XP Deus Signals Recognition & Strategy

[Skiron]

Hello everyone!

This is my very first post in the forum and I'm seeking your advice in my "newbie" questions regarding the use of my new Deus. I'm pretty inexperienced and new to metal detecting, so forgive me if my questions sound silly. However I have spend the last weeks reading all your informative posts (Vferarri, Calabash digger, Tnsharpshooter and other members too, a BIG thank you for your posts!) and watch a tone of videos (Gary's, Calabash's etc) regarding deus use and "language".


Some facts and info prior to my questions:

- I mainly hunt inland, such as farmer fields or pasture with significant WW2 or even older/ancient activity, as well as old 1700s houses/church yards with plenty of human activity back in time...so I consider myself as a rellic hunter with a "search for everything valuable or collectable" approach.

- All of my hunting spots seems to be highly minerallized. I'm a deus LITE user, so I don't have the remote with the mineralization strenght index-dots, and I'm using program10 goldfield to read and use the actual ground phase by pumping while pressing the "-" button to get a reading. The Ground Phase numbers I usualy grab with this method are at the 65-70 range (pretty low I suppose so I'm guesing tough soils in my areas, even if I dont have the mineralization bar-gram index to confirm it).
So I procceed and put manually the above GB reading in my custom programs...but most often I put a value of 70 and not lower because near 65 things starting to behave really weird.
I have to say here that I made a silver dime depth test barried @9'' in this minerallized hot ground, and at the factory preset GB of 88-90 I could not hear the dime. I picked the dime loud and clear only when setting GB close to my real ground phase, and start to hear the dime below GB 75 as my ground reads at 65-70. I'm choosing 70 most of the time and be careful not to hit the coil anywhere due to falsing.

-Many of my hunting spots are very thrashy with iron pieces (rusty also) and aluminum junk (think of 3-4 signals in every swing)

-My Deus "lite" is V5.1 updated and I'm using the 11'' X35 Coil, with the blue backphones wired to the small module, in order to have the module in hand for changing settings, watch VDI, ground balancing etc.

-My main "all-around" program is built upon "P6-Deep" (V2 filters...I know...little more chutty but I can handle, and I need this little bit of extra depth). Main reason I'm building my programs on P6-deep, is the fact that as a deus LITE user, i dont have access to silencer settings and deep program fulfills my need for reactivity @2 with silencer @-1. Furthermore, I like the 2-tone "dig no-dig" setup and especially 710hz tone as fits my ears pretty well, and have enough distance from 202hz to separate good targets from iron. I wouldn't use full tones since I need Iron Volume setting to set it lower in order to avoid iron down-averaging of good signals as well as to hear the good tones much better over the reduced iron volume when use some discrimination.

So, my custom program is:

Freq. 25Khz (due to high mineralized soil, medium conductivity targets preference, emi, & better separation amongst iron. It's also pretty deep and still hits a dime @9'' in the above soil conditions as tested real time)
Disc 7.5
Sensitivity: starting @95 and adjust +/- on site for stability, emi etc
TX power 2
Reactivity 2 (2.5 or 3 max in the very-very trashy areas...but 90% of the time I use reactivity @2)
Silencer -1
2 tones: 202hz / 710hz
Iron Volume 2-3 max
Ground Balance: manual, usually @70 (grabing the reading with goldfield as mentioned above) *I don't really trust Tracking GB since I have a lot of iron junk in my sites
Audio response 3 (really need to distinguish deep from shallow if i want to cerry pick only good deep targets amongst junk)

So here comes the newbie questions, all regarding Signal-target recognition before diging:


I have seperate the signals in 3 main categories in my head, and take the apropriate action for each category by it's characteristics. Let me explain:


1st Category: Solid Iron Buzz
- Signal remains iron buzz in any direction & swing speed, with only ferrous VDI numbers => Don’t dig!
- Signal introduces a good tone in at least one direction or when applying a different swing speed => NEED ADVICE!
- Signal is very faint & low volume (deep target indication) and by removing some soil it turns to a good tone => DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG!
- Signal gives a VDI of 6, indicating a possible masked good target and when pinpointing with very slow speed introduces a good tone =>DIG!


2nd Category: 50/50 Signals: Good tone amongst iron tones (great tone followed by clipping and buzzing)
- The good part of the signal is loud and is almost 50% iron tone-50% good tone, both loud =>NEED ADVICE!!
- The good part of the signal is FAINT (low volume), with or without iron buzz (deep target indication) => DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG!


3rd Category: Solid Non-Ferrous Tone
- Signal is loud and/or broken & stays loud with coil lifting, has a forced “digital” not smooth tone, has a high VDI (>90), raises/falls abruptly or brakes up as I swing back the coil, turns to iron buzz in the edges => Don't dig!
- Signal is loud but smooth, with a VDI <97-99, without iron buzz in the edge, rises/falls gradually & faints while lifting the coil => DIG!
- Signal is FAINT (low volume), with or without iron buzz (deep target indication) => DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG!


I hope that I explained the best way I could what's in my head, but this is the strategy I'm following regarding signals recognition and further actions.
My main insecurity is especially in 2nd signals category of 50/50 loud signals , as well as Iron falsing and wraparound recognition in 3rd signals category....so I would extremelly apreciate your thoughts and inputs in my strategy above.......

Ofcourse, the best advice for everything is PRACTICE-PRACTICE-PRACTICE and FIELD HOURS to learn what you hear, but I'd like to know if I'm in the right direction...


Thanks a million and regards from Greece!

 

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[signal_line]

Watch Gary's youtube video on the DPR

Loud signals are not the ones you gamble on. Weak and repeatable, yes. With the Gold Field program, listen for the Zip Zip targets. Broken ones are a gamble for sure, and usually a bad bet.

Deep program not very good is heavy iron. Fast program is more suited for what you mention. Also be careful about internet video stuff, which about half of it is wrong.

 

[signal_line]

Here's some good info, too.

A Complete Guide to XP Deus Features, Modes and Their Settings

 

[Skiron]

Thank you Signal line,
I checked the linked you gave me and was reaaaaally helpful...especialy the following chapter for anyone interested: Decipher XP Deus Ambiguous Audio Responses

I have a long long way to go until I have the experience and hours of use in order to ID those 50/50 iron/high tone and Iron falsing/wraparound high tone signals...but any help and advice is much appreciated

 

[Skiron]

my updated "newbie cheat sheet" for signals recognition, till my ears gain more experience...(hope that I'm in the right track...)

 

[vferrari]

You are on the right track, but I would dig everything at this point to get a positive ID, so you can train your ears.

 

[Skiron]

Yes, I will make sure to dig as many signals as I can, mainly for trainning reasons to understand the different sounds of deus responses, and to confirm my asumptions & strategy for avoiding iron falsing etc....
However, since my hunting places are veeeery iron-heavy (I'm getting 3-4 signals in every swing), I definetely need an initial "junk avoiding" plan to start with, before my head blows of with so many iron falsing...

Anyway, yes....the best learning process is to dig all these 50/50 signals and I hope that I will positive confirm my strategy.

Thank you!

 

[vferrari]

Good targets may be masked by the iron. Sometimes the only way to find those targets is to remove the iron. If the iron is super dense, try reducing sensitivity some in those areas (i.e., dial it down to 80 or so) as shallow non-ferrous squeaker targets may become more audible as the reduced sensitivity lessens the propensity of nearby iron to overload the coil. Since you are looking for shallow masked keepers left by detectorists whose machines can handle iron as well as the Deus, the minor loss in depth doesn't matter. Use Deus fast so you can maximize target separation with the high recovery speed (use 2, 2.5, or 3 reactivity) when doing this. This technique is called sifting.

 

[secondstar]

Skiron, I use Deus Fast at cellar holes with two changes.

1. I set frequency to 25 kHz.
2. I set Disc to 7.5.

I’ve done really well using Deus Fast with the addition of these program changes. You are definitely on the right track, be sure to dig everything in the beginning so that you can train your ears as vferrari has suggested.

 

[Iffy Signals]

I like your newbie sheet!! Just be careful of the crushed halo method. Ive been fooled by it. I used to take a shovel and break the halo and if i lost the good tone i would not dig.. but sometimes good targets next to iron are giving that halo. By breaking it you can lose the good targets tone.

 

[Skiron]

Thanks for your comments! This "newbie cheat sheet" it's more of a "reminder" for me (and not a dig/no dig decission maker) in order to not forget what I should listen for carefully in the audio, and start recognize the small differences in audio between different targets...good or bad.

Some more newbie questions:


1) One of the best tips that I uncluded in this "cheat-sheet's rules", is the importance of "gradual rise and fall of the signal" as I swing back the coil on the target, as per TnSharpshooter's comment in another topic.....I think that this is by far a realy good advice, as confirmed after some garden-tests and in real detecting in my first sessions.
However, I noticed that this rule does apply perfectly when I have a single good target under the coil (smooth and gradual rise and fall of the high tone) or when I have a single bad target (misshaped/big iron) under the coil (high tone falls/rises & disapears abruptly).
BUT....In the case that I have a partially iron masked target under the coil (eg a small coin very close to Iron), even if I can almost isolate the high good tone, the high tone still falls/rises abruptly and fools me to be big iron....So, should I assume that when I have an iron masked target, or when I have multiple fe/non-fe targets under the coil the same time, the "smooth raise/fall of the signal" rule does not apply and even the good tone provides an abruptly signal fall due to nearby iron?

2) As I already stated, my soils read a ground phase of low 70s ...when I made a 9'' silver dime test, I could only start hear it when I set manual GB 75 and below.....In the factory presets of 88-90, I couldn't hear the dime. So since then I manually set my GB very close to ground phase, usually @70+/-. Is there a downside running my gb that low and should I ignore the ground phase reading too low, or should I keep going manually close to 70? Yestarday i found myself to hear and chase a "whisper" high tone signal with no ID but repeatable, and after digging and digging I found nothing....could this be due to low manual GB (70+/-) and I was chasing a ghost signal Whats your advice on this? (remember, I'm a lite user so I read ground phase by using P10 goldfield and ground menu in ws4 while pressing the "-" button...then I manualy set the reading obtained in my custom program)

Thank you!

 

[signal_line]

Remember that it depends on how much Reactivity you are using. Higher numbers will make a sharper, more abrupt edge.

 

[Toothpick]

Here is the crap I dig at my favorite beach and I regularly pull treasures/coins out of. I run a tweaked fast program with the major adjustment is cranking reactivity to 5.

Often the coins are in the same or next scoop along with the iron crap.

I can almost always tell if the signal is a coin. Rings and small non coin treasures are sometimes iffy. I have hundreds of hours of use with the Deus.

My equinox 800 is not even in the race when it comes to this particular freshwater beach.

 

[Skiron]

The MOST difficult part of the learning process for me (regarding target identification) is indeed when I have masked targets between iron. Especially, when I have a good target that is so close to Iron (eg. small coin below iron) that I can't isolate the high tone without or with minimum iron buzz.


So far, I understand (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that:

1) An Iron Target alone under the coil, will have either a 100% pure iron buzz from every direction (easy), or if it's mishaped or rusty iron (difficult) will give an intence, loud-remaining and not smooth high tone, along with strong iron buzz, tone that falls & rises abruptly in the edges when mooving back the coil, leaving only the iron buzz in it's perimeter, and many times will show a high vdi of 97+

2) A Good Target alone under the coil, will have a clean, not loud, repeatable & smooth high tone from every direction, without (or with barelly hearing) iron buzz if deep, that falls & rises gradually and smoothly when mooving back the coil, without turning to a pure iron buzz in its edges


If I'm right, based on the above I will easily recognize a "lonely" (not masked) good target, from a "lonely" iron piece. So let's say that case 1 and especially case 2 are easy learning.
The difficult part is scenario 3:

3) A good target together withiron piece (both targets inside coil's perimeter):

a) if the target is beside & very close but not above/below the iron piece (eg silver dime 5cm near a rusty nail or a ferrous drill bit), usually we can isolate the dime's high tone almost completelly from the iron buzz (like 70% high tone + 30% iron buzz), by sweaping small & slowl from different directions to "fish" and isolate the high tone alone.
Is this right? And if it is, should I expect for the isolated good signal to fall/rise gradually as I'm mooving back the coil (like case 2) or will rise/fall abruptly (iron like) due to nearby iron If it produces also an "iron like" abrupt signal, how can we tell the difference from the nearby iron witch also gives an abrupt high tone by itself (falsing)...how we handle such cases?

b) if the target is under (not beside) iron piece (eg silver dime under a rusty nail or a ferrous drill bit), here is where I have complete confussion: how do I recognize this? My program was capable to brake the discrim and stop me with a high tone to investigate further, but obviously I can not fish and isolate the dime alone without strong iron buzz! So I expect for the signal to be a repeatable high tone together with strong iron buzz, but how can I tell if this high tone is from the rusty nail/drill bit or from the dime? Witch signal wins most? Will it be smooth? I doubt due to iron over it.... will it be isolated without iron buzz? No due to iron over it.... Will it have strong iron buzz mixed with high tone even when moving back the coil? Yes due to iron over it...

So, how this dime will be recognizable since it will produce the same "iron falsing" symptoms due to iron piece above it like the iron of scenario 1 above



And, one last thing/observation: using my custom program that I posted in my first message (based on v2 deep's filters, 25khz, 2 tones, discrimination 7.5, reactivity 2, silencer -1, iron vol 3, GB manual etc) I made a test:
I put the silver dime under a large 15cm long and 2 cm thick ferrous drill bit (just under the drill bit, touching it)
- the drill bit alone, gives only a solid iron buzz (not falsing, not high tone) with my program, and a VDI of 3, with either discrimination @7.5 or lower @5.5. (Important to keep: iron buzz, even at disc 5,5)
- the drill bit with the silver dime under it, if discrimination is @7.5, it gives only the iron buzz as above and the dime is not heard at all...... BUT, if discrimination is lowered @5.5, I have a pure high repeatable tone from the dime along with the iron buzz. I remind you that the drill bit alone, with disc @5,5 was a pure iron buzz.
Since the silver dime's vdi is extremmelly higher in conductivity scale than iron's vdi....why I couldn't hear the dime with discrimination 7,5 but I could clearlly hear it with discrimination 5,5? Is it possible for the dime to just uplifts the total conductivity a little, so little that with disc 5,5 it could be detected but no with disc 7,5?
Based on the above.....whould you change your default discrimination from 7,5 to 5,5 just to be able to unmask even better such the dime case? Downsides?

 

[vferrari]

The MOST difficult part of the learning process for me (regarding target identification) is indeed when I have masked targets between iron. Especially, when I have a good target that is so close to Iron (eg. small coin below iron) that I can't isolate the high tone without or with minimum iron buzz.


So far, I understand (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that:

1) An Iron Target alone under the coil, will have either a 100% pure iron buzz from every direction (easy), or if it's mishaped or rusty iron (difficult) will give an intence, loud-remaining and not smooth high tone, along with strong iron buzz, tone that falls & rises abruptly in the edges when mooving back the coil, leaving only the iron buzz in it's perimeter, and many times will show a high vdi of 97+

Iron check trick when you have a high VDI: Lower frequency and if the VDI does not also lower, then probable iron. That combined with the audio clues should help you more identify falsing ferrous/mixed ferrous targets like rusted bottlecaps. You can also increase silencer and that will tend to break up falsing ferrous but has the drawback of making masked non-ferrous targets harder to hear/identify by tone.

2) A Good Target alone under the coil, will have a clean, not loud, repeatable & smooth high tone from every direction, without (or with barelly hearing) iron buzz if deep, that falls & rises gradually and smoothly when mooving back the coil, without turning to a pure iron buzz in its edges


If I'm right, based on the above I will easily recognize a "lonely" (not masked) good target, from a "lonely" iron piece. So let's say that case 1 and especially case 2 are easy learning.

Be careful with this. You should more accurately say "non-ferrous" rather than "good" target. Aluminum pull tabs, round freshness seals will give good smooth, gradual tones. But what you are really looking for are full "ping" tones more indicative of silver, clad, nickel, or solid gold. "Empty" sounding tones are more indicative of trash aluminum like cans. Distorted empty tones are typically can slaw or other mangled junk targets. If relic hunting, things get more difficult because desirable targets like brass buttons and belt plates can also sound like aluminum targets.

The difficult part is scenario 3:

3) A good target together withiron piece (both targets inside coil's perimeter):

a) if the target is beside & very close but not above/below the iron piece (eg silver dime 5cm near a rusty nail or a ferrous drill bit), usually we can isolate the dime's high tone almost completelly from the iron buzz (like 70% high tone + 30% iron buzz), by sweaping small & slowl from different directions to "fish" and isolate the high tone alone.
Is this right? And if it is, should I expect for the isolated good signal to fall/rise gradually as I'm mooving back the coil (like case 2) or will rise/fall abruptly (iron like) due to nearby iron If it produces also an "iron like" abrupt signal, how can we tell the difference from the nearby iron witch also gives an abrupt high tone by itself (falsing)...how we handle such cases?

b) if the target is under (not beside) iron piece (eg silver dime under a rusty nail or a ferrous drill bit), here is where I have complete confussion: how do I recognize this? My program was capable to brake the discrim and stop me with a high tone to investigate further, but obviously I can not fish and isolate the dime alone without strong iron buzz! So I expect for the signal to be a repeatable high tone together with strong iron buzz, but how can I tell if this high tone is from the rusty nail/drill bit or from the dime? Witch signal wins most? Will it be smooth? I doubt due to iron over it.... will it be isolated without iron buzz? No due to iron over it.... Will it have strong iron buzz mixed with high tone even when moving back the coil? Yes due to iron over it...

So, how this dime will be recognizable since it will produce the same "iron falsing" symptoms due to iron piece above it like the iron of scenario 1 above

Don't fret over this one. Masked targets are just hard. You will have to use some judgment on iffy targets to decide whether you want to dig them. This is just the nature of the business. You will leave stuff in the ground if you play the odds. The only way to be sure that an iron target is not actually totally masking a non-ferrous keeper is to dig the iron out. That is not practical or desirable in many cases and you have to play the odds that unless iron target density is large, it is a very low probability (though not impossible) that the lone iron target is hiding a keeper.

And, one last thing/observation: using my custom program that I posted in my first message (based on v2 deep's filters, 25khz, 2 tones, discrimination 7.5, reactivity 2, silencer -1, iron vol 3, GB manual etc) I made a test:
I put the silver dime under a large 15cm long and 2 cm thick ferrous drill bit (just under the drill bit, touching it)
- the drill bit alone, gives only a solid iron buzz (not falsing, not high tone) with my program, and a VDI of 3, with either discrimination @7.5 or lower @5.5. (Important to keep: iron buzz, even at disc 5,5)
- the drill bit with the silver dime under it, if discrimination is @7.5, it gives only the iron buzz as above and the dime is not heard at all...... BUT, if discrimination is lowered @5.5, I have a pure high repeatable tone from the dime along with the iron buzz. I remind you that the drill bit alone, with disc @5,5 was a pure iron buzz.
Since the silver dime's vdi is extremmelly higher in conductivity scale than iron's vdi....why I couldn't hear the dime with discrimination 7,5 but I could clearlly hear it with discrimination 5,5? Is it possible for the dime to just uplifts the total conductivity a little, so little that with disc 5,5 it could be detected but no with disc 7,5?
Based on the above.....whould you change your default discrimination from 7,5 to 5,5 just to be able to unmask even better such the dime case? Downsides?

This is unusual and I actually would have expected it to go the other way (i.e., the higher discrimination should reduced the ferrous down averaging of the dime tone by the drill bit). But if one thing is true in metal detecting, it is the fact that there are practically zero absolutes. I am not a big fan of adjusting discrimination on the fly. I like to keep it fixed (above 6.1 so the horseshoe display works properly but less than 10) but have an adjacent program with zero discrimination. What you should try adjusting is frequency and see what affect that has, also lowering sensitivity and adjusting reactivity up and down (but be careful of the fact that if you adjust reactivity to 2 or below, then the silencer filter is cut in automatically.

Anyway, it is an interesting thing to note, but do not get too hung up on test scenarios. There are too many variables that are not under your control (ground conductivity, corrosion of the ferrous target, vertical distance between the targets, etc.) , so learn how the machine responds but don't conclude that in every case, you should lower discrimination to unmask a target. When it comes to ferrous masked targets, the best thing to do is sweep over the ferrous target at two or three different angles to see if something pops or just dig the target and resweep the hole. A whole lot of luck really comes into play when it comes to masking, unless you are inclined to dig it all.

Bottom line, don't overthink these scenarios. I recommend test garden practice, but you have enough of the basics down that you should just get out there and get swing time in as that experience is the best teacher.

See my answers above in bold.

 

[Toothpick]

I don't over think it but one thing I found is cigarette foil, Reynolds wrap etc... all come thru my headphones with a fuzzy buzz type sound, almost 100% of the time I can yell. I still scoop it, just to get rid of it and check again.

To me, a coin in iron always gives me a hint it is there. More often then not a repeatable high tone at least in one direction or angle of coil sweep.

Below is another example of the crap you have to dig to find or reveal the good stuff in the shore line. The glass just comes up with other stuff.

 

[Skiron]

Vferrari......I have no words to thank you for your detailled answers....really appreciate it!

All great advises to keep for sure!

However, I'm a deus Lite user with only the ws4 remote, so some of this may not be able to apply:

1) "Iron check trick when you have a high VDI: Lower frequency and if the VDI does not also lower, then probable iron."
Without a remote but only with my wired ws4, is there another way to do somekind of that check?
eg...if I use the trick of lifting the coil some inches over a rusty iron target, will the vdi drop? I tested with a clean beer bottlecap and the VDI droped like a stone when I lifted the coil over it...will this be applicable in rusty iron items also, or it affects only bottlecaps I imagine that a non ferrous target like a coin or jewelry , even if I lift the coil above it, the vdi should stay almost the same +/- and not drop that much...


2) You can also increase silencer and that will tend to break up falsing ferrous
I was indeed thinking of using some silencer, but even the good signals started to brake when test it, and the unmasking capabilities where awfull also...so silencer always @-1. However, I will only use such a program (eg 2 tones - reactivity 1 - silencer 3 - discrimination 10 - iron volume 0 - frequency 8khz) only when I have extremelly limited time to hunt a site, and I want to cherry pick some very easy not masked shallow targets and not hear any iron.


3) "But what you are really looking for are full "ping" tones more indicative of silver, clad, nickel, or solid gold. "Empty" sounding tones are more indicative of trash aluminum like cans. Distorted empty tones are typically can slaw or other mangled junk targets. If relic hunting, things get more difficult because desirable targets like brass buttons and belt plates can also sound like aluminum targets."
Great advise! It all comes to learning the tone language...so yes...go out there with a lot of swing time to train myself.


4) When it comes to ferrous masked targets, the best thing to do is sweep over the ferrous target at two or three different angles to see if something pops or just dig the target and resweep the hole
Regarding themasked targets, and as you say this is the hard part, I will proceed by digging ANY target that has even the smoothest tiniest repeatable high tone, until I train myself on these 50/50 signals


5) Indeed, when I lowered disc from 7.5 to 5.5, only then I could pick the silver dime under the drill bit. Without the dime, the drill bit was solid iron buzz with either disc level.


Great answer, great advice all of them.....so thanks again!

 

[Skiron]

I don't over think it but one thing I found is cigarette foil, Reynolds wrap etc... all come thru my headphones with a fuzzy buzz type sound, almost 100% of the time I can yell. I still scoop it, just to get rid of it and check again.

To me, a coin in iron always gives me a hint it is there. More often then not a repeatable high tone at least in one direction or angle of coil sweep.

So, if I have a repeatable 1-way/2-ways high tone, I should dig it even if there was strong Iron buzz together?


Below is another example of the crap you have to dig to find or reveal the good stuff in the shore line. The glass just comes up with other stuff.

I hope someday to reach that level of finding good staff amongst all that junk!!!!!

View attachment 1752075

Thank you Toothpick!

 

[vferrari]

Sorry, without a remote, just go with audio clues as adjusting parameters on the fly with the puck though not impossible, is hard. Keep your eyes peeled for a good condition standalone used remote. It really is not an optional acccessory if you are going to make maximum use of the Deus for the long run. Alternatively, you might be able to get your hands on an ORX remote and headphones for less than a Deus remote and that is probably better than just a Deus lite setup.

 

[Skiron]

Question regarding signals:

1. Some clear high tone signals are introducing an iron buzz when swinging backwards in the target's edge.
2. Some other signals, turn to 100% iron buzz when changing swing direction.

I have yet to find a good target with these characteristics as it's always iron junk...
How "safe" is to completelly ignore the signals that are not 100% pure high tone from every swing direction, or the high tones that turn to iron buzz at the edges? How do you make a dig/no-dig desision in these cases if the area is low iron infested?



And one more question...I was testing a small dime at 9'' deep. Using 25khz, with reactivity @2, I was able to hear the target pretty good with either fast swings or slower swings...swing speed with reactivity 2 was almost irrelevant.
But when I changed reactivity @1 and @0 in order to hear the dime stronger, I realized that I had to swing extremelly slow...almost like crawling with zero speed...in order to hear the target. With the reactivity so low (0 or 1) and with a normal swing speed the target was not heard at all...no sign at all. Is this normal?
I was planning to use reactivity 0 or 1 in a dry pebbles beach with no iron in order to hit stronger the deep harpack level below the pebbles, but based on the observation above low reactivities will not work with normal swing speeds and I better use my default reactivity @2...