QUESTION ON SENSITIVITY AND DEPTH

[larryw]

I usually run my explorer xs on max sensitivity, and have been fairly successful in finding my share of goodies. I was just wondering if I might be losing depth by setting it on highest sensitivity. Anybody out there have any experience experimenting with the sensitivity settings and depth, and if so, what are your thoughts/recommendations? Thanks!

 

[Jay- oldcoins]

You must be hunting far from civilization if you can use maximum sensitivity without your detector going crazy! I think most people will agree that in most situations higher sensitivity will give greater depth (actually more accurate identification of deeper items). Most people gradually increase sensitivity until the detector becomes unstable, than back down to a stable level. Your sensitivity is too high when you receive erratic sounds when the detector is not over a metal object (or while held out way up in the air). Your cursor bounces all over the screen even when the detector is completely still, or digital numbers bounce from one to another. This makes it very hard to tell what is a good signal and what is outside interference, and even when you do get a good signal, it is very hard to see what it is with numbers or cursor bouncing all over.
I can rarely get my sensitivity above 28 (Explorer 2), and near power lines I have to drop down sometimes to 20 (or less) before the machine quiets down. There is "automatic sensitivity" you can set, but most people do not like it feeling it goes too low. Try a test sometime when you are out in the field and get a deep rather faint signal you know is good. Pinpoint the signal source on the ground, and make a mark in the soil so you are always swinging over the same spot. Now try dropping your sensitivity a few numbers at a time and swing over the signal each time.. See if it gets fainter or others who are hunting at a lower sensitivity number- try the same thing, but keep raising the sensitivity a few numbers at a time and see if the faint signal improves. Run it right up well into the interference level and see what happens to the signal, and figure if you would be able to pick up that signal through all that interference during normal hunting. Then see what happens to the signal when you set the sensitivity at various levels and switch it to semiautomatic. This could be a real surprise. This testing holds true for all the settings- better to experiment with them, in the field, over a good but deep target, and see just what happens when you adjust levels. Try deep, try fast, levels of gain, audio 1 and 2 and so on, and in combinations over the same signal. Change sweep speed and see what that does. If you are hunting in a discriminate screen, switch over to fully open (blank screen) iron mask and see what happenes to the signal now. This all takes some time, but it is time well spent if you find a combo that really improves your deeper finds. Oh yes- be sure to then dig the "good" deep signal to make sure it WAS good and wasn't some shallow tiny piece of junk that make all your tests pretty much worthless. You are indeed lucky to be able to hunt with full sensitivity!!

 

[Steve(MS)]

Is your sens. at 32 manual? I know some beach hunters are able to run it that high but for most land hunters the max is around 28. As long as non-stability is not causing you to miss possible targets, I don't see a problem. I have seen a progression in the sens. settings(manual) and that is one or 2 points don't seem to cause much of a drop in depth. For instance in my ground 22 does fairly good but 25 to 27 does a better. There is a drop in depth from 27 to say 20. I run mine at 27 most of the time, can get away with 28 sometimes but it gets unstable much of the time at that setting. On the 5" coil I have, I can run it max or about 30. There may be some situations where a lower sens setting is better but most long time users will run it as high as possible with instability, that's what I do anyway, I don't see anything wrong with running it high. I have had to run mine at 17 to 19 around powerlines, I sure hate doing that but I prefer stability and not having the meter and sounds bounce all over the screen. If you are successful with the way you are doing it, leave it there or experiment and let us know what you find out.

 

[Steve(MS)]

I was typing the same time you posted, I think your post lines up with mine nicely,HH,
Steve(MS)

 

[Jay- oldcoins]

I just had an inspiration- is it possible you are SETTING your Ex on maximum sensitivity (over 30) but have the semi-automatic feature running? Many people do not notice if that sneaky feature is running- all you see on the screen is the short line that rotates around the sensitivity number that appears on the left side of the screen. The sensitivity number does NOT change on the screen, it remains at what you set, even tho the auto feature has undoubtedly dropped your actual working sensitivity, perhaps considerably. If so you may think you are hunting at sensitivity 30 but in reality you are only at 16 but have no way of knowing where it is, only that the detector is running just as smooth as a baby's skin but you are having trouble finding coins deeper than 5". Check your manual if you are unsure about this feature. Most heavy-duty hunters (# of finds, not weight) feel the auto feature WAY overcompensates to the side of stability and you unnecessarily lose depth.

 

[Dan-Pa.]

I think Jay gave an exellent post and insight...Heck Minelab U.S.A. will tell you all depends on your mineralization and area your hunting where you run your sensitivty and if you elect to use manual or perhaps semi-auto, but manual seems to be the choice of many as they have complete contol and personally as long as your unit is stable run it as high as you can as higher sensitivty usally equates to more depth...

 

[Bill W.]

I've done well running the Explorer in both manual and auto. The Explorer is a different beast. I used to run it in manual 100% of the time. But, lately I've tried different settings at places I've pounded using manual sensitivity. It's amazing what changing the sensitivity to auto can do in some places. In some instances deepies seem to sound alot better in auto. If I do run in auto I only run it between 16-18. I was amazed at the kind of depth I can get in auto at some places. But, there are some places manual seems to be better. Bottom line is don't be afraid to change over to auto and test it out.

-Bill

 

[Rick(ND)]

If you only run it at 16-18 in auto it seems to work good, but now if you run it max at 32 and try auto you may not pick up a dime on top of the ground in some areas. In the testing I have done in trashier than normal site I have seen if you run auto and keep the sensitivity below 18 it works great, but increase it to 22 or higher and you lose depth.
All you have to do is find a area where it seems to null quite a bit, then put down a dime on one of the nulls and try manual, then auto and raise the numbers and you will see a lose of depth as the sensitivity go higher in auto.For me 16-18 seem to be the best for auto.

 

[Dan-Pa.]

If mineralization and trash were the same all over perhaps we could do away with sensitivity settings high and low and manual or auto...
Well this is not a truism so Minelab gave us the tools to experiment for max. efficiency...Surprisingly enough Rick may be right with medium settings in manual and would suspect high is not always good...
Gee Minelab recommended rather low settings in medium mineralization with manual and also recommended Max. with sem-auto for medium mineralization..Perusing the forums, gaining info from the Minelab U.S.A. have come to the conclusion no right or wrong answer but just one that works for your area..We all have sucessful club members that excell with specific units so might just ask what they use for your area as it may be a good starting point..

 

[Bill W.]

Between trail and error (and reading these forums) I have come to the conclusion to experiment at every site... Sometimes overly 'hot' settings are not the best on the Explorer. I used to do like you and run the sensitivity up on auto. I've also started to experiment with a lower gain setting. I think it was Charles in NY who posted about some experimenting he did with gain and sensitivity. Those that use just one setup on the Explorer are missing the boat. The Explorer is an amazing machine.

-Bill

 

[Bill W.]

I've learned alot from reading these forums and experimenting out in the field. I am convinced there is no one best setting for my area. Different adjustment seem to allow the Explorer to excel in different areas of a given site. Medium settings seem to do well in some areas around here. Bottom line is don't get caught up in trying to push the Explorer to the 'edge' of useability and listen to the chirping and popping.... because it not always the best way to run the machine. Give up a few coins and dare to experiment with settings for a couple of outings. You might be amazed. I have had my Explorer for close to 6 years and I am STILL learning... and I am always open to new ideas on the detecting. BTW, the 'you' in my message is more directed at the general public not you... I know you're familiar with the Explorer...

-Bill

 

[DIGGERBEGINNER]

YOU ALSO...HALF TO NOICE CANCEL AFTER EVERY SETTING CHANGE YOU MAKE...AND HAVE TO NOICE CANCEL ABOUT EVERY 40 FEET WALKING TO OR FROM POWER LINES. ALSO HOLD YOUR DETECTOR WAIST HIGH AND PARALLEL TO THE GROUND WHEN NOISE CANCELLING...NOT ON THE GROUND!

 

[bgscofield6]

I am amazed at how high you guys are running your sensitivity at! Here in central Indiana I can sometimes get up to 22 when using the WOT without it going nuts and maybe 23 or 24 with the stock coil. Any higher and it just goes crazy, no matter where I am hunting. If I am at a house site and get near the house I can't get it any higher than 18 or 19, if that. Some spots I have had to drop it down below 10 to get a stable treshhold when it is not moving.

 

[DIGGERBEGINNER]

By turning gain down you can sometimes turn sense up. But you MUST noise cancel after EVERY program change other than SENSEITIVIY AND THRESHOLD. Keep coil AWAY from the ground when Noise cancelling. CONNECTIONS MUST BE TIGHT, COIL CLEAN!!! Always start your hunt in the program you plan you use at the start(I start with gain at ten, others at 9) and TURN YOUR SENSE UP TO 32 (EVEN IF SPORADIC). Now hold the detector up parallel with your waist and the have coil horizontal to the ground,PUSH NOISE CANCEL. Now detect if still sporadic bring down sense 3 points, if still sporadic bring down 2 more (total 5 now...at 27). IF STILL SPORADIC bring gain down 2, but now you have to noise cancel again!
You have to play around after this to master your ground and there is always a setting on your machine to hunt. I've dug clearly in tough areas with gain at 3 and still dug targets at 8 to 9 inches. Noise cancel IS NOT GROUND BALANCING! KEEPING IT ON THE GROUND WITH MINERALS IN THE GROUND WILL ONLY INTER FER WITH ITS PURPOSE. THIS MACHINE HAS AUTOMATIC GROUND BALANCING BUILT IN. IT TIES IN ALL YOUR CHANGED SETTINGS TO WORK TOGETHER UNDER DIFFERENT ELECTRICAL CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE AIR! THATS WHY YOU MUST NOISE CANCEL AFTER EVERY CHANGE TO A PROGRAM AFTER A PROGRAM CHANGE EVEN.
(WEAK BATERIES WILL ALSO AFFECT STABILIZATION!)

 

[DIGGERBEGINNER]

COULD BE BURIED ELECTRICAL WIRES NEAR HOME AND COULD BE THE GROUND FOR THE HOUSE. TURN YOUR GAIN DOWN AS LOW AS 3 THEN NOISE CANCEL WITH COIL AT LEAST 2 FEET OFF GROUND AND TRY AGAIN. IF IT IS NOT CLEAR TURN DOWN SENSITIVITY.(NO NEED TO NOISE CANCEL AGAIN) ONLY NOISE CANCEL AFTER CHANGES TO ANY SETTING MADE IN THE MENU) OR NOISE CANCEL ROUGHLY 20 OR MORE FEET NEARER OR FARTHER AWAY FROM OVERHEAD WIRES.
AROUND THE HOUSE TRY GAIN AT 5 AND SENSE AT 16 (NOISE CANCEL)...IF SOUNDS ARE CLEAR TURN SENSE UP TILL IT GETS NOISY THEN BACK DOWN. THEN ADJUST GAIN UP TO 7, THEN NOISE CANCEL....IF STILL CLEAN TURN GAIN UP TO 9 OR 10 AND RE NOISE CANCEL. I'VE USED AN EXPLORER FOR 5 YEARS AND IT WORKS FOR ME. JOHN

 

[bing! (L.A.)]

Setting the sensitivity is the single most important adjustment you need to master on the Minelab Exlorer. It dictates the depth that you will achieve and ease of which you will be able to use this amazing machine. The techniques that follow are meant to guide you through the most neglected aspect of the machine.

First of all, realize that when you set sensitivity to a level where your threshold disappears for a second or two at a time, you have set it to a level that is detrimental to achieving maximum depth. When the threshold disappears, the detector is actually nulling. As the detector nulls, your visual ID actually hangs as the internal processor struggles to get things going again. Until you get the threshold back, you won

 

[digitrich]

this was simply the most helpful info i've come across yet to understand my much more advanced than i am se, thank you very much