I'll suggest a procedure for you step-by-step.
1)Turn it on.
2)Press the chevron button (top center below the display).
The first position on the menu now displayed is Sensitivity (@ 7:00). For this particular application anything over 20 should be fine. The +/- buttons change the setting. Once you start hunting if you experience a lot of random unrepeatable tones you can come straight back here and lower it no more than two clicks at a time until the machine is running stable.
3)Press the chevron button once to advance to the Noise Cancel menu.
Now while holding the coil parallel to the ground about a foot above the ground press the far left button with the pick & $ on it, and hold the coil still until you hear a series of tones letting you know that it has completed the auto selection of a Noise Cancel channel.
4)Press the chevron button again to advance to the Threshold menu.
Press the + or - buttons to make the Threshold tone clearly but minimally audible. With headphones it should be around 4. Without phones it should be around 8-10.
5)Press the chevron button once again to advance to the Volume menu.
Volume control with and without headphones is independent, meaning that volume set with headphones plugged in ONLY sets volume for when phones are plugged in. When no phones are used, the setting is ONLY for when no phones are employed. Set volume to where it is clearly and comfortably audible.
Note: Volume on an Xterra is proportional, so large or close targets are louder and small or distant targets are quieter (this is important...keep reading).
6)Press the Pinpoint button (directly below the chevron button) to exit the menu screen.
7)Press the Ground Balance button (on right with double ended arrow between coil and ground).
Then press the button with the pick on it, and start slowly raising and lowering the coil from just above the ground to about a foot above until you hear a series of tones indicating that proper GB has been selected. Do NOT actually contact the ground while doing this.
8)Press the GB button again to exit the GB menu.
9)Select Pattern 1 with the Pattern selection button (on the left with the numbers 1,2,3,4 on it). Each time you press the button it advances to the next pattern in a rotating cycle.
Now you're ready to start hunting for your ring.
Since it's a recent drop you don't need to scrub the ground with the coil. Hold the coil around four inches above the ground, and keeping it parallel to the ground start slowly sweeping side-to-side advancing with overlapping sweeps. Be careful to not tip the coil at the ends of your sweeps.
Due to a variety of factors such as size, shape, and orientation, a specific target ID number for your ring is impossible to guess. It's only safe to say that it will likely be between 6 and 40. This is why the proportional audio is important, and why you'll have the coil so far from the ground as you search. Investigate every loud repeatable tone.
Often times surface finds will produce more than a single tone. The detected object can sound off as it enters and leaves the detection field, so as long as it's loud and repeatable it's worth checking out.
Single loud high tones in the 40-46 range are often flattened soda cans. If you encounter one of these, raise the coil more than a foot off the ground and pass over it. If it still sounds off and is loud, it's something bigger and worth less than your ring......move on.
I hope that this helps, and good luck finding it!
If you have any further questions, feel free to ask.
