1st Hunting Day With the Explorer II - PHOTO 11/12/07

[Michigan Badger]

I hunted for nearly 7 hours at 3 different sites.

Most of these finds were from an old school yard.

Pros

1) pinpoints dead-on perfectly in discrimination mode (all-metal pinpointer button rarely used and really unnecessary). Most of my plugs were 4 inches in diameter and target was dead center. The Ex.II pinpoints better than a Tesoro.

2) Not too bad on batteries. Cheap Dollar Store Alkalines ($2 for 8 AA's) at 3/4 power after 6+ hours of steady use.

3) Awesome tones

4) Comfortable to swing (I was surprised)

5) Simple to setup and use IF ONE READS THE MANUAL

6) Large easy to see screen

Cons

None at this time...it's too early

Concerns

The depth has me concerned most. I used the QuickStart as suggested by Minelab and set sensitivity in semi-auto. My deepest find was only about 4 inches deep (max). I usually find lots of wheat cents 6-9 inches deep at this site (using Silver uMax w/12x10 coil and Minelab Sovereign GT).

The meter readings seem basically useless. I hunted by tones and target quality only (nice solid signal from 2-ways). My meter reads coin/ring on everything. Iron bolts read 12/31 with super high coin pitch. I'm sure real silver differs but I need more practice.

So, at this point I'd say the outsanding features of the Ex.II are its pinpointing ability and tones. The biggest concern at this point is depth.

I did manage to find 1 wheat today (1945).

Badger

 

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[mastereagle22]

I don't use the digital display too much for just that reason. What I do is I use the smart find screen and if it hits as silver then I switch over to digital to get a read so that if it is silver I can write down what the numbers are and what the finds are.

The main thing I can tell you I had to learn the hard way was to sloooowwwww down. When I got the Beast I thought I could swing it just like my Deleon, but I wasn't finding anything like that. Adjust the gain to 7 or 8 and set sensitivy to around 20-25 and that will help you find the deeper coins. I never mess with deep or fast I just leave them off for now and I don't have near the finds Captain_SE has but my machine has been messed up and is in getting an open heart surgery right now. I'll let you know how it does when I get it back.

I dug my 1943 Florin with the Beast at a measured 10 inches. That is pretty deep if you ask me, course the thing is the size of a small planet (the Florin) or at least as big as a silver dollar. One wheat we dug at 8-9 inches but we had to fight a tree root to get it. No doubt this machine will find the deep coins if you learn it and use it right.

ME22

 

[Michigan Badger]

Thanks mastereagle22. I am hunting very slowly and rechecking every hit.

At this point the depth just isn't there. The school site has been filled and therefore has loads of Mems and Wheats buried mega deep.

They were sitting ducks with the Tesoro Silver and 12x10 coil. My trowel has a 6 inch blade and many times I was half way up the handle before the coin came up on the tip of the trowel. Today most stuff was either in the sod or just below it. Not at all what I expected.

I'll experiment with different settings tomorrow.

Also, how much is Minelab charging you for the fix?

Badger

 

[mastereagle22]

I haven't been given the bad news yet. I guess they are waiting to see if the Beast makes it.

Did it ever occur to you that you were finding coins you missed before today? I am just wondering if you had the targets there before and didn't find or just didn't dig them

I know this machine can find some deep stuff. It found the main cable trunk line in my front yard at around 14 inches deep!!! I quickly covered it back up and I no one said anything about bad TV or internet so I guess I didn't cut the line!

 

[Michigan Badger]

I quickly covered it back up and I no one said anything about bad TV or internet so I guess I didn't cut the line!

LOL!!!! I thought I was the only one who did this stuff.

Last summer I had this giant "treasure" hit that seemed to go on forever. I stopped digging when I saw the big yellow tag "WARNING! HIGH VOLTAGE LINE!" or words to that affect.

 

[neilo]

Get yourself Andrew Sabich book Mastering the Explorer even though this book relates to the earlier XS model it still applies to the Ex2. What you will find is that the numbers on the screen are not immediate and the first numbers shown might not be necessarily correct, and if you swing over the target again it will set and fix itself on the correct number. On deep targets which are just on the edge of the machines depth limits depending upon what sensitivity it is set to. The digital number readout is affected but is still reasonably accurate. But of course at depth the machine is also coping with mineralisation which can affect numbers. Eg a coin which would normally read 26-7 might read 28-7 at depth due to mineralisation. But the tone is the key to deep targets this is not affected at all. Sometimes on extremely deep targets you will get the good tone signal and the digital numbers will jump all over the place and not settle, go by the tone and dig. Also extremely deep targets you will start digging it and it will vanish off of the screen,if this happens turn your machine to pinpoint and it will reappear. What has happened is you have altered the halo affect of the target and running in the discrim mode it has moved into the blanked out area of the screen. What you will find is as you dig nearer to the target the it will return to its original position on the screen. Running your machine with the auto sensitivity turned off will give you more depth. In auto sensitivity the machine tends to over compensate for mineralisation even though you think you have the machine set to 25 in auto sensitivity the machine might have turned itself down and is only operating at 10. If you want more depth go to manual sensitivity, you will know if it is too high by false signals which are easily identified by the fact the signal is errattic and is not fixed in one position. Dig only your target signals which you get a signal from all directions ignore signals which only signal from one way. If you need some more help with the machine send me a pm and I will be happy to help. I have put a few articles in this forum in the past which might be helpful to you as well one is about gold rings which could help see ya Neilo

 

[hollowpointred]

i agree with Neilo badge, get away from that auto sensativity. it is very conservative. manual is much deeper.

 

[mastereagle22]

In case I missed it or didn't post it the ONLY time I use auto sense is if the machine becomes unstable in certain soil conditions. I keep switching it off to see if the machine has stabilized and if so I leave it off.

 

[Iron Patch]

Hard to understand that. I'd have a hard time not finding targets deeper than 4". If you had kept the detector I would have told you to max the gain.

 

[Michigan Badger]

Hard to understand that. I'd have a hard time not finding targets deeper than 4". If you had kept the detector I would have told you to max the gain.

I tried that too, it didn't help.

 

[Iron Patch]

Hard to understand that. I'd have a hard time not finding targets deeper than 4". If you had kept the detector I would have told you to max the gain.

I tried that too, it didn't help.

Unless you got some crazy dirt you were doing something wrong. A 6" or 7" coin sounds like a surface hit. But going back to what you're used to isn't really a surprise, no one likes learning a detector and feeling like they're missing stuff.

 

[Michigan Badger]

Hard to understand that. I'd have a hard time not finding targets deeper than 4". If you had kept the detector I would have told you to max the gain.

I tried that too, it didn't help.

Unless you got some crazy dirt you were doing something wrong. A 6" or 7" coin sounds like a surface hit. But going back to what you're used to isn't really a surprise, no one likes learning a detector and feeling like they're missing stuff.

I've come to the place where I think something must have been wrong with the detector. Perhaps something happened in shipping.

I know that if all Explorers acted like this one they wouldn't stay in business very long.

People keep telling me I didn't give it a long enough learning time. I ask what is there to learn when you run the machine on the factory settings and it can't detect a quarter at 5 inches deep? I mean no sound whatsoever.

I can see learning when it comes to finding deep targets mixed with trash, etc. But a simple little test like beep on the coin in mild soil?

In fact, the only signal I could get that was solid and clear was at about 3 inches deep.

I tried the auto settings, new batteries, advanced settings with max. gain and 25 sensitivity and all the rest. No signal of any kind in any way.

That gentlemen is NOT a user problem but a detector problem.

Badger

 

[Iron Patch]

Hard to understand that. I'd have a hard time not finding targets deeper than 4". If you had kept the detector I would have told you to max the gain.

I tried that too, it didn't help.

Unless you got some crazy dirt you were doing something wrong. A 6" or 7" coin sounds like a surface hit. But going back to what you're used to isn't really a surprise, no one likes learning a detector and feeling like they're missing stuff.

I've come to the place where I think something must have been wrong with the detector. Perhaps something happened in shipping.

I know that if all Explorers acted like this one they wouldn't stay in business very long.

People keep telling me I didn't give it a long enough learning time. I ask what is there to learn when you run the machine on the factory settings and it can't detect a quarter at 5 inches deep? I mean no sound whatsoever.

I can see learning when it comes to finding deep targets mixed with trash, etc. But a simple little test like beep on the coin in mild soil?

In fact, the only signal I could get that was solid and clear was at about 3 inches deep.

I tried the auto settings, new batteries, advanced settings with max. gain and 25 sensitivity and all the rest. No signal of any kind in any way.

That gentlemen is NOT a user problem but a detector problem.

Badger

You very well might be right. I had a II that was a dud. It was very strange, the thing rocked on coins but for smaller targets like buttons it was gutless. I know how to use an Explorer but do not understand it from a technical standpoint so having a problem like that didn't make sense. That was the case though.

 

[mastereagle22]

Ok so maybe I hit my head or something. Where or when did you give up the Explorer?

 

[Michigan Badger]

Just so you don't feel alone, I had a similar experience with an Exp II.
Thinking anything this hyped up has to work better that this I sent it back to Minelab
a couple of times this summer. But they kept sending it back saying it works fine.
I had kept the Sov. tho so I did'nt have to go buy another.

Boy, I really do appreciate you posting this...I was really beginning to wonder. But I have had others tell me they didn't get any depth with their Explorers. Some big finders on here have sent me PMs to tell me they also disliked the Explorers (for a variety of reasons) and returned to a former machine.

I mean, it seems almost everybody else is digging dimes at 12 inches with the Explorers and I couldn't get this beast to detect a quarter at 5. I hate to say it but in 40 years of detecting and owning maybe 200 detectors this was my worst detector experience (as far as depth goes). Until this happened my worst detector was a Heathkit model back in 1963.

I have noted that on YouTube many of those using the Explorer II or SE dig giant holes while recovering the item. I wonder?

Anyway, I've seen enough for a while. I'll stay with the GT until Minelab or someone else comes out with something I think is truly better. I have a feeling I'll be too old to hunt by that time

I'm keeping the GT and I will also buy another Silver uMax w/12x10 coil or a Deloen sometime toward spring or sooner if I can find a near mint example in used condition. I'll use the GT for my final cleanup hunting and the Silver for those quick checking hunts.

That's a great combination: the GT and Silver (or Deleon).

Badger

 

[Michigan Badger]

Ok so maybe I hit my head or something. Where or when did you give up the Explorer?

I didn't keep it long. I do two things when I get a new machine.

1. Study the manual

2. Take it to my coin garden and start at coins buried 1 inch to 15 inches deep.

If a new detector can detect a quarter at 6 inches deep I figure with learning I can reach one even deeper out there in the real world.

To date, the only detectors I've owned that couldn't make it to 6 inches was a Chinese unit and this Minelab II.

Also, the Explorer II I owned (it's gone now) was checked out by an experienced Explorer user and he said it was perfect. I used his settings and couldn't get a beep, tick, or even the slightest variation of signal on a quarter at 5 inches. To me that means sell time (I traded it off to a dealer).

Badger

 

[Iron Patch]

Your detector was broken. If a 4 year old could swing the thing they could find coins at 5". Too bad you never got a real go at one because had you dug an 11" seated I bet your post would have been about finding the best dteector in the world.

 

[Iron Patch]

Ok so maybe I hit my head or something. Where or when did you give up the Explorer?

I didn't keep it long. I do two things when I get a new machine.

1. Study the manual

2. Take it to my coin garden and start at coins buried 1 inch to 15 inches deep.

If a new detector can detect a quarter at 6 inches deep I figure with learning I can reach one even deeper out there in the real world.

To date, the only detectors I've owned that couldn't make it to 6 inches was a Chinese unit and this Minelab II.

Also, the Explorer II I owned (it's gone now) was checked out by an experienced Explorer user and he said it was perfect. I used his settings and couldn't get a beep, tick, or even the slightest variation of signal on a quarter at 5 inches. To me that means sell time (I traded it off to a dealer).

Badger

If it wasn't the detector you simply didn't swing over any coins deeper than a few inches.

 

[Michigan Badger]

Your detector was broken. If a 4 year old could swing the thing they could find coins at 5". Too bad you never got a real go at one because had you dug an 11" seated I bet your post would have been about finding the best dteector in the world.

I have to believe you're right.

The way I look at it, it was damaged in shipping. Or, maybe something really strange suddenly happened to our soil?

Who knows, but it's history now.

Some day I'd really like to see a deep Explorer perform.

Badger

 

[Iron Patch]

When I changed from my GTI to Explorer the thing drove me nuts. I couldn't pinpoint worth a dang and the tones gave me a headache. (or the concentration needed trying to figure them out)

The reason I kept it was it was deeper than my GTI even when I didn't know what I was doing.