a area of threshold you can't hear................

thanks joe

Joe, I have no threshold at 12 o'clock on my Excalibur II 1000 even at full volume. I do get a ghost of a sound at 10 but just a faint sound and only there. I do get just a very slight peep as I switch on the Excalibur.

Why do you ask?

 

[kered]

ok i'm with you, i hunt like that too, thought you ment absolute silence :blush: like on the GT in silent mode

 

[JEAN IN MIAMI]

Thank you everyone for the interesting and enlightening responses. What a great group of guys!!

 

[Steve from Ohio]

I believe it's best to run a threshold that is just loud enough to hear. If you let it drop below the silent level then you really don't know where it's set. If it's set too low then you will not get signals on small or very deep targets. You can run some tests to prove this to yourself.

I personally don't like to hunt in pinpoint unless I know I'm in a target rich area and have already cleaned it out in discriminate mode. Then I go back and hit it again in pinpoint and get the targets that were too deep for disc to detect. Hunting all the time in all-metal is just too slow. Time spent digging iron and switching knobs is time you are not swinging the coil over potential good targets.

Hmmmm.....I flipped my Excalibur II on my straight shaft and changing to discriminate from pin point is less than a second. Not sure how much area I would miss in less than a second. And I don't dig everything. I use All metal (pin point) and then switch to discriminate to check to see if it is iron. If I get a good reading in discriminate then I dig unless I am looking for relics and then I do dig everything.

 

[kered]

You won't miss nothing in that second to change from one to the other but John will miss the ones that we find in all metal that don't register in Disc mode that are quite often deep goodies without having to go over the area a second time maybe a day or 2 later.

 

[bdahunter]

If you want to hunt in all metal then the best way to go is to use a PI, the Whites DF does an excellent job in my experience. If you have mineralization difficulties then a PI is the answer. If you do not have mineralization problems (say like in a place such as Bermuda) then hunting in Disc makes much more sense. The coverage in discriminate is wider and the detection is as deep or deeper than Pinpoint.
The bottom line is that we each have to do whatever works best for the areas we hunt.

Cheers,

BDA

 

[kered]

This debate will go on forever, as you say the bottom line is what works for you in your area, for me its all metal on the excal 2 or use the DF, i mainly use the Etrac on the wet sand as i can run All metal with added tone ID and its deep.

 

[excalme]

When I used to hunt altlantic side in Florida I got more depth and sensitivity in discrim on low.
All metal was pretty useless.