First day with the Minelab Safari

[domanby]

Im hoping to get some feedback from anyone who has had experience with these machines. I don't have much experience with detectors other than an ace 250 that I used for a few years and several old analogs so my expectations may be off. This machine tends to be very erratic and jumps back and forth even when detecting over a silver morgan dollar the thing couldn't stop jumping from ID 9 back to 34 over to 36 to 40. Finally I had the bright idea of throwing my silver dollar randomly in a field in order to hunt it down(even burying it at one point) to prove that there wasn't anything wrong with the machine, but to be honest had I not seen the coin shinning out of the corner of my eye I probably never would have found it again.
Ive got it on factory settings and ive tried every mode.
Now ive heard several other safari owners say their machines are very chatty too but with the display jumping all over the place how am I ever going to get an accurate reading.Help me out here guys!

 

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[Longhair]

SLOW DOWN!
It's the one biggest mistake that most newbs make when getting into their first Minelab. It's not a weedeater, and it's looking deeper and at more than anything than you've used to date. It needs time for a good look and to process what all it's detecting.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

SLOW DOWN!
It's the one biggest mistake that most newbs make when getting into their first Minelab. It's not a weedeater, and it's looking deeper and at more than anything than you've used to date. It needs time for a good look and to process what all it's detecting.

Agreed, slow slow slow! The more nulling and trash the slower you go. Don't be concerned about solid # listen for good repeatable audio hits. #'s are just a back up. Get out of trashy areas to learn it as well.
It takes time patience and skill. It will pay off but you have to put in the work.

 

[gerryk]

When i first got my minelab, i turned the sensativity down. I went over an area with it turned down and once that area was finished, i went over it again with the machine turned up a bit. That allowed me to learn the machine a little. Is still find myself having to slow down in areas with lots of targets.

 

[Longhair]

Is still find myself having to slow down in areas with lots of targets.

Bingo!
The higher the trash density, the slower you need to go to separate the targets for identification. If the density is so high that it's not possible, then you need a smaller coil to make it possible.

Swinging too fast not only screws up TID, it also causes a lot of falsing.
Low and slow is the order of the day. Slow but steady wins the race.

 

[domanby]

Thank you all so much for the feedback, im so used to the Ace 250 that I was just swinging the safari around thinking it would function the same way. It kept falsing because I was moving waaaay too fast and I went ahead and turned the sensitivity down to about half speed from 20 to 10 and its finally staying on the correct ID without jumping around. I find myself having to count down from 4 otherwise I swing to fast, this feels so odd to me but im sure in just a few days this will become second nature. This thing has great depth I can't imagine what it can do with full sensitivity. Thanks again guys!

 

[gerryk]

I watchtower he show if i am home or the dvr catches it or it shows up on demand.