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New toy
- Thread starter Daniels
- Start date
Ed in SoDak
Member
Hi,
Enjoy learning your new machine! Here's a link to a search for old posts about the Lonestar.
http://www.findmall.com/search.php?60,search=lonestar,author=,page=1,match_type=ALL,match_dates=0,match_forum=60,match_threads=0
-Ed
Enjoy learning your new machine! Here's a link to a search for old posts about the Lonestar.
http://www.findmall.com/search.php?60,search=lonestar,author=,page=1,match_type=ALL,match_dates=0,match_forum=60,match_threads=0
-Ed
Cool thanks i guess i just gotta go out and mess with it in my yard. Living on a military base in Alaska Im sure there is tons of cool stuff to find i went out yesterday and found a tin can and a rifle casing i collect coins so Im interested in old coins and of course gold and silver lol
DominatorSteve
New member
Hey Daniels, I just purchased a Lonestar about a month ago. It was also my first detector. It takes a lot of playing around to learn the ins and outs of the machine and metal detecting in general. I have read the manual at least 10 times, in which I take new information almost every time. I first started with the all metal tab selected with no concern with discrimination or sensitivity. All I was finding is paper clips, old cans... pretty much all trash. In the manual, this is what you do if you are searching for like buried relics and whatnot. I decided I wanted to start finding stuff of value, such as coins. Under the coinshooting part in the manual, it tells you to use the 'disc' setting, and set the disc notch to about 3 oclock. Within this setting, I found pretty much all quarters, dimes, and pennys. Every time I go out I find atleast 10-15 coins an hour in parks and such. I recently used the "auto notch" setting, and turned the disc notch to 2 oclock (Which is the jewelry setting). I tried this once and come up with nickels, pennys and junk. No such luck with anything too valuable yet.
More importantly is learning exactly where to dig. The machine comes with a 10" coil, so when you hear the beep, its quite a big range where its picking up the signal. Read and learn the X technique for determining the exact spot of the detection in the ground. I have cut it down from about 5 minutes of digging to about 30 seconds of digging, which saves your back and time (my back begins to hurt after digging so long). Another very important thing is recognizing the signal and what to dig at. Within the manual (which is very true and time saving), only dig the spots that have a repeatable signal of the same tone and location. If you hear a high beep, swipe it again and hear nothing, then swipe it again and hear a medium beep, its not worth your time digging... probably trash (from what Ive learned and through the manual). One more thing is the depth of digging. I began by digging really deep instead of wide. I 95% of the items within 3" of depth (since the lonestar doesnt have a depth gage). So if you arent finding the item right away, its more likely to be in the surrounding and not so much deeper down.
Everything here is what worked/works and doesnt work for me. So I hope it can help you some. Also make sure to post anything you learn also, so maybe I can pick up some useful info. Its good to hear someone else with the same instrument as me.
HH
Steve
More importantly is learning exactly where to dig. The machine comes with a 10" coil, so when you hear the beep, its quite a big range where its picking up the signal. Read and learn the X technique for determining the exact spot of the detection in the ground. I have cut it down from about 5 minutes of digging to about 30 seconds of digging, which saves your back and time (my back begins to hurt after digging so long). Another very important thing is recognizing the signal and what to dig at. Within the manual (which is very true and time saving), only dig the spots that have a repeatable signal of the same tone and location. If you hear a high beep, swipe it again and hear nothing, then swipe it again and hear a medium beep, its not worth your time digging... probably trash (from what Ive learned and through the manual). One more thing is the depth of digging. I began by digging really deep instead of wide. I 95% of the items within 3" of depth (since the lonestar doesnt have a depth gage). So if you arent finding the item right away, its more likely to be in the surrounding and not so much deeper down.
Everything here is what worked/works and doesnt work for me. So I hope it can help you some. Also make sure to post anything you learn also, so maybe I can pick up some useful info. Its good to hear someone else with the same instrument as me.
HH
Steve
DominatorSteve
New member
yea if I get a certain tone on the first swipe and then a different tone on the second swipe, I really don't even bother anymore. Its a chance I guess I am taking but 99% of the time it was trash. Do you have a pointer?
DominatorSteve
New member
Yea it is pretty tough around here. I live near Baltimore City and the pickings are slim. I finally got my Garrett Pro Pointer in the mail today! Once my wrist is better (had surgery on thursday), I am going to give that a whirl. I also purchased a 4 inch coil for the lonestar. See how that plays out for me.
HH
Steve
HH
Steve
Ed in SoDak
Member
I don't go detecting without my Falcon pinpointer. There may be better, but I paid a big chunk o' change for it (something like $170 bucks!) and it's served me well through abuse and misuse for many years.
So what do ya know, but I get a new detecting machine to try out today and I'm so hyped up about it I forget my Falcon and all our digging tools to boot! All we had was the factory 7-inch coil and an Estwing rock hammer for a digger. So I figger any guy with a new machine has only that and no pinpointer for an assist, so I spend a little more time with my X-ing the target and actually did just fine narrowing in.
As to neat and tidy holes, well, good thing it was in a forest, because an Estwing is not your granny's digging tool, LOL!
I like the 4" coil and always suggest you try it freehand, off the stem and cruising just holding the coil itself in your hand. Great for sitting down and taking it easy under the climbing bars at schools or checking crevices and hollows out when prospecting. You don't have to remove the main coil or stem, just power down, unplug the main coil and plug in the 4-inch, power back up and go to town. It actually works as a fairly dandy pinpointer by itself, since the response is pretty narrow, it gets decent depth and you have all the functions of your machine, i.e., disc, notch, ground balance, etc., while most "dedicated" pinpointers like my Falcon operate only in all-metal.
Good finds to ya!
-Ed
So what do ya know, but I get a new detecting machine to try out today and I'm so hyped up about it I forget my Falcon and all our digging tools to boot! All we had was the factory 7-inch coil and an Estwing rock hammer for a digger. So I figger any guy with a new machine has only that and no pinpointer for an assist, so I spend a little more time with my X-ing the target and actually did just fine narrowing in.
As to neat and tidy holes, well, good thing it was in a forest, because an Estwing is not your granny's digging tool, LOL!
I like the 4" coil and always suggest you try it freehand, off the stem and cruising just holding the coil itself in your hand. Great for sitting down and taking it easy under the climbing bars at schools or checking crevices and hollows out when prospecting. You don't have to remove the main coil or stem, just power down, unplug the main coil and plug in the 4-inch, power back up and go to town. It actually works as a fairly dandy pinpointer by itself, since the response is pretty narrow, it gets decent depth and you have all the functions of your machine, i.e., disc, notch, ground balance, etc., while most "dedicated" pinpointers like my Falcon operate only in all-metal.
Good finds to ya!
-Ed
Ed in SoDak
Member
Easy, it's the proper tool for the job. Just like you don't take a sledge hammer to install trim in your living room, you instead choose a small finishing hammer. When you want to go deep and hit hard, yeah, that's when the sledge hammer is called for.
We can choose several coil sizes to fit the task we wish to do. A large coil is for covering a larger area of ground with each sweep and hunt a little deeper at the same time. But a larger coil won't "see" smaller objects as well. Just like the sledge isn't the best tool to drive a finish nail.
But it also makes no sense to try to drive a large spike with that tiny brad hammer, so we switch from one to another as the hunt dictates.
A small coil has a tighter, more confined field of detecting energy beneath it. It will be less affected by nearby trash or "nuisance" iron, like a steel fence or the posts of a playground swing, or perhaps it's a bit of foil or a nail close to a coin. A larger coil may not be able to "get between" these nearby objects, but a smaller coil might accomplish that with ease. Some things like target ID may also improve, because sometimes multiple targets that appear under a larger coil at the same time can actually "merge" in their ID. The ID shown on your detector's screen is in this case completely wrong for either tagret, while a small coil might be able to pick them up individually with correct ID.
Put a nail and a coin on the groundnext to each other and do a few tests. You might learn a whole lot of things about how your detector actually works. Some units might merge these two signals into one "composite" signal that is neitgher iron nor coin, but a pulltag ID instead. Others might hit on both signals, but the dual response is confusing to the operator. A smaller coil will tend to shout out each target by itself, in turn, as you sweep each way. Any advantage you can gain by your experience or your equipment helps give you and "edge" over your fellow hunters and might disclose some finds that previous hunters missed, who did not possess your newly expanded knowledge. Go forth and seek it!
At any rate, with this narrowed field of detection, you can thus hunt closer to and around such objects, since the coil does not "see" them as much as a larger coil would. Depth is less as well, but just being able to get closer to unavoidable large metal objects or heavy junk deposits can really help.
Since the smaller coil's field is tight and narrow, it automatically helps with pinpointing. There is a major reason that all pinpointer coils are very small, besides fitting into a small and/or deep hole. Their field of detection is narrowed, so you can find which direction you should head to recover a small, dirty, buried or encrusted target that avoids detection by eye. Such targets are often found off to the side of the main hole you are excavating using just the larger "factory" coil.
But there's drawbacks to relying on only a small coil. To hunt an entire site with a small coil would be a very time-consuming job, and the maximum dpeth is limited. So it's good to have the extra options in your bag of tricks to use the particular tool best suited to the task at hand. For most any of the Bounty Hunter models we're discussing here, we have the 4", 7", 8" and 10" coils, plus I guess there is an even larger coil designed for one of the Fisher machines that will also work very well with a Bounty Hunter. Hopefully someone will chime in on that, as I don't remember the post that spoke of it.
Some dedicated detectorists might hunt a given site with each of the several coils they own. First with the small coil to find the surface stuff and junk, next a mid-size coil to find small items that may have been hidden by the surface finds. Then they step up in size as the surface junk and other targets are removed in order to seek the deeper stuff.
But that's only one method. That's half the fun, and trying new things and new tools on the "old same place" can sometimes yield surprising results!
-Ed
We can choose several coil sizes to fit the task we wish to do. A large coil is for covering a larger area of ground with each sweep and hunt a little deeper at the same time. But a larger coil won't "see" smaller objects as well. Just like the sledge isn't the best tool to drive a finish nail.
But it also makes no sense to try to drive a large spike with that tiny brad hammer, so we switch from one to another as the hunt dictates.
A small coil has a tighter, more confined field of detecting energy beneath it. It will be less affected by nearby trash or "nuisance" iron, like a steel fence or the posts of a playground swing, or perhaps it's a bit of foil or a nail close to a coin. A larger coil may not be able to "get between" these nearby objects, but a smaller coil might accomplish that with ease. Some things like target ID may also improve, because sometimes multiple targets that appear under a larger coil at the same time can actually "merge" in their ID. The ID shown on your detector's screen is in this case completely wrong for either tagret, while a small coil might be able to pick them up individually with correct ID.
Put a nail and a coin on the groundnext to each other and do a few tests. You might learn a whole lot of things about how your detector actually works. Some units might merge these two signals into one "composite" signal that is neitgher iron nor coin, but a pulltag ID instead. Others might hit on both signals, but the dual response is confusing to the operator. A smaller coil will tend to shout out each target by itself, in turn, as you sweep each way. Any advantage you can gain by your experience or your equipment helps give you and "edge" over your fellow hunters and might disclose some finds that previous hunters missed, who did not possess your newly expanded knowledge. Go forth and seek it!
At any rate, with this narrowed field of detection, you can thus hunt closer to and around such objects, since the coil does not "see" them as much as a larger coil would. Depth is less as well, but just being able to get closer to unavoidable large metal objects or heavy junk deposits can really help.
Since the smaller coil's field is tight and narrow, it automatically helps with pinpointing. There is a major reason that all pinpointer coils are very small, besides fitting into a small and/or deep hole. Their field of detection is narrowed, so you can find which direction you should head to recover a small, dirty, buried or encrusted target that avoids detection by eye. Such targets are often found off to the side of the main hole you are excavating using just the larger "factory" coil.
But there's drawbacks to relying on only a small coil. To hunt an entire site with a small coil would be a very time-consuming job, and the maximum dpeth is limited. So it's good to have the extra options in your bag of tricks to use the particular tool best suited to the task at hand. For most any of the Bounty Hunter models we're discussing here, we have the 4", 7", 8" and 10" coils, plus I guess there is an even larger coil designed for one of the Fisher machines that will also work very well with a Bounty Hunter. Hopefully someone will chime in on that, as I don't remember the post that spoke of it.
Some dedicated detectorists might hunt a given site with each of the several coils they own. First with the small coil to find the surface stuff and junk, next a mid-size coil to find small items that may have been hidden by the surface finds. Then they step up in size as the surface junk and other targets are removed in order to seek the deeper stuff.
But that's only one method. That's half the fun, and trying new things and new tools on the "old same place" can sometimes yield surprising results!
-Ed
DominatorSteve
New member
Thanks for the input Ed. I think I might just try out going into the playground underneath the slides and whatnot with the 4" coil free handed without detaching the 10". That is a good idea which i probably never would have though of on my own.