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ID at Depth and Surface Blanking and Manual Sensitivity
- Thread starter Cody
- Start date
bing! (L.A.)
New member
n/t
LilloEsquilo
New member
Hi Cody,
Love your posts I always learn something new from them.
I saw you don't much use the wiggle. I found that with the stock DD coils, using the wiggle will tell me if silver is down there with the iron as it tries to climb and increases in a 'whining' (for lack of a better word) way. I kinda think that one is a neat trick to use, as the soil around here is literally carpeted with iron junk.
Please keep the posts coming I personally enjoy them a lot.
By the way did you ever help engineer detectors? You seem to have an engineer's viewpoint with a lot of things.
Love your posts I always learn something new from them.
I saw you don't much use the wiggle. I found that with the stock DD coils, using the wiggle will tell me if silver is down there with the iron as it tries to climb and increases in a 'whining' (for lack of a better word) way. I kinda think that one is a neat trick to use, as the soil around here is literally carpeted with iron junk.
Please keep the posts coming I personally enjoy them a lot.
By the way did you ever help engineer detectors? You seem to have an engineer's viewpoint with a lot of things.
Yea, I never could get past not knowing how much Semi-auto adjusted the sensitivity. I tried to discuss this with the folks at Minelab but was told I would need to talk to the engineers on the bottom of the earth and figured anyone standing on their head would be confused so let it go. I can run manual and drop it down a click or two if needed. I have almost forgot about using Semi-auto once I realized I was not going to get any answers from Minelab other than Semi-auto is better just as indicated in the Owner's Manual. I took some time and tested all hits that were ultra deep in manual and some could not be hit if using Semi-auto but all hits in Semi-auto could be hit in manual if manual was above 16. I always have it in the twenties that pretty much done it for me. My guess is Semi-auto is better for new users more so than anything which is why it is the preset and considered better. Semi-auto is good but I do believe an experienced user will do better with manual most of the time on the ultra deep targets. I have to eat my words if I said differently.
Bill_in_MA
New member
Cody,
Getting out of my league here but......
Just curious when you switch from Manual mode to Semi Auto Sens in your test do you do so at the same level, ie. if at 22 Man - do you switch to 22 Semi.
I'm curious to see if you don't get a reading with Semi at the same level as Man - what would happen if you raised Semi up to max 32 - or maybe this is what your are doing anyway?
Does it at 32 SA come to componsate at some level less than 32 but maybe perhaps above the 22 in this example and allow you to get a hit that you don't get when just switching from the 22 Man to 22 SA.
Knowing you - I'm sure you've taken all this well into compensation but thought I'd ask anyway for my own edification?
Getting out of my league here but......
Just curious when you switch from Manual mode to Semi Auto Sens in your test do you do so at the same level, ie. if at 22 Man - do you switch to 22 Semi.
I'm curious to see if you don't get a reading with Semi at the same level as Man - what would happen if you raised Semi up to max 32 - or maybe this is what your are doing anyway?
Does it at 32 SA come to componsate at some level less than 32 but maybe perhaps above the 22 in this example and allow you to get a hit that you don't get when just switching from the 22 Man to 22 SA.
Knowing you - I'm sure you've taken all this well into compensation but thought I'd ask anyway for my own edification?
The higher you set the sensitivity the more it will over compensate in trashy ground. In trash a 32 semi auto may not pick up a dime on top of the ground unless you touch it. Now in manual it is too unstable. Drop the sensitivity to 22 semi auto and you can get a inch or 2 depth, switch to manual and it will get 3 or 4 inches of depth, drop it to 16 semi auto and now you get a good 5 or 6 inches and manual you get exactly the same. I feel at 16 it will work the same, but anything higher than that manual will work better in trash, it is just like the higher the sensitivity is set the more it will over compensate in trashy areas. Have you notice this Cody?
Rick
Rick
I tired at the same level and at other settings. Semi-auto is interesting in that if Manual is below 16 then Semi-auto does better even if semi-auto is set to only 1. Above 16 then Manual takes over and at the higher settings is clearly superior. Manual has a nice liner response to targets from 0 to 32 pretty much as we would expect from an analog control.
On ultra deep targets it depends on the ground noise and stray RF from what I understand. When I had tested enough target that were ultra deep that were hit with manual at 28 to 32 that were not hit with Semi-auto then I switched to Manual. I have always been able to use the sensitivity at 25 to 32 so have not worried if I would get more in Semi-auto. I will test in the field to see if I get the same from Manual at 25 as Semi-auto at 32.
On ultra deep targets it depends on the ground noise and stray RF from what I understand. When I had tested enough target that were ultra deep that were hit with manual at 28 to 32 that were not hit with Semi-auto then I switched to Manual. I have always been able to use the sensitivity at 25 to 32 so have not worried if I would get more in Semi-auto. I will test in the field to see if I get the same from Manual at 25 as Semi-auto at 32.
This is why I dont recommend semi auto sensitivity on sensitivity over 20, but under 20 I feel it will work OK if you need to run auto sensitivity. Over 20 auto may work OK if not trashy or erratic threshold. I seen several saying that where they see a big difference is when you run the lower sensitivity they go to auto and feel the factory preset of 16 is probably the best if you are going to run auto sensitivity.
Rick
Rick
I believe you are correct and pretty much what I saw. The factory preset of 16 with Semi-auto appears to work very nice. If the sensitivity is lowered to 1 there is no difference in depth but the intensity of sound on a deep target is more faint. I am not sure how the circuits compensate for setting in semi-auto from 16 to 1. If manual is used from 16 down to 1 there is a dramatic difference in depth. This is what I would expect for any linear type of sensitivity where we may be looking for an iron box in a wall to a coin in mineralized soil. To search for a large iron box that is no more than a few inches to a foot or so in the soil or in some other matrix may well require that we decrease the sensitivity to a very low level to keep the co-located targets and size of the target from overloading the circuits.
It is from 16 to 32 that there is a marked difference in the operation. I honestly don't think a new user would have any problem with Manual at the point where the detector is solid and for me that is somewhere in the 25 to 32 range. Semi-auto when set to 32 does not respond as we would think from what we see from 16 to 0. Semi-Auto at 32 is very sensitivity to external RF and ground noise and will immediately reduce the sensitivity to a lower level and maintain that level as can be hear by the sound of the threshold. We end up with not knowing where the sensitivity is when in Semi-auto where it is critical at the higher settings. It would see to be an advantage to have a reading such as the depth indicator to inform the user where the sensitivity is at any give point in time.
When it is all said and done I have come to the belief that if using presets then semi-auto is ok if the sensitivity is at 16 or below. If looking for deeper targets and sensitivity is needed above 16 then switch to manual.
It is hard to suggest exact setting when we consider all the variables, user, area of the world, amount of trash at a site, what is being searched for. What we get with this type of detector is we can use the setting that work best in our neck of the woods for the kind of hunting we are interested in. I read a post on the other forum about keeping it simple and unfortunately it is NOT SIMPLE for many applications which is why each user has to find out what works in their area for the hunting of interest. I think most of us get to that understanding sooner or later and then under what makes a detector like the Explorer so valuable.
It is from 16 to 32 that there is a marked difference in the operation. I honestly don't think a new user would have any problem with Manual at the point where the detector is solid and for me that is somewhere in the 25 to 32 range. Semi-auto when set to 32 does not respond as we would think from what we see from 16 to 0. Semi-Auto at 32 is very sensitivity to external RF and ground noise and will immediately reduce the sensitivity to a lower level and maintain that level as can be hear by the sound of the threshold. We end up with not knowing where the sensitivity is when in Semi-auto where it is critical at the higher settings. It would see to be an advantage to have a reading such as the depth indicator to inform the user where the sensitivity is at any give point in time.
When it is all said and done I have come to the belief that if using presets then semi-auto is ok if the sensitivity is at 16 or below. If looking for deeper targets and sensitivity is needed above 16 then switch to manual.
It is hard to suggest exact setting when we consider all the variables, user, area of the world, amount of trash at a site, what is being searched for. What we get with this type of detector is we can use the setting that work best in our neck of the woods for the kind of hunting we are interested in. I read a post on the other forum about keeping it simple and unfortunately it is NOT SIMPLE for many applications which is why each user has to find out what works in their area for the hunting of interest. I think most of us get to that understanding sooner or later and then under what makes a detector like the Explorer so valuable.
bing! (L.A.)
New member
A good portion of the usetheminelabexplorerlikeapro blog is garnered from stuff you posted here. I see no problem in changing things. As long as we all get to use our machines better.
bing! (l.a.)
bing! (l.a.)
Bill_in_MA
New member
Of course I have an ulterior motive - I'm just looking for the Easy Way Out - I'd just love to be able to say - slam it into Semi Auto at 32 and your as good or nearly as good as anyone at 25 or below in manual -so I can feel comfortable trolling along at that level.
I try to be cautious in saying if we should use semi-auto or manual. I think that really depends on the user and is very site specific. If I knew what semi-auto was doing and could see where the sensitivity is I might tell a different story. I also take the easy way out and go with manual since I keep threshold as much as I can and go by what I hear and know the sensitivity is very close to where I want it to be.