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Proud new owner!! Questions...

A

Anonymous

Guest
Hello all. I've been lurking here for a while and finally decided to take the plunge. My new Explorer XS arrived 2 days ago and I finally managed to find time today to swing the coil with Ric.
It's going to take some practice but I have great confidence in this machine. Dug a whole pouch full of trash just to try and learn what it was telling me. I had some success but still need to learn when to dig those deep hits.
I do have three questions:
I notice when I get a null sometimes I get a good signal on the tail end or even the middle. Usually they aren't repeatable but sometimes they are. So far they've all been trash. Are they worth digging hoping for silver next to iron, or am I wasting time in general?
Next, should I be running with a decent threshold without large amounts of nulling? It seems I can do this by turning the sens. down. Do I risk missing good targets with very frequent nulls?
Lastly, and this is an easy one, I can't get the threshold at a low enough level without using the headphone volume control or the main volume control (it's at max). At 6 and below I don't even have a threshold. It takes 7 to get anything and I did try a nice pair of headphones with the same result.
Thanks for the help. Ric was a valuable asset to have around while learning. He was even kind enough to point out I had my X1 probe switched to probe when I was bi*ching about the detector not working. Thanks for not mentioning it first Ric. <IMG SRC="/forums/images/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT=":)">
HH,
Doug
 
hey doug, its just going to take alittle time to get use to it on your own. its got a major learning curve but give yourself a month or two and it will be the only detector youll want to use.
lol was in my yard yesterday trying some different settings . must have walked 100 feet till i realized i was in the probe mode. youll have that.
HH,
stan sjmdc
 
Doug,
I can't set my threshold below 7 without losing the tone. Looks like our instruments are acting the same here.
 
Hi Stan, I mounted my coil on top of the upper rod with the coil tip almost touching the lower rod clamp. If you leave your switch in the coil mode it sounds off loud and clear on the metal in the lower rod clamp and. You can't leave it on by mistake. It also gets the probe wire out of the way. It's 100% better than side mounting like you're supposed to. Just my opinion. HH-Coinshooter65.
 
Re your last question ... it is normal to get the minimal audio tone at a threshold of 7 and lose it when you go to 6. Many folks on the forum have asked Minelab to add more graduations especially in this area when they upgrade the Explorer.
As for nulling ... your detector will null with iron depending on where your Iron Mask is set and on targets that are discriminated out. So if you get nulling one of these conditions exist. You can miss good targets in an area that nulls frequently but the Explorer will also find targets in these areas that other detectors will miss ... so keep searching if you know old coins have been found there. Lowering sensitivity is more likely to reduce unnecessary falsing than have an affect on nulling. But don't hunt with your sensitivity set higher than required if you want reasonably stable operation.
As for your first question ... initially I'd stick to digging the solid signals until I learned my detector a little better. The Explorer is quite good at signaling solidly on what would be "iffy" signals on other detectors so you're really pushing it when you go after iffy signals to the Explorer. On the other hand, while you're learning your detector it doesn't hurt to dig almost everything to see how it reacts to what. Also it will teach you to really analyze each target ... sweep fast/slow, sweep from all directions, sweep in disc and pin-point, etc. In time you'll usually know when to dig or not.
Enjoy your new toy.
HH ... Gord.
 
Welcome Doug. Give me an Email, I live in the same town as you do and have had my EXP XS for 1 year now. Maybe I can help shorten the learning curve a little for you. I also hunt with Ric and he does have a good sense of humor. <IMG SRC="/forums/images/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT=":)">
HH BiLL IL
 
Thanks very much Gord for the info.
I have noticed in air tests if I turn the sens down a bit the detector ID's a little more accurately.
I will do what you said and go after the solid hits for a while. Good advice. At least I can give my digging tools a little rest.
One thing I hear is the Ex's ability to avoid losing depth when in a tight discr pattern. I realize I might miss some iffy targets this way but I'm much more comfortable with my discr program in trashy areas if this is true. Any thoughts??
HH.
 
Great! Makes me feel better knowing other detectors are doing the same thing.
Thanks.
 
Ha! Too much technology on one rod but I love it!
I almost mounted the probe on down like Coinshooter and others, but I like the added weight to the armrest area for balance. Not that it's much but it just felt better than one I tried the other way.
After my fiasco with the probe being on I doubt I'll forget again very soon. Maybe a week or two. <IMG SRC="/forums/images/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT=":)">
Thanks.
 
I'm not sure it doesn't lose "any" depth (that's hard to measure) but it sure seems to be a lot less than many other detectors.
If you don't have a small coil and are just learning the detector a tight disc pattern is not a bad idea (I still use that approach if I don't have a lot of time and I'm trying to maximize my finds, etc). The main downside is that a good signal, such as a coin, may read in the disc out area (outside it's normal coin range) due to the influence of nearby junk and therefore you won't see or hear it.
If you're hunting a site you "know" has old coins you'll want to be much more careful about any discrimination. In time you'll probably learn to detect in Iron Mask mode primarily where you'll make up your mind to dig based on the audio signal, the location of the cursor on the Smart screen and "just a feeling" ;^).
Good luck and HH ... Gord.
 
Thanks Gord. I've used IM when in a decent area without too much trash. Otherwise I use the tight discr pattern in that nasty park to avoid stopping every swing.
HH
 
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