F-75 in Culpeper county, VA ?

[Canewrap]

Was wondering if anyone has ever tried their F-75 in the really hot dirt of Culpeper County VA? If so, how well did it perform?

 

[BuckeyeBrad]

and it worked GREAT!!! I'd been to this site one other time soon after the T-2 came out and used it there. It worked well but I'd not really tried the very best strategy per se until this trip. First of all, this has all been said before but some of the logic behind it seems counterproductive until one actually tries it. Of course all metal mode is the only way to go and you can never GB too much. Fast grab is fine if you hunt the way that follows. Sensitivity setting and the distance you hold your coil off the ground as you hunt is the BIG deal. The trick was to turn the sensitivity down and hold your coil far enough off the ground to get a ROCK STEADY threshold. Another thing was to turn the threshold up a bit more than what you probably do on milder ground. I used between 2 and 3. The higher threshold setting is additional insurance you get that steady constant threshold audio. I found 60 to be the highest on the sensitivity with 50 actually doing better. For the first couple hours I was listening for signals with my coil only maybe 3 or 4 inches off the ground and running around 70 on the sensitivity. I heard and dug a few bullets that way but with the audio not perfectly steady, it's difficult to keep your brain engaged to decipher the difference between a little additional varying ground noise and a target. On a few targets after that, I tried less sensitivity and held my coil off the ground more like 10 inches if not a little more. VIOLA!!!!! I checked a few targets with both types settings (higher vs lower sensitivity and higher vs lower coil position) and I could hear the targets much better with the lower sens and higher height with no loss of depth, and in fact with more depth. That was an eye opener to see even though I'd heard it said many times before but dammit, it just seems logical that when you raise your coil you lose depth. Well, not in that ground, trust me. Some of the mid-depth bullets and buttons (6 to 8 inches) would ID somewhat consistently around 13 but a lot of other non-desirable targets (square or slightly rectangular pieces of barrel bands for example) did also. There was a trick that you could do to sort those two instances out. The bad targets ID's would dip lower occasionally as you repeatedly scanned them, usually down in the high single digit range. The other thing was if you always kept swinging your coil over the target as you slowly rotated your approach 180 degrees, the bad targets always sounded different somewhere. The good targets stayed the same as you rotated. Also, the bad targets would show a very slight increase on the ferrous gauge occasionally. The last thing I noticed is when the target was primarily showing say a 13, if the confidence meter was maxed or one bar down from being maxed and did that more often than not, it was always bad. The good targets would show a lower confidence level more often than not as the display showed a 12 or 13. Sorta like the machine's way of saying "even though I'm reading all these targets as high iron, some I'm very confident that they really are". A lot of the remaining targets were deep enough that they gave no ID info of any kind as you rotated to check them. Again, the good ones sounded pretty much "concentric" while the iron would sound different from one approach and pass over. The next to the last bullet I dug was one of those concentric type signals. However it sounded quieter and a little smaller than the bullets had been up to that point. So, even though none had come out of that area yet, I was thinking it might be a pistol bullet. Long story short, it was a Sharps perfectly sitting nose down and I was only hearing the base and the mass. It was at a measured 11 inches and I'd heard it with my coil almost a foot off the ground and a sensitivity of 50!!!! So, the moral of the story is that in that ground, less REALLY is more. Check the targets by slowly scanning them as you rotate180 degrees, not just one direction then indexing 90 degrees. When the threshold isn't rock steady, drop the sensitivity and or raise the coil until it is. If the target is shallow enough to offer up an ID number, watch the ferrous and confidence meters as you rotate over the target. A little extra sweep speed helps on the ID info when you're trying to decide to dig or not, but hunt SLOW. If it's deep enough to only offer an audio response, listen for uniform audio no matter what angle you're swinging over it. Have some patience and you'll have a ball!!!!

 

[Canewrap]

Thanks, I was using an MXT at the hunt and I'm really considering replacing it with an F-75. I learned a lot about hunting in that bad ground and I'm looking for a lighter machine that has equivalent depth and capability to the MXT and so far it seems the F-75 would be a real good replacement.

 

[jim tn]

n/t

 

[BuckeyeBrad]

I've had several MXT's and got rid of the last one right right before the T-2 came out. A couple of my hunting buds were using MXT's at the hunt this weekend and struggling with them a bit so I used one for awhile and listened to the ground and targets in prospecting mode (by far the best for that ground) and IMHO I like the way the 75 handled both much better. You will be very happy with the 75 for those conditions over there if used how I described.

 

[Canewrap]

Thanks Brad, that hunt definitely humbled me. It didn't occur to me to try Prospecting Mode (oh well, live and learn). I was impressed by the collective expertise that was evident at that hunt. I've captured your advice in a Word document and will review the snot out of it once I get an F-75. While I've got your ear... What's your opinion on the durability of the F-75? If you accidently dropped it 5 inches while putting it down, would it scramble the thing? Does it seem like it would be alright hunting in the woods? If you'd rather discuss it offline please send me a PM. I was real close to pulling the trigger on the F-75 before the hunt, but I knew I wouldn't have time to learn it well enough to make it worthwhile. I really appreciate your help on this. This kind of help is what makes these forums so great.

 

[BuckeyeBrad]

I have no reason to doubt the durability of the 75. I've dropped mine quite a few times from a propped up position, several times while carrying it horizontal over my shoulder and more without a problem. It's like the disclaimers you always see... don't try that at home, etc but so far, so good with mine. Glad to help and wish I was there when it starts to click in the field for you. Your confidence will shoot through the roof! Good hunting to you!

 

[liquid1]

Great info brad..as I have some Hott ground here in NC...At a local old 1800 park I found a Iron stob a good 14" deep and was major ringing my ears while in all metal But in my yard the depth on coins have been shallow with same settings..I think theres coins deep just found a wheat and 1952 dime on edge at 4"..Between 2 big oaks...i will give your settings a try..thanks for the real world experiance..james.

 

[Streak!]

I know if a few that used the 75 in disc.and while they got some great targets...the overall count was down.
less IS more in that red dirt!! Even the guys using disc reported better sucess with lower Sens settings. And....like you said........most every button I dug with the exception of a couple of coats Id a rock soild 13. GREAT post...........and great advice....................... Streak!

 

[Streak!]

I havent been able to kill it yet.....and thats saying something. The only problem I had last weekend...is the batteries died while I was using it in a hut...and it kinda went insane after I replaced them. Had to do a factory reset....and it worked just fine after that. That the first time I've ever had to replace the batts in the field.

 

[Scully]

Great detective work, and thanks for sharing it with everyone.

 

[scdigger]

Wow...not even close to what I was doing...must be why I only had dug 2 bullets and two button back by lunch day 2...thus, I moved to hut digging...glad I did though...dug my corps badge!

Greg