Auto vs Manual Sensitivity in Saltwater?

[bklein]

I was out hunting the local beach and was first set up in Auto+3 and not finding targets. I then went to Manual (~27) and had stuff to dig. It got me wondering if all our comparisons between these two modes haven't considered a possible difference if you hunt in the water vs dry hunting....
Do you guys set up differently in-ocean vs wet/dry sand hunting?

 

[Jason in Enid]

Yes. When ever I hunt at ocean beaches I always use manual as high as I can go until it just has a small amount of falsing. My goal there is to get as much signal as possible on small or deep gold. The beaches I hunt are caribbean so I havent had any problems with iron minerals. Even so, I have seen differences from place to place. Some beaches I can run high 20s, others its down around 18.

Whenever I hunt turf, Its often in auto+3 as so far I havent found that running higher manual settings provides deeper signals, only more iron falses. But the turf sites I hunt are often loaded with iron trash, the beaches arent.

 

[bklein]

Yeah I normally hunt Manual maxed out too. The beach where I was hunting was pretty clean but had some EMI noise that Noise Cancel didn't totally eliminate at the high sensitivity. I got tired of the random bleeps so I switched to Auto+3, thinking anything I find will be recent drops anyway. Easier on the ears/brain. One thing that was unique was I found my first really thin gold chain in dry sand (see photo). A little heart hanging from it - gold colored like the chain but had a 925 mark on it. Maybe that's why I found it? Gold plated silver? At home the sounds from the chain were really subdued and squirrely - I was running manual at the time. Now I'm wondering how the detector sensed it and if Auto+3 played a part. I'm taking it with me next time out to run some tests. After the dry sand I went into the water - just so waves came to my knees - still at Auto+3 in an area with exposed rocks/pebbles where heavies typically are - but heard nothing so I switched to Manual and then heard targets. Unfortunately all I then found were aluminum nuggets. Back in the dry sand with no disc I hit a strong iron target - solid lower right corner not moving. Curious, I dug it and it was a cheap gold plated toe ring. Weird day.

 

[Jason in Enid]

.... - still at Auto+3 in an area with exposed rocks/pebbles where heavies typically are - but heard nothing so I switched to Manual and then heard targets. Unfortunately all I then found were aluminum nuggets. Back in the dry sand with no disc I hit a strong iron target - solid lower right corner not moving. Curious, I dug it and it was a cheap gold plated toe ring. Weird day.

That toe ring must have been plated steel to read like that, but you are right, sometimes the signal are just waky. Thats why at the beach I dig everything that doesnt read as iron or crown caps (and even then I still dig them sometimes, just because).

I have been trying to decide if I wanted to keep running manual or switch to auto while in the water. There are targets that are just too deep to recover without a dredge, and I waste a lot of time trying to get them.

Speaking of non-recoverable targets, I get so frustrated when hunting fossilized coral beaches. Its great because all the dips and holes act like collection spots for the heavies (like a gold river sluice). But then you get that great gold-range target and start fanning only to find the hole is too small for your hand and too deep for your fingers! Making dive after dive, holding your breath and clinging to the bottom with one hand while trying to fan out the hole with the other.