:shrug:Question about the XS performance in areas with very mild ground

[tony (Orlando FL)]

I just have to ask this question regarding the XS because I have had several, including several SOVs too. The BBS and FBS units sure shine on the wet salt beaches, there is no question about that. How about inland where the ground is essentially mineral free? Do any of you notice that the XS struggles somewhat in areas like this? Seems they need minerals or bad ground to make them really come to life.

My XS, like the several before it, all seem to moan, groan, spit blip etc etc and rarely lock onto a target reliably. I have run my sens very low, about 5->10 in an effort to stablize the unit, but it still acts strange.. Off course, I noise cancel too. I use the ML 8 inch coil. I use IM-10 with ferrous audio BUT the problem is with any combination.

I put the XS in the car and get any other unit that is either a 2freq or single freq and get unreal depth and stability.

On the wet beaches the unit is as stable and deep as can be.

I rarely see anyone in my area use a SOV or XS, I guess there may be a reason for this.

Has anyone else every noticed this?

I am in central Florida.

Thanks for any input, I really want to use this unit inland too and not just at the beach.

Thanks
Tony

 

[dewcon4414]

Im using the SE and have hunted the past 3 years or so during the winter months around the Avon Park area. Ive not noticed a problem with depth or hitting targets. I hunt with a guy using the DFX we both have the SEF coil. I get targets he just cant hear. Ive done pretty good finding silver considering its Florida and the sink rate there is horrible. If nothing stops them they just disappear in 50 years. The explorers dont air test well... but i get great depth on the beach. It might be that there just isnt anything to find in some of this sugar sand. You are right thou they are killer machines here in Ind. You just dont tend to get those old coins in Fla at medium depth. There have been a lot of people down there.... but most of the towns were forts and not much elce around. Even the oldest park is only the 1930s i think. It seems like you arent getting depth because of all the coins close to the surface.... but when you do hit those old coins they are DEEP. Its kind of like they are shallow or deep...nothing in between... but i dont think its the machine.

Dew

 

[tony (Orlando FL)]

Thanks Dew,

While you were replying I was out tecting with the XS and pretty sure I got it sorted out finally after allll these yrs! IMO, the gain control was causing me all the perceived falsing in the phones. I was running it at 9. I lowered it to 2 and it was very nice, moved it up to 4 and still very nice. Moved it to 10 and all the ground noise started pouring in again. The way I had it set was great for max depth however it sure wouldnt allow me to be able to pick a good solid or repeatable target out from all the noise it was causing me.


Tomorrow, I will start with gain of 5 and see where it takes me. I was able to run full sens in semi-auto mode and it was as pleasant as expected it should/could be.



What a relief this is

Tony

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[tony (Orlando FL)]

Hey EL! I think I finally got it! Now where is that Safari we both once knew?

I see you done traded something in......... not sure what to tell ya on that, other than best of luck with your new toy.

 

[Rick(ND)]

When I was running the XS,EX II,and the SE I found i didn't like to use semi auto at any sensitivity higher than 20, then I went to manual as i found out in many testings on actual in the ground targets if it was a bit trashy I would lose depth big time. On spot at 32 semi auto it couldn't pick a new dime on top of the ground unless it touched the dime, but in 20 manual I could get a good 4 inches or better. Now on the E-Trac it is not bad at all in auto sensitivity. I think the Explorers over compensate the higher the sensitivity is set in semi auto to a point where there is no depth at all, but in a lower semi auto setting it seems so much better.

 

[tony (Orlando FL)]

Hi Rick! Been a while hasnt it?

Thanks for the first hand experience, i will surely take and use that info.

I was sooo desperate for a stable xs, i was hoping semi auto would do it for me.

I think i have the problem i had sorted out now by turning the audio gain down some and now semi-auto will be shut off to see how it does today.

Hope to have some fun with th XS today and something to show later.

Appreciate the reminder,

Tony

 

[sgoss66]

Hey Rick --

I read a post by Ohio Fred in Explorer Classroom Forum. It is about manual and semi-auto sensitivity -- he had sens. set semi-auto 16, hit a 7" dime in his garden, and wanted to see how low he could go and still hit it. He lowered semi-auto slowly until the dime disappeared -- the lowest level he could see it at was 8 semi-auto. They he switched over to manual (still at "8"), but the dime DISAPPEARED. He had to run manual back up, to 15 sens., to re-acquire the dime. He repeated the test, same results. This seems weird to me; first, I thought semi-auto meant it could run LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO the sensitivity setting; usually LESS THAN. Secondly, I have found, like you and others have said, that if you want to run hot, you NEED to run manual sens. not semi-auto (as semi-auto usually runs LOWER sensitivity than the level you have set). However, on the other end of the scale, in ohio fred's case, running with much lower sensitivity settings, the semi-auto actually seemed to run HIGHER than what he had set -- and thus gave him BETTER depth.

I thought I had this all figured out, and this thread here makes sense in that regard, but ohio fred's post casts doubt, in my mind...

I thought maybe, Rick, based on your post, that you might have some insight into this, as what you said about "not liking to run semi-auto if you are using a sens. any higher than 20" might fit in with ohio fred's experience...

Thoughts?

Steve

 

[dewcon4414]

I made a post when i came back from Fla. this year about manual sensitivity. I noticed on the beach anything above 29 and i was loosing more depth than gaining. This was on a beach on dry sand so there wasnt a lot to interfere with depth. Here in Ind. i can run my gain pretty high.... but i normally dont run it higher than 24. Ive noticed i can still hear all the targets that the higher sensitivity can. Because of the amount of soil that must be processed id have problems with pin pointing, TID, reduced depth because of disc targets, more noise and it was more sensitive to targets close to the coil which werent giving me the correct tones. To me its about setting the proper gain to sensitivity to hit those targets that stop you in your tracks. No doubt if you are willing to hunt on edge and can pick out those deep targets from all the noise with a good pair of ears then maybe a high gain works. For me if i run a high gain i lower my sensitivity... id say much like some have found by running auto sensitivity and a high gain. I might use this is trashy areas.... but i like running gain at 7 in a more open area with a stable sensitivity at 24... why? Because since there isnt as many targets i seem to notice those lower modulated tones better. This works for ME... but surely not everyone. I like Fla hunting... but man you really have to do research if you are in the middle of the state trying to hunt. Dont get your gain to low or it will be like turning your threshold down to low those weak signals will just be filtered out and you will be right where you were not being able to pick out the target tones.

Dew

 

[Elton]

Have a good one Brother... Happy Hunting.

 

[Rick(ND)]

Yes this is correct on my test on actual targets in the ground on my test i have done. at 16 semi auto and 16 manual my results where the same, but in trashier ground or even in air test I find the the semi auto will gain depth in the lower sensitivity settings over manual, but when raising the sensitivity in most places that were a bit trashier in semi auto you would lose depth and manual would get more depth for me. I had noticed this for a while that I would throw down a dime to see how my Explorer was working and was surprised a few time it was hard to get the dime and in some cases I had to touch the dime to get a response from it. This is when i start doing some changing and myself would try to run as high sensitivity in manual i could and be stable to use, but if I was around 20 or less I would run semi auto, but over 20 I would run manual as it seem to work good for me.
Now with the E-Trac I use I find the auto works real good as it is a actual automatic and not semi auto and can see what sensitivity you are actually running at and haven't notice as much difference in the 2 like i did on the Explorers.