Thanks digger. I do like my f4 and use it in very trash places where I am over welmed with the vaquero and its one tone hitting multiple targets nonstop, the f4 shines at places like that. I will be getting a 5.75 for the v soon I hope. And will give a update.
As far as being overwhelmed well, that can happen when you use a tool that can sense metal both shallow and deep like the Vaq can...there is an awful lot of it in the dirt we hunt.
Many different ways to use these tools and we all do it differently.
I myself never really got into doing the set the knob at one level and dig everything that beeps above it since like the second day I used my Vaq, that kind of hunting never appealed to me.
What I did enjoy was thumbing the knob on every target to see where they faded out and tried to figure them out before I dug like the manuals describe...kind of a game I have always played with myself since that second hunt.
Soon enough I went beyond that method and went to the thumb up past the fade out area then back down slowly while swinging over targets instead.
This became a much more accurate way to do this for me.
I continued to do this after I bought and used a Compadre also and have done that for years, still use that method to this day.
As time went on and I got better and better at the language of that one tone, and especially as I learned the behavior of most types of targets and how they sounded and behaved as I dialed back down I got even more accurate at this as I got better.
I used to dig a ton of trash in the old days, it is just what I did because the what if's would really bother me back then, missing something good or thinking I might would drive me crazy.
Here is the junk from just one hunt in a real trashy park on my very first hunt with a large DD coil I just purchased for my Vaq to use in my mineralized soil.
Notice the amount of pop tops, that is why using concentric coils in sites like this makes sense to me, these are usually a non issue using that type of coil.
As the years went on I got sick of digging trash, my patience, energy and time available to hunt all shrunk so I had to figure out better ways to use my tools and manage my time more wisely using any of my detectors.
I learned my F2 behavior well enough to settle into certain strict rules for digging, I rarely dug anything with more than a 3 number jump and got good enough at that thumbing technique using my Tesoros that eventually I went full bore into what I call my high percentage method, a method where I cut out digging about 80% or more of the trash I used to dig.
Surprisingly, after this I found higher volumes of good targets than I ever did before than when I dug way more holes and I was way more rested doing it this way.
As a matter of fact my good targets dug volumes soared in both coins and jewelry using both brands.
Learning my tools and target behavior as well as I did over time was the real reason for this, I don't expect a newbie to have the same success from the get-go but I believe anyone can learn to do it this way if they choose and many have.
Here is a thread that talks about it.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/t...r-27-s-method-thumbing-disc-knob-up-down.html
I am not saying you should do it this way or that anyone should either, I am saying this is how I choose to do it to spend my energy reserves wisely keep my sanity and enjoy this hobby the most.
Can I miss some good targets using this high percentage method, the numbers say I sure can...does the fact that I might miss something here or there bother me...not in the slightest, not any more.
I hunt my sites more than once so I figure what I don't find one day I will find another, and the biggest reason I continue to do it this way is my track record for finding the good stuff, even in sites heavily infested with iron or trash was and still is shockingly great.
As I practiced and got better and better I dug less and less trash as my skills and confidence grew.
I still use a slightly modified similar method when using my much more powerful F70 and every time I pull out one of my Tesoros and hunt I do the up and back down thumbing thing and at this point I just won't, can't do it any other way.
Even checking and thumbing over every single target I come across this is a very fast and efficient process for me, my speed grew over time.
I still dig mostly the higher percentage good, solid stable non noisy targets I come across and leave the rest in the dirt and it all still seems to work for me.
This whole hobby us a numbers game for me anyway, the numbers just add up and work for me using this method.
There is a ton of information in that one Tesoro tone, even more as you learn target behavior by manipulating that coil and thumbing that knob over targets.
All part of the language you learn using Tesoros and the more you learn the less overwhelming it all is.
In time it all becomes effortless and makes complete sense.
Please try this thumbing method some time if you would like to, you might like it.
