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Swing Speed Help Needed

S

sport.pilot

New member
Hello All,

As an former XLT detector swinger, I am having a hard time with just how fast (or slow) I need to swing the detector for maximum performance. I read a post that talked about an 8 second swing - I tried that and it was just less than painful. I viewed the X-70 video, and it was useless on that topic. I detect for coins at local Northern CA parks and some old civil war military training sites in the southwest, meteorites in the southwest, and gold in the Sierras of CA (mainly old hydraulic pits) and in the high desert of the southwest such as Gold Basin, Rich Hill, etc. Can anybody help me get a grip on what are good speeds to swing my detector for these targets. I have the standard concentric coil, the 5X10 DD coil, the 6" DD coil, and have a 7.75 ten inch DD coil on its way whenever Minelab Las Vegas gets them in. Thanks. This is a great site - better than any other X-terra site out there for sure.
 
I'm pretty new at this x70 thing myself. I did a search on 'swing speed' in the search- xterra forum-all dates, and got quite a few hits. This one i think did a pretty good job at answering your question.....
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?55,567859,567859#msg-567859
 
I am a new XT70 owner and have read a lot of Q and A here and if there is one thing that I have learned it is that if you need a specific answer BarnacleBill has it.
 
An 8 second sweep would really get tiring. I have found whatever sweep speed you choose is right. Slow fast and in between gets the job done. When I find a target I center my coil over it and perform a fast 4 inch wiggle for a good ID. I don't notice any loss of signal.
 
I think whoever is telling you and robert roy this stuff about an 8 second swing, or taking 3 or 4 weeks to learn how to X over a target is pulling your legs! :poke: I can't imagine it taking more than once or twice before someone could learn to X over a target with good success. And if a single sweep is taking 8 seconds, you won't find much. Motion detectors require coil motion to operate properly. I suppose there are times, when using a small coil in a nasty - trashy area, when I would slow down to maybe a foot and a half, or so, per second. But when I am hunting in an open area, I could make 3 or 4 sweeps, with steps in between, in 8 seconds. :detecting:

I can't say it enough.......build a test garden. Clear a patch of ground of all metal items. Bury some coins, trash, jewelry, whatever it is you are hunting for and some of that trash you found last time out. Bury them at varying depths and different amounts of separation. Put some on edge and try to replicate any scenerio you may find in the field. Then practice, practice, practice. :nopity: That is the only way to learn the techniques (for any make or model) that will work best for your style of hunting. Proper settings, sweep speed, Xing over the target, listening to and understanding the sounds, learning to set your notches or iron maks, etc. This type of first-hand experience is what will make you successful at this hobby. :minelab: JMHO HH Randy
 
I have no problem Xing and centering the target when I use my Gold Bug 2 and my XLT. I have had some difficulty centering the target with the X-terra when using the standard concentric coil. I have Xed the targets and used pinpoint mode (raised the coil. moved it aside before I started it, detuned it etc.) with more frustration than success. I am used to finding the target pretty much right in the center with I use pinpoint mode on my XLT and in the center when I X it using the XLT and my Gold Bug 2. I have had no problems doing this with the small 6 inch X-terra DD coil. I find that the Minelab wiggle works very well with the small DD coil, but not as well with the concentric coil. I plan to meet Gerry McMullen for some additional training in Sept, and I hope he can help me clear this issue up. I have a 10 inch DD coil on its way, and I have heard this coil is great to hunt with and also easier to center a target with. I hope that is correct.

As far as sweep speed, I read somewhere on this or another S-terra forum that when prospecting, one should use a very slow swing speed - it was suggested that 8 seconds should be used as a guide. I found this to be very odd, but since I am new to the X-70, I figured I would ask. I have not found much difference swinging the X-terra slow or fast, but I only have a few weeks with it, so I wondered if I might be missing something. Thank you all for your response. I will just keep swinging it like I have been since I have been finding jewelry and coins with it. Thanks.
 
I don't prospect with my X-70. But I do use the Prospecting mode for pinpointing and sizing up a target. If you haven't given that a shot, I encourage you to try it. The Prospecting mode does not require the motion that the Coin Treasure modes do. For that reason, it is a very effective tool for coinshooting too. You'll find that the max tone is centered in the concentrics, just as with your XLT. JMHO HH Randy
 
Randy,

Thanks for the idea of using the prospecting mode for pinpointing. Do you find that when you us it with the standard concentric coil, and the pitch is at its highest, that the target is in the center (center hole) of the coil? Do you raise the coil up at all or just swing it like you normally would when hunting. Also, if I understand you correctly, the prospecting mode requires less motion than the AM mode or other coin hunting modes. Does it work with no motion at all, or when the coil stops does the signal stop as well? Thanks again.

Darryl
 
sport.pilot, why are you getting the round 10.5" 7 kHz DD when the 10.5" 18 kHz DD is more sensitive for, picking up, small gold with your gold prospecting??

Also look at the round 9" 3 kHz Concentric if you want to look for silver and copper being deeper for silver coins and has less sensitivity to iron(and gold)...for less sensitivity to iron around homesteads and also for silver only hunting in town.

Different metals from low conductivty to high: 18 kHz coil for iron--gold(low) and 3 kHz coil for copper--silver(high). The 7 kHz for all around.

Someone correct me if I am wrong...
 
sport i have been playing with the 50 and am not impressed with the PP either, with the stock coil, cannot describe exactly what i don't like but it not crisp like the whites or the t-2 that i now use. don't like the all metal mode either, i gets good depth and has a great discriminator. Ive played with the 70 and like it with the prospect mode , and love the 6"hf but don't think i can justify spending 85 bucks for a coil when I'm not impressed with the machine, not to mention how much more comfortable the t-2 is over the xt's even though weights are comparable
 
Try this. When you push the PP button make your first pass over your target go past the target until the tone goes away. Then bring your coil back over your target and you will hear that the target tone has gotten smaller. I know this works on the 70. It's kind of like an automatic detune. I never tried it on the 30 or 50 but suspect it would have worked. I think this is a good technique for pinpointing.
 
David,

I already have the 18.5 KHz coils in the 10X5 and 6 inch configurations for gold prospecting. The small coil for using when I am searching for small gold (or I will use my Gold Bug 2 with the 6 inch elip) and the larger elip when I am looking for larger gold (or I will use my Gold Bug 2 with the 10 or 14 inch coil or my Minelab GPX with the 14 inch elip or the `6 inch round Nuggetfinder coils - both concentric). So I pretty much have the gold prospect thing covered.
I was looking for a coil to coin hunt with that might be easier to center the target with, and BarnacleBill suggested I get the 7.5 KHz DD for this purpose as it was more sensitive to silver than the 10 inch 18.75 KHz DD coil. Many on this forum have also said it was easier to pinpoint with (or locate the target) than the concentric coil that seems to have a broader hot zone. It was recently suggested that I use prospecting mode to locate target. I may do that and see if I need the DD or not. Perhaps I can use prospect mode to locate targets better than the X or pinpoint mode method. If you check the FAQ coil selection chart BarnacleBill made you will see why I selected the DD coil I did for the purpose I have in mind. I also selected the DD instead of the concentric coil because I have not been happy with how the concentric coil pinpoints - using the X method or the pinpoint mode.

Darryl
 
I have tried that method, and you are right, the detector detunes itself as you pass the coil over the target a few time - my old Gold Bug worked like this as well. The signal becomes much more narrow the more you pass the coil over the target, However, it still is not as good with the standard concentric coil as I am used to. The Whites XLT with VCO on is almost always dead center regardless of what coil you use unless the coin is on edge, and even then it is near perfect. However, the detune method with the X-terra 70 when combined with the X method (using the short quick Minelab wiggle) pretty much puts the target in the center of the coin when using the small 6 inch coil. I have not had as much luck using this method with the standard coil. Perhaps if the pinpoint tone was more flute like (individual notes) as opposed to a monotone that just increases in pitch as the target gets closer to center, it might be easier for me to use. I am hoping the more I use it, the better I will get with it. I plan to work with it all summer in hopes of getting better. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
I agree the tone is a great help. I just wish it had better pitch separation. More individual notes as you get closer to the target would be a great help. But, it is what it is.
 
Sport pilot, Have you tried the 99 tones on the X70?? It will give you, they say, 28 different tones, I can't remember that many. However you can hear the differences. I have been using it and find it hard to go back to 4 tones.
Bill
 
Bill,

I have not tried the 99 tone setting yet. I listened to it one time when I first got the detector, but have not hunted with it. My XLT has a multi tone setting on it that drove me crazy when I tried to use it, but it had something like 180 tones, so it was very noisy and annoying to me. I should give it a try to see if I like it. What benefits do you think it give you?

Darryl
 
sport.pilot said:
I agree the tone is a great help. I just wish it had better pitch separation. More individual notes as you get closer to the target would be a great help. But, it is what it is.
Click to expand...

I think it may do just what you were wanting in the quote.. I think if you try it you might like it.
Bill
 
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