1st, let me say that the dirt in my area is hard as concrete, just look at the jacketed modern bullet in the clump of hard dirt. I have to say that my 1st time out was impressive althou not finding much alot was learned about the Gold Bug SE. I used the 11" Bi-axial coil and hunted in disc mode with the gain WIDE OPEN!! Man, the GB is smooth!! I also hunted in all metal mode and it was just as quiet. The deepest object I found was the fired .44 Colt bullet at 8 inches, boy did I have to work for that one!! The .22 bullets were loud and clear sounding. Let me say that if this machine is as hot on gold as it is on lead, prospectors have got to try this one!!