First day with Delta 4000 = Not good

[bb_maine]

Just upgraded from my BH and got a Delta 4000 today - took it out for about 5 hours through an old 1800's field and cellar hole. I have to say, I am really disappointed thus far. The VID jumps all over the map, many high, erratic 80+ readings, accompanied by a maximum depth reading which got really tiresome. If the detector is correct, that field is as loaded with silver as a Spanish shipwreck. I found a few odd objects, but also dug many holes only to have the signal disappear on me. Anybody out there use this machine in high trash areas that has figured out some good settings to run it on? Fields, yards and trashy cellar holes are my primary locales. Who knows, it might work on the beach (does it?), or in a park where there are really isolated objects, but even with heavy discrimination this thing sounds off on a ton of objects. I have gotten quite good with my BH, and can at least anticipate what I'm going to pull out of the ground, and I have found some very nice old coins and relics with it. Maybe I'm an analog guy and need to get a Tesoro. Anyone got one to trade? Seriously, any advice greatly appreciated!! Feeling pretty bummed after waiting weeks for this thing to arrive in the mail and getting so pumped about it. Cheers, BB

PS - I tried taking the sensitivity down to about 7 (was running it at about 9 all day)...it still sounds off on everything, and its silver readings are incorrect. Have a chunk of rusty chrome plated iron sitting here off an old Pontiac - guess what it reads? 95. It especially seems to like to give high readings to the fringe areas around baser metals. Air tests with coins are dead on. I think this would be a great detector for a tot lot or a playing field, a no-trash area with spread out targets. But for the fields and cellar holes that I hunt exclusively, this thing is useless. Plain useless. I much prefer my Bounty Hunter. At least I have some inkling of what kind of target I'm swinging over. Really disappointing. ARRRRGHHH. I know that there is a learning curve with every detector, and I've clearly yet to understand the language of this one... But false readings, and lots of 'em is a whole other ball of wax. Any Delta 4000 diehards out there please weigh in, and apologies on the repeat thread...

 

[Gorillajoe]

Today was day 4 with my Delta 4000 and I know what you mean by it sounds off on all kinds of things...I found a melted chunk of aluminum that was about the size of a bb about 2.5 inches down, but you know what it told me it was going to be aluminum.
I find in open air max sensitivity it will pick up large piece of metal from several FEET away! Keep this in mind when your hunting around objects that deep high 90's signal probably was something structural underground...water pipe, power, cable, phone, rebar, sprinkler heads and barbed wire all hit hard so be aware of your surroundings.
As far as settings go, Run in discrimination if you want iron set it at 10 otherwise just leave it at 40. If your area is highly saturated with aluminum pull tabs notch it out.
If you come across a target that is jumpy, like full spectrum jumpy its more than likely trash.
If you come across a target that is one way, meaning it only hits when moving the coil one way...switch to all metal mode sweep again this time look at the numbers they will be dead on...I find most of the false targets I get are cause by a bent nail. the bent nails really seem to fool the delta in disc. mode....so a quick switch to all metal and you really know what it is...each mode stores its own sensitivity level so no need to change it each time you switch back and forth.
Also play with your sweep speed and try as hard as you can to keep the coil level with the ground.
Also pinpoint only after you have identified a solid target, and re-pin point again...read the manual the pin pointer gets smaller each time.

Today I dug a hand full of clad Items from an iron and foil infested tot lot and out of that handful only dug 5 trash items...and I probably could of skipped those had I known the detector better.

If a find is further than 8 inches in the soil the numbers will be kind of jumpy but not all over the map jumpy. I just kick the top few inches of dirt off and scan again this time it will give me a clearer number.

Persistence over time is key....

 

[bb_maine]

Thanks Joe - these tips are helpful - I appreciate it. I have noticed some of the one way signals so I'll give that a crack. I'm sure ultimately I'll also need to get one of those 5 inch coils for hunting in the trash... Perhaps I will do some tests with sensitivity to try and figure out how much depth is lost with each notch down - If I could run it around 6 it may help, but I was excited about the machine's depth capabilities. Perhaps she can be tamed in time. I'll keep at it and share any helpful tidbits I might come up with.
Cheers,

BB

 

[TerraDigger]

BBMaine....look at the recent post 'Iron Falseing' on this forum. You might want to try some of the techniques I outlined. Especially the technique for iron.
Also, the problem may be site specific. Most of us have worked sites that just make our machines act like they're not worth 2 cents. Try a few less trash laden sites. See if your still running into the same issues. May want to save some of that junk and bench test it at home, see if the junk behaves the same out of the ground as in-ground.
Gorilla brings up good points on one way signals. I had the T2 & now the Omega. In real experience in trashy areas, 95+ percent of one way signals are trash. Yes, it could be a co-located target, but I don't want to dig 100 one way signals to get two goodies in a severely trashy area. Now in a park, school or yard, I will go after the one ways. Initially as your learning the machine, I would focus on the two way 'good' signals till you get more experience lest you wind up hating the machine.
However, that is not to say that the unit cannot be suffering from a defect. But its best to get some time/varying conditions under your belt before drawing the 'defective' conclusion. Good Luck

 

[bb_maine]

Thanks Terra - well, one thing I believe may have been at fault was scrubbing the ground - the grass in this particular field is kind of in matted clumps and I was trying to get as close to the ground as possible - but tonight I backed off and did end up hitting a sweet little gold button (half the size of a dime), about 9" down, tucked up underneath a pine tree root that was about 4 inches in diameter. So, this unit sure is hot on the metal... That was at sensitivity 10. I am going to put in my hours and will be seeking out dead nuts signals. It was just something else to hit this field I have been through many times with my BH, a beep here and there once or twice a minute, and then to have it light up like a switchboard with the Delta. Overwhelming I guess is the best way to put it.

Do either of you know if this machine will work on the beach? Is manual ground balancing a requisite for a beach machine? We will be snowed under here soon, but if I can hit the coast during the winter months, I can hopefully have it dialed in by the time the ground thaws...

Thanks again, and HH,

BB

 

[Markmac]

BB if you put the 5 inch dd coil on the delta 4000 you will probably never take it back off,it is that good on any of the Greek Series Detectors....Markmac

 

[all iron]

If all goes as planned, in about an hour i will have a video uploaded to my you-tube Chanel showing how my delta runs here in Indiana out in a bean field
I had the 15 inch Nel coil mounted and tried to showcase as much as possible the performance and stability of the machine.

Hope yours works out for you

 

[Gorillajoe]

As for the beach question, I've never taken it to "the beach", but i have hunted sandy coves and river banks with it and it seemed to do great....I found 2 quarters 1 dime and 2 penny's all within a 6' x 6' sandy area at my local lake...and to top it off right in the middle of this 6'x6' area was a hole from another detectorist's find....in the hole i found a lid to a power bait jar, guess the guy wasn't using discrimination lol...and in that moment I felt pride in my machine, like I actually picked a good one!

Delta Rules!

 

[bb_maine]

Thanks - I'll give it a shot... I think I'm starting to make friends with the detector... Have stopped looking at VDI until I get a good strong signal, which is working well. Found a couple great 1800's relics tonight and a silver Rosie from '46... Appreciate all the input guys!

 

[TerraDigger]

Silver, nice Maine, see the Iron Falseing post. I put an important technique update in there that might help you.

 

[bb_maine]

Thanks Terra -

I did see the post and e-mailed it to myself, and also sent both your's and Monte's suggestions to my local hunting friends... much appreciated!

I think I mentioned it already, but this detector does not like to touch the wet grass - makes it false almost every time, it seems like - so I think that was a big part of my problem. It has been raining here the last couple of days so everything is pretty damp. So, keeping the coil off the ground has greatly smoothed things out, and it has been running stable at 11 which makes up for that lost inch of depth... my Rosie was at 9" - not too shabby. Found an old head to a hoe at 18" and a nice spoon at 10". I'm happy.

New things always take getting used to, especially in teh realm of electronics and even more so in this hobby. So pardon my freak out! I will keep you all posted on how I fare!

Cheers,

BB

 

[TerraDigger]

I don't think your coil is supposed to false when touching wet grass. The only possibility would be if you were running the sensitivity really high, but even then, I don't think thats normal. Maybe you should call Felix @ First Texas and get his opinon. And if he doesn't have an answer, ask to speak with one of the technicians, Daniel Snell. They will take good care of you.

 

[bb_maine]

Hmm... I've been running the sensitivity around 10...