We’ve got some great detectors but still think we miss the smaller stuff.
Minelab 7000GPZ and Garrett ATX Pro.
How slow do you guys sweep?
We know slow is good but don’t want to go too slow if you know what I mean.
Hundreds of hours on the machines and easy to find even the tiny trash. The smaller gold pickers I think we’re missing.
Thanks.
It depends on where I am, and it depends on which purpose I'm using the detector for.
If I'm out trying to find a new patch, faster for sure to cover more ground, with the machine set up to really wake me up to a signal.
If I'm in an area that's already a patch, I slow way down and grid it north to south, then east to west, and then sometimes angle across it at a 45 if it's a truly hot spot, and that would require a very slow speed.
If I'm working hot bedrock that's littered with ironstone, I go very slow as I know I'll get a lot of readings that are off because the ironstone and the bedrock will be altering or masking the gold signals, so any signal has to be checked carefully. After I've got the bigger stuff, then I put on a smaller coil that's better for target separation, and it's slower again.
I should also mention, that many times when I'm in an area that's producing, the signals I get are not ones that jump right out, but they're only signals that just disturb the threshold.
For example, if the threshold sound is a soft and stable "eeeeeeeee" sound in a patch, and I hear "eeeee-eeeee" (notice the tiny break), I'll slow down, hit the spot again, then remove some soil and scan again. If the signal is any stronger, dig and repeat until it gets better or disappears. Can't even count the number of pieces of gold I've found that way, and most people never even slow down to investigate such a threshold break as they're waiting for a wake-up signal through the headphones before they'll slow down and reinvestigate.
If you're using ground tracking, it pays to slow down to let the processor do its thing as well, especially in variable ground.
Lots of trash? Small coil, and must slow down.
How slow is slow? There's a few YouTube videos showing some of the pros and how super-slow they go sometimes. Watch a few and you'll see how slow slow can be depending . . .
The type of machine and tech. you're using determines speed, the ground conditions determine slowness, as does the temperature of the bedrock, as do the type of accompanying rocks, etc., etc.
Big thing to remember. If you're in an area where you know others have found gold (so you know 100% gold has been found), and you're new to detecting, grid a small area carefully and go super-slow as you investigate every tiny threshold break until you've convinced yourself you haven't missed anything.
Oh, and depending on your coil (DD or Mono), be sure you're overlapping by the required amount for the specific coil type as you must use that wisdom in combination with coil sweep speed or you'll also miss targets no matter how slow you're going.
All the best,
Lanny
