Sensitivity Setting

[Germanshep]

I wanted to send out a post regarding Sensitivity that I touched on in another reply. I am a newbie, but I am learning pretty fast.

I first thought that any decrease in sensitivity setting would cut down on my chances of finding something. Yesterday I experimented on a salty beach, searching for a dime 8" deep. I started at full sensitivity and gradually dropped down one notch at a time. Even with one bar of sensitivity I was still getting a clear signal on the dime eight inches down. Perhaps next time I'll burry it deeper and see what happens.

My take away from my experience was that I'd much rather run it with the sensitivity turned down enough to eliminate the majority of false beeps. My accidental tapping of the sand was causing a bell tone every time with sensitivity at one or two bars from max. But just taking it down 2 more notches took most of that audio out of the picture, making for a much more enjoyable hunt. I am specifically referring to my experience on a salt beach.

 

[adamant]

Good topic. Interesting to see what tHe rest will say.
ANt

 

[John-Edmonton]

I have read a lot of feedback stating that a reduction in sensitivity didn't really have a profound effect on depth. In fact, I have noticed similar results hunting snow hills. What it did do however, was decrease the EMI when I ran into areas where it was overwhelming.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

I try to never run the sens really high. Causes to much noise. I don't think you lose much if any depth.

 

[dkantor]

I experimented the last couple of days with turning the sensitivity down at least 3 from highest and had better results I dug a 1921 canadian penny from over 8" in pro mode and basically was only accepting70-90 numbers I also slowed my sweep speed down .. Today found a 1934 nickel It seems with the sensitivity turned down I could hear a good signal better

 

[goodmore]

I picked the AT Pro a few weeks ago. I have yet to use it on the beach. I have Minelabs for that purpose anyways. I basically picked up the AT Pro for dirt hunting. You mention bell tones when the coil hit the ground. That leads me to believe that you are using standard mode instead of Pro. From the reports I have read on the net Pro mode was the way to go on a salt beach. Maybe in Pro mode the AT Pro can run with greater sensitivity. The second thing is the 8" dime. Believe me when I say that I really think the AT Pro is a wonderful detector. It can do things that my twice as expensive Minelabs can not do. But 8" on a dime at the beach is nothing. Good beach hunting requires better than that. You will find the fresh drops, but hunting during the off season requires better depth. Try to hunt in Pro mode. Putting up with a little chatter and falsing can be acceptable if you can tell the good targets between the noise.

 

[DirtSurgeon]

I tried the same experiment the other day on a 6 to 8 inch quarter. I usually travel at one below max and was curious just like you were. I got the same results as you did. I even was able to lift the coil up a couple of inches and still get a faint signal at 2 bars. I then started thinking that if the sensitivity is too high, it might actually hurt your depth. Example : if you have a small piece of wadded foil at 4 inches sitting over a quarter at 7 inches and the sens. is too high, it will pick up the foil and "mask" the quarter. If you have the sensitivity lower it may see right past the small foil and hit the quarter signal. Thats my theory anyway. I have also been finding a lot more by slowing down my swing. I think I am easily over the $100 mark on clad so far this year.

Any input would be welcome.
DS

 

[MEW]

Hey Goodmore,

Why do you use the ML's for beach hunts? I recently bought an ATPro but my final choice was between that and a ML 705. Three separate dealers told me that the ATPro was better for salt water hunting. Since I'll be doing mostly that, I decided to go with the ATPro. Are you doing fresh water or salt water detecting?

Just curious.

 

[goodmore]

I am hunting the salt beaches of NJ The most. I plan on a few road trips to Delaware and Maryland this summer as well. Why do I use Minelabs? Well when I am in the water I love the Excalibur. Iron is Iron and everything else is dug. the Excal does not lie about iron. It goes as deep as I want to dig in the water. I doesn't have a meter, but in the water that is irrelevant. It runs as smooth as a babies bottom in the surf. It doesn't need to be ground balanced between the wet and dry. It doesn't need to be ground balanced at all.

The Sovereign GT is my beach detector when I'm not going in the water. Winter Storms and off season hunting make it my go to detector. for basically the same reasons as the Excal. This detector is also my back up for the beach. Being two hrs away I can't afford to be with no detector. A lot of planning and money goes into my beach trips.


I have the HH PI which I fell in love with at Myrtle Beach last year. Jersey is just too junky for it.

As I use the AT Pro I am starting to learn what it is saying. And I have to say I am really starting to love this detector. Is it as deep as a Sovereign in the wet sand? I don't know. But I bet it would make one hell of a dry sand detector. I know it holds it's own against the big dogs in the dirt.

This year has been very bad for being sanded in on the East Coast. I have come to realize through my own hunting, reading detecting forums, and Nasa Tom's DVD that depth is everything on a beach. Depth is the name of the game to finding targets that mother nature covers up with sand. I can't afford to be giving up inches. The AT Pro might kick the GT to the closet some day, but right now I know what I have in the GT. Plus I also have a little device called Shaun's Amp that adds a few ore inches.

 

[JB63503]

I picked the AT Pro a few weeks ago. I have yet to use it on the beach. I have Minelabs for that purpose anyways. I basically picked up the AT Pro for dirt hunting. You mention bell tones when the coil hit the ground. That leads me to believe that you are using standard mode instead of Pro. From the reports I have read on the net Pro mode was the way to go on a salt beach. Maybe in Pro mode the AT Pro can run with greater sensitivity. The second thing is the 8" dime. Believe me when I say that I really think the AT Pro is a wonderful detector. It can do things that my twice as expensive Minelabs can not do. But 8" on a dime at the beach is nothing. Good beach hunting requires better than that. You will find the fresh drops, but hunting during the off season requires better depth. Try to hunt in Pro mode. Putting up with a little chatter and falsing can be acceptable if you can tell the good targets between the noise.

I agee... I run with mine as "wide open" as I can in pro mode... I dont mind a little chatter when I swing because when it does "hit" on something it hits HARD and DEEP... ( I hunt mainly salt water beaches wet sand )

 

[Germanshep]

I agree that you should run as wide open as you can with a little chatter, but, if you are experiencing false signals with every tap of the sand, you have the option of tuning down the sensitivity so that you're running as wide as you can with just a little chatter.