CousinEddie said:
Thank you for all the info Monte. I love it when someone takes the time to give a thorough reply.
Thank you for the kind comments. I bought my first computer, a Packard Bell, in '96 I believe so that I could have the word processing abilities over an old fashioned typewriter to work on my book. At least that was my initial idea. With this new 'Internet' stuff going on I thought I'd check in on any discussions about metal detectors and I found one or two websites that had some interesting discussion Forums, but reading some of the comments by newcomers to this great sport, I also read replies that seemed to also be offered up by newcomers as well. Folks who lacked ample field time with detectors, or use of a variety of makes and models, or learning about the available adjustment features and working in really challenging ground.
Quite often I would read a reply, but noted that is was an exact, or very slightly altered clip or quote from a metal detecting book/publication, or just a very familiar long-time quote that we have typically heard in this industry going back decades before the Internet and spouted by anyone, to include things we'd read in manufacturers ad slicks and such.
So, I thought I would try to help explain a few things or help answer questions, from typical stuff to more complex .... and that's brought me to where I spend a lot of time today, 21 years later, reading and posting on only a few favorite Forum sites. And I only do it to try and help get answers correct for folks or do something in some way to help improve their understanding of detecting or specific detector so that they might enjoy success afield and keep active in this great outdoor sport as I have for over 52½ years now. It does brighten my day when someone shares a 'Thank You' with me.
CousinEddie said:
So, I took the Impact out again today to a farm field that I haven't hunted in a very long time. I hunted this field with a safari, F75, T2 SE/T2 Classic, F70, AT Gold, and Vaquero. I stopped finding stuff a while ago.
I always enjoy re-hunting a site. It can be going back the next day or anytime in the future to a place that I have spent some dedicated detecting time. It could even be walking behind someone as they work a pathway down an area, or stepping in to re-search a gridded space once someone has concluded it is 'worked-out' or void of anything good.
I have quite a few favorite sites on my list to evaluate detectors and coils at that range from two old picnic groves to eight city parks and eight totally ghosted old town sites. My long-time favorite is "Twin Flats" Utah which I have hunted since May of 1969 with at least 95% of all the better-suited detectors I have ever owned. It was very weeded up this year and I never had the opportunity to hunt it with anything, to include the Impact, but it is on my list for few-day detecting jaunt as soon as early spring of 2018 gets here. I hope to catch it weed-free and work the Impact for a few days while relaxing, now that I have a comfy camp trailer to enjoy some time and get rested up for a fresh days afield w/o extra driving..
CousinEddie said:
I had a better day with the Impact and learned a little of how the machines handles.
Great, and that's what is needed. With all the Impact has to offer, I think it's best to just work with one search mode at a time and concentrate on learning the impact, slowly tweaking the various adjustment features as needed to find some settings for that search mode that are what you feel will work best for you and the types of sites you like to hunt. Once confident, move on to the next search mode. You'll already have some idea of the settings that
might work by then to start with and do a little tweaking ahead of time based upon what you then have learned. Then polish up the adjustments for the different behavior the various search modes provide.
CousinEddie said:
Like my F75, it is a very sensitive machine...even in the lower gain settings (mid-high 70's).
Don't hesitate to adjust the Gain a bit lower if you feel the need to reduce EMI or just hunt in closer to some interfering metal structure or fence, etc. All of my 'turn-on' settings for each mode have the Gain at '85' or '95' except Di3 which starts-up at '99.' I can then adjust them lower and reduce the gain should I want to or need to. I usually don't, or not too much when I do, but there are times I have run the Impact [size=small]
(or other Nokta models in my arsenal)[/size] as low as '25' to '40.'
CousinEddie said:
I ran it today in DI2, 14 khz, gain 86-94, disc 12, audio 22-25, tone break 20.
My Impact Di2 saved settings are:
'95' Gain
'03' Disc.
'02' Fe Volume
'15' Tone Break
'15' and '50' Audio Tones
'01' i-SAT
I usually set my Tone break for each mode at the Ferrous / Non-Ferrous break-point, thus '15' for Di2.
I then set my Disc. at a point where Iron Nails are just
accepted, at '03' the Impact [size=small]
(the same as the Makro Racer 2)[/size], as that lets me hear Iron nails and some more-conductive ferrous trash. I then use a Ferrous Volume setting of '02' to keep the loudness of Iron responses [size=small]
(from targets above the Disc. level of '03' and below the Tone Break setting of '15')[/size] 'hearable' but quieter. That way I know I am in ferrous trash and that could mask a good target so it alerts me to make sure I am using a more controlled and slower sweep to work in and around the iron debris in hopes of hearing a response form a more conductive target to recover.
You will find me hunting iron littered sites more often than not, and since I like to listen for typical iron debris I have my Disc set low enough to just barely accept Iron Nails. With the Impact, I will bump my Disc. up to '05' if-and-when the density of nails gets too annoying and I want to
just barely reject most common nails.
As for hunting in very dense trash, I prefer to use a smaller-size search coils and my start-up is in Di3. I found the Three-Tone modes with the processed audio to do a great job of dealing with problem iron trash, and the biggest ferrous problem for me is sheet iron,
more commonly noticed as rusty tin. It still does well with nails and other iron, but smaller coils and dense junk call for Di3 for me, at least to start with.
When I hunt sites that have more space between unwanted targets, then I opt for a mid-sized search coil, my favorite being the 5X9½ open-frame DD. It works well for 'cruising' low-to-modest trashy open areas, and in those cases I also like to use Di2 a lot or even the GEN mode. In really nasty conditions with very closely located trash, especially iron, my preferred search coil is the solid 5" DD. If not too bad, or if very little iron in the mix, the 4X7½ elliptical DD is a handy coil, but it doesn't match the 5" for really challenging conditions. Again, I use Di3 with either of these coils in such environments.
My now-favorite general purpose coil for the Impact is the new,
and excellent, open-frame 7" Concentric coil.
It was, and maybe still is, mounted to my main-use Impact that was stolen a week ago. That is the #1 coil I need to replace in my coil inventory, and the round 5" DD is a very close #2 position. The 7" Concentric is terrific for everyday Coin & Jewelry Hunting, and so far it has been performing great in the iron littered ghost towns I have been hunting. Dense iron trash, especially a lot of concentrated rusty tin shards, and old square nails of a wide range of sizes.
With the 7" Concentric I am comfortable using it in any search mode and often will cover a dedicated area in Di3, switching to rescan some of it in GEN or Di2.
CousinEddie said:
Ground balance ranged 48-63 in different areas. It still popped and clicked as it went through more mineralized areas, but that is something that all my machines did at this site.
When you have a lower GB requirement it suggests the ground might not have much iron of other 'bad ground' to deal with. If that's the case, then any detector might seem a little noisier or sparkier at times simply because the circuitry isn't having to process out challenging ground mineral signals. I can be controlled with gain settings or other adjustment functions, and also by using a smaller-size coil which sees less ground and is less apt to be bothered by nearby EMI sources.
CousinEddie said:
The grass was still high so I was swinging about 3 inches off the ground in most spots. I gotta' tell...this machine found some decent targets the other machines missed. The targets ranged in the 7-10 range, but remember, I was swinging the coil off the ground about 3 inches due to the high grass. So it was hitting them at very respectable depths when you add in the grass height.
Working the search coil 3" off the ground, with 'ground' being dirt or pea gravel or rocks or sand, whatever the solid substance is, isn't too far off the mark for where a search coil ought to be worked. Most manufacturers who write a well prepared User Manual will note, or should note, that best performance is achieved by working a search coil ±2" above the dirt [size=small]
(or whatever solid surface there is)[/size]. If a coil is too close to the ground you can impair performance because that will often warp the EMF which could cause overloading, or simply degrade the performance, especially for detection depth.
Note in the Impact's User Manual on Page 5, upper right-hand sketch and comments below. Also read #13 on Page 6. This is often overlooked in any detector manual, and too often I see people 'scrubbing' their search coil of cruising way too close to the ground surface. Something that is definitely not in their best interest with our modern detectors of the past thirty-five years or so that rely a well engineered motion-based Discriminate search mode.
My 15 kHz FORS CoRe usually gets slightly better depth-of-detection than my 19 kHz FORS Relic, and both have performed quite well against any of the competition, be it a conventional VLF detector or something in the BBS or FBS design. The Impact, however, working at the turn-on 14 kHz and using a comparable size search coil, usually edges out my other favorites by just a bit of detection depth. It really is a deep-seeking detector when properly adjusted and used with an efficient coil sweep presentation.
CousinEddie said:
I found a deep wheatie, suspender buckle from late 1800-early 1900's, flat button, and a pewter spoon piece. All were great signals. At least I know it was user error yesterday and not the machine.
Good assessment, and yes, the Impact is a very capable detector.
CousinEddie said:
As for now I only have the 7 x 11 coils. I will be purchasing other coils in the future. I really like the machine and without a doubt I will be killing out there very soon. Thank you for the advice everyone!
Well, as you continue to learn the Impact, be prepared to learn how well some of the accessory coils might help out. Now, picking out an optional search coil or two can be a real challenge with what Nokta offers in coil selection.
Other than my 14X15 I had at home on a spare lower rod, and the 5X9½ open-frame DD I had mounted on my 2nd Impact that was at my son's shop, ALL of my other Impact search coils were stolen last week. I had all of them, plus a brand new Nokta Pointer in the hard case, carried in my Impact back-pack detector bag which they took, so I started wondering which coils I wanted to replace. I came to an easy conclusion, and that is I want to replace ALL of the search coils. Next I had to figure out which coils I used the most or would want to use the most as I start to shop to rebuild my
Regular-Use Detector Team. My favorite coils are listed as follows in order of need or preference:
7" Concentric open-frame
5" DD solid
5X9½ DD open-frame [size=small]
This one I still have.[/size]
4X7½" DD solid
7X11 DD standard
My suggestions so far, to anyone looking for an accessory coil for their Impact, is in this above order.
Looking forward to your future posts with comments about coming along with the Impact as well as the finds you will be making. I hope the weather holds out for several more weeks up where you live so you can enjoy more time out hunting. So far, it is getting colder at night but still pleasant and huntable during the day here is far Eastern Oregon, but if we get some really terrible weather like our record-setting winter of '16-'17, I'll hook up my trailer and make a couple of weeks with a brief 'snowbird' run somewhere to the south to be sure t0o get some swing-time in.
Monte
Equinox when it's released 