Explorer II for Cibola?

[lloyd0161]

Recently my hunting buddy sold his Explorer II with 10x12 SEF coil and bought a used Cibola. I have nothing against Tesoros and I am partial to the Vaquero. Anyway, this evening I located what I predicted to be a deep penny at roughly 10 inches with my Explorer SE. This was next to a piece of iron and I was getting jumpy readings of between 11-28 19-29 and a nice high tone next to nulling indicating iron. I am using the settings suggested by Bryce-IL. Pinpointing was impossible so I had to approximate the center using the tone ID. My buddy came over with the Cibola and I asked him to see what he thought of this target. The Cibola would not pick this up even when turning the disc all the way down. Digging this target produced a wheat penny at roughly 9 or 10 inches. I think my buddy has made a mistake but oh well. He did find a ring and an old money clip though.

 

[dewcon4414]

Detectors should be chosen like Doctors..... know what you want to do with it and some idea of your mineralization or area. Then like a Doctor..... choose a specialist. Do your research know what the machines designer intended it to be used for. There are so many varibles when checking signals that ive learned not to make assumptions about any detector. Tomorrow ..... you may be in that same situation.

Dew

 

[lloyd0161]

Detectors should be chosen like Doctors..... know what you want to do with it and some idea of your mineralization or area. Then like a Doctor..... choose a specialist. Do your research know what the machines designer intended it to be used for. There are so many varibles when checking signals that ive learned not to make assumptions about any detector. Tomorrow ..... you may be in that same situation.

Dew

I suppose this is true. My buddy says he wants to hunt mainly for gold jewelry and even the small earring bits, etc. We tested the SE and Cibola on some very small items and the Cibola did better on the small stuff. They actually air test about the same on coins when set up properly. He also said he wants to learn the simpler machine and he figures this will force him to dig more targets and possibly not pass up some goodies. He was thumbing the disc to ID targets which I did with my Vaquero.

I on the other hand, I have decided to mainly coin hunt for the time being. I do dig the occasional suspect low tones hoping for a ring, This morning I pulled some more wheats and some old clad quarters (1966 to 1970) from an old school yard I have been working lately. No silver yet.

 

[Elton]

Air Test do not ....indicate the depth on the Se models Sir. They do however indicate somewhat on the single frequency Tesoro's..

Yes, unless you dig all with your Se the T will find more smaller objects by default.. But In my Experience, there has never been a Tesoro that equals the depth of a Minelab Explorer detector..

Not intending to start a war here............ Just pointing out some facts. Yes if you want to beep & Dig it all..Then use a Tesoro .If you want solid depth, precision detecting and some really deep coins ..Go the Se pro route.

 

[lloyd0161]

Well, my buddy dug a nice 10k gold friendship ring using the Cibola. I dug a handful of pennies and clad. Checking the ring with the explorer, it ID'd at 08 12. I probably would have passed it up.

 

[dewcon4414]

lloyd..... i wouldnt have not because im good....... just because im a beach guys digging anything but bottle caps and iron. It doesnt matter what machine you have when you arent hunting on a beach gold is just difficult to find.

Dew

 

[Critterhunter]

Machines that are sensitive to tiny gold like fine gold chains are what you want if you are after that stuff, but I've owned machines known for that kind of small/fine gold sensitivity and they weren't for my particular tastes. Problem was at trashy sites I was being bombarded by hard hits from tiny flakes of foil and other tiny junk, and ended up digging a lot of that stuff because it just sounded so good/solid.

I prefer my Minelab for my type of hunting, because I prefer odd shaped small bits of foil and other junk to sound sick and be jumpy on the ID. That helps me to avoid a bunch of small junk when gold ring hunting. The way I look at it most gold jewlery lost is rings, and when it comes to even the thinnest of gold rings a Minelab will bang hard on it and super deep, so as long as it can do that I'm fine with it having trouble with tiny earings or thin gold chains.

Others might want the fine gold ability and if you do then a Minelab isn't the best choice. I saw one guy who waterproofed a machine known for it's fine gold ability just so he could go after fine gold chains in the water. Different machines for different tastes. You have to decide what kind of hunting you are intending to do. Deep silver coins or even the thinnest of gold rings and the Minelab excells at that and will get them at depths that will make your jaw drop, but fine gold people should consider other options.

Just the other day a friend was water hunting with his Excal. He's dug a ton of gold rings over the years and he digs any signal, sick sounding or not, above iron. Despite that he's hardly ever dug a gold chain unless it had a pendant or a large clasp on it that the Minelab could see. Anyway, he got a large metal signal and was sure it was a can or something, but he scooped it anyway and tangled in the large blob of junk metal was a fine gold chain. He said had it not been hooked on that large piece of metal he would have never found than chain.

 

[lloyd0161]

I will stick with my Explorer SE while my buddy experiments. I predict he will come full circle and get another explorer
or end up with an e-trac.

 

[dewcon4414]

Beach hunting is totally different than looking for a piece of gold in the park. Most of us using the Xcal or the Explorer like the disc..... for one good reason, we arent looking for tiny tiny earring backs. We like to cover as much ground as we can..... better odds at finding the larger targets. Another reason they are using WOT coils. If you ever get an Explorer on the beach you will find it picks up some pretty tiny targets..... you will start to hate gum wrappers. In a park.... those gold machines would be like using a PI on the dry sand. On the beach I hunt behind people all the time that miss small gold errings and such..... a lot has to do with how fast they are moving and how high they have their coil. If you are using an Explorer to look for gold in a park..... then thats what you need to be looking for. You need to use a pattern and reduce what you are listening to..... you cant be listening and digging coin signals.

Dew