I have heard arguments both ways regarding the sensitivity setting on the Explorer SE. 1) cutting down on sensitivity decreases detection depth (and) 2) cutting down on sensitivity decreases the sensitivity to smaller objects only (which I see happening). Can someone help me out with this one. Thanks guys and gals.
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Minelab Explorer SE sensitivity
- Thread starter diggersgt
- Start date
pull tab mel
New member
I am new to the SE so I have been running mine at at the factory setting. Just lately I raised it to 26 and it still runs stable. Havent tried it any higher yet...still trying to learn the machine. Ground conditions play a big part at how high you can run it.......
sgoss66
Well-known member
I will try to help here, but first I want to mention that you can run MANUAL or AUTO sensitivity on an Explorer. In manual, the sensitivity number you set WILL BE the sensitivity level the machine runs at. If you set it at 26 manual, you will be running 26 sensitivity. Auto is different. Running AUTO 26 sensitivity DOES NOT MEAN your machine is running 26 sensitivity. Instead, the machine is going through a somewhat complex process of deciding what level of sensitivity it can run while still remaining "stable," with the "26" number being the MAXIMUM it can run at (but, will rarely actually be running at that level; in auto, your machine will generally be running at a lower value than the numerical setting, in most cases). I just wanted to point out that if you want to run 26 FOR SURE, you HAVE to do it with manual sensitivity. Running 26 Auto not only WILL NOT guarantee 26 sensitivity, you can in fact count on your machine running much LOWER than 26, most if not all of the time, when it's set at 26 Auto.
Having said all that...cutting down on sensitivity does decrease "depth." Reason being -- the higher you set the (manual) sensitivity number, the more sensitive your machine will be to weak signals. Obviously, LARGE targets, and SHALLOW targets, will give off strong signals. Conversely, though, both SMALL targets, and DEEP targets, are two sources of weak signals. So, since both deep and/or small targets will give off weak signals, lowering sensitivity will act to reduce your machine's ability to report those weak signals to you -- leaving you to hear only the stronger signals (larger and/or shallower targets). On the other hand, raising your (manual) sensitivity will INCREASE the number of weak signals which the machine reports to you. The higher your sensitivity, the weaker and weaker a signal can be and still be reported to you as a "tone" in your headphones. That's what sensitivity does -- it sets the limit as to how strong a signal must be, before the machine will report it to your ears as a "tone." If the strength of the signal is so weak that it falls below the "limit" which you have set through your sensitivity adjustment, then the machine will NOT report that signal to you as a "tone," and thus you'll never even know the machine "saw" that target.
So, the bottom line is that you will dig fewer small targets, and you will not dig targets as deep, when running either low manual sensitivity, or (in most cases) auto sensitivity vs. manual sensitivity.
HOWEVER, the tradeoff is that many "weak" signals are signals you are NOT interested in -- bits of junk metal, "falsy" tones off of iron, mineralized bits of rock and such in the dirt, etc. And the problem is that when running high, manual sensitivity, you will hear ALL of these weak signals -- a very "chattery" experience! All this noise and chatter that you are hearing when running the machine "hot" is what many refer to when they say the machine is not running "stable."
Bottom line -- there's always a tradeoff. Do you want to run high manual sensitivity -- to give yourself the chance to hear the deepest coins (but also suffer from some "audio fatigue" -- in that you will hear all kinds of noise from a multitude of targets), OR, do you want to lower your sensitivity (or, at least, run "auto" sensitivity) -- thus giving you a more quiet, "stable" hunt? You may miss some deeper coins hunting with lower, or auto sensitivity, but you will also not be overloaded as much with the noise/instability, AND you will also tend to dig less iron/fewer nails than you will when running high/manual sensitivity. This is why it makes sense to run lower, auto sensitivity as a beginner. The Explorers can still hit coins at very respectable depths, at relatively modest sensitivity levels; therefore, when you use lower and/or auto sensitivity as a way to "filter" some of the chattiness/noise, it is thus much easier for you to become proficient with the machine -- digging plenty of coins while avoiding some of the noise (and avoiding a good number of the nails, to boot).
Learning to hunt high, manual sensitivity on an Explorer takes quite awhile; it takes time for your brain to learn to sort through and "filter" all the noise, and try to discern the few "good" weak signals enmeshed within the plethora of noise. However, the reward for learning this is that you will eventually be able to dig coins on the fringe of detection depth -- which, in some cases, will be where the oldest coins are to be found.
Hope that helps,
Steve
Having said all that...cutting down on sensitivity does decrease "depth." Reason being -- the higher you set the (manual) sensitivity number, the more sensitive your machine will be to weak signals. Obviously, LARGE targets, and SHALLOW targets, will give off strong signals. Conversely, though, both SMALL targets, and DEEP targets, are two sources of weak signals. So, since both deep and/or small targets will give off weak signals, lowering sensitivity will act to reduce your machine's ability to report those weak signals to you -- leaving you to hear only the stronger signals (larger and/or shallower targets). On the other hand, raising your (manual) sensitivity will INCREASE the number of weak signals which the machine reports to you. The higher your sensitivity, the weaker and weaker a signal can be and still be reported to you as a "tone" in your headphones. That's what sensitivity does -- it sets the limit as to how strong a signal must be, before the machine will report it to your ears as a "tone." If the strength of the signal is so weak that it falls below the "limit" which you have set through your sensitivity adjustment, then the machine will NOT report that signal to you as a "tone," and thus you'll never even know the machine "saw" that target.
So, the bottom line is that you will dig fewer small targets, and you will not dig targets as deep, when running either low manual sensitivity, or (in most cases) auto sensitivity vs. manual sensitivity.
HOWEVER, the tradeoff is that many "weak" signals are signals you are NOT interested in -- bits of junk metal, "falsy" tones off of iron, mineralized bits of rock and such in the dirt, etc. And the problem is that when running high, manual sensitivity, you will hear ALL of these weak signals -- a very "chattery" experience! All this noise and chatter that you are hearing when running the machine "hot" is what many refer to when they say the machine is not running "stable."
Bottom line -- there's always a tradeoff. Do you want to run high manual sensitivity -- to give yourself the chance to hear the deepest coins (but also suffer from some "audio fatigue" -- in that you will hear all kinds of noise from a multitude of targets), OR, do you want to lower your sensitivity (or, at least, run "auto" sensitivity) -- thus giving you a more quiet, "stable" hunt? You may miss some deeper coins hunting with lower, or auto sensitivity, but you will also not be overloaded as much with the noise/instability, AND you will also tend to dig less iron/fewer nails than you will when running high/manual sensitivity. This is why it makes sense to run lower, auto sensitivity as a beginner. The Explorers can still hit coins at very respectable depths, at relatively modest sensitivity levels; therefore, when you use lower and/or auto sensitivity as a way to "filter" some of the chattiness/noise, it is thus much easier for you to become proficient with the machine -- digging plenty of coins while avoiding some of the noise (and avoiding a good number of the nails, to boot).
Learning to hunt high, manual sensitivity on an Explorer takes quite awhile; it takes time for your brain to learn to sort through and "filter" all the noise, and try to discern the few "good" weak signals enmeshed within the plethora of noise. However, the reward for learning this is that you will eventually be able to dig coins on the fringe of detection depth -- which, in some cases, will be where the oldest coins are to be found.
Hope that helps,
Steve
because it "sees" the targets better amidst all the junk.
Hunting the trash with too high of a sensitivity setting...especially in manual...is like driving in no fog with fog lights on. It's just overkill and will actually cause a loss in depth because of all the falsing that comes with running manual. This was one of the first things Bryce taught me when learning my explorer.
In clean ground manual sensitivity will obviously work better for the deeper and older coins.
Hunting the trash with too high of a sensitivity setting...especially in manual...is like driving in no fog with fog lights on. It's just overkill and will actually cause a loss in depth because of all the falsing that comes with running manual. This was one of the first things Bryce taught me when learning my explorer.
In clean ground manual sensitivity will obviously work better for the deeper and older coins.
PryorCreekJoe
Member
Very well stated my friend,
You said it perfectly Steve.
As most know that have been here a long time this has been discussed at great length to many times to count.
You pretty much just elaborated further on this thread from 2000.
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?10,38875,38884#msg-38884
As most know that have been here a long time this has been discussed at great length to many times to count.
You pretty much just elaborated further on this thread from 2000.
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?10,38875,38884#msg-38884
LFarthing42
New member
Good info in this post. Thanks.