John-Edmonton
Silver Member
- Mar 21, 2005
- 4,399
- 3,950
- Detector(s) used
- Garrett- Master Hunter CX,Infinium, 1350, 2500, ACE 150-water converted 250, GTA 500,1500 Scorpion, AT Pro
First Coin Hunt Tonite..."Garrett Gold Stinger Scorpion Is Very Interesting"
Took the Garrett Scorpion Gold Stinger out for a hunt after work today. I managed a little over 2 hours hunting, and also brought along my GTI 2500 for some target ID comparisons.
I got a nice variety of finds. I chose to hunt in the recommended default position where the dials are set to a small "V" on the dials for both depth and discrimination. I also ran the detector with an audible threshold, again as suggested in the manual. I hunted in true all metal mode, and when I got a signal, I would flick the 3 way switch to motion discriminate to see if the signal had any change, or disappeared completely. If it disappeared completely, I moved on to the next target. If it decreased, but was still audible, I dug it anyways. This resulted in digging up tinfoil or other junk most of the time. If the signal was strong when I switched to motion discriminate from true all metal mode, it was usually a coin, button or a large deep target. My first 5-6 targets I was guessing at before I checked them with the GTI 2500. I was way off base with most of them, in both ID and depth. My guessing probability increased after about an hours worth of hunting and about 30 targets, both good and junk. I used the TR mode several times checking it with both true all metal mode and motion discriminate. It does not get the depth that the other two settings get, but it still discriminates as per settings. The TR mode is used to ID hot rocks when detecting in rocky areas for gold nuggets. The instructions give a simple yet easy to understand description on how to use it. I won't elaborate, as I was working sports fields.
So....what's up with the Gold Stinger.......
It's a very interesting metal detector to use. It gets great depth. I don't know where it bottoms out, but in my test garden, it will easily pick up my 6" silver dime and 6" silver quarter, which haven't yet formed a decent halo. In the first school sports field, there was the potential for some silver, as I had previously found several silver coins. No silver today, however, I did get a 1949 penny at a measured 6" with a nice strong signal in both true all metal and motion discriminate. Others were popping out at 4"-5" again, in both settings. I got one unique surprise. I got a nice coin signal, dug up a coin, retested the hole and got another signal. I dug down about an inch away from where the penny was and dug up an old 1 1/2" rusty nail. Now that is great target separation. I would normally expect a detector to not read the coin, as the nail would mask the coin being so close. but not with the Scorpion. The 5" x 10" stock coil does a fantastic job cherry picking good targets amongst the junk. The TR is supposedly even better, but I didn't use it.
The pinpointing is deadly with this coil. I would either do the typical X and located the target in the center, or even easier, I would go to true all meta mode, move the coil back and forth a number of times, the drag the coil towards me and when the audio stopped, the target would always be about 1/4" in from the edge of the front toe of the coil. I also discovered that shallow targets and coins stop abruptly, where as deep targets and tinfoil did not stop abruptly. The Gold Stinger pinpoints just like the ACE series elliptical (non-"DD") coils.
Mastering this detector is all about settings and learning the sounds. Deeper targets are fainter, shallow targets are more crisp and loud. Junk targets usually break up and sound raspy, whereas coins sound nice and clean. Some junk will read only one way whereas coins will give a decent sound in all directions. Our Canadian clad dimes give off a "wow" type sound. Nickels really hit hard, as they are close to the conductivity of gold, and of course finding gold is what Charles Garrett had in mind when designing this gold detector and using the 15kHz Groundhog Circuit.
I need to put a lot more time on this machine, as I am used to a screen with size, depth and target probability. I can guesstamate the size by raising the coil and seeing how high I get a signal. I can also guess the depth listening to the volume and softness of the signal. I need to work on the sounds to help ID a good target from a bad. But then.......this is metal detecting, and it is always healthy to learn something new.
Time to stop..... I am tired and have to work tomorrow. Hope this answered some questions about the Garrett Scorpion Stinger.
So....what's up with the Gold Stinger.......
It's a very interesting metal detector to use. It gets great depth. I don't know where it bottoms out, but in my test garden, it will easily pick up my 6" silver dime and 6" silver quarter, which haven't yet formed a decent halo. In the first school sports field, there was the potential for some silver, as I had previously found several silver coins. No silver today, however, I did get a 1949 penny at a measured 6" with a nice strong signal in both true all metal and motion discriminate. Others were popping out at 4"-5" again, in both settings. I got one unique surprise. I got a nice coin signal, dug up a coin, retested the hole and got another signal. I dug down about an inch away from where the penny was and dug up an old 1 1/2" rusty nail. Now that is great target separation. I would normally expect a detector to not read the coin, as the nail would mask the coin being so close. but not with the Scorpion. The 5" x 10" stock coil does a fantastic job cherry picking good targets amongst the junk. The TR is supposedly even better, but I didn't use it.
The pinpointing is deadly with this coil. I would either do the typical X and located the target in the center, or even easier, I would go to true all meta mode, move the coil back and forth a number of times, the drag the coil towards me and when the audio stopped, the target would always be about 1/4" in from the edge of the front toe of the coil. I also discovered that shallow targets and coins stop abruptly, where as deep targets and tinfoil did not stop abruptly. The Gold Stinger pinpoints just like the ACE series elliptical (non-"DD") coils.
Mastering this detector is all about settings and learning the sounds. Deeper targets are fainter, shallow targets are more crisp and loud. Junk targets usually break up and sound raspy, whereas coins sound nice and clean. Some junk will read only one way whereas coins will give a decent sound in all directions. Our Canadian clad dimes give off a "wow" type sound. Nickels really hit hard, as they are close to the conductivity of gold, and of course finding gold is what Charles Garrett had in mind when designing this gold detector and using the 15kHz Groundhog Circuit.
I need to put a lot more time on this machine, as I am used to a screen with size, depth and target probability. I can guesstamate the size by raising the coil and seeing how high I get a signal. I can also guess the depth listening to the volume and softness of the signal. I need to work on the sounds to help ID a good target from a bad. But then.......this is metal detecting, and it is always healthy to learn something new.
Time to stop..... I am tired and have to work tomorrow. Hope this answered some questions about the Garrett Scorpion Stinger.
