CZconnoisseur
Active member
I reloaded v3.2 last Sunday night and hunted with it on Monday - but I didn't do any air testing until last night to determine if any responses had improved. When I did this last October, the 12 khz frequency was a clear winner in sensitivity and maximum depth on coin-sized targets, with 8 khz being the "weakest" after the reload. After this first reload, I set up a simple air testing rig using small coins like play money ranging up to a Morgan dollar.
Again, I know air testing has limited value - but the differences seen with the results from when I first got the machine in late 2013 - to the first software reload - to the most recent software reload...there have been some improvements in sensitivity and maximum depth.
12 khz is no longer the "most dominant" frequency - rather all 4 frequencies are VERY CLOSE in terms of maximum depth on various coin-sized objects. 12 khz hits about the same as it did before the latest reload; however 4, 8, and 18 khz are much more sensitive to even smaller objects, and hit coins roughly the same as 12 khz does...last night's hunt evidenced this as I stayed in 4 khz for about three hours and was digging small aluminum jean rivets, more aluminum "slugs", and smaller regular rivet heads.
I have all of my test results from the last 18 months and it clearly shows improvement in both sensitivity and raw power versus the first release of 3.2 - Will get around to posting those results on a spreadsheet soon along with the test parameters
So last night I probably spent an hour looking for my first coin, and it turned out to be a lovely smooth 1919 S Wheat. We stayed close to the area where some of the Mercs had come from, and decided to try another area, but after 20 minutes of digging nothing but trash, we meandered over the other direction and started to find modern coins. Got a Wheat closer to the starting point of last night's hunt - and then stumbled into a bunch of small globby aluminum, the bane of my existence! There were so many mid-toned hits in 4khz that after a while I decided to dig zinc pennies and above, listening for those higher-pitched tones. Got a strong "86" that sounded a little funny, pulled a 1939 quarter from about 6" and was still getting a hit inside the hole - nearby was another piece of once-molten aluminum that sounded just like a nickel!
Next came a fairly shallow 1928 Wheat, and not five feet from there two more Wheats showed up - so now I have a good starting point for next hunt out there! Since 4 khz is now as sensitive as 12 khz I will probably use it more with the "more open" screen for better audio discrimination. Thank you XP!
Again, I know air testing has limited value - but the differences seen with the results from when I first got the machine in late 2013 - to the first software reload - to the most recent software reload...there have been some improvements in sensitivity and maximum depth.
12 khz is no longer the "most dominant" frequency - rather all 4 frequencies are VERY CLOSE in terms of maximum depth on various coin-sized objects. 12 khz hits about the same as it did before the latest reload; however 4, 8, and 18 khz are much more sensitive to even smaller objects, and hit coins roughly the same as 12 khz does...last night's hunt evidenced this as I stayed in 4 khz for about three hours and was digging small aluminum jean rivets, more aluminum "slugs", and smaller regular rivet heads.
I have all of my test results from the last 18 months and it clearly shows improvement in both sensitivity and raw power versus the first release of 3.2 - Will get around to posting those results on a spreadsheet soon along with the test parameters
So last night I probably spent an hour looking for my first coin, and it turned out to be a lovely smooth 1919 S Wheat. We stayed close to the area where some of the Mercs had come from, and decided to try another area, but after 20 minutes of digging nothing but trash, we meandered over the other direction and started to find modern coins. Got a Wheat closer to the starting point of last night's hunt - and then stumbled into a bunch of small globby aluminum, the bane of my existence! There were so many mid-toned hits in 4khz that after a while I decided to dig zinc pennies and above, listening for those higher-pitched tones. Got a strong "86" that sounded a little funny, pulled a 1939 quarter from about 6" and was still getting a hit inside the hole - nearby was another piece of once-molten aluminum that sounded just like a nickel!
Next came a fairly shallow 1928 Wheat, and not five feet from there two more Wheats showed up - so now I have a good starting point for next hunt out there! Since 4 khz is now as sensitive as 12 khz I will probably use it more with the "more open" screen for better audio discrimination. Thank you XP!
