About to buy my first md (cibola)

[ammo_u]

For those of you with experience using the Cibola what is your best advice for a newbie?

[Terry Soloman]

For those of you with experience using the Cibola what is your best advice for a newbie?

1) READ the manual - Twice!
2) Then get outside and start swinging!

That is the ONLY way to learn your machine. After about 50-hours on the headphones, all of your questions will have been answered. There is no secret, no special settings. YOU are the secret to your success or failure. It is a great machine! Big Gold!

[Sandman]

If there is one thing that you really need to do and that is practice pinpointing coins till you can find them under a sheet of newspaper with one poke with a knife. Start out learing how to retrieve coins from your yard so you will learn how to not make a mess. Probe with a something like a screw driver to touch the coin and try to pop it out of the ground. Be able to look back at where you got the target and see if you can notice where you dug. Get a nail pouch with two pockets, one for goodies and the other for any trash you dig up. Don't throw trash back on the ground as you'll only find it again.

[sandtrout]

I'd learn how to build a test garden just to learn what happens when you make an adjustment on ANY of the faceplate buttons. How do things change when you adjust the THRESHOLD, DISC, or SENSITIVITY? In other works, learn how to set up your machine for regular hunting (like at a park), deeper hunting (max sensitivity and minimum or NO DISC, and cherry picking (lay some coins on the ground, turn your disc ALL the way to the right and see what happens). Your machine is adjustable for a reason.

I use a cheap ($26) digital recorder for questions I want to ask here on the forum (no more notepads and pencils for me!). I usually get these questions WHILE DETECTING. Pay attention to those who have Cibola listed in their avatar and send the PM's (private messages) with your questions. That's where it really pays to be a member here!

1. learn your machine (by learning how and when adjust)
2. time spent in the field (for me it was about 100 hours...surprised me how much I learned when I thought I knew it already) because your coil HAS TO BE ON THE TARGET to find it!!!
3. making the decision to dig...now I know you have a DISC button and it will knock out some trash but...how greedy are you? Every time you say, "I'm tired of pulltabs...." you're also saying, "aaand some gold rings."

Of course, there's lots more tidbits like 1. keeping the coil on the ground 2. go slow...this ain't golf 3. overlap your swings at least 50% and more stuff like that but you'll pick that up.

[ammo_u]

thanks for the advice!!!!!!!!!

[metalman709]

i absolutely love my cibola!!! it's a great machine and it loves small targets!!!! i've found tons of little trinkets with it....it loves silver and gold too..... the best advice i can give you besides telling you to practice,practice,practice is this.... a slow swing speed finds more targets....it's not a golf club so swing slow....a 2 second swing speed from one side to the other is about what i use and it works pretty good....

[froggy38383]

For those of you with experience using the Cibola what is your best advice for a newbie?

Get a good pair of headphones, that will increase your battery life and you will hear the signals more clearly.

As others have mentioned practice practice practice.

I have purchased two good 9v rechargeable batteries and use those, they do not seem affect the performance.

[Jersey Hunter]

You've had a lot of good comments from the others, but remember the more you use it the better you will become.