Question about dealing with black sand with a CZ

[harvdog42]

I love the CZ6A but like with any VLF detector, it struggles in the black sand. Even PI's do. I've found that I can do one of two things. Either lower the sensitivity down to around 2 or raise the coil quite high above the sand. My question is which one of those two options is be best in terms of productivity over the black sand? I am, of course running in salt mode at the beach. I'm still learning this detector so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Harvdog

 

[therover]

Good question Harvdog. I do not have the pleasure of dealing with black sand much, so I can't speak on that subject.

I do know this. Running the sensitivity on a CZ at 5-6 is probably the setting where you will get 90% of your depth. In testing and reading several articles about the sensitivity on a CZ, when you start raising past 5 or 6 ( I am talking in discriminate mode only) there is minimal depth increase, but the foot print on the receive end is wider. Therefore, running sensitivity too high is certain places will cause falsing and the possibly 'high beam in the fog' analogy when hunting in mineralized soil. Running a 2-3 still gives you plenty of depth.

Bear in mind, mineralization is not the same as salt water conductivity, but you can have both, especially if the black sand on a salt water beach is minerals.

I would say run your sensitivity in the 2-3 zone. Not sure if you tried hunting in all metal and if so, also tried hunting in all meatl without a threshold. That is, ground balance normal using the bobbing method, sensitivity at max so you have a threshold to work with, and when you get it so there is minimal change in the threshold, back down the sensitivity so you don't hear a threshold. It's like hunting in silent search all metal. You will not hear the minor changes to threshold on the deeper/smaller targets, but it may help in running the machine more smoothly. You will surely hear coin sized and ring sized targets, and pretty deep too.

Hope this helped.

JC

 

[Dave J.]

I love the CZ6A but like with any VLF detector, it struggles in the black sand. Even PI's do. I've found that I can do one of two things. Either lower the sensitivity down to around 2 or raise the coil quite high above the sand. My question is which one of those two options is be best in terms of productivity over the black sand? I am, of course running in salt mode at the beach. I'm still learning this detector so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Harvdog

Rule of thumb: in heavy iron mineralization, if you aren't getting any overload warble-tones, keeping the searchoil about an inch off the surface and reducing sensitivity as necessary will usually give the best depth. If you are getting frequent overloads, the best tactic is usually to back off 2-3 inches or even more in heavy black sand, and to run the sensitivity where it seems best. In heavy mineralization depth will be best in all metals autotune mode, and it's necessary to have ground balance spot-on. Discrimination mode may be easier to search in but you'll experience considerable loss of depth under those conditions.

--Dave Johnson
FTP-Fisher

 

[motionmagic]

Just wanted tgo say thanks to Dave for taking the time to answer questions for us. That reflects well on Fisher to continue to support their products even those that have been discontinued.