New and Using Fisher CZ-3D

[okie-colin]

Hi folks. I am glad to find a forum dedicated to Fisher users. I am 58, recently retired and returned to metal detecting after a twenty year absence. I live in Northeastern Oklahoma. After an unsatisfactory experience with a cheaper detector, I purchased a new CZ-3D about a month ago. Oldest coin to date is an extremely corroded 1900 Liberty V nickel. I really like the quality of my CZ-3D, but I am still having some long learning curves. My biggest problem is pinpointing. If I am in a discrimination mode and I get a good signal in a trashy area and push the pinpointer button, often the detector will pinpoint on a nearby ferrous object and ignore the good target I am trying to get. This appears to be because when the pinpointer is pushed the detector goes into all metal mode and hones in on the strongest signal within the search coils range. You can "tune" the pinpointer by engaging it closer to the target, but if the trash is nearby even this doesn't usually work. Deep and weak signals often will not pinpoint al all. I have ordered a Fisher five inch coil that I hope will improve my pinpointing in the trashy areas I hunt by narrowing the field of the coil and I am trying to get better at not using the pinpointer at all. I also dig lots and lots of rusty nails that sound like good repeatable signals. Why doesn't the discrimination work on these? Any suggestions?

 

[mtdoramike]

or patern, which will help not to dig so many in the future, but you will always dig a few. I think your right about the smaller coil, it will help you weed through trash a lot easier, I have the same complaints with my 3d, but I've just learned to work the coil real slow and not use the pinpoint button.

You may also want to invest in a Sunray CZ-FZ1 inline probe for your 3d. I have one on mine and it works great for pinpointing in the hole for the target. They run around $179.00.

 

[Anonymous]

Nice to see somebody from my old stomping ground posting. I used to live in Tulsa, got started in MD'ing there.

I haven't used a CZ-3D yet, but my trusty CZ-5 will often give me a High Coin signal when I've got a nail on the edge of the coil, especially down deep. When I pinpoint, I'll realize that the signal pinpoints to a different area than where the High Coin hit comes from. This is a classic sign of iron, especially a nail.

I usually pinpoint using the "X" style, and only run a sweep on the pinpoint button when I want a depth reading. It takes a little bit of practice, but once you get the hang of it, it's quick and saves battery life, as the VCO pinpoint really draws the juice.

One thing you'll quickly learn about is identifying "co-located" targets. These are targets, usually two, that are located within inches of each other. You may hear one, but when you go to pinpoint, you start locking onto the shallower target. The key is to learn what targets sound like when they are on the edge or just off the edge of your coil. Compare that when whatever it is that you're getting, and decide whether to dig or not. Usually, an Iron-high coin bounce that pinpoints in different places is a nail. In my area, Foil/Nickel bouncers at an indicated 4" are usually beavertails. But, many times, I've gotten a Pulltab/High Coin bouncer, when the tab at 2", and the High Coin signal several inches deeper, and a couple inches off to the side. Those are usually a pulltab at the indicated depth, and either a Wheat or silver dime at the deeper depth.

HH from Allen in MI

 

[okie-colin]

Thanks Mike and Allen. Allen, I believe I have run into you before on the ITTHC message board. You helped me identify a 5 Mill Tax Token I found with my Fisher. As for probes I have a White's Bullseye II pinpointer. I will have to investigate the Sunray probe although I have invested a lot for my meager budget for the time being. I am going back over to an old site in Arkansas where I found the old V nickel next week and try out the small coil. The site is littered with square headed nails although there are some civil war relics buried there also. It has been hunted extensively, so the remaining good coins are lying next to, or close to the trash. My skills are going to have to improve. The info on how to read the signals will help alot. Allen, what you mentioned a nail signal will sound like is exactly what I have been encountering. I have already learned not to dig a good signal that beeps twice in one direction and once in the other. That is invariably a nail. This isn't easy!

 

[Anonymous]

is a coin "on edge", that is, not laying flat, but at an angle. These give "double beeps", extremely close together. The coin will be between the two apparent signals. Although I've never encountered it, theoretically, a pulltab "on edge" will give the same result, a double mid-tone beep.

Something else I didn't mention is "target averaging". While my CZ-5 is good at separating many "close" targets, when you get within a certain range, say, an inch or less, the two targets under the coil merge and are seen as one by the electronics. This is where it gets interesting. A dime/quarter/copper cent extremely close to a nickel will average into a square tab. A quarter next to or touching a square tab will average to a zinc cent. Any time I get a signal that is hard to pinpoint, and bounces High Coin - Nickel - Square Tab, I dig, as well as signals that bounce High Coin - Zinc - Square tab. I've recovered many coin spills this way. Last year, for example, I was just starting to hunt a nearby school. I got a signal that bounced High Coin - Nickel - Square Tab, at an indicated 5". Always curious about deep oddball bouncing signals like that, I dug it up. I immediately recovered a orange-red Nickel dated from the 50's. Remembering the signal I had, I immediately started probing around with my Vibraprobe, looking for what I thought was a Wheat. Instead, I popped up a silver Washington!

A good, basic, rule-of-thumb to use when detecting, is if you get a signal that just doesn't make sense, especially if it's deep, dig it up! Learn what kind of target(s) make signals like that, and remember it. You'll be surprised what kind of good targets don't really fit into just one segment of the meter on a CZ. Now, the 3D is supposed to go for the older coins, but I don't have one.

HH from Allen in MI

 

[okie-colin]

Thanks Allen. I will dream tonight about all those bouncing signals I have walked away from. I do walk away from those that bounce with iron???

 

[Anonymous]

For me, most deep signals (around 5" here, down in OK it was closer to 6"), start bouncing to Iron from the mineralization. The key is learning when it's a deep nail imitating a coin, and a deep coin. Just remember that if the pinpointed signal is in a slightly different spot than where it "X" pinpoints or the high tone sounds off, or, it gives a double beep in one direction, then it's probably a nail. After awhile, I was able to tell basic size and depth in Auto-tune, and in 0 Disc., it seems like a coin just hits a little harder than a nail at that same depth. This all comes with experience, so just get out and start hunting!

HH from Allen in MI