Safari cacophony is a real problem for me

[edjcox]

Ok I admit I have never used a FS detector before. In fact I go back to the 70's and the machine I used was a simple discriminator.

Now I assemble my Safari and take it to an old park wherein there used to be an amusement park. I set up the machine an let it noise cancel. Set it to default coin mode, adjust all per the manual and begin the swings. Rapidly I start to hear tones, lows, highs, the panel seems unsure its changing so I slow down and go over the area with a a few more swings... Same cacophony of tones. No clear indications and some tones chime in once and then Nada even after going over the area again.

Frustrated to high heaven (or hell) I pack it up and sit down a picnic table and read the manual again. Start over in a different area and the disjointed symphony begins anew.

This leads me to believe I am in a target rich environment and need to move to cleaner start up area... Perhaps save this idyllic spot for when I know what I'm doing...

Anyone have any advice or quick source for a read. Also does anyone have any special beginner settings I can impose on my safari that might make me like my investment?

Thanks

E J Cox

 

[nick hunter]

Hi !

If this chatter is not caused by environmental interferences (electric lines, cables, etc), then the fist thing to do is to check if there's no dirt between coil and coil cover.

If not, try to start searching with the sens at 8, with high trash ON.

Now you'd be able to dig the goodies.

HH

Nick

 

[Ray in WA]

EJ,

Your initial reaction is normal. I'm a new Safari owner too and I experienced the same thing first time out. Just give it lots of practice and you'll be interpreting all those hums, squeaks and beeps in no time.

Just start off in the coin mode for a while and keep your swing slow to lock onto the good signals. Pretty soon you'll be detecting in all metal mode.

Ray

 

[1relichunter]

same here, bought a new Safari, but I'm having a real hard time getting use to every noise in the book. I see a 35, a coin is on the screen, it's about 6" down, I dig, come up with a bottle cap. I try again, a 37, coin, 2-3", another darn cap. Very frustrating , I have Andy's book, still hard to get used to and read what the screen is showing compared to what I'm digging. Any answers??

 

[dont know nutin]

I had much the same trouble with my Safari! After hours trying to find coins all I ever seemed to find was can tabs, bottle caps,nails and stuff like that. I will say when I found all that stuff IT WAS DEEP!. I got so frustrated I sold my Safari and am now using a much less expensive detector I bought from one of the sights sponsors. I am now finding coins! all clad but coins non the less. I guess the Safari does well for some folks but I never had much luck with that unit.

 

[edjcox]

Thanks for the responses. No I won't be selling it that quick. I did go to an old schoolyard baseball field and there in front of the bleachers I found my first silver dime today. 1956.. only an inch down and the safari indicated midway or six inches... Also indicated it as a ring not coin...

Still learning to read the symphony. Minelabs manual is really a poor read and instructional. I would think they could define the numeric values better. Getting used to the null effect seems key but it's still not super clear to me. Using headphones.

The machine is probably much smarter than the operator at this point..

Oh I also found a lead battery terminal clamp... It was 3 inches down.. indicated as coin at 8 inches.

Felt like a gopher out there. tamped down the sod real nice afterwards though...

LAters

 

[Onus]

Welcome to the club! I've had the same problems. Wanna swap bottle caps? When I do find something worthwhile I am elated! So, itmust be me , not the detector. I will "endeaver to perservere", (Chief Dan George in The Outlaw Josey Wales) at least for the time being. Onus

 

[marxionu]

I like my Safari it takes out everything, just use headphones and listen. Thrash density must be on low because of better target ID. Slow down and listen.

 

[MR.SCOTT]

Minelab needs to send a DVD with this unit!!!
I made a test bed and test on the kitchen table before every outing.
Good luck and Happy hunting!

 

[Virgile in Okla.]

This is what I do and it works for me, Ground Balance first, set to find coins, sinsitivity @ 14, threshold @ 8, trash density @ high, and dig only the repeatable tones, once I learned the tones, I started tweaking the controls more and depends where you are hunting, not say it is for everyone, but works for me. Virgile in Okla.

 

[ronaldj2]

I've been out atleast ten or more times now with the safari, and I have mixed feelings. My last hunt was at a cellar hole-foundation in which a few years earlier I had found 1856 soaring eagle penny. I hunted in coins, and coin/jewelery but no real good hits. Lots of old cut nails, which showed as coins until they came out of the ground. Hunted 2 parks before this, lots of trash was found. a coulple of beer bottle caps read as coins, and did have repeatable signals. Read as coins even after I dug them up. And yes the constant beeping for many targets within a one swing distance is absolutely unbelievable. Never had this affect with my White's spectrum xlt. I know I am somewhat new to this machine, but I am definately not new to detecting.
I hope that the safari doesn't turn out to be a lemon as it was priced at least 100 bucks more than a new xlt. In this economy I would hate to have spent some much on a machine that isn't performing up to it's reputation. I did however find plenty of coins, a 1964 silver dime, and some pins, also 2 buttons.
I think if the park has a lot of trash it will probably keep acting somewhat erratic. I am still going to keep using the machine as I know there are always learning curves to every new machine.

 

[edjcox]

All right, I found some interesting video's at the Minelab site. One was a bit informative on the readings. I quickly assembled a test kit of coins of various denominations and metals. Got a piece of gold in an old lapel pin and an piece of gold chain.Aluminum can tab, bottle top. Piece of foil, chewing gum wrapper. All these will be tested in a rather objective test plan to place them under a plastic pan filled with local dirt. First flat than on edge. Will record the numeric value and the screen spectrum and make note of the tones emitted.

This will enable me to compile a good sheet of expected indicators. Then it's off to the field.

Recently asked permission to MD in Green Lane Park, here in PA and was told " No metal detectors are allowed in the Park. " When I asked why I got a dead silence... Easy to say no but hard to give a decent objective reason. ah well... lots of open spaces here abouts.

LAters

EJ

 

[Idaho-Marke]

n/t

 

[ronaldj2]

I am revising my last post, as I have gained a little more skill/knowledge with this detector. As far as a symphony of sounds goes, if you have that many sounds going on, then yes, you probably have many targets in a small area. This happened to me yesterday. I was detecting at a university's campus in an older area its not used for a whole lot of activity other than Frisbee, passing footballs, lying around in the sun, etc. Anyway when you get the musical calliope of sounds and you want to take the time to pinpoint and dig these targets by eliminating targets one at a time, you can see that the safari really is doing its job. Oh, I also found out that this particular college campus had paths or access roads that were made from slag. Certain paths and roads were covered over with soil and then grass was planted over this. Back in the day when most big college campuses used to burn their trash in giant incinerators what was left over was ash and whatever melted. To get rid of this, when they cleaned out the incinerators, they would literally use this material to pave small roads or footpaths. This particular mineralization can drive any metal detector erratically crazy. Sorry for the rabbit trail !! Getting back to multiple signals, I had some time on my hands and decided to chase down every little beep. When you start out pinpointing work your way to the outer edges of the target and then slowly move your coil in a criss cross pattern until you target area gets smaller. Then dig the target, some targets may be only a few inches apart, because of the stock coil size it can get tricky. Process of elimination works if you have patience. The more I use the safari, the more I find out what a good machine it really is. Also trying a variety of locations is a good thing to do !! I was at the campus looking for a class ring that was lost in 1969, to my disappointment, where the ring was lost is now a parking lot. That was a real bummer for me, and the person who asked me to look for the ring. It sure would have been nice to return the ring after a forty year absence.

 

[The Fog]

I just got my safari a month ago, I too was frustrated at first, I thought maybe my machine was a lemon or calibrated wrong. In the coin only mode it sounded like R2D2, it sang all kinds of songs and the numerical indicator bounced all over the place. Do a noise cancel where you are sure there is no metal below first (I check in all metal mode). then I adjust the sensitivity and threshold, I put the sensitivity at around 14 and the threshold in the same neighborhood. I followed Andy sabisch's book tip and rejected -10 thru +12, and +17 thru +22 and also reject +40. I saved this as a custom coin mode setting and it quieted a lot of the chatter down. Now I am very new to this machine and I am still in the learning process, but it helped me greatly to only dig signals that were solid. the ones that would play a flutie orchestra and the numbers showing 14, 26, 34, 38, 32 etc all over one target was usually garbagio, sometimes old rusted iron, or old square nails etc will do this (at least I have noticed this when i drove myself crazy digging wacky signal. Also listen to the Hum, when it shuts off during those flutie all over the place signals it's something your scrimming out. If there's a coin under there you will get a nice repeating signal and there usually will be no mistaking it. I'm about 20 hours on this machine now and my confidence and understanding is increasing quite rapidly now. These settings quieted the machine down quite a bit. For the time being I am blowing over those questionable all over the place sounds and digging targets that are true repeating clear signals until the learning curve gets higher. Don't give up, I didn't and now I am realizing what a great machine it is. Today was my 5th outing with it and I dug only true signals, I found 4 musket balls, old spoon, frock button, 1857 seated liberty quarter and a 1828 King George IV half penny. Buy Sabish's book mastering the Quattro, it's a cheap investment, a quick read and very informative.

 

[ronaldj2]

Thanks Fog, I absolutely would not give up !! I was out with my 11yr old son yesterday at a school that was built in the thirtie's. We didn't find anything fantastic my son found some clad quarters and a couple of pennie's, a newer belt buckle that says: "Old Skool" on it. He used the BH 505 I used my safari around the baseball field, lots of pennie's. Had fun spending quality time with my boy he is one of four boys from 9, 11, 14, 15 yrs of age. I'm finding the pinpointing to be very accurate on this machine. I have noticed when the machine scrims there is a blank sound, I will be getting Andy's book as It is a recommended read by many folks on the forum. Also becayse of people like yourself who offer good sound advice on some adjustments. I'll be posting a picture of myself as well as some finds I have made. Talk later !!!

 

[BillRod13]

Does anybody know where I can buy Andy's book. I have looked everywhere with no luck. Kellyco no longer sells it. They told me on the phone it was discontinued. Thanks.

 

[The Fog]

http://www.sabischbooks.com/books.htm

 

[BillRod13]

Thank you Fog. Got my copy on the way.

 

[Paul from Kiev]

Nevertheles this machine definitely has some problems. So, I will stay with my future Terra705.