Read it Still need help

[southron_98]

Hello, I live in sight of the Coleman Bridge at Yorktown, Virginia, when I retired my son bought me an Explorer II and for the life of me I cannot master it. Being disabled travel is an issue but I hope there might be someone close by who might have the patience and time who might be able to teach me how to use it. Thank you.

 

[Big Fang Coin Biter]

Hi Gary,
You can search the archives of this forum and find more than most books on the subject. I usually suggest to beginners to hunt at a popular sandy beach first. The reason is that the digging is easy, and there are usually some coins around to find. Go when there are not lots of people enjoying the beach. The best way to learn the Explorer is to use it.

General rules of thumb:
Start out in factory preset and don't change settings until you start to "get it".
If it sounds like crap - it usually is.
If you spend more than 30 seconds trying to id a target - you could have dug it up.
Once you get a hit - narrow your sweep down to a very small 3" over the target, for best sound/id.
If you can lift the coil up over a foot and still get a signal - it is something big like a pop can.
Don't be concerned with small "chirps" that do not repeat - they are being discriminated out, but just "chirped" before going silent.
There is a lot more junk than goodies - pass over junk quickly - find the repeating signal.
You are looking for a signal that repeats in both the left and right swing - then turn 90 degrees - it should still repeat. If not walk on.

Even in your own back yard there are bound to be targets to dig. Lay out a few coins and see how they sound compared to the stuff in the ground.

It would be good to learn some from an Explorer user near you, but you need to have some experience before that will really help much.

Hope this helps and have fun, first and foremost!
BF

 

[TokenDigger]

Hi Southron-
The MineLabs have a very long learning curve. I've had mine for 5+ years and I am still learning. Be patient and it will pay off.
In regards to getting some help from someone local - if there are any detecting clubs in your area you may want to check one out or make a call and ask if there is anyone in the club familiar with the Explorer II. BF is right though - try it out in your backyard, school yards, beaches, etc. before getting someone to help you out. That way you'll be ready with a list of questions for them. Good luck & good hunting!

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Going out with an experienced Explorer user several times will shorten your learning period if the fellow has the patience to work with you.

If not my advice don't get fancy leave the unit in quickstart, raise the sens. into the 20's and threshold to your liking and hunt that way for a month or so until you get the feel as even quickstart in its own right is a fine program. Read the advanced portion of the manual several times and experiment and all will fall into place. The main thing is get a lot of field time as reading manuals is one thing but doing it is another...

 

[TokenDigger]

One other suggestion-you may want to try a test garden and bury a few coins (clad, silver, zinc penny, nickel, wheatie, etc.) and some other stuff (pull tab, screw top, etc.) at different depths in your yard and test the machine on them. You may also want to try putting a rusty nail or some other iron in with one of the coins to see if you can pick it out. Good luck & HH!