I took every-ones advice as far as coil purchases, so I currently have the 350 snooper, 5.3, 950, 8", and have a Bigfoot and eliminator coil on the way.
I also ordered the book "Taking A Closer Look At Metal Detector Discrimination" by Robert C. Brockett, which I will read tonight.
I got lucky the other day as temperatures rose to a point where I was able to take my "new" XL Pro to the local park/lake/beach/landfill.
Being that I am clueless as how to use the TR/DISC at this time I decided to go Presets on everything.
Monte is being kind and patient in helping me sort this out, hopefully he can help me get this through my thick skull!
Now on to the hunt!
It was our first day out together, just myself and the XL Pro. Armed with the 5.3 I headed for the area that I hunt over and over again, which I had just been over a few days before with my DFX. It has been so cold that the place has been vacant since I was last there, so I know that the site has not been "replenished".
The site consists of a man made lake containing fresh water. The beach area is small but really dense with man made trash, which triggers a short rant... please forgive me.
You know our best friends the pull-tab? particularly the ones that are elongated and stay on the can like the ones on Pepsi cans that you can purchase today?
WHY OH WHY DO PEOPLE TAKE THESE OFF OF THEIR CANS? AND THEN ON TOP OF THAT, THROW THEM ON THE GROUND! Arggh.. don't get me started. /rant
Along the beach area is just under a dozen picnic tables with a metallic cover over-head. Some of them are positioned a bit differently than others which makes them more popular than others with the summer visitors.
It generally takes me a full day to thoroughly go around these tables and the area between them with the DFX.
I set everything to the Presets and made sure I had a good ground balance, off I went.
No spectacular finds on the first outing but some things did happen that made me as happy as finding a $100 bill on the ground.
1. 3 days earlier I dug a zinc penny and a dime with the DFX. I found a wheat penny about 8" down in the same hole that the DFX had missed. And yes, I did rescan the hole after I dug the zinc and dime!I The DFX missed it plain and simple!
2. Target ID. I must admit I love the scale on the analog meter, not having to have to identify items by a number, but the numbers were there if I wanted them.
If it said it was a coin, it was a coin! I purposefully dug several targets that were indicated as trash, and by golly they were. I don't and will never trust the meter %100 (bad idea), but at least I can have more confidence in it!
3. The best part. I was moving from one table to the next when I looked up and realized that there were no more tables. The area that I covered in a day with the DFX only took a couple hours!
4. Trash separation- The 5.3 performed lovely as expected, I did hit a patch of unusually dense trash near the most popular table. So on went the Snooper coil, and OMG was this lil critter a SCALPEL! It sure does blow away the 4x6 that's for sure.
5. Last but not least, I have Sunray DX-1 on the DFX, not wanting to add weight to the feather-lite XL Pro I initially decided to just use my Automax pointer.
Well, yesterday I was in my local Harbor Freight tool store and they had some pin-pointers of all things. They are made by a company called Cen-Tech. They beep but don't vibrate, but they do have an LED light! The beep is high pitched and can be heard easily without removing the headphones. Works great! Better than the Automax by far and much lighter and compact, and only $17. Glad I bought more than one!
Long story short, I had FUN. I came away with a big handful of clad in 2 hours of detecting that the DFX had missed in a full day of tedious detecting. The full day I spent detecting with the DFX I had only come away with 5 clad coins, over a dozen with the XL Pro.
I am not dissing the DFX here, I am just saying this is how it went down.
P.S. The DFX was ran with the stock coin program utilizing the 5.3 coil, with the exception of turning on TONE ID, VCO, and DC PHASE (MODULATION turned off).
Just thought I would share with everyone, As soon as my Bigfoot comes in, I am putting it on the end of the tall man rod and hitting the sports field
.
Also, when the Eliminator coil comes in, there is a whole virgin area I am going to tear into like a T-Rex at a slaughter house!
-Digi Man
I also ordered the book "Taking A Closer Look At Metal Detector Discrimination" by Robert C. Brockett, which I will read tonight.
I got lucky the other day as temperatures rose to a point where I was able to take my "new" XL Pro to the local park/lake/beach/landfill.
Being that I am clueless as how to use the TR/DISC at this time I decided to go Presets on everything.
Monte is being kind and patient in helping me sort this out, hopefully he can help me get this through my thick skull!
Now on to the hunt!
It was our first day out together, just myself and the XL Pro. Armed with the 5.3 I headed for the area that I hunt over and over again, which I had just been over a few days before with my DFX. It has been so cold that the place has been vacant since I was last there, so I know that the site has not been "replenished".
The site consists of a man made lake containing fresh water. The beach area is small but really dense with man made trash, which triggers a short rant... please forgive me.
You know our best friends the pull-tab? particularly the ones that are elongated and stay on the can like the ones on Pepsi cans that you can purchase today?
WHY OH WHY DO PEOPLE TAKE THESE OFF OF THEIR CANS? AND THEN ON TOP OF THAT, THROW THEM ON THE GROUND! Arggh.. don't get me started. /rant
Along the beach area is just under a dozen picnic tables with a metallic cover over-head. Some of them are positioned a bit differently than others which makes them more popular than others with the summer visitors.
It generally takes me a full day to thoroughly go around these tables and the area between them with the DFX.
I set everything to the Presets and made sure I had a good ground balance, off I went.
No spectacular finds on the first outing but some things did happen that made me as happy as finding a $100 bill on the ground.
1. 3 days earlier I dug a zinc penny and a dime with the DFX. I found a wheat penny about 8" down in the same hole that the DFX had missed. And yes, I did rescan the hole after I dug the zinc and dime!I The DFX missed it plain and simple!
2. Target ID. I must admit I love the scale on the analog meter, not having to have to identify items by a number, but the numbers were there if I wanted them.
If it said it was a coin, it was a coin! I purposefully dug several targets that were indicated as trash, and by golly they were. I don't and will never trust the meter %100 (bad idea), but at least I can have more confidence in it!
3. The best part. I was moving from one table to the next when I looked up and realized that there were no more tables. The area that I covered in a day with the DFX only took a couple hours!
4. Trash separation- The 5.3 performed lovely as expected, I did hit a patch of unusually dense trash near the most popular table. So on went the Snooper coil, and OMG was this lil critter a SCALPEL! It sure does blow away the 4x6 that's for sure.
5. Last but not least, I have Sunray DX-1 on the DFX, not wanting to add weight to the feather-lite XL Pro I initially decided to just use my Automax pointer.
Well, yesterday I was in my local Harbor Freight tool store and they had some pin-pointers of all things. They are made by a company called Cen-Tech. They beep but don't vibrate, but they do have an LED light! The beep is high pitched and can be heard easily without removing the headphones. Works great! Better than the Automax by far and much lighter and compact, and only $17. Glad I bought more than one!
Long story short, I had FUN. I came away with a big handful of clad in 2 hours of detecting that the DFX had missed in a full day of tedious detecting. The full day I spent detecting with the DFX I had only come away with 5 clad coins, over a dozen with the XL Pro.
I am not dissing the DFX here, I am just saying this is how it went down.
P.S. The DFX was ran with the stock coin program utilizing the 5.3 coil, with the exception of turning on TONE ID, VCO, and DC PHASE (MODULATION turned off).
Just thought I would share with everyone, As soon as my Bigfoot comes in, I am putting it on the end of the tall man rod and hitting the sports field
. Also, when the Eliminator coil comes in, there is a whole virgin area I am going to tear into like a T-Rex at a slaughter house!
-Digi Man