With the Explorer I find it don't ID like the Sovereign will. With the Sovereign the ID and the tones work together as what you hear is what you see on the digital ID. Now with the Explorer you have to go more by the tone and not the visual ID as the visual (digital # or smartfind) will not be correct until the threshold comes back and will report the last target it see. If there is a nail by a coin you will hear the good signal, then maybe a small null and the ID will show a nail as it was the last target it seen before the threshold came back. Once you have had some experience with it you will tell by the audio it sounded too good to be a nail, so you will come from a different angle and try to get over just the good signal and get the coil away. Now it will probably give the right visual ID. Now as it gets deeper like the Sovereign the area will be smaller and harder to get the good signal so some you just dig. Myself i find I can get a better 180 ID with the Sovereign with the tones and the way the meter is climbing, but with the Explorer you can tell more if it is a silver coin or a clad one by either the digital numbers or the Smartfind. Now add any disc pattern with the Explorer and you may find it even harder to get a good visual ID and sometime audio as it may null too much and why many will say run iron mask and with it to all metal or close to it as you wont get as much null and more tone changes and let you ear be your disc.
I like my ferrous tones as nails will fool me too much with the high pitch, but in ferrous they are low pitch and the old rusty bottle caps and can will give a high tones. To me they are easy to tell as the crosshairs are low and on the very right side of the screen while coins will read high and on the right side of the screen. If you are using digital the conductivity number will be real low even if the tones sound good, but if too good I will check from another direction and see if I can get the conductivity numbers up to at least 25. If I get a high pitch and the crosshairs are bouncing around the top while in ferrous tones I too will be digging, but if they are top to bottom on the right side these are trash signals I am finding.
When I am not sure i will dig just to be sure and if it is deeper than normal I try to get the best i can and if I have any doubt I will dig too. This is also true with the Sovereign if I can a positive signal with the tones and digital number trying to climb but cant quite make it I can bet it is a good target deep, but if it lock on to a tone and ID number that will be the ID of the target. A deep 170-175 I will probably dig, but if it is not very weak and locks on I may not dig depending on how big it is or if it is bigger one way than another.
Over all I can tell what to dig and what not with the Sovereign with the GT the better of them all with the digital meter and the tones it has, but with the new SE with the tone hold I am finding I like better too of all the Explorers and seem to ID better too on the deeper targets as the threshold comes back faster if you don't have the sensitivity too high.
, I went out last night for a bit with my Sovereign. On the Sov, the digital ID numbers usually drop some depending on the depth of the target. I was wondering what was the corresponding movement of the crosshairs on the Explorer in the same situation. Do they usually move consistently as depth is added? Straight down on the x (conductive) axis? At an angle toward or away from ferrous as well? Is it usually consistent?