4th Safari Hunt - A Few Questions...

[njnydigger]

Hi Hunters,


Did my 4th hunt this morning with the new mistress - the Minelab Safari My prior old lady was an MXT 300. And man was she HOTTTTTTT! Anyways, starting to get the hang of the Safari. Couple of things keep tripping me up however. BTW, I've only run in coin & jewelry mode so far.

1. As with any brand or model of machine, any idiot can decipher the bad tones and the good sounding tones. So, I have figured these out on the Safari. Problem is, what about all of the mixed tones I keep encountering? The way I have been handling it is as follows...upon further investigation, if there is ENOUGH of a high tone mixed in with the "bad" tone or grunt, I dig. If on the other hand the low tone or grunt wins out, I deem the item "trash" and do not dig. Is this appropriate? On some of these mixed tones, it actually sounds like I'm listening to a synthesizer or I'm stuck inside of a video game Definitely NOT the same tones as my old MXT.

2. As you know, there is no depth reading on the Safari's - only a depth gauge. So, what I've been doing is figuring or estimating the gauge as one foot - 12 inches. If the cursor falls a third of the way down on the gauge, I figure to dig roughly 4 inches. Half down, 6 inches, etc. It actually works pretty well. Any other tips that work better you guys know of?

Hit an local park for 3 hours this morning. It isn't that old, but, just wanted to get familiar with the sounds of the machine. Pinpointing is a little rough on the Safari (as it is on all Minelab's), but, I knew that before buying the machine. Think I'm getting the hang of it though. My holes are a bit larger than usual however. Glad I have my pinpointer Got a little over a buck in clad in that time. Just missed silver with a 65 quarter. So...

If someone can explain these in-between/"iffy" signals on the Safari, that would be great. Like I said, bad tones I understand and the high pitched, smoother, repeatable tones one cannot miss. Just the middle tones I'm having a problem with. BTW, 2 final thoughts on my experience so far with my new machine...

First, I can honestly say that I have NOT seen a noticeable difference in depth on the Safari vs. my old MXT. However, it has only been 4 hunts, so, we'll see. Second, I WILL say that the machine is pretty impressive with being able to find the goodies in-between the junk. And lastly, I am a bit surprised at the lower number of bottle caps and pull tabs I've dug. However, this could be due to the fact that I am going much slower and not recovering as many targets. Bottom line is this...

My rating so far on the Safari is a solid 6 or 7. With my old MXT being a solid 8 or 9. Many more hunts to come however. Appreciate your feedback. I'll keep you posted...

 

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[Iron Patch]

Hi Hunters,


Did my 4th hunt this morning with the new mistress - the Minelab Safari My prior old lady was an MXT 300. And man was she HOTTTTTTT! Anyways, starting to get the hang of the Safari. Couple of things keep tripping me up however. BTW, I've only run in coin & jewelry mode so far.

1. As with any brand or model of machine, any idiot can decipher the bad tones and the good sounding tones. So, I have figured these out on the Safari. Problem is, what about all of the mixed tones I keep encountering? The way I have been handling it is as follows...upon further investigation, if there is ENOUGH of a high tone mixed in with the "bad" tone or grunt, I dig. If on the other hand the low tone or grunt wins out, I deem the item "trash" and do not dig. Is this appropriate? On some of these mixed tones, it actually sounds like I'm listening to a synthesizer or I'm stuck inside of a video game Definitely NOT the same tones as my old MXT.

2. As you know, there is no depth reading on the Safari's - only a depth gauge. So, what I've been doing is figuring or estimating the gauge as one foot - 12 inches. If the cursor falls a third of the way down on the gauge, I figure to dig roughly 4 inches. Half down, 6 inches, etc. It actually works pretty well. Any other tips that work better you guys know of?

Hit an local park for 3 hours this morning. It isn't that old, but, just wanted to get familiar with the sounds of the machine. Pinpointing is a little rough on the Safari (as it is on all Minelab's), but, I knew that before buying the machine. Think I'm getting the hang of it though. My holes are a bit larger than usual however. Glad I have my pinpointer Got a little over a buck in clad in that time. Just missed silver with a 65 quarter. So...

If someone can explain these in-between/"iffy" signals on the Safari, that would be great. Like I said, bad tones I understand and the high pitched, smoother, repeatable tones one cannot miss. Just the middle tones I'm having a problem with. BTW, 2 final thoughts on my experience so far with my new machine...

First, I can honestly say that I have NOT seen a noticeable difference in depth on the Safari vs. my old MXT. However, it has only been 4 hunts, so, we'll see. Second, I WILL say that the machine is pretty impressive with being able to find the goodies in-between the junk. And lastly, I am a bit surprised at the lower number of bottle caps and pull tabs I've dug. However, this could be due to the fact that I am going much slower and not recovering as many targets. Bottom line is this...

My rating so far on the Safari is a solid 6 or 7. With my old MXT being a solid 8 or 9. Many more hunts to come however. Appreciate your feedback. I'll keep you posted...

1 - your high discrimination is probably contributing to this problem because the detector is fighting what to accept.

2 - Forget it, dig until you find the target, or determine it was iron/or not worth chasing.


As for iffy we need some context, what you're looking for and on what type of site. Iffy for me means a target that is probably iron, but there's enough good sound mixed in I probably should go after it just in case. I hunt farm fields and dig everything that isn't iron.

 

[njnydigger]

Thanks for the info Iron Patch. Let me be more specific...

Since I have only hunted parks so far and I am a new Safari user, figured I would go with the coin & jewelry mode. Mainly coinshooting, but, a little jewelry would be nice too. On my old MXT, I knew the VDI ranges by heart. Jewelry was in the foil range - 6 to 12, nickels - 18 to 20, 20 up to 50 was mainly junk except for the occasional surprise, 85 were quarters, etc., etc. Problem is, I don't yet know the VDI ranges on my Safari. In trashy places like the parks I am hunting, I am NOT a "dig it all" guy. Beaches, yes. Old foundations and farms, yes. But not parks for me. So, getting these mixed signals is very confusing. I don't want to dig an endless amount of junk. But these mixed tones are difficult for me to comprehend being a new Safari user.

Should I drop the discrim a bit?

I have asked around on here, but, nobody has answered me...Is there or isn't there a VDI scale available where it shows what the probable target is for certain VDI ranges on the Safari? White's has one and it is nearly dead-on every time with surgical precision!!!

I have been trying to hunt on tone alone, just using the VDI screen as extra help if necessary. But, as I said, learning these new tones is frustrating. To boil it down, my initial "quirks" with the Safari are this...

1. Pinpointing is second class. Difficult.

2. New tones hard to decipher. Mainly the middle-of-the-ground, mixed tones.

Hope that was a bit clearer for you Iron Patch. To be sure, I WILL learn the Safari. As with anything in life however, it takes work, sacrifice & patience. A little help from experienced forum members never hurts though too

Oh yeah, I can tell already that this thing is going to be a MONSTER on the beaches. Waiting for my scoop to try it out. Thanks again for the advice!

P.S. - Almost forgot to ask, but, this one's important. My old MXT didn't have a notch discriminator like the Safari does. If I notch/reject something out on my machine, am I notching/rejecting out that ITEM in the future or the actual VDI number the item comes up as? For instance, I was pulling nails up like crazy this morning. If I rejected the nail, will my machine JUST reject nails with similar properties in the future, or, is the machine just rejecting the VDI number that the nail comes up as??

 

[Iron Patch]

Thanks for the info Iron Patch. Let me be more specific...

Since I have only hunted parks so far and I am a new Safari user, figured I would go with the coin & jewelry mode. Mainly coinshooting, but, a little jewelry would be nice too. On my old MXT, I knew the VDI ranges by heart. Jewelry was in the foil range - 6 to 12, nickels - 18 to 20, 20 up to 50 was mainly junk except for the occasional surprise, 85 were quarters, etc., etc. Problem is, I don't yet know the VDI ranges on my Safari. In trashy places like the parks I am hunting, I am NOT a "dig it all" guy. Beaches, yes. Old foundations and farms, yes. But not parks for me. So, getting these mixed signals is very confusing. I don't want to dig an endless amount of junk. But these mixed tones are difficult for me to comprehend being a new Safari user.

Should I drop the discrim a bit?

I have asked around on here, but, nobody has answered me...Is there or isn't there a VDI scale available where it shows what the probable target is for certain VDI ranges on the Safari? White's has one and it is nearly dead-on every time with surgical precision!!!

I have been trying to hunt on tone alone, just using the VDI screen as extra help if necessary. But, as I said, learning these new tones is frustrating. To boil it down, my initial "quirks" with the Safari are this...

1. Pinpointing is second class. Difficult.

2. New tones hard to decipher. Mainly the middle-of-the-ground, mixed tones.

Hope that was a bit clearer for you Iron Patch. To be sure, I WILL learn the Safari. As with anything in life however, it takes work, sacrifice & patience. A little help from experienced forum members never hurts though too

Oh yeah, I can tell already that this thing is going to be a MONSTER on the beaches. Waiting for my scoop to try it out. Thanks again for the advice!

P.S. - Almost forgot to ask, but, this one's important. My old MXT didn't have a notch discriminator like the Safari does. If I notch/reject something out on my machine, am I notching/rejecting out that ITEM in the future or the actual VDI number the item comes up as? For instance, I was pulling nails up like crazy this morning. If I rejected the nail, will my machine JUST reject nails with similar properties in the future, or, is the machine just rejecting the VDI number that the nail comes up as??

I've seen posts listing the digital numbers for the Explorer and EX II, but not Sarfari. I'm not sure if they would be the same or not.

Not being a park hunter I can't really answer your question about how well you can sort out non iron targets. I know my explorer loves anything non ferrous so I think I would have a very hard time being at a place I could not use a dig all strategy. I'm sure with experience it will get better but I can't say how much better because it's not where or how I hunt.

Hunting with the settings you're using I don't know why you would be finding so many nails... unless they were not iron. Sounds like it's just an experience thing and by disc'ing/notching more, you're just extending your learning curve. What are these nails sounding like? ...and do they still sound good when you cut the plug? Do they null at all? One mistake that many make on the Minelabs when they're new is digging all those iffy high tones that were coins mixed with trash on their previous units. Remember the Minelabs null more than give broken tones, so it's just a different mess of sounds to sort out. It's very hard to know what is happening with the nail situation not being there.... but I can tell you my number one reason for using an explorer is that I don't get fooled by deep rusty nails.

 

[Captn SE]

You're just learning a new machine, and you've had much more experience on your White's machine, so it's going to take a little more time for you to become comfortable with the Safari. Try to forget the way you hunted with your Whites....no comparisons.

Your VDI scale on the Safari starts off in the negative (I think it's -10), and goes up to +40. Items in the negative range are iron, so I'd imagine that your coin/jewelry program notches out that range....not sure why you're still digging those nails you talked about, although iron can also false in the highest VDI range too, so maybe you're digging those high vdi falsing signals. It's going to take some time for you to better decipher those falsing iron or hot rock signals and limit your recovery of those items.

When you reject a metal object, all you're doing is rejecting a particular VDI # or range of #'s. Any targets that register in those rejected VDI areas will produce a nulled response. Nothing more.

As for wanting to be able to determine predefined targets in the ground based on VDI, I'd suggest just swinging some clad or silver coinage, etc. over your coil and make note of its VDI # or range of #'s and its tone. Pretty easy to create your own VDI/probable target map. However, on deeply buried objects or objects co-located to trash/iron, the scale becomes less accurate....you need to decide to dig based on the tone of the target. That is the key to getting the most out of your machine. As you become better acquainted with your new machine, you will understand this.

Good luck!

CAPTN SE
Dan

 

[geordiefred]

I totally agree the pinpointing is not great that's due to the safari's deep ground penetration, when you kick it into pinpoint mode it goes into all metal & will lock onto any bigger iron targets etc. I have been as much as 9" off target all I can say is thank god for the Garrett pinpointer pro
I try to find target with coil sweeps rather than use the pinpointer mode now

 

[Detectorfreak74]

on mlotv.com look for safari sounds your question will be answers their ............. but also if a zink penny is corroded the corrosion will leach in the ground and since your reading 28 different metals in the ground thx to FBS you will read the leach and the penny or the object. also some old nails or anything that was made by a blacksmith yeaes ago will give you the same reading Also I found a 1941 WALKING LIBERTY,1938 wheaty,1940 merc dime,1936buffalo nickel all in one whole and that was a multiple signal so dig them and find out or switch to all metal and sweep slow and listen to every signal I have a safari also

 

[Monty]

I switched from a GTI 2500 to a Safari. The first thing I learned is that the Safari is twice as chatty with a correspondingly different number of tones. Second was that if you run in automatic sensitivity all the time it will overwhelm you! I back off to about 12 or so. Third is that you have to slooooooow down With the Safari. It doesn't reset nearly as fast as my GTI 2500 did and it's really easy to go right by a promising tone. Fourth , you have to be in really good shape to dig all those deep iffy signals and most of them are leeched out iron anyway! Unless I know for sure there are some targets deeper than about 8" I don't have the stamina to dig them! But I have dug a couple of silver coins just a tad deeper. What I miss about my 2500 is the size feature. If you were hunting hubcap sized objects and found one you would know it because it would go off the size scale. Size and depth readings weren't just for coins. Monty

 

[Iron Patch]

I switched from a GTI 2500 to a Safari. The first thing I learned is that the Safari is twice as chatty with a correspondingly different number of tones. Second was that if you run in automatic sensitivity all the time it will overwhelm you! I back off to about 12 or so. Third is that you have to slooooooow down With the Safari. It doesn't reset nearly as fast as my GTI 2500 did and it's really easy to go right by a promising tone. Fourth , you have to be in really good shape to dig all those deep iffy signals and most of them are leeched out iron anyway! Unless I know for sure there are some targets deeper than about 8" I don't have the stamina to dig them! But I have dug a couple of silver coins just a tad deeper. What I miss about my 2500 is the size feature. If you were hunting hubcap sized objects and found one you would know it because it would go off the size scale. Size and depth readings weren't just for coins. Monty

Have you ever hunted side by side with someone who also had a Minelab, and knew it well? Just from that short paragraph I can tell how messed up you are with this thing. It's hard to figure out what to do next.

I really don't get your comment about the auto sens. because if it works the same way as an explorer you can adjust it to any number you want, and the detector will automatically lower it when necessary. There is no reason for there to be more noise. Are you sure you don't have that comment backwards and it's the man. sense that is too much noise, and you have to go use the detector in auto.?

 

[njnydigger]

If I must say Monte, sounds like we are both in the same boat

I am REALLY starting to "get it" with my Safari, but, still have a ways to go.

Minelab's are known for going deep, that's why I got one. Curiosity. I switched from a White's. Which I LOVED!!! I'm not really a guy who hunts by screen, however, any and all information I can get is nice. An added edge if you will. The VDI numbers on my MXT 300 were RARELY wrong. Especially on coins. And if anyone doesn't trust me on this, I'll be glad to give a demo sometime.

Obviously, in the foil range it was still iffy, but, this goes for ALL detectors. In terms of depth on the Safari, I would honestly have to say that so far it is pretty even with my old MXT 300. Oh yeah, a bit heavier too. Which adds up on a long hunt.

All in all, I am starting to like my new Safari. However, I really DO miss the lightening fast recovery time on the MXT. Agree again Monte, Safari is a slower paced machine.

I'll keep you all updated...

 

[Monty]

My safari loves wine bottle caps and always shows them as silver quarters! I've dug a million! When you manually see the sensitivity on a Safari it may reset itself lower but it won't go higher. The auto feature always says 20 on mine and that is the highest setting. I usually back it off to about 15 and it cuts out some of the unnecessary noise. I liked the target ID on my GTI 2500 because it showed size and depth of the target and didn't just indicate depth of coins. It was pretty accurate too. But the darn thing was nearly six pounds with batteries and I have a very bad back. I'd have to stop and rest every 10 minutes swinging that heavy thing. Monty

 

[halfstep]

My safari loves wine bottle caps and always shows them as silver quarters! I've dug a million! When you manually see the sensitivity on a Safari it may reset itself lower but it won't go higher. The auto feature always says 20 on mine and that is the highest setting. I usually back it off to about 15 and it cuts out some of the unnecessary noise. I liked the target ID on my GTI 2500 because it showed size and depth of the target and didn't just indicate depth of coins. It was pretty accurate too. But the darn thing was nearly six pounds with batteries and I have a very bad back. I'd have to stop and rest every 10 minutes swinging that heavy thing. Monty

The recovery of the safari is quicker than it appears. The sounds are quick to change from target to target but the ID screen is slower to show the change in targets. What I do is when I hit a target, I lift the coil straight up off the ground about a foot or so then come back down on top of the target. The ID screen will reset and read accurately this way. It seems when you are hitting multiple targets quickly, the screen can't keep up. If you are hunting a park and aren't hitting targets very often, the screen will be accurate. It is when you are hitting targets back to back then the ID screen has problems keeping up. The sounds will always remain accurate and will recover quickly so depending how dependent one is on using the ID screen will determine the speed of how fast they can hunt. I have found the ID screen to be very accurate and consistent even when in the high trash density setting. The ID will be deadly accurate if the trash density setting is switch to low but the recovery speed will be slower. I leave mine in high and watch the ID screen and listen to the tone to varify the target. I haven't had a lot of time to use my safari yet due to ankle surgery but what time I have used it, I have payed close attention to how it operates. Before you can determine what it is saying under the ground, throw some coins down on top of the ground and then you can see what the detector is doing and what it is saying. You can see the recovery speed of the sound and ID screen. You can also practice pin pointing with the dd coil and understand where the coin is under the coil and how to wiggle off of the coin and use the notch to mark the spot. Once you figure out what the safari is doing on top of the ground by visually watching it, then you will know what it is doing under the ground. This takes the quess work and a lot of the learning curve out of the equation.

 

[bigolhorns]

The auto feature always says 20 on mine and that is the highest setting.

Monty:Please explain your comment about the "auto feature". How do you know it's at 20? Are you not going all the way into auto and stopping at 20?

 

[Monty]

20 is the top setting. 20 is the factory default unless you change it. At least that's the way it works on mine. Every time I have ever checked it on auto it read 20. Monty

 

[bigolhorns]

20 is the MAX sensitivity setting, and it's gonna false big time. Auto is past 20. Try this, keep pushing the + keypad until the word "Auto" comes up on the screen right after 20. I think one of the mistakes people make with the Safari is using way to much sensitivity. In the ground here about 10 or 11 is max. sometimes I'm down to 7 or 8 and I still dig 7"-8" coins.

 

[Iron Patch]

20 is the MAX sensitivity setting, and it's gonna false big time. Auto is past 20. Try this, keep pushing the + keypad until the word "Auto" comes up on the screen right after 20. I think one of the mistakes people make with the Safari is using way to much sensitivity. In the ground here about 10 or 11 is max. sometimes I'm down to 7 or 8 and I still dig 7"-8" coins.

So are you saying 20 is manual sens.? So all numbers passed 20 are auto? If that's right do the numbers still go up... (when in auto) 21,22,23 etc.? I'm pretty sure I have that wrong, but regardlesss, it sure is different than an explorer! If Monty is using the detcetor at max sens then no question that's part of the problem.

 

[bigolhorns]

20 is the MAX sensitivity setting, and it's gonna false big time. Auto is past 20. Try this, keep pushing the + keypad until the word "Auto" comes up on the screen right after 20. I think one of the mistakes people make with the Safari is using way to much sensitivity. In the ground here about 10 or 11 is max. sometimes I'm down to 7 or 8 and I still dig 7"-8" coins.

So are you saying 20 is manual sens.? So all numbers passed 20 are auto? If that's right do the numbers still go up... (when in auto) 21,22,23 etc.? I'm pretty sure I have that wrong, but regardlesss, it sure is different than an explorer! If Monty is using the detcetor at max sens then no question that's part of the problem.

The manual sensitivity number range runs from 1-20. 20 is the max manual sensitivity. After 20 comes auto and it will not go higher (gives a raspberry tone).There is no 21,22,23 etc.

 

[Iron Patch]

20 is the MAX sensitivity setting, and it's gonna false big time. Auto is past 20. Try this, keep pushing the + keypad until the word "Auto" comes up on the screen right after 20. I think one of the mistakes people make with the Safari is using way to much sensitivity. In the ground here about 10 or 11 is max. sometimes I'm down to 7 or 8 and I still dig 7"-8" coins.

So are you saying 20 is manual sens.? So all numbers passed 20 are auto? If that's right do the numbers still go up... (when in auto) 21,22,23 etc.? I'm pretty sure I have that wrong, but regardlesss, it sure is different than an explorer! If Monty is using the detcetor at max sens then no question that's part of the problem.

The manual sensitivity number range runs from 1-20. 20 is the max manual sensitivity. After 20 comes auto and it will not go higher (gives a raspberry tone).There is no 21,22,23 etc.

Ok got ya, it is very different.

 

[Monty]

I've never heard or read anything about it going past 20, but it could I guess? but 0 to 20 is just a scale and could just as well be 0 to 10. It's just the way it's set up. In the Auto mode mine always reads 20 unless I set it manually and I usually run about 15 or a little less. Don't get much falsing at all there and most of those confusing iffy tones are gone. I have read a few discussions that it has the Etrac processor without all the bells and whistles, and of course it us calibrated different. Monty

 

[Iron Patch]

I've never heard or read anything about it going past 20, but it could I guess? but 0 to 20 is just a scale and could just as well be 0 to 10. It's just the way it's set up. In the Auto mode mine always reads 20 unless I set it manually and I usually run about 15 or a little less. Don't get much falsing at all there and most of those confusing iffy tones are gone. I have read a few discussions that it has the Etrac processor without all the bells and whistles, and of course it us calibrated different. Monty

The thing is you have to go past the 20 to trigger the auto. Once in auto seeing the number 20 means absolutely nothing because the detector is controlling the sense, you just can't see it dropping.