Low-Boy V3i
g2 and Gold Bug
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Re: 5" coil is awesome in trash
Posted by: Low-Boy/LCPM [ Send a Message ]
Date: May 24, 2010 11:14PM
Registered: 6 years ago
Posts: 1,575
Forget the 10" get the 11"DD and the 8000 comes alive
Re: Accessing Boost & Cache Mode
Posted by: Cal_Cobra [ Send a Message ]
Date: September 02, 2010 12:52PM
Registered: 3 years ago
Posts: 1,905
Monte the point I was trying to make was that it seems that aside from the Tek Greek series, First Texas is heavily tilted towards relic hunting vs coin shooting. Even with the flag ship F75 LTD, it's tough trying to keep up with the Etrac working trashy parks for deep and/or masked silver. It's not that the Etrac is deeper then the LTD, because it's not, but it's TID locks on better, and it has an uncanny ability to sniff out coins in trash. Can the F75 LTD do this? Yes it can, it depends on the trash. The F75 is great in iron, but it has problems with bottle caps (which the Etrac does really well with) which litter many old inner city parks. I know most machines with DD coils encounter problems with bottle caps, but Minelab was able to jump ahead of the pack on this nuisance (it's not perfect, but it's good). Definitely their multifrequency FBS technology plays a critical part in it's success finding silver, as well as vetting out bottle caps (one reason I'd love to see FT bring back multifrequency technology). I feel the Omega has an advantage on deeper silver dimes over the F75, probably due to the frequency differences, but there may be other reasons as well (the O8 TID seems to be less erratic in general IMHO). Don't get me wrong, I like my O8 & F75 LTD, and I really don't want a 5lb Etrac to lug around, but it has merit for certain hunting scenarios - mainly deep turf silver hunting.
Some of the trashy parks I work, I can't really imagine hunting in two tone, as your eyes would be glued to the screen the entire time. Perhaps I should give it a try with the Omega and see how it does trying to pick silver out of the slew of pull-tabs (the O8 does great picking silver out of pull-tabs) and bottle caps (definitely need the stock Omega coil for that or perhaps the 5" DD).
I always run my LTD in boost mode, I don't see much reason not to. In my opinion cache mode is more of a novelty, but it's a great concept for those that might be inclined to do cache hunting or are looking for big deep targets and don't want to buy a two box machine or such. It's a very different process, and thus far I don't believe it's proven, but boost mode is an entirely different story. Very sound technology and very beneficial. If we had boost mode on the Omega, I guarantee that it would be an amazing machine (and it's already a great machine).
Definitely the GB is geared towards it's intended prospecting purpose, BUT I've been reading a lot of great feedback concerning it's iron see thru, and wet salt sand beach hunting capabilities as well. It might well be the latest FT sleeper like the Omega. Will it be a depth demon on deep silver dimes, quarters and small copper.....probably not, BUT if it can pick them out of heavy iron better then everything else out there, it certainly has capabilities the other machines don't, regardless of their marketed purpose. Also it's reported ability to punch through bad dirt is a BIG plus. A lot of other high end machines fall down in this area, even the F75 LTD to a great extent (the FBS Etrac has the advantage in mineralized ground)
Omega 8000 question??
Posted by: tj3445 [ Send a Message ]
Date: August 26, 2010 08:43PM
Registered: 10 months ago
Posts: 4
Can some of the more experienced O8K users enlighten me on how best to use the iron signal meter in the top right corner?? Any info will be much appreciated.
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Re: Omega 8000 question??
Posted by: txquest [ Send a Message ]
Date: August 27, 2010 07:12PM
Registered: 1 year ago
Posts: 82
tj3445, I am assuming you are asking about the Fe3O4 bargraph which measures ground mineralization. Scroll back thru the forum and check out posts by Bubbadirect on 06-07 and Monte on 04-26 on this subject. Txquest
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Re: Omega 8000 question??
Posted by: Jackpine Savage [ Send a Message ]
Date: August 27, 2010 09:01PM
Registered: 6 years ago
Posts: 2,841
The Fe304 meter is mainly there to alert the user when the ground mineralization is extreme so that you can adjust the detector and your hunt style to suit conditions. Ground readings are only accurate when bobbing the coil over target free ground. Ground reading bars showing up while detecting are mostly caused by the coil going over metal targets. Except when doing the ground grab procedure I seldom glance at the Fe bar graph since the most I have ever seen in my area is 2 bars and that was one rare occassion over a small area of ground.
Knowing the iron mineralization of the ground is important because high mineralization can cause depth loss and non-ferrous targets to read down in the iron range. Since the discrimination mode(s) on the Omega are silent search, meaning no background threshold hum, without the bar graph meter as an alert most would never know when they are dealing with high mineralization.
Tom
Re: F75LTD vs Omega for coin shooting
November 23, 2010 10:20AM
Registered: 3 years ago
Posts: 182
It depends on the site. Most places I prefer the Omega over the F75 LTD for coin hunting. I have one site where the LTD is as good, on the others I tend to dig too many "ghost signals" with the LTD. None of that with the Omega. For the best depth you have to watch the GB on the Omega, as it is less forgiving and you will lose some depth if it isn't set right... but on medium depth to shallow coins the Omega is absoultely deadly. I was at a hard hunted park last week and hit a small spot with three nickels... two buffalos and a V.. the Omega was perfect on them. I like the 11" coil better than the 10" but I don't yet have the 5" coil.
Personally, I would choose the Omega over the LTD everytime for coin hunting.
I have a friend who has an Omega. He also has a minnie buried at 10" in his yard. It has been buried there for about 21 yrs. His Omega will hit it and ID it with the 10" coil... (if the GB is set right). Many detectors won't hit it and some that do wont ID it correctly. My LTD would not correctly ID it, neither would his. The V3 will hit it, ID it and stop you in your tracks.. so will the E-TRAC. I have not personally seen how the Omega hits it but he told me it does well.
Jbow
The LTD is a great machine but in Calif it can have its ups and downs. For coin hunting I would go for the Omega and it is a great relic hunter. You can't just hunt with one machine all of the time...well I guess you can but the hobby has so much to offer why not two. I love the Omega and it did really well in iron and found me an old gun...that the LTD misssed..Different freq can make a difference on coins.
LowBoy
Omega EMI vs G2
I know air tests dont say a lot but I did air tests on all of my machines...g2 at full sensativity don't hit as deep as Omega 8000 set at 55.I set both machines as high as I could for testing inside and still be stable. Actually the Omega with sens set at 55 was hitting coins as deep as my mxt pro (set to +2 almost max sens) was in air tests indoors. I was very happy with those results. I've never had a machine that would go nuts at high sens settings like the Omega does and was worried I wouldn't get the depth due to using a much lower setting...however I was very wrong.
Basstrackerman
Using Higher Gain
By working the MXT (any detector) at the higher gain settings you will hear a stronger audio response that will be more saturated, and that means a stronger (louder) audio from 'deeper' targets and more signal for processing. This could result in more TID information being conveyed.
Threshold on Omega 8000 built into Sensitivity Control
What do you all think regarding the Omega (relative to the Fisher F5) implementing the threshold into the sensitivity control?
Earthmansurfer
I am confused on something regarding this. In the post below M. Hillis says the gain is from 1 to 70 and above 70 the threshold kicks in. Does the gain still increase after 70 or is it just the threshold that is increasing? (I've seen people post the latter). BTW - My Omega runs very quiet at even 99 sensitivity most of the time so I'm a bit perplexed by the term "threshold" here as I thought threshold was a hum and not just boosting weak audio signals. I imagine testing would need to be done to verify this.
What do you all think regarding the Omega (relative to the Fisher F5) implementing the threshold into the sensitivity control?
Quote
The Omega manual states that the Sensitivity control combines the Gain and threshold controls into one rotary dial. There is no independent threshold control on the Omega. The Gain settings are located in the range of 1 through 70 and settings above 70 through 99 activate the threshold settings. The threshold range of the Sensitivity setting increases the audio output making the weaker signals louder and easier to hear much like the +1 through +9 Threshold settings on the F5. This has its pluses and minuses. For one thing, the gain setting has a finer adjustment range and the high gain settings are very sensitive. If you can get this high in the field, moving up into the threshold range will give you an increased audio output on the weaker signals. The bad thing is that not only are all signals multiplied by the high gain settings to get here in the first place, they are also made louder by the threshold feature. The stability enjoyed by the F5 combinations are not available on the Omega. It is still as sensitive, just not as adaptable. Stop and think about this. Before I can use the threshold feature of the Sensitivity control, I have to max out the Gain setting. There is no flexibility. I only have a on or off arrangement. The added benefits of the threshold are only available if I can max out the gain. Second, I can only increase the threshold settings. I cant decrease them. Additionally, there is no sensitivity control for the all metal auto tune mode on the Omega. In the all metal mode, the sensitivity control now becomes a Threshold control. Raising the sensitivity settings increase the audio volume of the threshold hum, high sensitivity setting = very loud hum. Mike Hillis
Earthmansurfer, the "Threshold" adjustment for the All Metal Auto-Tune mode is made using the Sensitivity control on your Omega 8000. The variable gain/sensitivity for the Discriminate mode is a somewhat different function and, yes, it can be run at '99' when there isn't any nearby EMI. I always run my Sensitivity as high as possible while remaining stable, but only in the motion-based Discriminate mode.
In the auto-tuned All Metal mode, the Omega will be operating at "full gain possible" when you have adjusted for a slight audio 'hum' or Threshold setting. That will often be somewhere between about '68' and '72' depending upon the headphones used or outside ambient noise if you're relying on the detector's speaker w/o headphones. When I hunt in All Metal, which I do from time-to-time, I'm usually set at about '69'-'70'-'71' as it's all rather close and it works fine for me. Roughly, you can just call it '70' and be close.
Note that on Page 12 of your Owner's manual, under Sensitivity, sub-part d. it states:
"The Sensitivity has two ranges. From 0 to 70, the sensitivity increases on a linear scale. At 71 and above the sensitivity threshold level starts changing. At values greater than 70, some internal circuit noise will be noticed. the higher the number, the higher the background "static" will be. Many seasoned detectorists prefer to operate at a high sensitivity/threshold level, with the accompanying noise. They call this "working into the noise." When some background level of noise is audible, small changes in the volume and tone will denote the presence of buried metal."
Note, however, that it doesn't state which operating "mode" you are in when this adjustment is made, except the next category is the Discriminate/AT Autotune description and the a. instruction tells you to:
"Click counterclockwise to the AT icon to enter the Auto Tune mode."
So, as I am working on an operators manual of my own design, I hope to clarify and make sure everything is clear. By the Page 12 suggestions, at this point, it is a little confusing to many I'm sure. As a rule I describe the Sensitivity control a bit differently and the above description would be applied to searches made in the Discriminate mode. As instructed on Page #11 under "Powering Up" they suggest keeping the sensitivity below 70 until you become comfortable with the detector's operation. Again, this is because most people will search mainly in the motion Discriminate mode (generally "silent search" unless they run the gain (sensitivity) level too high which can cause noise or static or instability.
When hunting in the motion-based Discriminate mode, the Sensitivity control setting will not only determine the maximum depth of detection, but higher settings (as you can easily note with some bench or air-testing) will also saturate the overall signal response and it will thus be less 'modulated.' Many like to hunt at a lower to mid-range Sensitivity setting because they like to hear the more modulated audio. That's what I like about hunting in the d2 Audio option. When searching using the d4 Tone ID selection, I favor the highest Sensitivity simply because (due to my hearing) I like the more saturated response from most detectable targets in d4.
Now, as for that "THRESHOLD" matter you asked about. Yes, a Threshold is what we associate with the All Metal (Auto-Tune) mode and if you refer to Page #15 in the Owner's Manual, under "How to Ground Balance your detector:" it states:
"1. Turn the detector On and select the AT (Auto-Tune or All Metal ) mode."
Then, in #3, you:
"Rotate the SENS knob to a point where you hear a slight background hum."
This instruction is easily missed by many readers as it is brief and since two functions are tied into the use of the Sensitivity control, many can easily get lost.
So, there you go. In the Disc. mode, using any of the 4 Audio/Tone ID options, the Sensitivity control can be increased as low as you desire for reduced depth and limited target response, or as high as you choose as long as there isn't any "noise" or "chatter." Using higher Sensitivity settings, especially above about '70' will add to the saturation of the audio response you hear from mid-to-deep targets.
In the All Metal Auto-Tune mode, as explained in the manual, you will be able to achieve maximum target detection depth. This is best achieved if you set the detector for a "nice and proper" slight audio threshold hum, and that is accomplished by adjusting the Sensitivity control. It's just a function that is tied in with that control and is NOT a sensitivity adjustment as you're used to.
With the T2, for example, you have a "Hum' or Threshold level adjustment AND a Sensitivity adjustment. Actually, you have a Sensitivity adjustment for BOTH the All Metal as well as the Discriminate mode so they can be set differently. With your Omega, just presume that if you choose the AT All Metal mode you're "factory perset" for maximum Sensitivity (to get the best depth possible) and your influence on that is to adjust the Threshold or Hum level. Since the Sensitivity control is not functioning as such in that mode, it is used to set the All Metal Threshold level.
So, I hoped this has helped anyone,and since I am a slow keyboard operator and short on time (I'm headed out to detect shortly) I don't have time to proof read it. Hopefully, I didn't error too much and it's clear as mud ... I mean water.
Monte