Goit my Silver uMax! Have questions.

[rainyday101]

Just got my Silver uMax. Went to discriminate mode and set at min. Turned sensitivity to 10 and detector was stable. Went to test garden, found penny at 4" with solid tone, found nickel at 4" with solid tone, dime at 4" gave broken signal, found quarter at 4" with solid tone. Went to 6" marks and found penny, the rest were barely discernible or gave no signal. Switched to all metal mode and pretty much the same result. I then did an air test with penny, nickel, dime, and quarter using the same settings and got 6 to 7" on all targets. My soil here is not mineralized and I was expecting this thing to get deeper. Kind of disappointed so far. I was also able to use max boost and stay chatter free, but that did not help get targets at 6". Am I doing something wrong? I can see I have to work on my pinpointing a little. The last detector I had about 8 years ago was a Garret GTAx 450 and would have found the 6" and probably most of the 8" targets easily. What do I need to do??

 

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[ezzz1]

silver u max is the low end of the Tesoro ..a good detctor... but still the low end.. They do have their limit

 

[Sandman]

As Ezz1 said the Silver is on the low end of the line up. The silver isn't supposed to be run at max sensitivity as it sees more minerals this way and that cuts down on the depth. Why does everyone think turning up the sens gets more depth?

 

[rainyday101]

I thought turning up the sensitivity gave more depth. When I air test as suggested in the manual I do get more depth (in the air). How do you recommend setting the sensitivity?

 

[rainyday101]

From the following thread I have learned that testing a freshly buried coin is about as useless as air testing. I guess I will get my butt out and do some real world hunting/field testing before the damn ground freezes.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/tesoro/112846-tesoro-silver-umax-depth-tests.html

 

[Adrian SS]

As Ezz1 said the Silver is on the low end of the line up. The silver isn't supposed to be run at max sensitivity as it sees more minerals this way and that cuts down on the depth. Why does everyone think turning up the sens gets more depth?

Set the sensitivity to as high as you can that does not cause any chirpyness when the coil is bobbed up and down a two or three inches above the ground.

If the detector sounds of on the ground then it is telling you that the ground minerals are affecting the detector causing random tones and this will result id a loss of depth and or mask some target signals. So by setting the sensitivity to a setting that is just on the verge of causing ground signals will result in better depth on some targets. You need to experiment a bit with the disc and sensitivity settings. The higher the disc is set the less the detection depth will be on any given target. You may also find a disc setting that quietens some ground minerals..... If you are lucky.
I do not know a great deal about the Sil Micro max but if it is anything like tha old Silver sabre then I would have expected a bit better depth on some items as compared to what you have indicated.

 

[rainyday101]

Tried the detector again tonight and am still getting used to trying to figure out the beeps. Different targets definitely give different sounds. I dug everything to get and idea of what the detector was telling me. I also thumbed the discrimination to see where the signal dropped out. With this detector it is kind of like starting over. I miss the security blanket of a TDI, but know I will be better off without and just have to learn the Tesoro way. Right now I only have a short time window after work until dark and have been just playing around in my back yard. I never knew there was so much junk in the ground here! This Saturday I will hit some prime ground and find some coins. I can see a pinpointer is the way to go, maybe a Garrett Pro Pointer? For me at present pinpointing trashy targets is not that easy yet. Solid hits I pretty much have down. Tonight I ran with the discrimination settings just above iron and sensitivity at 10. I get no false signals with the sensitivity up this high. We have little to no mineralization. I will keep practicing!

 

[Jersey Hunter]

Learning any new detector takes time. My Vaquero took me about 3 weeks to get really comfortable with what it was telling me. Now its always with me, even if only as a backup. Just don't give up, stick with it and learn the machine.

 

[rainyday101]

I actually got about 3 hours on it Saturday morning and did find some coins along with a fair amount of bottle caps. From what I can tell by looking at the bottle caps, the general public prefers Budweiser products by 3 to 1 over Miller products. I wasn't able to distinguish sound wise between the bottle caps and coins. So, if unsure, dig. I found the discrimination to work absolutely excellent. Max dug target depth was about 6 inches. I got the pin pointing down and was spot on. All in all I like the detector. I have actually been thinking (just thinking) about doing the ground balance mod on this detector. That is it for this season though, because now the ground is frozen and we six inches of snow from Sunday. I am wishing I lived further south! I payed $160 for it off that big online auction place. The thing was practically brand new. I could not pass that one up. Now the kids want to go detecting with me and I think this detector will be theirs. I still plan on getting a Tiger Shark for the water and looking at a M6 or MXT or MXT Pro for my land detector.

 

[rainyday101]

Today it rained and melted our snow. I got out a little with the Silver uMax and found we barely had any frost in the ground. I got about two hours of detecting in between rain showers. I found that this detector likes deep metal. I detected in all metal mode to start and switched to disc on the targets and thumbed the disc. knob. I found most of the trash targets had a double beep when sweeping over them. Plucked out a few clad coins and was happy. I also detected with disc. set just above iron. I have the sensitivity set at 10 with no chatter. The ground here is so mild I can set the sensitivity past 10. What I don't understand though is most people say that you should run the sensitivity as high as you can until you get chatter and then just back it off slightly to get it stable and quiet. Earlier in this post Sandman said I am losing depth doing this and that high sensitivity does not give you more depth. I don't understand this, can somebody clarify I could actually run the sens. wide open here and not get chattering or falsing.

 

[SpiritRelic]

Today it rained and melted our snow. I got out a little with the Silver uMax and found we barely had any frost in the ground. I got about two hours of detecting in between rain showers. I found that this detector likes deep metal. I detected in all metal mode to start and switched to disc on the targets and thumbed the disc. knob. I found most of the trash targets had a double beep when sweeping over them. Plucked out a few clad coins and was happy. I also detected with disc. set just above iron. I have the sensitivity set at 10 with no chatter. The ground here is so mild I can set the sensitivity past 10. What I don't understand though is most people say that you should run the sensitivity as high as you can until you get chatter and then just back it off slightly to get it stable and quiet. Earlier in this post Sandman said I am losing depth doing this and that high sensitivity does not give you more depth. I don't understand this, can somebody clarify I could actually run the sens. wide open here and not get chattering or falsing.

Yes,run the sensitivity as high as possible until it gives you to much chatter.This will give you the most depth.If you can go in the red do it.Tip from me.If you want to just have fun and find some coins,(silver) set the disc at tab.Now go out and coin hunt.You will have a little fun without so much trash.I know you might miss something people! This is a good quick method to cherry pick for a silver coins.I use this method all the time to first get all the silver out first.Then if i want to get the nickel's and possible ring,i then go back with disc cut down.Just give it a try.Set disc on tab,then coin hunt.

 

[rainyday101]

Thanks SpiritRelic. I have a few spots where that is exactly what I want to do. Go through first at a higher disc. level and cherry pick, then back to all metal and pick through what is left. These spots are smaller old swimming holes full of bottle caps and pulltabs. With the ground we have here, I can easily run the sens. up in the red with no chatter.

 

[rainyday101]

Got out today with the metal detector and found 37 cents worth of clad at an old swimming hole. Target depth ranged from 2-5". I set disc. just above foil and was able to run sens. at 10+ with no problems. I cherry picked to better learn the sound of a solid hit on a coin. I still got fooled by lead sinkers, lead bullets, and crumpled slaw that gave good solid tones. It wasn't a big haul, but I had fun learning what a good solid tone tells you. Every now and then I would dig an iffy tone just to verify in my mind that it was trash of some sort. This was at a swimming hole on a river. I can't believe it is mid December in northern Wisconsin and I am out with a metal detector. I was sick to my stomach to see the amount of litter that was present. Cans, bottles, and crap everywhere. I just can't believe people are so ignorant, lazy, and disrespectful. The next time I go out their I am bringing garbage bags and the kids so that we can pick this mess up. I know it's not my job to clean up after everyone else but I can't stand seeing it such a mess. People have swam at this place for over 100 years and in my forty some years of going there I have never seen it this bad. Today's people are just a bunch of disrespectful slobs!