It always amazes me why many detectorists forego the option of hunting in all metal, if the ground conditions allow it.
If the ground is quite trashy; tons of bottle caps, foil, surface trash, etc, your best bet is of course the discriminate mode. However...
If the ground is fairly clean, USE ALL METAL! Some detectorists are almost afraid to ever change their unit's settings. Or, maybe they're simply lazy or too used to staying in a certain program. It doesn't make sense.
The all metal mode on metal detectors is the deepest, most accurate way to hunt. Period. Yet...
Some detectorists opt to stay in program modes like; coins, beach hunting, and on, and on, and on. These are simply discriminate modes. They help to eliminate junk, but, they severely eliminate any depth the unit is capable of!
Again, there ARE times when discriminate mode is preferred/needed, however, if the ground is not so trashy, go all metal & see what happens
Absolutely! The gbpro is a perfect example...average at best depth in disc, superior depth in all metal...and has vdi in all metal too. I use all metal when prospecting, or in clean sites.
(06-04-2013 12:00 AM)deathray Wrote: [ -> ]Absolutely! The gbpro is a perfect example...average at best depth in disc, superior depth in all metal...and has vdi in all metal too. I use all metal when prospecting, or in clean sites.
That GB pro is one tough machine, D.R.! As Tom D always says, it's also a fantastic micro jewelry hunter on the beaches. I am dying to try the experiment he talks about hunting in the dry sand with the GB and using a kids sand sifter
Joe
yea, I got a g2, same as gold bug pro. in my test garden. I have a quarter, dime, nickel, and penny. all at 8 inches. it has buried for months, lots of rain. I use it to judge detectors. because in reality 8 inch coins is deep. in disk mode my g2 will hit all coins, but the dime esp. is pretty weak. all coins other than the quarter the id is pretty bouncy. If I switch to all metal they all come in sweet and loud. im more of a dig all kinda guy. cuz u gota dig it all to find the good stuff. in all metal air testing up to 13-14 inches on coins. vs the dick its like 8-9 inches. that's a big difference. I had a gamma that I sold to get the g2. the gamma in disk was superior to the g2 in my garden. the gamma had steady id on all coins. but in air the gammas disk to a.m. was pretty close. no considerable difference. that's where the g2/gold bug pro shines for depth. also for gold. on a ring small 1 gram ring, both machines in disk, the gamma 5-6 max. the g2 8-9. so it def. tuned for the gold. just my $.02
Everywhere you go around here the ground is filled with trash signals even tot lots. I try to run the stock programs with a few tweaks here and there and then go to all metal when relic hunting. Other wise I spend 75% of my time digging junk. I prefer to coin shoot and I have been getting really good depth with my DFX. Quarters at 10" and deeper dimes around 7-8. Any of you guys been noticing the way the old screw on beer caps have been ringing up? For the last 2 years I bet I have dug a ton of them thinking they were quarters. Our club has a recycling program so all the brass, copper, aluminum, and lead I dig along with pull tabs and can slaw goes into boxes. It is a great way for the club to earn extra money to buy silver with when we have our hunts.
I use the MXT, and it is so ease to hunt in allmetal and if i get a target that is hard to know what it is i just flip to knot out what ever it is and that will tell me about waht it is. That is one thing that i like about the MXT you can change it on the fly.
way too much trash and iron for full time all metal. I use it for iffy targets added depth and sizing.
All depends on where you hunt...parks and such, hard to go all metal. But prospecting, you must use all metal, except few scenerios. Relic...depends on how much iron is in the ground.
Well, as Ray said, it all depends...there's a LOT of variables. First and foremost, once you go discrim on ANY detector, you're cutting out depth. That bothers me. Second, I run with the Safari. Amazing machine, but, I know the Explorers, Etracs & CTX's have a little bit more depth. So, based on the above, to help level the playing field, I prefer running in all metal 99% of the time. If its trashy, I just prefer to slow down. Believe me, just doing THAT will work wonders
Another huge factor for me in running mostly all metal is, Minelabs null. And they're not the fastest machines. If I pass over a nail in discrim mode, and the machine nulls, it might miss a good target nearby...which happens more than one would think. By going all metal, I avoid this problem, as I hear everything in the ground, and there's no nulling, saving me the grief of passing a good target up near trash.
Now, all that being said, if we're talking a SUPER trashy, can't even put the coil down without hearing hundreds of signals on every swing type of spot, obviously then I would surely go discrim mode, but, in the long run, I think a hunter is MUCH better served trying another avenue before cutting depth. They can try using a smaller coil to get in-between the trash, going for a DD instead of concentric for better separation, and most importantly, again, sloooooooowing down! Most older coins in most spots are in the 6 to 10 inch range (which I call the sweet spot). By cutting out depth, you're at risk of not hearing those deepies
Joe
Discrimination is definitely a site specific feature. Is does cut depth without doubt. I seldom start an area in all metal but start with enough disc to hear what's there and hopefully go down. The tones on the e-trac let me pretty well get a feel for the trash level in just a few minutes. When I hear the trash dropping off like in the center of a sports field , I'll often hunt with an open screen or shift into TTF with just a little disc in the rusty iron wrap around area.