Chris,
If you have been running the factory preset like it come with then you are doing it right to learn the Explorer. Too many want to start getting in to the advanced mode and do a lot of setting that dont know what they are doing, thus not likeing the Explorer as it is too hard to use. Now that you have been runing the factory presets and getting to know the tones and how the Explorer has been acting to many different targets you may want to try the iron mask mode. This mode is a mode all itself, when you first hit the iron mask button you will go to the screen to adjust it. Factory setting it a -6 or -8 and it will work there, but many of us go to a -10 thru a -16 so we can hear more targets and those good targets close to iron. Hit it again and you are in the iron mask mode, hit it again you will be in the disc mode. I have a pattern in the disc mode, so I switch back and forth a lot between my pattern and iron mask at a - 14.
One of the main reason we do this is that most of the coins and good targets that are left in most of the park are besides iron or other trash. Most detectors will not get these as they are averaged with the trash and will not read correctly on most ID detectors. Now with the Explorer we can hear both the good and the bad targets next to those nails and other trash items by going slow and listening to those tones. Now with the disc patterns and iron mask at a -6 you will just hear the null of the bad target and by the time the coil goes over the good target the threshold is still in the null of the bad target. Seems like the more black you show on the screen the more of a deep null you will get on the trash items.
If there is alot of nails you may hear alot of the high pitches of the nails so some will run in the ferrous mode, so all the hits on the left side of the screen will be low pitches.
Good luck
Rick
