Pinpoint Questions

[Anonymous]

New to the XS but this is my third detector. What's the trick to pinpointing with XS? I've always taken pride in not having to dig craters etc. Can't say that now.... I cant' seem to get over the target and as a result I'm opening up holes John Deere would be proud of. What's your best technique? i.e. The depth bar will be 2/3 dark, and with minimal moving of coil at 90 degrees sweeps, I get good signals. When I dig, somehow I end up finding a target off to one side, or practically on top of the ground when I'm expecting it to be 4-6 inches down. I have access to several prime early 1800's homesites I'm reluctant to attack because I make such a mess right now.
BTW..I use 25 semiauto, adv mode, stock coil, stock settings.
Help. Thanks.
HH

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Steve,
I am sure there is different ways of pinpointing, but what I have been doing is different than I do with my Sovereign.
I get the signal in disc and if I notice it is not very deep I pick up the loop a couple of inches so I dont get a double signal on the target. Now I will move the loop back to me so when I lose the signal I know the target is right in front of the loop and looking at where the target is I will turn 90 degrees and being i have a idea of where it is I will do this again and see that it is still in that area. I now know it is a target i want to dig and will go to pinpoint and do this same thing again and while in pinpoint I will come at the target from differnt angles and and use the tip of the coil to tell me where the target is. I find the target will be be right in front of the decal on the loop within a inch one way or the other.
Like i say a target that is big or on the surface will give you a signal on the edge of the coil too and by lifting the coil up you will just get the target in the center of the coil the lenght of the coil(about a 1 inch bar).
Good luck and I am sure others will give you other tips.
Rick

 

[Anonymous]

One way is to press the pinpoint button with the coil on the ground about 4 to 5 inches off the center of the target, then sweep over the target side to side using a 5 to 6 inch sweep trying to shorten the sweep to a pinpoint; then turn 90 degrees at repeat while visualizing where the target pinpointed on the first sweep. You should be able to ratchet the pinpoint down to a 2 inch diameter.
Another technique, one that I use, is to start off target next to the target by 4 to 5 inches off center with the coil on the ground, then pressing the pinpoint button I will begin sweeping side to side and forward and backward over the target shortening the sweep on each pass down to a pinpoint.
Also, if you lose the pinpoint just reset it by switching back to detect mode then back to pinpoint mode. If you want to see a video demo of the pinpointing technique I use just follow the link below and at the bottom of the page click on the pinpointing file. You need RealPlayer media to view, if you don't have it there is a link on that page to download it.
GL

 

[Anonymous]

Im having a different problem Im getting really deep signals but they cant be found in pin point mode,but in disc they cant be narrowed down to a specific area.The signals in disc mode are solid about every fourth pass of the coil and a reading just above the lower line in the middle of the screen.Depth guage is nearly clear.

 

[Anonymous]

If the signal is not being caused by mineralization or some sort of hot rocks then it may be foil particles. Sounds like the signals are in the 'Foil' items range so they may not actually be as deep as they're reading on the meter since foil tends to read deeper than it really is.
If you get any foil reading in Detect mode then you should be able to get it in pinpoint. Foil and other very tiny targets do take a slower sweep in pinpoint in order to get a good signal.
Not getting a signal in pinpoint on the good sounding targets in Detect mode is the exception to the rule and in the time I've put in using the Explorer it has only happened in a few rare instances, but it does happen so if it sounds good in Detect mode it might be worth a dig --that is if the signal falls in an area known for keepers, not from an area like the bottle cap region.
What you describe may just be foil flakes, one gum wrapper can flake and spread out over a small area or be ripped up and mixed in the soil causing this type of signal to become more prevalent, and in a public accessible area this type of signal could be common.
One solution might be to Dig one or two of these targets even if you have to spend half a day isolating one, at least you will know what they are and if they are worth digging in the future.
Hope this speaks to your question somewhat, if you can give any more details such as type of hunting site, dirt or sand, park, cellar hole, or farm fields it may help to answer better.
GL/HH

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Mitch
The ground conditions are very wet grass on land that has never to my knowledge been ploughed in fact its a large garden to a Manour House so digging large holes are out of the question.With my Sovereign Ive had some nice Celtic (pre Roman) finds and they were all on the edge of detection depth this is the reason for buying the Explorer but so far Im not convinced its any deeper. The the thing thats bugging me is that our small hammered coins can be in the same discrimination area as foil, the signalls are not all in the same area.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not familiar with hammered coins but I've heard that they're different, if some fall in the foil range than I can understand your concern for any signals in that range. I have to believe though that even if the signal in Detect mode is solid on every forth pass or so that if it is a coin or ring that it would come through in pinpoint mode.
As I've mentioned, the lack of a pinpoint signal on something good that sounds off when in Detect mode is a more or less a rarity and may only happen a few times where it turns out to be a keeper. So, if this is happening in this garden more than once you can bet that it is not because of coins or rings. Not to say it can't be a coin or ring but that it probably isn't.
I sometimes post about 'working a target' in Detect mode in order to get a good analysis on the target, this 'working a target' can be translated to pinpointing also. Sometimes I have a really deep target that is on the fringes of detection and both Detect and Pinpoint modes barely sound off any signal at all so after working a signal out in Detect mode and deciding it's a worth while dig I will then have to work out a signal in Pinpoint mode. When trying to get that signal out in pinpoint I may have to reset the pinpoint and start over a few times.
A note on the Explorer depth abilities over the Sovereign:
I believe that in many ways I had mastered using the Sovereign before getting the Explorer and pretty much knew it's depth capabilities, which were great. After maybe a week or so I was thoroughly convinced that not only does the Explorer have greater depth capabilities over the Sov but it also has superior target separation capability too. Just trust that if your Explorers coil goes over a deepie that it will see it, that if you have not yet hit a coin deeper that say 10 or 11"s that you just haven't gone over one yet. I wish I could hunt a garden that has produced ancient Roman coins in the past <IMG SRC="/forums/images/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="">
Here is a chart that illustrates how much better I personally believe the Explorer is over the Sovereign in terms of depth capability <FONT COLOR="FF0000"> This chart is only meant to drive the point of the Explorers depth over the Sov home, it is only a general interpretation. </FONT> Notice though how there are fewer coins at extreme depths which if this is how they're configured in the ground it might explain why the really deep keepers are rare to find.
Anyway, Good Luck hunting that garden/HH

 

[Anonymous]

so what are the dark spots on the graph?

 

[Anonymous]

[No message]

 

[Anonymous]

apparently lost geocities