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Why can't I get deeper than 5" or so?

A

Anonymous

Guest
Is it just a coincidence and that's just where everything happens to be, at each different site? I don't think so. I get the same results regardless of sensitivty or which coil I use or whether I use the AA batteries or the NiMh pack.
Voulme-Max
Gain 7
variability-10
limits- 8
threshold tone 5
threshold level 7
fast and deep recovery modes (I turn off deep if trashy)
audio 1 response
I set sensivity so that my threshold BARELY starts to break up when I swing
I hunt in Iron Mask -10 to -12
If I get a good repaeatable tone from more than one angle as I got around a hit and it looks even remotely good then I dig it. I have a 5-gallon bucket half full of junk so far this year to attest to that.....in other words, I am NOT "cherry-picking"
Do I need to ship this thing to Vegas or not??
Thanks in advance and HH
 
I use maneul sens. looks like all the other setting are close to what i use..
 
Hi SgtSki,
I am a beginner of 1.5 months experience. I have only a very small amount of knowledge about this machine so you can ignore me if you want.
Anyway, dig a hole in your yard 8 inches deep. Measure depth with a ruler. Before you dig it, make sure the area you intend to put the hole is free of metal targets. Place a silver dime in the hole nice and flat. Fill the hole little by little and pack the dirt hard as hell each time you put in a handfull of dirt. Replace the grass plug. Set up your XS with Mike Moutray's settings on Shaner's Page. Your XS, at Manual Sensitivity = (25-32), should produce a faint repeatable nice silver sound from at least one direction. By repeatable, I mean it repeats for both left and right swings for that direction (be it 12 o'clock, 3 o'clock, etc.) In my test garden I can do this same experiment with my 7.5 inch search coil and pick up this signal. This means that the 7.5 inch coil is successful at picking up 8 inch deep dimes even though the coil is small. If your machine does not sense the coin, then that is a problem for sure.
Also I saw a posting either on this classroom forum, or maybe on the regular forum, about the technique of pulling the battery out of your machine while it is on. Some guys on this forum claimed that this technique improved the explorer's depth. I am too scared to do that on my machine. On page 24 of the manual it specifically indicates that you are not to remove the battery while the unit is turned on. You do what you want. Although these guys did seem to be pleased with the results of this "YANKBATTERY" technique.
Maybe you need to find areas that are less trashy for now. When I first started, I hunted in areas of my own choosing. They had alot of trash and for about a month all I found was trash. The only thing I found was a wheatie at 5 inches. I was depressed. I went to a park one day and saw 6 detector guys milling around. They told me to go to a certain part of the park and start detecting. This area of the park was nice and clean. I could use manual sensitivity from 25 to 30 with only occasional threshold problems. I began to find silver dimes, quarters, indian heads, from 5.5 to 7.5 inches deep. So as a beginner, I stay clear of trashy areas for now, and use Iron mask -10 to -12, and the Mike Moutray settings. I also move very slow (about 1 foot per 1 second.) I suspect that faster motion reduces depth potential.
Ask Shaner what he thinks,
Mike
 
You may be having the same problem I had, also my friends don and brent. I sold mine 2 weeks ago, never did find the problem,nor did minelab but a fellow detectorist who had his for sale, he is getting an exp 2, demoed his for me and it had the proper depth, both air test and in the ground. I purchased it thursday at a good price, went to the same area in a local park I have been over aprox 15 times and never got hits and with this unit I found 2 wheaties at 8.5 inches, a 1939 rosie at 9 inches and a washington 1939 quarter at 11 inches. I have also had 5 different e-mails from other people who had the same problem, air test or in groung only five to six inches no matter what the settings. Don't know if it is the coils or the electronics but like me several had been sent in and came back no different. Maybe one of the guys on the forum can explain it. All I know is this used explorer is doing great. I ordered a 15 in wot and an X-1 probe from dave at dixie. Don't know what I will do with the dfx, weather to keep or sell. It did better than the old ex but dosent compare to the new used one. Maybe mike, jim or david have run into this problem. Good luck, hope you find the problem.
 
and I say just maybe, the depth limitation could be due to a mis-wiring of connections to the wrong location on the female connector of the coil plug connections within the control box. Even solder that has "given up the goat" or has been done incorrectly(dry solder join).
I say this because in my pursuits to make my Explorer XS waterproof and chest/hip mountable I mistakingly soldered the ground and TX to the locations of the ground and RX(apart from some other stuff-ups like dry sodering joins).
I finally realised I had this marked decrease in depth and target separation performance. The detector still SEEMED to function but not as good as it used to.
It cost me time and effort in the end and left me disappointed(until I realsied my mistake) so I can just imagine now what anyone might be thinking about the Explorers search capablities, if this was the case of failure with their unit.
The mistake of mis-wiring or NOT soldering the wires in properly, is highly possible. It does not happen very often but who can honestly say it has'nt.(even some man-made imperfections do happen..... sometimes)
Solution: I think one should return the detector to Minelab, if they have exhausted all practical solutions. You can only do so much and if you do not think you can check and test what is happening beyond your user settings then leave it to Minelab.
If this problem is as evident, as it is being made out to be, then Minelab will pick it up.
It is not in anyone
 
HI CC,
IS THERE A SPECIFIC EXAMPLE OF HOW MANY INCHES A SPECIFIC COIN SHOULD AIRTEST AT?
THANKS
JOE XS
 
All units should be close. If we were to set our detectors with same settings in areas with very little interference an airtest should be about the same. If someone was to get 4 or 5 inches less its fair to say there is a problem.
 
back from Minelab for the EXACT same reason.
I was/am still trying to figure out why my unit with the 10.5" coil won't pick up a dime buried at a measured 6" when another guy's unit with the X-8 coil will. He agreed with me that it should be sent to LV to let them check it out. I'm anxiously awaiting their reply. If they find something wrong, I'll be happy to spend some $$$ to get it fixed, because I bought it used and it's not under warranty. If they say it's "fine", I'm probably going to get rid of it.
I'm going to post my results after I get it back either way.
 
That this is something I began to be suspiscious of about August of last year. When I first got it,(May,2002...New), I found 2 wheaties that were DEEP. The top of the hole was above the top of my X1 probe by about 1/2" on one hole and the other was the same depth as my X1 probe length. The probe is 9.5" long. These were both strong repeatable signals in a trashy park. hasn't happened since.
 
and i tend to agree with him I can barely pick a dime up in auto at a few inchs maybe he will repost if he reads this..
 
I folded a #10 envelope in half which is about 4.25". I lose a penny or dime right at the end of the envelope. a nickel's a little better. I start to lose a quarter at about 6".
Whatever that means.
 
Hey SgtSki ... If you haven't tried this yet give it a try. Put your Explorer back to Factory Default and see what happens then, you may even want to LOWER your sensitivity to about 10 or whatever and leave it on AUTO. I know it sounds ELEMENTARY but it could be that the soil in your area is so easily penatrated that the Explorer just needs to be turned down to keep it smooth.
Most of our soil in my area is this way and I can pick up silver at 8 - 10 inches with the Sense set at 8. Allot of folks including myself have found out just how powerful the Explorer is the HARD WAY. It's a very easy machine to overpower certain areas you hunt in and let's face it, everyone's settings that you see on this forum will not work for every area in the <IMG SRC="/forums/images/flag.jpg" BORDER=0 ALT="USA">.
If this does not make a difference then I would surely suggest that you send it in to Minelab and they will fix it. I usually hunt at IM -15 with the sense set very low in most spots and do very well for my area. Give it a try ... <IMG SRC="/forums/images/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT=":)">
Mike
 
In the 3 years I have been using the Explorer I have found a few things that will cut down the depth of the Explorer in some areas. One is the sensitivity in semi auto as the detector is trying to run a smooth threshold and you will accualy in some cases have a hard time picking up a dime on top of the ground. These cases are trying to run the sensitivity in semi auto at 32 as the area is too much trash or highly mineralized. By lowering the sensitivity will help, but if you run in the manual you will have more control of the threshold and not the detector. It may not be as smooth and you will have to go slower, but you will have more depth.
One of my places i went had a sidewalk taken out of and I had the stock coil on and the sensitivity at 32 semi auto. I went about 4 feet and got no signals and a smooth threshold, so I threw down a dime and was shocked I got no signal untill I touched the dime, but the threshold sure sounded smooth. I turned down the sensitivity to 20 and this made it better as I could now get it at 2-3 inches. I took it out of auto and the threshold wasnt as smooth and very unstable so I lowered it to 15 and it was better, but being the threshold was nulling a bit I had to go slower to hear all the targets, but could now get that dime 5-6 inches above it with the coil. The reason was the Explorer was trying to run a smooth threshold and with all the trash, it was accualy loosing depth as it was trying for a compensate for the trash to give a smooth threshold.
I run manual and turn it up or down depending on where I am, but seem like I can run from 20-28 in all my areas. Some areas i have to go a lot slower too to get the depth and even go to a smaller coil. I have been using the X8 and the X5 a lot lately as I can see I can get more depth in trashy areas than I can with the stock coil too if the area is very trashy. The reason for this there is too many targets under the coil with most being trash, which will cut back on the depth of a good target that a smaller coil can see.
In some areas where I have picked up a lot of electical interference that the noise cancel cant take care of I have had to go to semi auto and lower the sensitivity a bit.
Not a expert yet, but have got coins at 11-14 inches in some areas while others 6 inches is hard to get.
Rick
 
the computer by starting it up and then pulling the batteries out and then wait at least 3minutes then reinstall them go back to factory reset on next start up and then air test it then go to your set ups and air test should see a difference.
 
I'll try out some of these suggestions before I go and send it in.
 
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