First of all Congrats on finding your first barber dime <IMG SRC="/forums/images/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="
"> Finding firsts is always great fun, way to go!
Everybody has there own style of hunting and they usually set things up to fit their over all hunting environment and to fit what they want to find. If you want to find items that fall all over the Smartfind screen from thin white gold rings to silver halves then a fully open screen is the way to go. The factory preset coins program suits this perfectly for general hunting, but when you have the need to hear more then you have to open the accept up more --for example, if you're in an old site that has lots of iron and has been virtually cleaned out by previous detectorists then opening up an Iron Mask setting is the way to go, mainly because the only goodies left are the ones that are influenced by iron and cannot be heard unless you have the left side opened up. The sites I hunt usually have very different ground conditions, and sometimes I hunt for specific items. So for the way I hunt only sticking to one setting can be a disadvantage.
3 type of hunting strategies would call for different set ups, here are some possible scenarios.
: Hunting for silver dimes, quarters and halves....the park hasn't been cleaned out yet and is old, you absolutely only want to dig these specific items, and there's not any concentration of iron. Here you only need an open box in the upper right hand corner of the screen, anything else accepted would be defeating and excessive, using this set up would allow you to cover more area quickly.
: Hunting for all the high coins (dimes, w/i/m pennies, quarters, halves, 2ct pc, large cent) and all the lower nickels(war, buffalo, V, shield)....... Park is same as above, you don't want to dig much trash but are willing to dig some trash. Here you would need the open box upper right but big enough to also accept indians, and another separate open box for nickels big enough to accept the higher wars, middle buffalos, and lower V's and shields. This set up again allows you to cover more ground and also to concentrate on the specific coins. Note- you can also use the preset coin program for this situation, using accept boxes is really dependent on how trashy the site is, you will have to know the right ID's when using Digital and where they fall on the screen when using Smartfind.
: Hunting for all types of items that are not trash or iron........Park is same as above, you know your going to be digging trash because now your digging everything, ground coverage is not a factor because the amount of targets at the site will dictate that, and <I>you're not concerned about odd sounding targets because you're only going to dig the solid repeats.</I> Hear you will only need to use the preset coins program or if you want to add some of the small white gold ring ID's then go to Iron Mask (0)zero. Also, since your digging everything then whether you're in Digital or Smartfind really won't matter.
That's 3 situations where only using one set up everywhere can be a waist and unnecessary. But now lets look at <b>Iron Mask</b> a bit closer, Iron Mask can be considered a <b>"true Advanced mode,"</b> it allows for hunting where signals are not always cut and dry, for hunting in sites that have been pounded and virtually cleaned out, and for sites that have an over abundance of iron. At these type sites you need the ability to get signals that are in the wrong area --like an upper right corner coin that is pulled way over into the Iron Mask side--, these targets/coins cannot be found on the right side of the screen because of the iron. I also believe Iron Mask is the way to go for Beach hunting. Do you need Iron Mask for the first 3 previous situations? No. Could you use it all the time, and in the previous 3? Absolutely if you want to.
I use Iron Mask mode in home stead sites, plowed fields, and sites that may be close to cleaned out but still have the masked and influenced stuff left. At my old coins parks I use both the preset coins program and a couple different custom accept box patterns depending on the trash level. At my super trashy sites that also have tons of iron and has 40 items in every cubed foot of soil I will use a tight custom coins accept box and also search it using the complete opposite and run a low Iron Mask --it's nice to have the versitality. All and all I use probably 5 screen settings depending on site variables. I guess if I only hunted in one type of site or sites that were similar in amount of goodies left and trash/iron levels then I might only use one all the time, but at least for now I find using different accept/reject settings can be an advantage. In fact I have one site that I go to and only use Iron Mask and wouldn't even consider not using it there, while at another type site I only use a tight coins pattern(after cleaning it out some I probably will eventually start to open up the accept pattern.)
This is just my take on it and this doesn't give consideration to other areas ground conditions or what each individual really wants to find, it is in general from my experience.
GL/HH
