The difference between deep targets and small trash

[deathhare]

I can find no discernible difference in the way my detector tells me about these things.
In fact, im not sure my detector goes much deeper than 3 or 4 inches anyway. (which i find sad).
It also has no display so i cant get any info there.
Anyone have any tips for me on this Tesoro Silver uMax?
Im having a good time with it but sometimes wonder if I should be digging these faint sounds. Are they deep targets or just little tiny things or trash?
Thanks

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[ParkHunter61]

It takes time ..
You cant learn in just a few hours hunting..
Be patient...
You will learn each time you go out hunting..
Even after ten years of hunting your will always be learning....
Turn your sens up until it chatters then back it off until its stable
Run disc on o in foil - The higher u set the disc the more depth
you will lose..
You can test this with an air test .....
You should get more than 3 inches
depending on your soil.

You cant find deep coins if there not there..
Keep at it - your doing good
Bill

 

[EddieR]

The Silver uMax is capable of going deep....trust me! I've got one and I've done very well with it. When I first got it, I ignored those faint little chirps because I thought they were trash. One day I decided to "clean out" part of an area that I had hunted for years with many different detectors. I used golf tees and string to rope off 3' x 9' sections at a time. Turning discrimination just above where nails gave a "click", I started detecting....digging all signals, even the "clicks" if they repeated. Keep in mind i had been over this area for years.....Total for the day......lots of bent rusty nails, foil, and other pieces of iron....BUT....3 Indian Heads , each at 5"-7". I rarely passed up signals after that! Try digging all the signals and see what you are getting.


Eddie

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Some detectors have more tell-tale audio that clues the operator into knowing whether it's surface small stuff, verses deep large stuff. But other detectors (maybe yours) tend to have a "beep" or "no beep", with little inbetween audio clues as to size, depth, etc... But I think you can overcome this by switching to all-metal, and checking the target. The all-metal mode may have better audio clues to tell you this info.

 

[deathhare]

Thanks for the encouragement and suggestions.
Next time out ill dig all repeatable clicks and see what happens.
I usually have the disc. set right between iron and foil and the sens. up as far as itll go without chattering back at me.
Sounds about right?

 

[EddieR]

Yes...try those settings and dig all signals. You might be surprised at what will turn up. HOWEVER....remember, the coins and relics must be there in order to find them

 

[Michigan Badger]

I've owned almost all the Silver Sabres (including the original) and several Silver uMax detectors.

Here's what's happening.

The Silver is NOT a tones machine. It's a signal quality machine.

By signal quality I mean from a nice solid beep to one that's broken up and barely audible.

If you don't want to dig everything, you need to learn signal qualities by working the discrimination knob.

If you set the discrimination too high you'll lose a lot of depth.

So, you identify the most troublesome trash and turn up the discrimination knob until the signal quality is corrupted somewhat. Then you dig all good solid beeps and ignore low quality (broken) signals.

With the Silver if you want the best depth get the 12x10 concentric web coil. These can be had used for about $80. The Silver uMax with the 12x10 coil will match or surpass many brands in depth that cost much more.

I dug an old iron gun this last summer at an unbelievable depth with my Silver setup. I've lost count of the Indian cents.

The problem all detectors face is target masking. Sound quality machines can give a broken signal on a nice coin due to nearby trash. Tone machines can give an iron tone on a coin due to nearby trash.

The ONLY way to clean out a site is to dig everything. Or better yet--throw the detector away and get a large shovel and screen all the dirt down to 6 feet

All detectors miss lots of great targets.

Hope this helps.

Badger

 

[deathhare]

So what youre saying is that I should basically dig every repeatable signal, at least until I learn to understand what the detector is telling me?

 

[StogieJim]

Just my 2 cents...

When I'm trying to 'dig everything' with a Tejon, I mark out a modest size area to work (say 10' sq) and then go over it several times with different settings. I'll be specific but, the idea is to not have to stop every 3" which I find very frustrating.

So, here's the idea...
1) modest sensitivity, high discrimination to cherry pick the area.
2) same sensitivity, moderate disc (say 5 cents) to get can slaw, pull tabs and other junk.
3) low sensitivity, minimum disc to get big iron and foil.
4) modest sensitivity, min disc to get smaller iron and foil.
5) high sensitivity (but stable), min disc to get small iron and perhaps some good stuff.
6) high sensitivity, true all metal mode to get things too small to trigger a signal when using disc (silent search)

Perhaps that's too much fooling around for some but, it's very effective.

Jim

 

[Lowbatts]

Once you're directly over a target, lift the coil an inch or two slowly. Shallow small trash bits usually disappear right away while a valid target may still sound off faintly. Popped a nice silver chain out of the dirt last fall and it was 2 to 3 inches deep but only gave the faintest foil-sounding signal. Didn't help that the chain was fully stretched out, not bundled up either.

 

[deathhare]

Thanks for your input guys.
I have some new things to try out for sure.

 

[Michigan Badger]

So what youre saying is that I should basically dig every repeatable signal, at least until I learn to understand what the detector is telling me?

If you're physically able--yes.

People new to the hobby should practice digging without damage and learning the sounds of targets.

Then when you get those down switch to that which is really important--an emphasis on research.

 

[bass99]

check in all metal and that should tell you if its deep (quite), or shallow (loud). But to play it safe dig everything and you will start finding those deep coins. been using silver U for years and still astounds me on what I find.
Bass