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100 hours in all metal mode

D

Doc in Ohio

New member
I read somewhere that Mr. Garrett suggests that a newbie should do their first 100 hours in the "All Metal" mode. How many of you agree and why? I receieved my 250 today but I will have to be at work most of the weekend. Will watch the DVD tonight. Also, if anyone has some pictures that they could post of their tools used to recover their finds it would be greatly appreciated. Kellyco sent the usual bag of goodies with the detector but I know that there must be better tools out there. Thanks again, Doc
 
I wouldnt go 100 hours in all metal with one of the old detectors, but with the 250, I would.
The 250 is typical Garrett and signals "on/off" over targets. It hits hard on decent finds and has three tone audio.

When its iron you get a low tone.
If its a nickle, pulltab or other midrange item tyou get a mid tone. Coins give the Belltone.

At 4" or less you even have a reliable TID display.

What I would do is turn the SENS down to 5.

Then be patient and give it 100 hours.
 
This has been a point of much debate in the past. In my 1250, 1500 and 2500 manuals, Garrett suggests you start out in the Coins mode for the first 10 hours. You will still get silver rings if they are there and a lot of gold rings hit on that Nickle notch. After you feel comfortable with what you are hearing thru your headphones(yes, always wear headphones)in the Coins mode, move up to the Jewelry mode. You can now go over the same spots you hunted in the Coins mode and see what else is there. Hunting in the All Metal mode can be overwhelming with all the signals you are hearing and you can become discouraged when most of what you dig up is junk. When you are first starting out you want some loot, not a rusty nail. I'm not sure why Garrett changed their stance on this when they printed the 250 manual, but no way would I go to a park and hunt in all metal as a newbie. JMHO. You've got a lot to learn in this great hobby, enjoy the ride!!
 
Well I gave my first outing 2 hours starting at one end of my old barn in "All Metal" mode. The barn was a hog barn that was here when I bought the property. I'll say one thing about that mode, you get many signals. The total take was: two 12" pieces of 3/8 rebar, one pulltab, a 10" piece of chain, one gutter downspout clamp, 2 nails, and a couple pieces of braided fence wire, and one blister in the palm of my hand. It seems like a pinpointer would be a good thing to have but maybe I should learn to use the built-in pp on the 250 first. Any thoughts? Doc
 
...and realized that I wouldnt do the 100 hour all-metal thing. I was out with my 1350 today and I didn't use the ZERO DISC mode much. I hunt mostly in Jewelry mode.

There were some places I DID use it, though:

1. Dry Sand. Playgrounds, beaches, volleyball courts and other such places. There isnt a lot of trash in these sites and all metal searching isnt a real problem.
2. Barkchips. I searched a woodchip playground today in all metal - same things apply as in sand.
3. Cleaner sites without a lot of trash. Hog barns ARE NOT the sort of place I mean!

Sometimes, it is useful to run in ALL METAL to get an idea of the iron trash and masking that might be going on. It can be a real eyeopener. But I dont run that way all the time and probably wont start.
 
[quote BigCatDaddy]Hunting in the All Metal mode can be overwhelming with all the signals you are hearing and you can become discouraged when most of what you dig up is junk. When you are first starting out you want some loot, not a rusty nail. [/quote]I agree. I have had my Ace 250 for over a year. I have logged 100's of hours. I NEVER go to all metal. I don't care where you are, if you are in all metal you can't swing 6 inches without it blasting in your ears and the screen jumping all over the place. I would suggest coin mode. Learn the tones and screen for coins, gold and silver. It will discriminate out some of the pull tabs and foil. Unless you want to spend time in a 5" circle for hours stay out of all metal mode. Once you learn coin mode, then start adding more notches.
 
I didn't do 100 hours in all metal mode when I started with my Ace 250, but guess what? I use all metal mode practically all of the time now. I rarely ever use any discrimination.

You may ask why I would do such a thing as listen to all of those beeps, boops and dings? Well, its because if you discriminate, you may end up getting a ding indicating something good. Then you sweep over it and hear another ding, or maybe don't hear anything at all. It could be rusty iron, or foil, or can slaw, or it could be a good target that's deep. Listening to what all of the different tones are telling you will help you determine if it is a target worth digging or not.

I can't give you too much more detail that that, because it's kind of a "feel" thing. Use a combination of the tones that you hear first, then the target id and depth indication, and then what you hear during pinpointing, and you will be able to become really good at identifying the targets. If you discriminate, you'll loose some important info.

Do this --> Try to guess what you are going to dig before you dig the target. You'll be paying more attention to what you are doing and will have better results.

By the way, just because you are running the machine in all metal mode does not mean that you have to dig every target. I don't dig iron, unless that's what I'm looking for, or if I have a "feeling" that there may be another good target down there along with it.

I always dig everything that registers as foil or above. If you want to find the good stuff, that's just what you have to do. I've dug a bracelet that registered in the foil range, gold registers in the nickel range, and my heavy platinum wedding band seems to really be made out of pulltabs. o_O

Well, that's my 2
 
Question: If you did not have the bell tone, would you still hunt in all metal? If you only dig the signals that have a bell tone you are using audio discrimination.
 
if I was practicing with a new detector on my own place, out around the barn, I would get a dang SHOVEL and dig some big plugs! You can refine your screwdriver tactics on you own lawn and not leave any tracks, but the relicky junk can teach you a lot. Notice how small the signal off a coin is, and notice what happens to that signal when you change to pinpoint. Watch for clues to target size and watch what happens when you change to pinpoint, then dig em up to check what you heard and saw. You will soon find that sucker talking to you if you learn its language. Never mind how you think it should work, it may not do that. I don't use the 250 a lot and much prefer the smaller coil, but it is an amazing little machine. BTW, the 5 inch coil will give less trouble with multiple targets under the coil at once, so the signals tend to be 'cleaner.' The standard coil should give a little more depth on isolatable targets.
 
If you're hunting in a known junk area don't hunt in all metal. Practice pinpointing until you have it down and save yourself a lot of grief. Tape some coins and other objects several inches apart to a piece of cardboard. Flip it over on an area where there is no other metal and practice pinpionting those objects. Use a sharp pointed instrument to poke thru the cardboard to see if you have located the target.

To simulate deep coins just raise the coil two-four inches as you scan the targets and pinpoint them from that same height. Practice makes perfect. No practice equals frustration.

Bill
 
Yeah I don't buy the "all metal" bit. That's the quickest way to discourage a newbie that I know of. They're new and all excited and want to find goodies, not a bunch of junk, and can't wait to find a goodie. Now when I started out about 137 years ago we had no choice but to dig everything because there was no discrimination feature on detectors - and there was no pinpoint feature. You were on your own and your own particular expertise.

You don't know what a thrill it was when they came out with discrimination and pinpoint. We thought we had all died and gone to heaven. I couldn't wait to get my hands on the first discriminating machine I could grab ahold of and I damned sure didn't hunt with it in all metal. :rofl:

From my point of view ( 44 years in the hobby ) newbies should learn in coins mode until the new and the thrill wears off and they've found a few goodies and shown them off, then they can venture into the other modes and play around.

Bill
 
That's fine for an experienced hunter but for a newbie who is dumb as a brick when it comes to detectors and doesn't have a clue about all you have described, it's a recipe for disaster, especially when they come on the forums and see all the great finds everyone else is making while they ain't finding squat. Talk about the "shrinking violet" syndrome. :)

Bill
 
Yeah I love that belltone, especially over quarters and larger coins when it goes off and sounds like a phone ringing. My favorite sound. :)

Bill
 
i bought the 250 in december. my first detector. it has been in coin mode the entire time. i have dug up over 2500 coins and 22 rings. along with this is the thousands of pieces of junk and trash. unless you are hunting relics, i cannot see any reason to hunt in all metal. you will do all the digging you can stand in jewelry or coin mode. i guarantee it.
 
Coin mode and notch out clad pennies. You'll still get the all copper and wheaties.
 
[size=medium]... great question! Without tone ID, would I hunt in all metal?
The answer is: Only rarely!

I have a Tesoro Golden in my stable, a very good tone ID detector. I often hunt in all metal with that, simply because of the superb iron ID feature it offers. Ditto the 1350 I have.

But I dont stay in the AM mode for long. As Uncle Willy has said, we are in the best of times with these intruments of ours. They handle ground conditions with aplomb and are as light as a feather, compared to the old days.

But probably best of all is their target conductivity discernment (better known as ID). Under anything like normal circumstances, they really are quite reliable, especially on iron.

IMHO, iron and foil are the biggest nuisance targets we encounter. These two are everywhere we tend to take detectors, except true relic fields. Even then, we often replace foil for even more iron! To me a detectors ability to work around these two target categories is paramount.

And that explains the biggest reason to run in all metal under normal circumstances: iron discernment.

You might be surprised to find out just how much iron crap is in the soil and just how it affects your detectors response. Even moderate amounts of iron scatter can mess with your detector and that doesnt account for larger chunks of ferrous trash... the best way to know if this stuff is affecting you is to sample your site in AM, zero DISC, or whatever you call it.

Once you know, then you can switch over and work in a more selective discrimination regime. But be warned:
You might have to stay in all metal if you want a chance to pick in between the iron.
Thats when that tone ID will really shine - the higher tones sing out much sweeter when you have grown accustomed to the din of an iron laden site.[/size]
 
[quote Doc, in Ohio]awhitster, what do you mean by "notch out clad pennies"? ( I'm too new to this )[/quote]I run a lot in custom mode. I only leave the 4 notches from the right. 5 and 6 from the right get the clad pennies and around here they aren't worth keeping. It will still pick up the solid copper ones which include wheat's. I also keep the notch on under nickel for gold. Or I go in coin mode but turn off number 5 and 6 from the right. See the pic below for how I set it up.
 
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