Hello All,
I bought my wife an X70 for her birthday last month. We've only been able to try it out a couple of times with the winter weather here. The first attempt was at a local park with a picnic area. It was quite cold, so we didn't stay long. The X70 seemed to noise and ground balance OK. We found a newer penny, clad quarter, and a bit of barbed wire. Seemed like we did more digging than was necessary, though, and the few signals we got seemed to be quite erratic.
Next, we tried the back yard. Noise and GB OK. Dug a couple of erratic signals with no luck. Then the detector went 'crazy' for a while with erratic signals and a continuous tone. We were quite confused and getting frustrated.
After that, I re-read the manual and searched the forum to see if I could find an explanation for the erratic readings. The FAQFAQ was a great help (Thanks, Randy!). I thought we had the sensitivity set too high (20-25).
The next try was at a tot lot with wood chips. This time I tried Randy's suggested setup: auto noise balance, AM mode, sensitivity in single digits, auto GB, sensitivity back to 14 or so, then detect. Very few signals at first, all in the ferrous range. Seemed like there should be more, so I dropped a quarter and ran the detector over it several times: TID -6? Tried a nickel: TID -2? Something definitely wrong here. I tried moving the detector up and down the chain link fence and got a range of signals. Then I re-did the setup step by step. Tried the quarter again: TID 42. Tried the nickel: TID 8. Much better. We searched for a while and found a penny and several pieces of foil. The detector was still acting up a bit with erratic signals. Occasionally it would go back to the two dashes on the TID. I thought maybe the coil connector was loose but the knurled ring was tight. However, when I touched the cord near the connector the detector went 'crazy' again. Aha! After some further 'detecting' work, I found the coil wire connector was not making good contact with the plug. Any movement of the cord caused erratic operation.
I happened to have a 6" HF coil that I ordered with the detector. I put that on, did the setup, and went detecting. Rock solid operation. Time to send the 9" MF standard coil back for replacement.
This was a very frustrating experience for a couple of neophyte detectorists. I thought I'd share it in case anyone else has our beginners luck. If you're getting erratic signals, check that coil connector.
I bought my wife an X70 for her birthday last month. We've only been able to try it out a couple of times with the winter weather here. The first attempt was at a local park with a picnic area. It was quite cold, so we didn't stay long. The X70 seemed to noise and ground balance OK. We found a newer penny, clad quarter, and a bit of barbed wire. Seemed like we did more digging than was necessary, though, and the few signals we got seemed to be quite erratic.
Next, we tried the back yard. Noise and GB OK. Dug a couple of erratic signals with no luck. Then the detector went 'crazy' for a while with erratic signals and a continuous tone. We were quite confused and getting frustrated.
After that, I re-read the manual and searched the forum to see if I could find an explanation for the erratic readings. The FAQFAQ was a great help (Thanks, Randy!). I thought we had the sensitivity set too high (20-25).
The next try was at a tot lot with wood chips. This time I tried Randy's suggested setup: auto noise balance, AM mode, sensitivity in single digits, auto GB, sensitivity back to 14 or so, then detect. Very few signals at first, all in the ferrous range. Seemed like there should be more, so I dropped a quarter and ran the detector over it several times: TID -6? Tried a nickel: TID -2? Something definitely wrong here. I tried moving the detector up and down the chain link fence and got a range of signals. Then I re-did the setup step by step. Tried the quarter again: TID 42. Tried the nickel: TID 8. Much better. We searched for a while and found a penny and several pieces of foil. The detector was still acting up a bit with erratic signals. Occasionally it would go back to the two dashes on the TID. I thought maybe the coil connector was loose but the knurled ring was tight. However, when I touched the cord near the connector the detector went 'crazy' again. Aha! After some further 'detecting' work, I found the coil wire connector was not making good contact with the plug. Any movement of the cord caused erratic operation.
I happened to have a 6" HF coil that I ordered with the detector. I put that on, did the setup, and went detecting. Rock solid operation. Time to send the 9" MF standard coil back for replacement.
This was a very frustrating experience for a couple of neophyte detectorists. I thought I'd share it in case anyone else has our beginners luck. If you're getting erratic signals, check that coil connector.