question on the silver umax

[Neil]

I read the all metal mode on the silver umax is silent, no threshold. Is that correct? Does anyone have one and hunt in this mode, any depth increase or tighter response to a target? Improved sensitivity?

 

[mojotrout]

Hi Neil, I don't hunt in AM with the Silver all that much but when I do I get another inch or two on coins and another 2-3 inches on iron. I don't see any tighter target response but I haven't spent a great deal of time hunting and comparing both modes so I'll leave that to our experts here to answer. It is quiet too.

I have relatively mild soil so your results might vary.

 

[Rainyday101]

I started out hunting in all metal and toggling to disc and thumbing the disc. Got real tired of that real quick. As far as extra depth an air test will answer that. I have a test garden with pennies, dimes, nickels, and quarters at 4",6",8",10", and 12". The problem is my test garden is still to fresh to get good readings (one year old). I get all coins at 4" in disc. and nothing repeatable after that. In all metal I get some very faintly at the 6" depth, but not with a good enough signal that I would dig. That would seem discouraging, but it takes years for the ground matrix to re-establish so my test garden is not too useful yet. In the field though I hunt with disc just short of zinc penny and I can find coins in the 6-7 inch range. That's not to bad in my mild ground. At depth the signal is weaker but repeatable in both directions. For what it was designed for the Silver uMax is an all around great coin finder with excellent target separation. I would guess in all metal you might get a little deeper, but you will be digging trash. Some people do dig it all and find gold rings and that is what you almost have to do to get gold. I can do it for about half an hour and then it's back to disc. mode. My soil is mild and I can run with sensitivity in the red all the time. The Silver uMax is not a depth demon, but down to 6-7 inches, maybe 8", not much will get by it. For sheer depth you would be better served by the Cibola, Vaquero, or Tejon. For what I do, hunt for silver, the Silver uMax has been a great detector and will always remain in my aresenal. I have one park that I have found over 250 coins in this summer ranging form surface to 7" deep. For more depth I will probably add another detector to the arsenal.

Hunting in all metal to get great depth is a great concept if you have a target ID or multiple tones to aid in your decisions and limit your trash digging. Unfortunately Tesoro doesn't have a detector that fits that bill real well. Hopefully in the future they will. For this I would consider an Xterra 505 or a Whites SST. Mojotrout could chime in on the Xterra.

 

[Neil]

Thank you both

 

[deliveryboy]

I set my discrimination at the "I" in Iron then run in all metal. If I hit a target I toggle over to check it, if its still strong I dig it. It does seem to give more depth in AM. And no there is no threshold adjustment it is a silent mode AM

 

[slingshot]

The Silver is deeper in a/m but finds every nail, paperclip, washer, etc. in the area. I hit a ring at 8" with a CZ-5 and the a/m would give af very faint response while the disc. mode wouldn't even sound. I also found a quarter at 6" in a tot lot and the response was wide and smooth in a/m, while it narrowed down to a more narrow and sharp response in min. disc.