frustrated....

[grahamcracker]

I couldn't wait to get home to post this. Yesterday, I stopped by an older house and got permission to detect in their yard. Well, I went there tonight and figured I would at least get a coin or two. I don't think it had ever been hunted before and the house is about 1870's I think...I was pretty excited. I ended up just getting a few pieces of junk. I guess I should mention that I bought the SE 2 weeks ago. I have been out only once before and did pretty decent. Back to tonight... I figured since I didn't find anything that I would plant some targets and try to get a better feel for the machine. Well....I planted a new penny about 2 inches down and it wouldn't even pick it up? As soon as I took it out of the hole and did an air test it picked it up. I tried this with a few other items and it picked none of them up while they were in the ground? Frustrated...

 

[teleman2525]

we could use some more info on your settings namely sensitivity weres it at what type descreination used coin program or iron mask were are you at on these settings if air tested at home you may have lowered your sens and forgot to raise it back up do a factory reset try again let us know the se is better then what youve said so far less settings bad or detector trouble double check all connections also good luck

 

[grahamcracker]

It was on the factory discrimination with the sensitivity at automatic 22. The air testing was picking it up at a greater distance than in the ground so I know it wasn't a sensitivity issue. The machine was kind of nulling out over the area I planted the targets so I don't know if that had anything to do with it? If that's the case I would hate to see what I missed at the site I was at because it nulled out a lot! I just can't believe how shallow I planted the targets and not even a sound?

 

[Eddie in Poulsbo]

Sorry to hear about your problem and something that I didn't want to read as I just ordered an SE Pro and it will be here tomorrow. I'm hoping that it's just your settings or ground conditions that's causing your frustrations and not something wrong with your detector. I don't know enough about the SE and can't give you any advise and I hope it's an easy fix for you. It could be a lose wire or possibly a bad coil, but I'm just picking straws. If it's a faulty detector and I'm sure there are some out there then Minelab should make good on it or Kellyco if that's where you got it. I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope I don't have the problem that you are having with yours. GL and let us know what the problem was if you get ti figured out. HH.

Eddie

 

[walker184777]

I have a SE PRO and you will like it. It gets real deep. Found many coins at 10 in with a good sound. So far 26 Indians 27 silver and 8 rings this year. Were i hunt that is a good season.

 

[teleman2525]

sounds like iron in ground try all metal ferrous sound see if coins pick up that way iron will grunt low coins high hard to detect in full null all metal gets by that but not good way to learn lots of sounds try cleaner area factory settings i now hunt all metal ferrous alot around old cellar holes se works fine use more disk in parks and schools as long as i can still hear threshold the se explorer is agreat detector but does take alittle time dont give up it comes fairly fast at least for me i had whites xlt before also good detector but very much different then the se

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

You couldn't get the penny in the ground because of all the trash in the yard. Take a quarter and set a nail on top of it. You will be able to get a coin signal from only one very narrow angle, when the center web of the coil is pointed in the same direction as the nail. All other directions you will get a null. This is a real eye opener for most people. Now imagine most house sites have thousands of nails and other chunks o' junk in the ground. Very seldom will there be a time when you don't have at least one junk item under your coil. This is why we still find coins in places that have been detected a million times.

There are things you can do to help the your odds in junky situations like this. Many of us run ferrous sounds with little discrimination in iron-laden sites. Using Auto sensitivity can also be an issue. Using a smaller coil can help. There is a ton of information in the older postings on this forum. Your detector is one of the best for dealing with situations like this, but the laws of physics still apply.

Keep on trying, it takes many more hours of experience and experimenting to really learn what the machine is telling you.

Chris

 

[mattw]

I just got my se this year, it appears to really hate disturbed soil. It will get a quarter that I planted 3 years ago at 8 inches, but not one at 6 that I planted this summer. Don't run to hot in iron, it will kill you. I still use my dfx in so places, faster recovery.

Matt

 

[grahamcracker]

Thanks for the input!

 

[stasys]

I am sure that everything is ok with your SE. I use my explorer usually in iron- iron -iron places. i found more then others, biggest advantages that explorer have is possibility to get targets in iron much more effectively than other detectors, but one role- you have to learn how to use it!!!. read read and apply knowledge in the hunting, think and read again, in this and other forums you can get all needed info. good luck Stasys

 

[dewcon4414]

No machine is perfect in all conditions.... so like Stasys says you will have to learn how to make adjustments and that takes time. I doubt there is anything wrong with your machine. Ive hunted tuff tuff iron spots around those old homes that are still standing. Think about all those roof changes and just junk that gets in a yard. Also, many of the homes like the old federal stay have additions over the years. They move all that dirt over the yard normally really burying targets. When you bury a target to test... you are supposed to remove any targets in the area first. I may hunt an area like you mentioned several times and differently each time. Maybe all metal or just a little disc in FERR or reduce my normal sensitivity of manual 24 if im picking up too much deep iron. Try a small coil even. I might even use a pattern if a certain target is giving me trouble. Try digging REPEATABLE targets at first. I say that because iron tends to move or not repeat unless it large iron. There will be a lot of things you dont understand for awhile.... keep asking questions. No machine LIKES disturbed soil its not just the explorer and a test garden takes a couple of years to be effective.

Dew

 

[mattw]

Disturbed soils... I hunt farm fields quite often and there is a difference in how machines and to a lesser degree how coils are affected by the worked soil. I find that with the SE, the coil better be in contact with the soil in order to do its best. If I have little time to work a field and want to make the most of it, I do go to the DFX, simple matter is that you can swing it faster and still have reasonable accuracy.

I will probably not part with either machine for quite some time. I think the SE has a very powerful AM mode, plus it is much easier to listen to than the DFX. But with the DFX opened up from -40 to +94 it is a very able machine.

In heavy iron, to much power is like the high beams in the fog. It tends to disperse the signal and seems to cause some to linger on longer. This is clear with both the DFX and the SE. I love to field hunt with the 6x10 Whites coil and the X-8 Sunray coil. I should use the X-5 more often, but it takes so long to cover ground when you have acres to cover before the ground freezes in Central IL. Spring planting is so early that there is very little productive field time.

Matt