New Post to my UT OH...tried it today with new Killer B's Head phones even.

[Anonymous]

I am hear to tell you guys I need to know if I need to send the Big E off for repair.I went out today with three kids that I got started and my sunray detector arrived along with my Killer B's head phones and MY GOSH what a difference over the Koss no comparison.this should help the guy askig about head phones.They are just so much more defined in the tones....now for the real problem I ran this thing on sensitivty one with the 7 3/8" coil in every combination and in the trash areas forget it.One of the three boys I introduced to this hobby went in behind me with a bounty Hunter and found dimes quarters nickels three different times,I was heck on the pennies though.I just kept losing my thresh hold when it went it wouldn't pick up anything.
I am lost I hated my whole day,I was watching kids three of them just aimlessly going about and picking up coins and having a blast that was my only fun watching them.The youngest found $1.83 and one Susan B Anthony Dollar,he was using a Compass Yukon 94B old 1978 detector two knob adjust 10 turn ground balance no discrimination and just went to digging found lots of trash as did all of us.The second oldest was using a Bounty Hunter Pioneer 505 it is the same as the Sharp Shooter two I bought it brand new for $129 and he just kicked my butt and loved every minute of it.His would lock and hold the target ID and I even started to ask him what was under my coil to make sure I was right.He had this little dinky coil on I recommended him to use and it was the trick.I could not compete all coins where at about 3 1/2 inches or less the oldest being a Wheatie 1952 but yesterday I found a 1918...(his little coil measures 4 inches in diameter)The Garrett GTA 350 did a little better the me in he found (oldest Boy)three quarters.
Ok in all I took my sweet time as I was told to do and at a snails pace I found 16 coins in all and I did find the most but I only beat the next person out by 5 coins and every one else had 10 so that is 16 for me then 11 then 10 and ten again, 47 coins in all.I never took a break we hunted 5hrs I kept plugging away and as each person annouced their find and it was making me more determined to figure this thing out.
The only thing I can think of is buy a little itty bitty coil if this thing is working right,but I paid $995 for this two coil package and if this is what the latest and greatest can do then I am not impressed. Please Help me DOES IT NEED SENT OFF.......FOR REPAIR.

 

[Anonymous]

Take your time and don't be in a hurry learn the machine!! What are your settings auto or manuel sensitivity.It's a slow swinging machine. Why pay that kinda dough for a machine to dig clad. I concentrate on deep targets so just about everyone is going to dig more coins then me.It's quality of the finds not the quanity. Just take your time and soon the oldies will be in your pouch

 

[Anonymous]

Hello,
You say you were running in sensitivity set at 1, which is the lowest setting, and that might be your problem. I'm pretty new at this, but I've been digging coins really deep, sometimes feels like I'm digging to China. I'm sure the pros will be able to help more than me though.
Chris

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Rick,
Still think your machine is o.k. There are places where less sensitive machines do better. I detected for years with older compasses. I never had any idea how much stuff is buried until I bought my explorer. Think older TR models are much less sensitive to trash, especially iron.
Some questions. Are you running at one in Auto or Manual? If you are in auto it may be running at a much higher sensitivity. Try just set it in 5-8 or so manual. Also, how much discrimination do you have on? If your friends are getting targets that you are blanking on go to an iron mask -14 or so try to see if you can hear a good signal. If most of the trash is iron maybe switch to ferrous tones. I'm guessing if it is a bleachers area most of the trash will be bottle caps and pull tabs.
And... Try find a less trashy area until you are much more experienced. Your machine can do alot of things better than the cheaper detectors, but looking for shallow clad coins is one area where it probably isn't any better. If that is your primary goal then you don't need a $1000 detector.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, let me get more detailed here I am very very up on the Capabilities and it operations,I even have coin programs etc.I have Mike Moltrey programs,I did not have this problem with the detector until I hit this school and the trashy area,I have used every setting,manual semi-auto and if this thing could shoot a coin in the trash I would have found it,there in lies the problem I lose the thresh hold and then it refuses to hit the coins.It will not pick them up.If I moved this thing any slower I might as well just make camp.I covered an area 10'x10' and lost the thresh hold evrytime the coil moved an inch,Once again I am using the smallest coil I have 7 3/8" and if this is Minelabs idea of detecting then someone is sick..lol...I seiously think something is wrong when a kid went into the area I took forever to cover in all kinds of setting even the factory setting and he gets a dime in a matter of a few minutes.
I couldn't pick a deep target out to save my hind end.I am real curious to see how my Compass Gold Scanner Pro is going to do when it gets here.I really can say that this thing doesn't seem to act like it did when I first got it.I just know it has to be broke but don't want to send it off prematurely.Is anyone else having this kinda difficulty.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a Compass and it is getting a Keith Wills mod done to it,My Gold Scanner was already deep and not it is going to be china mind blowing deep 10 inches on a dime no problem,The Great Andy Sabisch will tell you that in his report of the Gold Scanner Pro....anyways I got away from the trashy areas and tried it and still lost thresh hold I have tried botht coils and same problem.
I have used alot of settings that should have worked.The little Bounty Hunter shot a coin I told him not to dig move back we marked it I tried to shot it in different setting till I hit on one where it would some what repeat but my gosh I couldn't move the coil but an inch to two inches on my swing,that sucked anyways he dug I measured I probed it and hit it marked it and was 4 inches,I was having trouble at 4 inches,and someone said to worry about deep coins...lol...I am worrying about my Right arm looking like the Incredible Hulks if I have to swing a dozen times over the same spot trying to pick things apart.I did run Iron mask -12 and what Circus music and did the target ID dance.so much jumping around it made me want to dance.I dug up alot of bleacher bolts in this setting,lots.even did -10 mikes setting for deep.I guess I am going to have to get someone over here withone and let them have ago.Anymore input welcomed I am not mad or being sarcastic at anyone just telling it like happened today.But I do like the input.

 

[Anonymous]

Went there today for an hour (about all I can take at a time) there are 2 factors that make my spot bad first is lots of IRON and second is power lines.
I did manage to pull a 51 wheat at around 5 inches and when I put my probe in the hole it nulled (silent threshold) moved it around a bit and found the coin.
I run settings at -14 Iron mask and sens at around 9 then move at a snail pace and only advance the coil a inch or so at a time, this takes a long time to cover any area but sometimes the rewards are worth it.
Hit another spot that is the same and first good hit was a Palmolive & Peet token, there is 150 years of metal garbage at this site and it is tough but as I say rewards do come about.
There is another reset on the XS that I heard about not sure if it is true or that I just think it helps my mental state, here is how it was told to me when you fire up the machine and it is going through the start up tones pull the battery you don't loose anything and it does't reset to factory but I have found that it will sometimes make mine get better seperation and depth, like I said it might just be my state of mind after doing it.
Charlie

 

[Anonymous]

screwed up. I have wondered the same thing with my machine several times. However, today I did ok in a Idaho hunt with some of the boys. I don't think all XS act the same. I saw a discrimination pattern used by one of the boys, that I don't think would work on my machine. It seemed way too tight, but hey - it worked for him as he pulled silver out. I think tones, cursor hit position, and sensitivity settigs vary some from machine to machine. My machine is wack and I know it. It will not run a 8" sunray coil, my machine just shuts off, the same 8" coil works fine on the next XS. There is something with these machines and they are not all created equal. Call Minelab, I am going too!!! LOL

 

[Anonymous]

when I was reading this string of post. The Explorer is a powerfull detector more so that the others that were used at this school. Now with this much power the iron will mask the good targets too and this is where running manual only and lower the sensitivity can get these good coins mixed in with trash. If you run auto it may run smoother, but it may not pick up a coin on top of the ground as I have tried it.
If it is nulling a lot we know there is too much items that is disc out as this is what causes nulls.
Now even running in -10 will help, but if there is enough nails and such it still will null out quite a bit, so with the lower sensitivity in manual only, going slower with a smaller coil and listening to the tones is where these coins can be found.
I will give you a example as My floor in my bar is full of nails and metal under the floor of pipes and such. The Explorer has a hard time getting a quater on the floor if the coil is 3 inches above it, but a Tesoro Compadre ($189 detector) will get it with no problem with the coil 5 inches above the target. The reason for this is that it is not as sensitive and the nails dont bother it like it does the Explorer which is very sensitive. Now go out to accualy hunt an older area that is not real trashy and the Compadere may still get the 5 inches, but the Explorer can get 12 inches.
The Explorer is just a over kill for this area while the cheaper less sensitive detector may work just great as they are not as sensitive to the iron that is there.
Rick

 

[Anonymous]

I used a BH for my first couple years of hunting and it was a coin magnet for shallow coins - I quickly filled a couple large coffee cans up with it. But I must say it got kind of boring after a while - if it beeped coin it was definitely a coin but it was rarely a deep one. There was a park that I put perhaps 15 hours in with the BH and I never found as much as a wheat cent there - honest - but with the Explorer I got a couple hundred wheats and a couple dozen silver.
In very trashy parks for shallow coins I would still choose the BH. It gives a no-nonsense coin signal in trash, where the Explorer will be picking up and responding to all the nearby and deeper junk. Not that the Explorer won't hit the same coins but you have to open up the sceen and use your ears more. It's basically more work with the Explorer. It sounds like that trash was dragging your signals into the discriminated regions of the Explorer. You really need to set the iron mask at -10 or less for the Explorer to pick up most of everything that the BH will respond to.

 

[Anonymous]

To Rick
Rick, try this...while your Explorer is on, pick the rubber pad where your battery is stored, unclip the battery and pull it out. This is suppose to reset the machine. Let me know how it works out. A salesmen at Geoquest in NJ had told to do this. If it continues either send it back to Minelab for diagnostics, or hold down the start up button till you near the scale, and reprogram each item again. Hope this helps...God bless...HH
Philo_NY

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Rick,
If you opened up to iron mask -12 and got circus music when you were searching it is working as it should. Circus music is your friend.
If you are getting circus music and a dancing cursor when the detector is still it means there is too much noise. Try noise cancel and then reduce the sensitivity until it stops dancing. Make sure you are in manual sensitivity. I've seen a couple of people running with a ton of discrimination- much of the screen blacked out and weren't finding anything. One big null. I open the screen up for them and could see the cursor bouncing all over. They had the sensitivity way too high and with most of the screen disc'd out had no idea what was going on.
Your detector is picking up all sorts of stuff the BH is missing. Here it is a problem but other places it will be an advantage. You need to detune the machine considerably to pick up the shallow stuff and with a DD coil you may still only be able to pick it up from one angle.
There is a big learning curve with this machine, many other have posted similar frustrations and come back later and say it finally "clicked". Give it time
Chris