Field Reports and New Questions- Cibola

[Molinari]

Hello Friends,

I went out hunting this weekend (as if we all didn't!) with my Cibola and I had mixed results I'd like to share with you...perhaps some advice could also be given about a very specific problem I encountered at the beach.

Searching my Grandmother's backyard (a good practice spot) underneath the spot where an old clothesline used to hang I found two quarters (both 1965- dang!) and an old metal piece with "Yardley, London" engraved on it- turns out this is a very old (ca. 1600's) fragrance company that still operates today. In addition to this I found tons of junk (old toothpaste containers, etc.) and a key. Overall, my experience was good because I was able to accurately pinpoint and in some cases probe most of my finds!

The beach was a different story...although I found a dime (1997- yipee!) and a nice copper ring, I had what appeared to be many "false" reads. The dry sand was fine, but anywhere near the waters edge seemed to give me trouble. Now, the salesman told me when I bought the detector that the "Cibola" would not perform well near the ocean's edge...he said it would beep, I would dig, and I would find nothing every time. However, when I read "coin hunting" by Garrett, it said there is a strange phenomenon in which machines with automatic ground balance locate objects extremely deep near the ocean's edge.

So, is my machine just not the proper tool to search the water's edge (I'm in New England), or am I locating extremely deep objects and need to keep digging? Man my hands hurt!

Best,

NJM

 

[margiop]

Cibola hasn't got an automatic ground balance, but a fixed one, I suppose.

 

[Pap]

The Cibola is not automatic ground balance, it is a fixed ground balance detector. There are detectors, a number of them, that have the ground balance adjusted automatically as the ground conditions change.
Most single frequency detectors, to include those with auto ground balance, struggle on salt water beaches because of the salt content. The Cibola, as you mentioned, will be fine in the dry sand. So the salesman was correct. You can try searching the wet sand by reducing the sensitivity and raising he discrimination but for searching in the wet sand along the ocean the best choice is either multi-frequency or PI detectors.

 

[Molinari]

Woops! My rookie mistake. The Cibola does, however, have three different frequency settings- would it help to be set on one as opposed to another?

Thanks for the advice about the sensitivity and discrimination- I had played around with it for a bit, but not enough to make any real determination, I had just decided to hit the dry sand instead.

NJM

 

[gregl01]

The frequency switch does not change performance, it lets two detectors hunt together without interference between them.
Greg

 

[Molinari]

Ok, that's what I had thought but an earlier thread confused me a bit...I'm still trying to learn the lingo!

NJM