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sensitivity settings?

G

greasecarguy

New member
So, someone mentioned on here that the XS default sens is 16 and the SE is 22...I always run hot, most times 30 semi auto. My questions are these; will I have less difficulty differentiating iron from silver if I turn the sens down? How much depth will I give up by going to 22 manual? 1", 2", 3"? WIll I still hear those "iffy signals" that are usually iron but sometimes deep coins near iron targets?

thanks

aaron
 
With what coil? I find that I can run with a higher sensitivity with a smaller coil in the (soils where I hunt). I also find that lowering the sensitivity in some situations does help reduce the chatter (from stuff in the ground, or interference from other electrical). Reducing the chatter helps me pick out those high chirps that could lead to silver, as opposed to everthing being overloaded and sounding like high chirps.
 
Hi Aaron,

I used to hunt with my sensitivity cranked up to 28 in manual mode with the stock coil on my E2. I found a lot of good targets but my hunting buddies always seemed to find more using the same machine. Finally it dawned on me that difference was that I was running my sensitivity too high, especially if there was a lot of iron in the ground. I began experimenting in the field by finding a deep or partially masked target and then lowing my sensitivity until I couldn't hear a response. It was surprising to see how low I could go and still hear the targets.Some targets actually sounded better. Today, I rarely set my machine higher than 22 and generally hunt in the 14 - 18 range. My philosophy is to set my sensitivity to the minium level needed to get the job done. I realize that this is opposite what others may have recommended but It seems to have really improved the quantity of my finds over the past few years..

Have Fun!
Dave
 
Dancin' Dave said:
Hi Aaron,

I used to hunt with my sensitivity cranked up to 28 in manual mode with the stock coil on my E2. I found a lot of good targets but my hunting buddies always seemed to find more using the same machine. Finally it dawned on me that difference was that I was running my sensitivity too high, especially if there was a lot of iron in the ground. I began experimenting in the field by finding a deep or partially masked target and then lowing my sensitivity until I couldn't hear a response. It was surprising to see how low I could go and still hear the targets.Some targets actually sounded better. Today, I rarely set my machine higher than 22 and generally hunt in the 14 - 18 range. My philosophy is to set my sensitivity to the minium level needed to get the it job done. I realize that this is opposite what others may have recommended but It seems to have really improved the quantity of my finds over the past few years..

Have Fun!
Dave
Click to expand...
Dave is very right, explorers is very powerful detector and using max sensitivity makes more harm than helps. if you have allot target under coil go with low or very low sens, if ground clean go up.
if I hear allot iron in one spot I can lower it till 5 manual and found something but if after few meters ground cleaner I lift it up, can be from 5 to 9 or fro 5 to 13, depends from place and situation, but all the time coil on the ground. with higher sens.in iron you can get something too, but its not very good compare with lower sens. you can try detect on one spot with low and high sensitivity and compare what is better. good luck
 
I have my own questions about this, but experimenting is the ticket I suppose. Good post, greasecarguy, thanks!
 
yes guys this is an eye opening post how much power is needed be fore one over satsurate,s one good targets i guess i,ll have to start some of my own experiments i,m not finding lots of deep targets yet but could be just not swinging over them with my coil yet find some deep nails that sound good as i hear we all do but have made some very nice finds just trying to get the most out of my se pro as i can thanks guys
 
Good discussion guys I will lower it where the ground is "dirty" to see if I am missing chirps. I have been using the Se w/ the 10x12 SEF coil exclusively for some time now. It is always a bit exciting to have new information.

Aaron
 
haven't tried this yet on my explorer xs but did with the sovereign. try locating some deeper targets and before you dig them and see how they sound and if you lose depth. with the sovereign i would lose the target at 3 o'clock on the sensitivity
 
Aaron,
You will have a difficult time testing in semi-auto. Really, if you run semi-auto you should not have to worry about the sens. setting. It will be set way down there from my experience. Try testing it out in manual sens.

I have often wondered if I am using too much sens. I will run my 8" coil at 30 or 32 (maxed out), the 12" coil at 25 to 29. I don't think it makes a huge difference on depth, but it would be interesting to see some test results. Surely someone has done this before.

When I first tested out the E XS, I ran it at 26 sens in semi-auto. I dug an 11" small cent that was just a tiny peep of a signal but distinct. What turned me off to semi-auto sens was hunting in fields. When I first tried in semi-auto, I had a steady threshold with very few nulls. I knew this area had lots of nails. So I flipped it over to manual sens and then I could hear all the nails. I think the machine had actually reduced the sens enough to make most of them go away. Not sure why. It is sort of like it ground balanced them out.

I have not used semi-auto since that day in the field. I got use to the manual and now it sounds funny if I use semi-auto. I figure that 11" cent was probably picked up with a manual sens setting of around 14 to 18. That is just a guess since in semi-auto you never know from one target to the next.

Please post any results from your testing. Good post!
HH - BF
 
And my results agree with yours.

In semi-auto you can have it set at upper twenties but it may actually be turned way down from there, often much lower than you would like. It might at any given time be where you have it set in semi-auto, or even above what you have it set, thus leading to an occasional deep find. But, If you get into a trashy area or an high EMI area the machine can hugely drop the sensitivity. On the E-Trac you can see where actual sensitivity is, on the earlier models one had to guess. Some people that trusted semi-auto on the explorers will use manual on the Etracs when they see how far the sensitivity can be turned down in auto; probably the exact same thing was happening on the explorers but we had no way of knowing that.

I do believe sensitivity does affect depth. One thing to remember is that varying sensitivity does not vary the strength of the transmitted signal; the whole using your bright lights in fog is complete BS. What sensitivity does is controls how big the signal needs to be in order to be processed. A better analogy would be are you wearing sunglasses, no glasses, a welding hood, or night vision googles? The light from the sun and stars is the same, sensitivity is not a dimmer switch. How bright it appears depends on what you are wearing over your eyes.

I do find a lot of older deeper stuff in the country or in parks away from power lines where I can turn the sensitivity up, as compared to in town under powerlines where running mid teens is often a challenge.

Chris
 
I`m really enjoying this thread ! Thanks to all for their input and let`s hear from everyone !
 
I am 100% certain I don't lose any depth here in my IL soil.

I have experimented over 100's of targets that ended up being coins in the 8" to 10" depth range while in semi auto. When switching to manual...I did not pick up or "hear" the target any better. In fact...IF that coin was next to iron...the signal was not nearly as clear to me in manual as it was when I located it in semi auto.

A few times I have hunted in manual and located what I felt could possibly be a deep coin in iron...so I switched to semi auto.

Upon doing so I noticed the signal had much less of a false to it...which to me gave me a more "dig me" signal.

What I will say is that in semi auto I do feel I lose a little sensitivity to tiny objects....but none on coins....and I am definitely better at picking out coins in iron when in semi auto.

Just my personal finding.
 
Well that stinks.....here I was feeling like I could make a drastic improvement and Bryce's research negates all of it.....doesn't mean i wont give it a shot, it just means my hopes are pretty crushed.....It is interesting that we have many experienced hunters here with different opinions. I, personally think the Boston Bruins are the best ice hockey team in the league and everyone else thinks differently.

What i do like about semi is the digital screen responds much quicker than manual. Perhaps this is because I run too hot looking for the real deepies. I know, I have been trying to ween myself off of digital, but it's not easy once you are accustomed to it. Everyone says it's a bad thing and cheats me out of valuable info....I know and am slowly running comparisons to make what I hope to be a permanent adjustment.

Now Bryce, I have to ask you, what would you do in a reasonably large area where there's a near constant null? Would you just go extremely slow? I did this is an the area of a home build in the late 1600's and had very few signals....none of which were deep. I did this for ~ 1 hour. I know to you this is a short period of time, but for me it's a long time w/o a digger.........

thanks all

aaron
 
no way is the "perfect" way.

I have just always read and was told that I "can't" find coins in a null"...and I will tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that at least 50% of my good, deep coin finds come in a long dead null.

I have also read and been told that my SE will lose depth in semi auto sensitivity...and again I will say that beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have proven to myself probably 100 times already this year that that is not the case here in IL.

I have also shown myself that semi auto sensitivity at about 26 is optimal for me to be able to pick out and hear coins hiding in iron. It is just much easier to discern good coin chirps from iron falsing chirps for me when I'm in semi auto.

If I'm in clean ground or iron free ground then sure I'll switch to manual because it makes my SE a little hotter to smaller targets. However if I start to get too much chirping and falsing I am not near as effective at picking out deep faint coin chirps. It's much easier for me to concentrate on deep coin chirps when my SE isn't "misbehaving":biggrin:

Don't be afraid to take any advice from anyone on the forum...and don't feel my statements negate anything you want to try. We all hear things differently and we all interperet those said sounds differently through the headphones...so we all have differing opinions on what works for each of us.

That is what makes the forum a great place to learn...because we all will many times have differing opinions....and it's a GOOD thing:thumbup:
 
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