to absolutely ignore the numbers as you well know...and just stick 100% to the smartscreen and cursor action because there is much more useful information to help you decide whether or not to take a chance on digging.
Here's the kicker....when you learn to hunt by sound alone...and I honestly mean that sound is 95% the reason you dig or don't dig...and ignore even the smartscreen....the sweet finds will start to find their way into your pouch more often.
I spent a good full year on the E-Trac and it made me a much improved hunter with me SE because I was forced to hunt 100% by sound alone with the E-Trac.
Why?...because I hated...and still hate the screen on the E and the cursor action because it is completely different with "what cursor placement means" as in relevance to coin hits. I spent far too many hours hunting and learning what my SE was saying to me and how it was saying it. No way I was going to get "messed up" and re-learn different cursor action on a different machine and then go back to the SE and be confused on the language it spoke.
The result...I was forced to hunt by 100% sound alone on the E-trac and did quite well with it doing so.
When I went back to the familiar language of the SE...I found myself not even looking at the screen unless absolutely necessary.
That is when the sweet finds starting finding their way into my pouch at places I had already pounded the snot out of.
In fact I went through some hunts and never even looked at the screen once. I have pretty much adopted this strategy and incorporated it into my arsenal...but on occasion I obviously do look at the screen just as an aid....and to pinpoint
I would never tell a new user to do what I'm stating I do by not looking at the screen because as you know I feel it is a great tool.
I am just trying to get my point that
sound is the KEY to success with the explorers...as is repetition in digging signals with the SAME group of settings.
Each tiny change you make to a setting can change what you hear dramatically....and HOW you interperet those said signals.
Find a group of settings that work...and learn 'em...then RE learn over and over. Each time I hunt I feel like I learn something new with the settings I use.
Keep at it brother
