QUESTION FOR THE EXPERTS!

[Anonymous]

<STRONG>Had my Explorer II for 6 weeks!
I have used it in Basic modes, for about 4 weeks!
Dug everything (pennies, nickels, dimes, nails, screw caps,and 50,000 pull-tabs of 5 different types)! All finds where 1-5 inches deep!
2 weeks ago, I started using, THE ADVANCED MODE, (GREAT FEATURE) and have Programmed 3 different programs, for different areas!
<STRONG>I UNDERSTAND AND KNOW HOW TO USE ALL THE FEATURES
AND BUTTONS!
MY Questions:
1) HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN TO USE THE <STRONG>(Manual Sensitivity as opposed to the Semi-Auto)?
Today I built a Test Garden, burying a Penny, Nickel, Dime, and Varies Trash Items 5-8 inches DEEP!
Using my previous Settings, </STRONG>I could not Read any of the Buried Items!
I tried changing Semi-auto Sens. from 30 down to 15.
Nothing!
I changed to Manual Sens, and at 20 could Read ALL THE ITEMS! Even at Manual 16 and at 30, could read all Items! Makes me wonder, what I've BEEN MISSING!
It seems like Half of Everybody Out There, use Manual Sens. and the other Half, uses Semi-Auto!
How do you know WHEN?
2) Question:
How do you know when the Manual Sensitivity is Set TO HIGH?
What happens or what does the Theshold, sound Like?
3) Question:
<STRONG>What should the Gain be set at? Most of the time I use 7!
I have used Gain at 7 and 9 and 10!
Doesn't seem to change, anything.
<STRONG>Did not affect the above TEST GARDEN!
ANY Help or Words of Wisdom, would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!
Thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

This sounds like a real challenge for the pros to answer knowledgeably (wow !) I just got my ex-2
a week ago, and went to the shore, and found less
than my Big Bud Pro using buddy. But that's his baby, he has 3 of them, and they really talk to him.
I wandered all over, so of course I didn't fare too well. I did find some deep items, like a clad quarter
at about 10 inches, I just used the quick set up, but
was pleased with the responses, and am anxiously
waiting for my next trip, probably tomorrow. I would
sure like to read the answers to your questions.

 

[Anonymous]

First the Auto/manual issue.
In Auto the explorer adjusts the sensitivity up or down from the set point. Sometimes by quite a bit as your, mine, and many other people's experiments have shown. In manual the sensitivity stays where you set it. You can force it to be less sensitive or more sensitive than what the explorer would do left to itself in Auto mode.
However, I'm a more than a little bit suprised you could get the signals in Manual 16 but not Auto 30. Sounds like something else might be going on there.
As far as half of us swearing by Manual and the other half by Auto: I'm personally one hundred percent convinced that Manual is the way to go except for one annoying fact: <span style="background-color:#ffff00;">I know people who use Auto and find as much or more than I do.</span> I suspect that they would find even more if they used Manual also but it's their life. Then again maybe not.
Question two.
Sensitivity is set too high when the machine is unstable, it will sound like a video game gone whacko. If you have the coil still on the ground and it is sounding off like crazy then you are too high. One thing to remember, if you have lots of discrimination (screen blacked out) you may not hear all these signals, just the threshold nulling. Best way to learn this is go inside near your TV or computer. Make sure you have no discrimination initially. Generally you will need to turn the sensitivity down to the single digits to make it run stable.
Gain makes fainter signals louder. High Gains decrease the variance in volume between deeper targets and shallower ones so it is more difficult to judge the depth of the target by sound alone. Many of us like lower gains (say 5-7) so we don't have to keep peeking at the depth gauge to determine whether to dig, others swear high gain is the only way to go. Deep On is somewhat similar to Gain but it only amplifies the very faint signals and leaves the midrange ones alone.
Hope this helps.
And some unsolicited advice: Don't spend too much time programming all sorts of pretty patterns. It's entertaining but not real useful in the field. One of the next things you will discover as you progress is that targets often don't hit where you expect them to. You will often miss the good stuff and not avoid the bad by trying to set up patterns. Keep it simple. Iron mask -12 will knock out most of the iron and if you are in tons of tinfoil and pulltabs just black out the bottom part of the screen. Opening a window for nickels in this case will only let in the shallower ones. Why bother?

 

[Anonymous]

Gee I liked Chris's post but would like to add a bit if I may..Many feel the auto sensitivity will overcompensate at times and not gives you depth, perhaps its our ground or just me but set it at -30 auto from the get go and just works fine for me. So one would guess it depends on your area or even perhaps a unit could be slightly out of tune( which I doubt) so again never saw a unit that works so well in so many different settings.
Agree high manual sensitivity will give you an unstable machine but the way I tell for sure if my threshold remains stable as some areas are loaded with trash and could cause this unstable like situation. For us old timers that go for deepies we use a gain of 10 lest we not hear a deepie. On the other hand set at 5 it becomes modulated audio for the younger fellows with excellent hearing( shallow is loud and deep is soft) so one knows from the getgo basically if its deep or not..Again nice post Chris and hope us both explaining a bit different will help a newbie get on his feet...

 

[Anonymous]

As Chris said if you have your sensitivity in manual set too high it will make alot of noise with barely moving the coil. Don't make the mistake of think the thresold null means the sensitivity is too high. The Explorer nulls the threshold when it passes over something you have discrimated out. When the sensitivity is too high it's similiar to what Chris said it sounds like a bonkers video game... it just sounds like random sounds thrown in to me. I have compared auto and manual and can't tell you in my area that manual is the way to go. I have my gain set at 10 but some say 7 and up is fine. You'll learn to fine tune each thing as you hunt. Some are personal preferences. The only time I ever switch on auto is if I seem to be chasing the proper sensitivity. If the mineralization is really unevenly distributed through the site I might give auto a try. But, 99% I stay in manual.
Adding my own thought to help in your learning... my advice is to pay attention to the Sound ID on the Explorer. Start trying to guess what you have under the coil by the sound ID. I can tell a zinc from a wheatie doing this... as well as a bottle cap from a wheatie. I have my variability set on 8. This makes iron that tries to 'peek' thru sound more high pitched than silver. Once you start to progress more with your Explorer... sound ID becomes invaluable especially when you start using iron mask mode. But, one step at a time and don't change too many options at one time in the beginning will help you understand them better when you can see result between options. Feel free to ask question... someones always around to help.
-Bill

 

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't get too caught up in your results for awhile. The Explorer will start to 'shine' the more YOU gain knowledge of what it's saying. First recommendation is to start paying attention to the sounds on the Explorer. The sound ID on the Explorer is very accurate and will help you gets coins when the LCD 'lies' to you. Once you think you are VERY familar with the sounds on the Explorer I would suggest trying iron mask mode from about -10 to -12. Operating in iron mask mode will allow you to hear those coins that the Explorer LCD ID wants to pull to the left... away from the proper ID but these coins will still remain true with their sound ID. Don't rush any of these steps because it may cause you to be standing somewhere scratching your head... <img src="/metal/html/smile.gif" border=0 width=15 height=15 alt=""> Above all pay attention to the sound ID and everything will progress more easily. Good Luck! HH!
-Bill

 

[Anonymous]

<STRONG>THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION AND HELP!
I'M GOING TO KEEP DIGGING!
THE EXPLORER IS A GREAT MACHINE!!!!!!!!!

 

[Anonymous]

<span style="background-color:#ffff00;">However, I'm a more than a little bit suprised you could get the signals in Manual 16 but not Auto 30. Sounds like something else might be going on there</span>
Chris this is something I have notice many times and no one really has a answer for it.I detected a area where a old sidewalk was remeoved and run 32 auto and run so smooth with no signals. I laid a dime on top of the ground and could get no signal unless the coil touched it. I went to manual and it was not stable so I dropped the sensitivity to 20 and it was much better and could get the dime now 4 or 5 inches above the dime. Went to auto again and it was fine so I raised to to 28 and I could now get it at 2 inches and at 32 i had to touch the dime to get a signal.
To me if you are in trashy ground you better turn the sensitivity down in auto as it seem the higher it is the more it seem to varry the sensitivity and the depth seem to get less and less. I find the factory preset of 16 semi auto work the best in trashy site and semi auto at 28-30 in area that are clean.
Try something sometimes and see if you see what I do, find a area that is nulling a put a dime on the ground and try differnt sensitivity setting in semi auto and see if you notice the higher you set it on a null of iron the less depth you get on the dime.
I find if you can go slower manual works the best,but if you want to go faster auto seems to work good if not set too high in trashier area.
Rick

 

[Anonymous]

if you are hunting in the same site, and suddenly it sounds as though your unit goes beserk, like a video game on steroids, should you change the sensitivity at this point? Of course this is after noise cancel, and there is no relief. Don't post much here, but learn a lot. Thanks. <IMG SRC="/metal/html/flag.jpg" BORDER=0 width=32 height=17 ALT="usa~"> <IMG SRC="/metal/html/csflag.gif" BORDER=0 width=22 height=15 ALT="::"> <IMG SRC="/metal/html/ml.gif" BORDER=0 width=30 height=15 ALT="m~">

 

[Anonymous]

Couple of things.
Many sites have buried cables and other sources of electrical noise that can cause your unit to go nuts. You may just have to turn down the sens until you get farther away from the source of the noise.
If you can't make the problem go away by lowering sens check your coil connections.
chris

 

[Anonymous]

Rick,
I have experimented a little with turning down the sensitivity. Once I hunted the area next to my girlfriend's front steps. Absoulutely packed with nails from years of residing and reshingling. Also bushes there kept the grass from ever growing so targets did not get buried deeply. Here I tried the 8" coil with sens set a 2-5 manual and pulled an indian and no date SLQ that I couldn't get before. I think low sens can be good if the coins are mainly less deep than the trash. Usually run the sensitivity at the cusp of instability but need to try this more. Guess that I am afraid that I will miss stuff at lower sensitivities.
I'm wondering if what happened to you in auto there is that the explorer hadn't dropped the sensitivity in auto yet. I think it takes a little time to move the sens, both up or down and sometimes it just plain gets confused. I've seen a few times where the machine was going nuts in auto but quieted when switched to manual at the same setting. Usually it works the opposite. This would tell me that Auto at this time was actually running hotter than manual. Seems the program that auto tunes the sensitivity can occasionally go haywire.
Just a guess.
Come on spring.
Hope to see sometime this summer.
Chris

 

[Anonymous]

many detectors can be rapidly worked and achieve success. I'm not sure about your swing rate.....
Most detectorists at the beach that I have seen work the coil like its their job and move like they have ants in their pant. There are some people who are effective this way.
The last time I was out I found myself moving to fast......so after a short lunch break I forced my self to slow down. The targets increased dramatically.
I'm not sure about the bud pro but does your buddy work fast, and if so are you emulating him.
I find with my explorer it takes a little longer to
decide what it believes is in the ground. Unlike the XLT which works a little faster.
I hunt in one site (REV War) that's been pounded and pounded and some jokers still tell me -nothing left in there!
The last several good finds-one an 1803 Large Cent were found when I picked a small area and slowed down to a literal slow motion swing rate. aloha- johny mc.

 

[Anonymous]

What I like about manual sensitivity is you will know when to make adjustments as the area changes from trashy to clean.

 

[Anonymous]

Chris,
Like I say if it is running too smooth in semi auto I like to take it out and put in manual to see how it will run. I feel anything higher than 28 semi auto seems to be loseing depth if there is any trash present as it is over compensating. At 16-18 seems to make not much difference if you are auto or manual, but when you get up to 28 and higher in auto is where I see a lot of depth loss in trashier area.
I too like you have seen area where semi auto will go nuts unless you go lower then 16, but in manual I can run 22-24 with no problem.
It would have been nice if you could have tried auto along that sidewalk at you GF at a higher number, then alower number to see if the lower auto would have done much better than the higher auto being it was trashy.
I hope to see you up this way this summer as James and Dale have been doing alot of research and think they have some great places to go. I hope they invite me before they clean them out.
Rick

 

[Anonymous]

I was at an old abandoned house. There is no power there, or any utilities, thought it might be a lot of trash or something. Problaby should have went to the 5". I'll re-check the sight. Thanks again.