First day out with the Relic

[Silver Pirate]

It's been 4 days since receiving my Relic and I finally got time to take it out. I was out about 4 hours. Not really intending to find anything, mainly just getting used to the settings and search modes. Although I did find $.56 in clad. So, off I went with the new Relic, and a handful of test targets in my pockets. Unfortunately, I forgot the users manual. But I had my phone and downloaded a copy.

I started with the GEN mode, basically an All-Metal I take it. I could see me using this alot, as most of my hunting is in the woods in search of Civil War relics, and far from the occasional Coke can or screw top, but you'd be surprised! However, I can see myself getting a headache from listening to the threshold through the Killer B's for 8 hours.

Next was the Di2 (which so many "reviewers" on YouTube refer to as D-12 haha). Quickly liking this. I had a tough time getting it to ground balance, and I had a constant chatter, really high pitched. After I got home and could read the book again (and this forum), I think much of the chatter could be reduced by Increasing/Decreasing the iMask setting. Hopefully Monte can better explain the iMask to me.

I wound up increasing the IDmask to 30, then 35 and the Tone Break to 40. I was at a local park and there seemed to be Mylar/Foil confetti everywhere. I couldn't take it any longer and drove to a different park.

I scattered some of my test targets around on the ground to get a feel of how to adjust my settings.

Di3 gave me a few headaches. I just couldn't figure out what I was missing, until I got home and read a forum post where Monte was explaining the Di3/Iron Volume/IDmask/Tone Break correlation in detail. Makes much more sense now. I think with me out in a park, no manual to read, Sun beating down on me, sweating to death, out of cigarettes, and no cold beer, I was just getting frustrated. I was adjusting myself out!! By that I mean that the adjustments I was making were counteractive and counter productive.

Tomorrow I plan to work with the DEP, SWT modes. At one park there are a few sanded beach vollyball courts that always seems to give me a few items. Might be a good test for the COG mode.

If anyone has comments, let them fly. All help is wanted and appreciated. I have been doing this a long, long time and one thing I know to always be true.... it takes a village to learn a new machine. With your help, and some time, I will learn the Relic.

 

[Druid]

If it is any help, don't over think the Relic for the first few hunts, use the preset programs and possibly only adjust your sensitivity, you don't have to crank it to the max to get reasonable depth either.
I made it a point to do that and dig a lot of the solid repeatable targets to get to know the VDI scale/target relationship.
Those hunts were plenty productive. When you are getting the language, (sound characteristics), and target numbers are starting to be predictable then start experimenting with adjustments as needed, I recommend only making single adjustments at a time to get a solid understanding of what they do and how they effect the machine. If you have a test garden that is a great place to start.
Hope that helps,
HH,
Drew.

 

[Silver Pirate]

Thanks for the advice Drew. That's exactly what I was doing. It started off with just adjusting the Tone Break, and went South from there, haha. I'm going to an 1800's farm tomorrow, so I will get to play some more. This morning I ordered the 10x5 concentric for the Gold+/Relic, lower rod, and the attachment bolt kit. so I will get to use that next week. I thing tomorrow I will use the 5". Its a DD right? I'm sure I will mainly use the GEN and DEP modes to start with. I read in anothe post where Monte was talking about all the machines/coils he has. He repeatedly said "the rarely used 11x7". I wonder why?

 

[dfmike]

Monte often hunts in iron infested or very trashy sites. In areas such as these, any coil will find metal targets of course but only the smallest coils will unmask or separate the good from the bad and ugly. I have used the small 5 inch round coil on my CoRe and there is no coil quite like it. That small coil could have been useful to you in the first park you mentioned in your post (with all the foil bits). If it is an old park, there could be silver coins hidden in proximity to the more recent and often more shallow trash targets. A bigger coil will get you some goodies but also miss some that are masked by metal junk.

 

[Silver Pirate]

Thanks DFMike... I am going out to a farm permission of mine tomorrow. It has (had) an early 1800's plantation home on it, and some Civil War camping on it. I plan to use the 5" on the Relic were the House used to be. SIt should get me past all the nails.

 

[Monte]

Thanks for the advice Drew. That's exactly what I was doing. It started off with just adjusting the Tone Break, and went South from there, haha.

As Drew suggested, work with each setting alone until you're comfortable with the Relic AND performance with different coils. Then once you're comfortable with everything for each mode, SAVE all the settings to start up in tour most-used mode and hopefully, "things won't go south" so to speak.

This morning I ordered the 10x5 concentric for the Gold+/Relic, lower rod, and the attachment bolt kit. so I will get to use that next week.

That's a 'Good Move' on your part to have a mid-sized coil for more open territory, and of the solid body designs the Concentric is the better choice.

I'm going to an 1800's farm tomorrow, so I will get to play some more. ... I thing tomorrow I will use the 5". Its a DD right?

I think the 5", which IS a Double-D designed coil, is the 'Good Coil Choice' for you to make. I have 4 FORS series models in my Regular-Use Detector Outfit, 2 CoRe devices and 2 Relic devices. I can and will use either of them for just about any application, and my most-used CoRe sports the smaller 'OOR' DD coil and most used Relic has the smaller round 5" DD mounted. These coils handle the dense trash conditions very well, especially ferrous debris like nails. They fit in and around buildings, fences, and any other obstacles well, and their depth-of-detection, in open areas where there's no nearby masking trash to impair their performance, is quite surprising. In most cases coins, trade tokens, jewelry and similar desired smaller objects are not all that deep anyway.

I'm sure I will mainly use the GEN and DEP modes to start with.

Why? If you're in an 1800's farm area away from disturbing shallower trash than can cause good-target masking or impact depth potential, I can see using those modes, but to get a good feel of the site's potential and be able to handle potential unwanted junk I would suggest using either the Di2 mode with a VCO enhanced 2-Tone, or Di3 mode with the processed 3-Tone audio response.

On my CoRe and Relic units with the smaller coils I have them saved to start up in the 3-Tone mode as they often [size=small](although not always)[/size] provides ample and informative day-to-day performance in most locations. In more open areas without a lot of trash targets to be encountered, I use my 2nd CoRe or 2nd Relic that each have their own 5X9½ DD open-frame coils mounted and turn-on ready-to-go in the 2-Tone mode. This mode provide a bit better depth and responsiveness than the 3-Tone mode.

I read in anothe post where Monte was talking about all the machines/coils he has. He repeatedly said "the rarely used 11x7". I wonder why?

Here is Monte's answer as to why he doesn't care for the standard 7X11 DD coils all that much. Oh, I do use them from time-to-time, but there just aren't that many times when I hunt a wide-open beach area or a big sports field and similar places. For some Cache Hunting I am contracted to do I will occasionally use the 7X11 DD simply to help cover a dedicated area and get the best depth-of-detection ... should I need it, but mainly for site coverage.

Most of the time I would use a CoRe or Relic with their already mounted mid-size search coil.

I got started in this great sport a little over 53½ years ago, building my first Metal/Mineral Locator from a kit that required my transistor radio to be use as a receiver. The hand-wound search coils as about 8" in diameter. The 2nd and 3rd home-but models used a similar-size coil. Then in August of '68 I started using the first factory-produced detector which was a White's GhostTowner BFO and it had a 5" diameter search coil. As I progressed to using different types of detectors and different brands of detectors through the years, I found that most had an 8" or 8½" search coils as a 'standard' size and if someone wanted more coverage or depth they would opt for a larger coil that might be 10" to 12" in diameter. So, to me, a 7X11 DD coil is more of a 'larger-size' search coil.

Going back to '71 and on some brands and models came with or had available a 5" or 6" or 7" size coil and I found coils in that size range to be better balanced, and their performance was as-good or better than the 'standard' 8"/9½" 'standard' search coils for the trashier sites I hunted. In '71 and on I had an 8" coil on-hand if I wanted or needed it, but mostly kept a 5", 6" or 7" coil mounted on my detectors most of the time and they have, and still do, serve me well.

Any extra-size standard or over-size coil I have for any model is mounted on a spare lower rod and kept in my Accessory Coil Tote for times I feel they might be a benefit for me so they are ready for a quick in-the-field coil change. Otherwise, the thirteen detectors in my Regular-Use 'team' have an 'OOR', 5", 6" or 6½" coil mounted and ready for any day-to-day hunting I like to do. Out of the 13 models, 4 of them keep what I now consider to be a 'midsized' coil mounted. Those include a 7" Concentric on my Omega 8000's, a 7" Concentric on my Nokta-Makro Anfibio Multi, and the 5X9½ DD open-frame coils on a CoRe and Relic. Where most folks use a 'standard' 7X11 DD I prefer to use one of the mid-size coils because they perform so well, balance better, and have served me reliably.

Finally, best of success to you hunting that old 1800's farm site. Remember to report in about what you find, and the coil mounted and settings used.

Monte

 

[Druid]

Hi Silver,
I really like the 5" DD coil, maintain coil 1" or so above the ground and when you get a hit go over it a few times with short sweeps at 90 degrees to each other. Then if it doesn't turn to a low iron repeatable dig em up and see what you have. I also like the solid elliptical DD coil as well as the concentric. "Horses for courses" as the British hunters say.