Do you notch?

[Phantasman]

Many machines with that feature. I have noticed that when you disc and notch, it affects depth detection slightly (at least on the mid range machines I've used).

I usually disc out iron as a coin/jewelry hunter. But I'm getting to the point that I would rather hear and ID it as trash than to have the machine just not bring it to my attention that it's there.

I wish my LRP had the FeTone Iron audio ability of the Eurotek Pro so I could just make iron almost silent and not drive me crazy.

It appears only Tesoro has elected to not supply notch (except Golden/Cortez) which may be a reason for their depth.

Thoughts?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

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

[Carolina Tom]

I don't notch and use as little disc as possible. I sometimes switch between a disc program and a non-disc program (all metal mode). I believe that a good target sometimes hides around the iron, and the disc seems to block that target as well as the iron... when I switch to all metal, I can hear both targets and make a decision on digging.

 

[SouthFLdigger]

I only notch out Iron, 30-40.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I haven't in three or four years.

My first detector, a Minelab Musketeer Advantage, has no notch. I never had a choice. Also has no display & is just audio.

When I got my F-75 in 2007 the notch feature was so novel - and something I thought I very badly needed - so I used it at all times. But then I barely caught a nice ring with a creaky tone right on the edge of the notch that should have been a loud, solid tone and said "Harrumph!" So I started using less and less.

Now I just barely discriminate out iron and instead check the display for TID rather than letting the machine decide.

The exception is in places where one or two common trash items are just driving me bug-nutz and I will notch then out. Especially if I am coin-shooting current parks and fairgrounds. But the older the site the more interested I become in the maybe-old,-odd-&-deep-instead-of-trash signals.

In the woods or plowed fields I may go just all crazy and switch to all metal. Lets's see everything that's here!

 

[gianetics]

notch no. ill use just a little bit of iron disc. in my soil anything over 6" starts lowering vdi numbers. if i notch i might miss a 9" dime or 10" quarter. thats with an at pro, xterra705, f2, eurotek. my ground balance in my backyard is 89-91 with the atp and 21-17 with the 705. at 11-12 inches a quarter (fresh burred) reads in high iron range on both the atp and 705. but it doesnt "sound" like iron if that makes any sense.

 

[luvsdux]

Not all my detectors have that feature. I prefer to have a fully adjustable, tweakable discrimination and generally run it just above small iron.
luvsdux

 

[Tom Slick]

I only notch the grips on my handgun.

 

[scotty544]

I also prefer not to notch out anything, I just set the discrimination so that it knocks out foil and lower.

 

[mrwilburino]

I usually run with 0 disc and nothing notched. Seems like the more I hear, the more it all makes sense to me. It's nice to have available though, when the signals begin to overload my brain.

 

[Keppy]

Never use notch..

 

[Fletch88]

I tend to not like to notch because of all the popping and crackling, but I tend to stay away from modern trash type places. I'm also afraid of notching out anything since gold and platinum can fall all over the place.

 

[relicmeister]

I almost never notch anything, except in rare instances like where there are an insane amount of aluminum foil or pulltabs, when I couldn';t even consider digging
that narraow range of TID.

 

[Skippy SH13]

YES. I notch. on the Garrett ACE series, Notching doesn't impact depth at all. it merely keeps the "ding" from occurring. in fact, if you're watching the screen, the target will still show up in the notch, it just doesn't reflect in the sound.

I looked up the specs to double check, and sure enough, notching out (discriminating) doesn't affect depth on the Garrett ACE series.

Skippy

 

[K1DDO1979]

I like hearing everything underground in most cases. No notch and rarely any discrimination.

 

[Loco-Digger]

It depends on where I am detecting. Some sites have so many targets that I do notch to reduce the amount of plugs I dig in a square yard and to decrease the amount of noises I hear . I often go over sites running north to south, then east to west and finally I go at a 45 degree angle. If I notched on the site I will then go back over it without notching so I can then find the targets that were notched out.