First Outing with the new Explorer II Pro

[Anonymous]

Well, today was the day to take her out and get a feel for it. I have used a Fisher CZ-7O extensively along with the CZ-3D and Coin$strike and a White's DFX. After hearing many a Fisher user say that the Minelab guy was pulling numerous deep silver coins following behind, I had to check this out for myself. I studied the machine material extensively and comfortably set it up in the advanced mode per Mike Moultry's recommendations. I hunted slowly enough for the digital and smartfind displays to keep up. Similar to the DFX and Coin$trike, the numbers bounced around quite a bit. I paid closest attention to the tones as recommended. I did manage to find a 1916 wheatie, shell casings and junk at a rather trashy 1838 farmsite that I've pulled numerous nice coins including a 1901-S Barber dime. The machine did not seem to lock onto a target as strongly as I would expect. The smartfind crosshair seemed to bounce around quite a bit as well. Pinpointing was right on along with depth. I hunted with manual sensitivity of 24, Advanced, threshold barely audible, IM at -10,Gain-6, both smartfind and digital, max limit 10, gain 6, var-8, limits 10, Conduct, normal-fast and deep. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks. <img src="/metal/html/wink.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="">

 

[Anonymous]

Try putting your IM to -15 and your gain up to 7
Randy(NJ)

 

[Anonymous]

...bump that gain to 10 (Yes 10) if you are after the deepest coins. some say that you have trouble telling the deepies from the shallow coins, but they gave us a depth meter for that didn't they!
Try it in a simple air test and you should see about a 30% increase in depth detection over gain of 6. All your other settings can stay the same and you will be good to go.
HH
Brillo

 

[Anonymous]

Most Appreciated. Thank you. When the snow stops falling and the ground unfreezes again, I'll make the change. I've always hunted with no discrimination/wide open with the Fishers and done very well...HH

 

[Anonymous]

According to the manual, Gain is an audio function, and has to do with how much the Exp amplifies the audio response of the target. Meaning, if at the edge of detection with a gain of say 1, bumping the gain amplifies the audio response to that target, making it artificially louder.
I did an air test as you suggest, and got exactly the same depth, but of course the signal was louder on the dime I was using on a target, but it did not allow even a single centimeter more distance from the coil.
Now it WILL make the tones from a shallow target more obvious than the much weaker response of the lower gain, but again, made zero difference in the detectable depth of my test coins.
Your signature indicates you own an XS (I think) and if that's the case, perhaps this is one of the differences between the XS and the ExpII?
DAS

 

[Anonymous]

Varmint,
I have the XS and it behaves the same. Sensitivity determines how deep you can detect and gain determines how loud the signal is. Don't think gain has diddly to do with depth.
But I can understand that if you are harder of hearing, in a noisy environment, or hunting sites with very little modern shallow junk cranking it up to 10 may be the way to go.
Chris

 

[Anonymous]

is people who haven't spent many hours using the explorer with the gain at ten don't realize it's just as easy to tell if a target is deep, big etc. I don't adjust it regardless of the type of site and have absolutely no problems. This is not to be confused with a site that's just plain tough to detect....cuz if it's tough, it's tough.

 

[Anonymous]

[No message]

 

[Anonymous]

can't hear the small signals due to the wind or other external noise, then a setting of 10 might allow you to hear it better. As Chris points out, if you are hard of hearing it might help.
BUT, if there is any signal at all, it will be heard in quiet sourroundings or certainly headphones. The key is, the gain affects nothing about the transmitter or receiver, it only amplifies weak target responses to make them MORE audible.
DAS
My appologies for posting a reply, but I feel guilty of not having been more assertive in my original response to Brillo. See, I have the XS manual on my machine so I knew it acted just like the ExpII for the most part, I was just gun shy and didn't want to come off as forceful or whatever. Man, we sure got a lot of eggshells around here, hopefully we can walk one day without fear of telling it like it is.
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[Anonymous]

but why shouldn't we enter the human factor in the equation? Are there signals that really aren't signals until they're boosted by the gain?

 

[Anonymous]

...I appreciate it when guys like C.C. and Cody tell it like it is or even like they think it is. Perhaps my needing to detect at gain 10 is a function of hearing loss. Again, the detector may be signalling a target, but it does no good if you can't hear the target. when I throw a dime on the ground and swing above it with my gain at 7, I can hear a signal only about 6-7 inches above the coin. when I boost it to gain 10, I get a signal at least 10-11 inches in the air. Now whether it just makes the signal louder, or gives a signal where it didn't before doesn't concern me...what matters is that I now HEAR and dig signals commonly at 8-12" whereas when I ran (for 1 year) at gain 10 most digs were 4-6" with the occasional 10" coin.
ON my detector, with my headphones (grey ghost) and my ears, I will find about 3 times the deep coins at gain 10 than I will at 6 or 7.
Have you tried it in the field for a day or 6 to see if it increases your finds and also average depth of digs?
Try it, you may change your tune. If not, more in the ground for us to find <img src="/metal/html/wink.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt="">
Thanks and HH
Brillo

 

[Anonymous]

I am still blessed with hearing that might best be described as hyper accute, so I have no problem with dimes at 7 inches with a gain of 1.
Gain 1 can best be described as linear, meaning there is no artificial gain and deep faint targets sound, well, at the risk of overstating the obvious, deep and faint.
I do like some gain though and you'll usually find my machine set between 5 and 7 depending on the local noise conditions from wind, traffic, surf, etc.
When hunting I like to use all of the clues I can without having to monitor the display for every single target. If I'm hunting deep, a loud nickel sounding target is almost always a tab very near the surface and if that day's hunting plan is silver in worked over sites, I'll pass them up without even a glance at the display.
Other days I'll call trash duty and crank the gain up a bit and dig everything shallow just to get it the heck out of my way. Once I've got a suitable grid cleared out, I'll recover a patch at a snails pace looking for any and all good signals, iffy signals, and downright junky signals.
All depends how much time I've got to spend, how long my permission to hunt is granted, and expectations of what is to be found. Every site is different, and so it goes, every site gets different settings, many times several different settings to be sure I'm digging the goodies.
Have a great one, and just because gain doesn't affect the depth one iota doesn't mean you should stop using what works for you. Again, the best feature of the ExpII is ALL the features!
Regards,
DAS

 

[Anonymous]

i am trying to discern the settings and response for a iron or steel box with 50 pounds of silver dollars inside with explorer 2...box is 14-15 inches deep in very high iron soil...proven research, very limited search area....what do i need to set machine up for and what response will i get on both screens and also audio ? part of this area is also a very old trash dump and i am having a hard time setting machine to miss this trash, and also the iron in the soil, yet still pick up target....someone please help before i dig a hole and cover myself up...now that wouldn't be much of a find !?! thanks alot

 

[Anonymous]

OK this is how I do it, LOl Parks trashy areas gain 6, not so trashy 7,Iron Mask -10 to -12. Conductive fields or open woods gain 10 IM -14 to -15 I have found that trying to run gain @10 in trashy areas targets close togeather blend togeather lowering the gain helps seperate the targets but thats my finding every where I hunt HH Frank

 

[Anonymous]

Things may be a bit different in your soil but here my regular settings of Conductive -14 IM and sens. at 27 or 28 would do the job. The key to avoiding all the smaller crap is to X the targets and if there is a null at any point in the signal move on, they are not big enough. A target that size will bang in hard from all directions as long as your screen is open enough to see it. This is how I dig the bigger better iron targets at old sites without wasting time on the smaller junk.
PS Turn up your gain. There is no point in having a faint target.

 

[Anonymous]

i have been running in iron mask -14 to -16.sensitivity at 27.....will try the gain...every rock around here is like iron ore...agravating....i wasn't sure if maybe the silver leaching into container would alter reading..i appreciate the info and i'll keep at it......thanks, forrest

 

[Anonymous]

...I use gain of 10 when in predominantly older relic sites or woods without too much trash. In newer trashy sites it is definitely too noisy. Also when hunting in woods or bad neighborhoods I only use one ear with the headphones, the other is free to hear 'outside' noises, and perhaps this is why gain 10 helps me. I also have the exploders volume at 10 and my headphones cranked up max also, I may be almost dear and don't know it...what, what's that you say? Speak up please!
HH
Brillo