First day out with my new M6 - first time using target ID, questions!

[Hawkeye P]

I thought about posting this in the M6 forum, but it's not specifically about the machine so I chose not to. If I'm wrong, sorry, mods!

I managed to get out for about an hour last night after work. Decided to try out the new machine on an old farmstead that I've hunted plenty of times before. I figured the machine would be a little more predictable since I knew what to expect there...boy was I wrong!

First off, the machine performed great - I absolutely love the "tone ID" feature, especially with all the iron junk in the ground at this site. But when the VDI says it's foil, it's foil! I swear, EVERYTHING the people who live there ever consumed in the past came wrapped in foil, and they ALWAYS threw it out in the yard! I don't know how many times I had "solid" signals that read as foil. Having previously used a Classic III with no target ID, I just assumed that a solid beep always meant a good target. Wrong - even with the 9.5" coil, I was finding tiny bits of foil that "sounded" like coins (going by what my Classic III used to "tell" me).

As I said, I only got out for about an hour so I didn't get the hang of the new machine very well. Didn't find a single pulltab (surprised) but pulled out two zinc Lincolns and a really weird-looking Aztec god thingy. My first thought was that it was some kind of toy, but it sure is heavy and I can't figure out what it might've been used for. It doesn't look very old, in any case.

Since this is my first time using VDI, I'm still not sure what to trust. According to the machine, there's a LOT of iron junk in the ground, but tweaking the disc. a little higher quieted it down a bit. I do have a nagging question, more about VDI in general than the M6 specifically.

I kept getting very faint signals at the very top of the range...they always read so deep and small that I had a heck of a time pinpointing them, and just started to ignore them after a while. I kept thinking, why would there be silver that deep? With my Classic III, silver always sounded very, very clear, even when it was pretty deep. Is the new machine picking up VERY deep silver targets? What else would read so high on the VDI, but "sound" so small?

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

Since your question has a lot to do with "sound", and since there is really no way to convey a "sound" in printed text, there is really no way to answer your question. Ie.: some things just have to be seen/heard in person. Otherwise, it would be like saying "please describe to me the sound of C-minor in printed text". It can't be done. It has to be heard.

Add to that that there's infinate variables to factor in to the machines making of a sound. Like swing speed, repeatability, exact centering and/or criss-crossing of the target, etc... Once again, all up to interpretation. I've seen people swear they properly "x marks the spot" (to get an accurate target strength center), yet when I watch what they're doing, I can see that they are subconsciously honing in on some rebound bounce off-to-the-side, or concentrating on flutter that a more proficient user would know to ignore, etc...

So this may be one of those things where you're either going to have to trade off flagged signals to compare with a proficient user. Have him flag some deep coin sounds, verses shallow coin sounds, verses flutter, verses iron, verses foil, etc... Once you compare multiple of those, side by side, then you will have the patterns in your mind.

Either that, or you're going to have to pick a punishing couple of days, and simply dig 100 targets and a few dry holes, while making mental notes of sounds, TIDs, readings, etc.... to eventually know what your machine is telling you. :P

 

[Hawkeye P]

You're right. As I mentioned, I was only able to get out for an hour or so, and it was my first time using the machine. I might just go the route you mentioned - digging everything, just to find out exactly what my detector is telling me. That's how I learned how to tell good from bad targets with the Classic, and I imagine that's how I'll learn the M6. I guess I subconsciously hoped that the detector was going to do everything except dig for me - I know that's not true, but I was excited and only had a short time to try it out. Not to mention it's been a long time since I've been down on my knees on the ground every few minutes...guess I'm a bit out of shape! Your comments really helped, sorry for being vague.

 

[jeff741972]

I know where the foil comes from. Dogs/other animals, they get in the trash, and grab that big sheet of foil that is all greasy and smelly form grilling or wrappin up a chicken and they eat it. Then a few hours later, depending on how much they chewed it you will have + vdi's spread out about the yard , So if it goes on for years and years, and nobody is really after the mess, it gets to be a pain, especially the bigger chunks that sound like silver

 

[Tom_in_CA]

spooky, it depends on what type site you're hunting. I can think of a lot of turfed older blighted parks, where ...... you would go crazy trying to dig all the teensy foil, thinking "I might find a gold chain or earing stud" or whatever. Do I worry "but I wonder what I'm missing?" No. Becuase I also know that, even though I've missed that shallow nickel or gold ring, I've also missed a thousand pieces of flitty surface junk. My time is must better spent looking for deep silver, and simply save my jewelry hunting efforts for the beach.

It's like black-jack: do you take another "hit" when you have 20 in your hand, or do you hold? Most people would say "you hold", right? But if you say to them "but how do you know that the next card won't be a 1 card??" They'll tell you: "because odds are, it's not". Same sometimes holds true for metal detecting. There are some places you simply can't be a hero and strip-mine.

 

[bigtim1973]

What I would do it this, since you are used to the whites classic series of detectors and they had only one tone, I would put the M6 to a setting that allows only one tone and then I would dig the good repeatable signals with the disc turned up enough to get rid of some of the smaller pieces of foil. Then after digging a few good repeatable signals you should be able to tell how the machine reacts. Surely after you have enough trash out of the way to see the other stuff lying deeper in the gound, you should at least find some clad and other odd and ends. I would also take a quarter or dime and put them on top of the ground and just swing the coil over them slowly raising the coil until it starts to fade out and take notice of how your machine sounds with a coin size object 10-12 inches off the ground and that will be how your machine sounds when you swing your coil over a deep silver coin, Tim

 

[Hawkeye P]

You guys post some good advice! And I never thought of the "dog" theory when dealing with all that foil, but I'm pretty sure that's the key. Anyway, it doesn't matter HOW it got there, it's there now so I'm just going to have to deal with it!

Since I have unlimited access to this particular piece of land and I can go there whenever I want, I'm thinking of cranking up the disc. and filtering out all that foil to snag all the coins I can, THEN going back over the place with the disc. down and dealing with the foil - and hopefully, the gold. I'll end up doing twice the work that way, but I won't be digging quite as much "all at once." I was quite sore the other day from all the digging, so I figure if I do a little bit less "per day" I might not regret it in the morning!

Thanks again for the tips, fellas. I'm not going to let all that garbage discourage me - this particular place is quite large and has produced good finds for me a few times before, so I know there's got to be more down there.