Sensitivity at 32 pointer.

[Ace]

If you're running sensitivity at 30-32 targets from 1"-3" deep will sound like surface targets, they will give a very consistent loud beep and it will be hard to locate unless you check above the turf on the grass if it's there & use the pinpoint feature, once pinpointed (appx.) if you have the X-1 use it, it will punch up to 3" and you'll recover near surface targets real quick. Just a pointer since I used Sensitivity at 32 with Semi-Auto (used at Manual causedthe Exp. To be erratic), didn't find much but clad, I did however recover a 1965 clad dime along with a 1999 a little above the 1965 between two small rotten iron nail looking things showing me the Explorer II is working wonders, no silver though, but about 40 old deep pulltabs which indicates other detectorists were too lazy to dig them which leaves me the posssible indian head cents and gold jewelry.

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

I'm not sure why you would WANT targets from 1" to 3" to sound like surface targets. I want my surface targets to sound like surface targets, my 3" targets to sound like 3" targets, and my 10"+ targets to sound like 10"+ targets. I generally run my sens in manual at 25 to 28 depending on conditions and the Gain at 6 to 7 so that the deeper targets SOUND deeper.

I don't have a lot of faith in the Auto sens mode, but I have done a lot of testing on the deeper targets (particularly deep silver coins and wheaties in the 6"+ range) and have run my sensitivity DOWN from 28 to 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, etc. to see when I would LOSE the target. I generally see the signal degrade at around 22 to 24, break up pretty bad at 20, and disappear someplace below that. So I think you could get away with running your sens in manual and a lot lower (whatever it takes to be stable) and not lose a lot of depth. In fact, you may well get stable operation and MORE depth at say manual 25 than at Auto 30 or 32. My testing indicates so. It really depends on the ground composition you're hunting in because the Auto setting can cut that 32 down to 22 (or even 12???) if there's a lot of mineralization or the ground is dry, heavy clay, etc.

Whatever works. But I say don't get hung up on feeling you're missing out on deep stuff if you can't run the sens near 30 or better. I've dug stuff at the limit of the depth meter at sensitivity 24 or 25.

 

[Ace]

You've got a point there Mike, but perhaps just perhaps there might be at least some coin/s that can only be reached with MAX sensitivity since I'm finding clad coins at 10" deep sometimes and usually at 5" which is pretty deep for new clad; I might be dead wrong but it will be a fun experiment, although the compensation worries me, is there a way to tell if the Explorer when in Semi-Auto has lowered the sensitivity to an "X" level (i.e. 15, 20, 24, etc.)? Thanks for the information Mike!

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

I don't know of any way to tell just how much the Semi-Auto mode is lowering the sensitivity. I only know that it seems to me, in testing in MY area and hunt spots, that it almost always gets a better signal at greater depths when set at 25 to 28 manual than it does at say 30 or 32 in Semi-Auto. Play with it and do some testing and see what you think.

 

[ikon]

when i run my sens up pass 24 my explorer starts to get alittle iratic. not a straight threshold. do you compensate for that or just put up with the iratic threshold. do you turn the threshold down. i talked to guys on the beach with wot coils run all the way up to 32 and ive tried it even with a sr 12 and i feel theres just too much noise. i think i can understand about the benifits of a high sens. but how can you balance out the threshold. i think im making myself clear

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

If we're talking beach then you are correct...you need to run the sens a little lower on the beach, lower in the wet sand and lower still in the shallow water. This is not a big deal at all since the Minelab machines with their multiple frequencies cut through that salty sand to produce beach performance far superior to any other machines with the exception of the Pulse Induction units. And when you talk Quattro and Explorer, they're pretty darn close to those PI's in some cases.

As for the big coil guys running sensitivty at 32 at the beach, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me as I have never seen a machine that could run MORE sensitivity at the beach with a bigger coil. All the Excal and Sovereign folks will tell you that when you run a Sunray S-12 or a WOT coil you pretty much always need to back off the sens a tad to do it. When I had my Quattro and a 12.5 coil I was able to run at or near my normal sensitivty of manual 17 or 18 in the wet sand (upper limit is 20) but would have to come down to 15 to 17 in the shallow water.

Now for land hunting, there's no reason that in MOST hunt spots you should see arratic threshold when going above 24. I routinely run mine at 28 to start with and lower it if need be. I run my threshold pretty low...just to where I can clearly hear it and no higher. There's no sense to run it any higher...the only thing you need the threshold for is so you can hear it when it STOPS, which lets you know one of two things...you've just passed over something you have discriminated out OR you've just passed over a very deep target that you need to go back to a scrutinize more closely. As long as you can hear it, it's good. So maybe lower that a bit.

The other thing I'll say on threshold is that sometimes you won't be able to maintain one due to the area, mineralization in the ground, iron, running a lot of disc...all these things will make the trheshold come and go constantly. If you call the threshold "being erratic" the fact that it is never constant, you may want to look at what disc you are running. At the beach I never run ANY disc...not when I had my Elite, not with my Excal that I beach hunt with now, and not with the Explorer II. In fact, I don't usually run any on land either. Sometimes I do, but mostly I hunt in IM -16 and LISTEN to it all. Then I DIG what I like and leave what I don't. You may say "Why even have all that sophistication then if you aren't going to use it?" I AM using it. I'm using the digital, the tones, and the Smartfind to tell me what to dig. But I'm using the LACK of discrimination to let me hear it all. And what that does is it lets me have a much more stable threshold. It's not constantly going null on me because I have stuff knocked out. And on the beach, there is SO much gold in the same exact range as trash, running heavy disc is sure death anyway.

Here's the program I use most everywhere:

http://mikesweather.metsite.com/detectin/html/charles_rock_solid_setup.html

Try that for a couple hunts and see what you think.

 

[thinkin2]

Wow! Some great finds there, Mike. Your site is very nice and the tutorial on the Explorer is great. I would like to try it but I would like to have your permission to print it out. BTW, I have lots of relative is VA Beach and Norflok. I live in the Charleston SC area, about 10 minutes from the beach. Used to do a lot of relic hunting but development is taking all the land away so mostly I'm beach hunting now. Thanks for the link to your site and please let me know if I can print out your instructions. Thanks and have a great weekend.
Jerry

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Jerry, I'm glad you like the site but it's not MY site. The name is just a coincidence. The site is run by Mike Moutray, a different Mike. But I'm sure he'd have no problem with you printing it out and using it...I'm pretty sure that's why he put it there.

Yeah number of land hunting hot spots is definitely a finite resource at least for silver and relics) and it gets harder and harder to find the good stuff. But there is still a lot left in the ground if you know where to look. Research and getting permission to hunt private property seem to be the best bets these days.

 

[thinkin2]

Thanks for the reply, Mike. I, too was Navy. Retired Chief Quartermaster, 1988. Spent a couple of years in Norfolk on a Tin Can in the mid 60's. Got out for awhile and went back in '74. Decided to do something different so went into Submarines and stayed there until leaving. Some law enforcement after retiring but not doing anything much now but metal detecting and playing golf. Have a good weekend and make some great finds.
Jerry

 

[Mike Bearden]

You've covered some very important issues that new Explorer users should keep in mind. I'm going to add a little more to it if you don't care
The XS is a tad bit more stable than the EX II and it's simply a software issue, ie. the sensitivity on the XS can be ran a tad bit hotter (according to the scale 0-32 ) than the EX II. Meaning, I can set my XS at say 29 manual before the cursor and sound starts getting erratic and unstable ... but the EX II can only be set to say 26 manual sens before it starts becoming unstable and on the the exact same piece of ground. Results will vary according to each users location.
Does that mean the EX II has more power and depth than the XS when cranked up to 32 ... absolutely not. I've never seen a depth advantage between either of the two. The EX II is simply faster on recovery (again software) and has the dual digital and other amenities we asked for and Minelab answered the call with on the EX II.
The Explorer is a powerful weapon in the right hands and is highly adjustable to virtually any kind of hunt scenario.
I myself hunt with a wide open screen and prefer to hear everything and tend to hunt with as much sens as possible and still have stability. I like to HEAR that threshold too, it's just as important to me as the depth when relic or beach hunting because sometimes all you will hear is that very faint break in the threshold to tell you something is very deep below the coil.
Hey it's a "dig all" thing anyway on the beach or in the woods so it works for me.
Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment but I like to hear the iron, if I'm walking thru nowheres-ville in the woods and not getting a peep and suddenly run across iron ... it gets my attention and then I slooow down to the creep and hunt mode Explorer style. Someone or allot of someone's had to put that iron there !
Granted the Explorer "can be" a complicated detector for some folks but in reality it's a hard act to follow once it's language is learned.
And with that said, keep in mind that hunting by SOUND is the KEY ingredient to success with the Explorer. Good quality headphones "made for metal detectors" is another vital necessity.
The Explorers and Sovereigns have real sound cards built into the boards and good headphones are a must have to take full advantage of the tonal quality. I don't think anyone really knows how many different sounds the Explorer is capable of producing but it's a BUNCH. So finding a well built, comfortable set of headphones with good overall tonal quality is important.
Simply put, do a noise cancel, adjust your sens for stabilty and get busy learning the tones ... dig lot's of holes and sooner or later that bright light will click on and the good finds will show up.
Sorry for the long rant .. to much coffee
H.H.
Mike

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

All good points, for sure. I have the Black Widow phones and also the Grey Ghost originals. I like to use the BW's with my Explorer II and the GG's with my CZ. It also definitely helps to hear the iron, becuase if there's a bunch then I need to be a lot more concious of potential iron-masking of nearby good targets. And as you said, at clean sites like the beach and the woods where every target is a potential good one, why mask anything?

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

I was on destroyers and cruisers my whole career and also decided to do something different. I went to the air world, aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. I spent the last two years there and retired off of her. Now working for the state, soon to be outsourcing all of their IT to Northrop Grumman who will be picking me up too. Never a dull moment. Someday I'll get to retire...if I live long enough!

 

[Joe G]

Anyone I've ever spoken to with a WOT had the exact opposite problem. Bigger coil, lower sensitivity.

Like Mike said, at the beach in the shallow surf / wet packed sand, don't use any disc at all.. You're looking for those deep targets that others have missed. Nulling is very annoying to me.

The deep targets are not always "text book" sounding. I had some clad at the beach this afternoon that bounced between iron and coin; very deep.

If you want to test what the auto sens is doing, work in IM-16. When you come across a deep target, work your sensitivity down until it disappears. Then pump your auto sens up to where you normally run it and go over the target. For me, I don't see any reason to run in auto at the beach. As others have suggested, I adjust my sens until there's a very stable threshold and kick it up a notch or so. Noise cancel as often as your machine tells you too. Conditions at the beach can change very quickly.