A
Anonymous
Guest
It is funny how after using the XS for almost 3 years now that I can still not really know the best way to utilize the different settings. However, I have recently come to a conclusion that any site that you hit, and since I specialize in old homesteads I basically am referring to them, anyway any site you hit, once you think you got what you are going to find with your "normal" settings and coils, go back and try different settings and coils.
Coils: I without a doubt, in the woods, prefer the 8 inch ML coil over the stock. I feel the 8 inch is more sensitive and gives better positive signals to the smaller targets, like half reales and buttons.
Sensitivity: I always start with the highest that I can stand without terrible falsing, it is usually in my area 28-32 Sens. I have recently been experimenting once I get a iffy signal to lower that Sens to about 19 and see if the iffy gets better or worst. I am seeing a trend towards that working in picking a good hit by doing this, but I have not done it enough to say it definetly pays to go back over an area with much lower Sens setting, but sure is worth the try.
Direction: There is no doubt that which direction the coil swings over the target, when next to iron, that it makes a gigantic difference in whether you even pick up the good target.
Swing Speed: When there is a piece of iron and a coin within several inches of each other and they are roughly equal in size, you better be swingin the XS as slow as you can, besides trying the different directions.
Summary: I base a lot of what I just said on a test I did a couple of weeks ago and here is what I did.
I put a Quarter on a landscape tie next to a piece of reebar that was holding the landscape in place. I was using the XS with the Stock and then the 8" coil. As I said earlier, the 8" was more sensitive and accurate.
I placed the Quarter 12 inches from the reebar and swung the detector from reebar to quarter and quarter to reebar and basically if I went slow enough I would get both the Ferrous Sound and then jump to the non-ferrous Sound, depending upon which way I swung. So, no problem, in the field, I would most likely have picked up the quarter that was 12 inches from the reebar.
At 6 inches apart, if I went over the reebar first, I would NOT get a quarter reading at all, unless I slowly went back and forth over the two targets and then it would give that jumpy from top left to top right signal, which I call "iffy" and would dig most times. If I went over the quarter first, depending upong swing speed, I would get the quarter reading, but it had to be a slow speed.
Reebar and Quarter side by side: FORGET IT. Nothing but a Upper Left Ferrous sound/reading.
Not very scientific but it did open my eyes to the fact XS is NOT as good as I thought in iron and has made me slow down and do more different direction hunting than I ever had in all my years of pingin.
I believe if the Ferrous item is a larger target than the Non-Ferrous that unless you lower the sensitivity you will not pick up the coin at lot of the times.
This was done in Ferrous, Iron Mode, all metal, and then I tried it in Iron Mode -10 and the results were basically the same.
To me, a little disappointing in the recognizing a good target amongst larger iron..
As a footnote, I HAVE found numerous old coins amongst iron, but the iron is usually small pieces like one nail or just a piece of iron. It is the larger pieces that cause problems I believe. HH Don in South Jersy
Coils: I without a doubt, in the woods, prefer the 8 inch ML coil over the stock. I feel the 8 inch is more sensitive and gives better positive signals to the smaller targets, like half reales and buttons.
Sensitivity: I always start with the highest that I can stand without terrible falsing, it is usually in my area 28-32 Sens. I have recently been experimenting once I get a iffy signal to lower that Sens to about 19 and see if the iffy gets better or worst. I am seeing a trend towards that working in picking a good hit by doing this, but I have not done it enough to say it definetly pays to go back over an area with much lower Sens setting, but sure is worth the try.
Direction: There is no doubt that which direction the coil swings over the target, when next to iron, that it makes a gigantic difference in whether you even pick up the good target.
Swing Speed: When there is a piece of iron and a coin within several inches of each other and they are roughly equal in size, you better be swingin the XS as slow as you can, besides trying the different directions.
Summary: I base a lot of what I just said on a test I did a couple of weeks ago and here is what I did.
I put a Quarter on a landscape tie next to a piece of reebar that was holding the landscape in place. I was using the XS with the Stock and then the 8" coil. As I said earlier, the 8" was more sensitive and accurate.
I placed the Quarter 12 inches from the reebar and swung the detector from reebar to quarter and quarter to reebar and basically if I went slow enough I would get both the Ferrous Sound and then jump to the non-ferrous Sound, depending upon which way I swung. So, no problem, in the field, I would most likely have picked up the quarter that was 12 inches from the reebar.
At 6 inches apart, if I went over the reebar first, I would NOT get a quarter reading at all, unless I slowly went back and forth over the two targets and then it would give that jumpy from top left to top right signal, which I call "iffy" and would dig most times. If I went over the quarter first, depending upong swing speed, I would get the quarter reading, but it had to be a slow speed.
Reebar and Quarter side by side: FORGET IT. Nothing but a Upper Left Ferrous sound/reading.
Not very scientific but it did open my eyes to the fact XS is NOT as good as I thought in iron and has made me slow down and do more different direction hunting than I ever had in all my years of pingin.
I believe if the Ferrous item is a larger target than the Non-Ferrous that unless you lower the sensitivity you will not pick up the coin at lot of the times.
This was done in Ferrous, Iron Mode, all metal, and then I tried it in Iron Mode -10 and the results were basically the same.
To me, a little disappointing in the recognizing a good target amongst larger iron..
As a footnote, I HAVE found numerous old coins amongst iron, but the iron is usually small pieces like one nail or just a piece of iron. It is the larger pieces that cause problems I believe. HH Don in South Jersy
">......HH Bri