A question about the Explorer SE iron performance, and the nulling threshold

[JASONSPAZ1]

Hello All, I am still getting familiar with my Explorer SE. So far I have pulled some deep silver out of some sites that have been pounded over the years. I know the Explorer can get the deep silver so I am happy with that. I hear allot of talk on how great the SE is in iron infested sites. However, I want to know what makes it so great? I have this mind set that since I hear the constant nulling of the threshold over junk (ie) iron, I am missing good targets. Will the explorer still hit a deep coin or positive target while it is nulling? I am an old Garrett and Whites user and I am not used to the threshold nulling over junk. On the Garrett's the vid would indicate iron on the display but the threshold would not be affected. It seems I have to go on the dry beach sand or a huge open field to get the SE to not Null constantly. I just need some enlightenment in regards to the Explorer threshold nulling. I know the manual says that it will null over junk targets that are set to be rejected in the disc, but i never knew that my favorite sites where this junk infested.

Thanks in advance.
Jason

 

[Steve(MS)]

Will the explorer still hit a deep coin or positive target while it is nulling?
Yes, as long as there is not too much iron under the coil at a single time, and that goes for all detectors. However, the Explorer is really good at hitting good targets while in a null. The null you are hearing could be soil conditons as well, I was recently in an area that my detector was in a constant state of null but when something was under the coil, it would give the signal. You may want to back down on the iron mask setting so that you can have a better chance at getting some of those hard to get signals in trashier places if you have got used to your unit and know what it is telling you. Some use ferrous sounds and open up iron mask all the way but I would not recommend that until you get some experience and that has to do with preference of the user.
Some of the SE users could help with your sensitivity settings as it could be different from the other Explorers.

 

[goldenpulltab]

My opinions are that you don't miss hardly any good targets with the explorer detectors even if you come home with nothing but a bottle top, on parks you can eliminate 80% of trash digging just by the tones alone. I went out today with the se //and found nothing exept a cut in half coin and a bottle top , when the coil goes over a coin its real easy to tell
The Se tells you a hell of a lot of what is down there underground and saves tonnes of hard work digging worthless scrap even if you dob't find anything good. The se does not work too well on really trashy sites simply because it is so hot - all the trash comes to life!. Very Noisey with constant nulling. I think the se is best suited to low to moderate trash sites.

 

[captainbottletop]

The se is not good on sites with high iron levels , it is too slow/

 

[Steve(MS)]

I use audio 1 full time, I think it is called long audio on the SE, and I wouldn't describe it as "slow". I think more should try this setup in trashy areas and especially iron trashy areas. Along with a smaller coil, it does quite well but one must learn the sounds.

 

[Tommybumkin]

I don't think saying that the explorers are great in iron is a true statement , they are no where near the best in high iron. They are not the worst either . The xp range are the ultimate on iron infested sites.

 

[galaxy51]

I haven't much experience with my SE but recently was detecting in an area between the sidewalk and street that has lots of iron. This is a corner lot and one side of this area is directly below overhead power lines. In the area directly below the power lines it was very difficult to get a threshold. I found that if I reduced the sensitivity down to as low as 10 I did manage to get a threshold although it was still on and off, probably as it passed over or near iron. As I went around the corner and got further from the power lines I progressively could increase the sensitivity and still get a threshold. The SE seemed to still provide an audio response when no threshold was present. (Although I thought sensitivity reduced that much would drastically reduce depth it didn't seem to drop off nearly as much as I had thought it would) I am thinking the power lines increased the effect that nearby iron has on the threshold and might even give threshold problems even in an area that has no serious iron trash.
The other thing I noticed in that iron infested area was that in the pinpointing mode the target indication was pulled off target so much by nearby iron that it wasn't effective at all. Pinpointing was much more accurate by guessing the center while in the detecting modes. Using the edge of the coil seems to pinpoint well enough on shallow targets but the deeper ones were easier for me to locate by centering with audio.
The other interesting thing about this area was that the area away from the power lines produced progressively more good targets. The side under the power lines produced no silver and only one wheat penny. Around the corned progressively more good targets. In fact on the good side there were 2 silver quarters, 7 silver dimes, numerous wheaties, and one Indian head penny.
Do you suppose that the power lines effected the detection of highly conductive targets much more so than the less conductive targets?

 

[Steve(MS)]

I think we as users sometimes go off on tangents, at least I am guilty of it, of wanting the deepest, best in iron trash, etc, but it is better to have a good all around performer detector rather than something "best at". For instance, a magnetometer will get more depth on big iron than most VLF's, a pulse will generally go deeper than VLF's. I have a 100 KHZ TR that will beat any VLF in iron but it is not a detector that I can use much as it is better to devote it to specialty type situations.
Same goes for meter/tone verses beep/dig detectors, to get extreme performance one may well have to sacrifice something that will cause it to be put in a secondary role.
With all that said, I have found the Explorer to do very well in iron if you know how to use it. Sometimes you have to use a smaller coil to get in between trash. Exp works well in most situations and sites with modern trash. No, it isn't perfect but for me it does well most any place I take it, that's something I can't say about some other detectors I have owned.
One thing I really like about using the Exp in iron trash is that it ID's rusty iron can pieces and odd shaped, thin iron up to most all big iron, Exp just doesn't like that junk-- that's one of the first things I notice about a lot of detectors is the fact that they like some of that junk, to the point you think it is non-ferrous. I can tell you one thing, the more any detector likes that junk, the less I will like that detector.
If you learn the tones well, then you can take it to trashy areas both non-ferrous and ferrous, even a mixture of the 2 and do probably better than with most detectos out there and I think that is the main point to realize is, do you want a detector that you can use in 98% of situations or a detector that you can use in a limited way.
JMHO