I have been using an F75 SE for a couple of years now and really like it. But, one of the reasons I bought it was for the BP mode and I can't use it due to constant false signals? I have tried in my test plot where I have buttons and minies buried at various depths. I have also tried to use in the field in areas with high grass or with deeper relics.
The biggest problem is in getting the falses at the end of the swing in either direction. I am careful not to raise the coil at the end of the swing.
I have a couple of questions.
1. Does BP help with depth in normal areas with short grass or is it designed strictly for areas where it is difficult to get the coil close to the ground?
2. Is there a trick in setting up the machine or in swinging it that will eliminate the false signals?
Thanks for any suggestions you may have.
Spats
I have an F70 also with boost and I have used it...a lot.
Not all the time but when I can and can still hunt comfortably when it is on in disc.
When I hunt in all metal it is always on.
You have to understand what is going in with these processes which helps.
DE continuously monitors the ground, transmits frequencies, energizes targets and receives signals back to the coil.
Boost is a slower process, not continuous but it takes samplings, quick snapshots that go a little deeper of what is happening under your coil.
Because it is a slower process it is recommended that a slower sweep speed is used because too fast and you could miss something the faster process in DE can capture.
Not sure of exactly everything that is going on but I know this slower process is definitely more affected by EMI issues in the area...things can get noisier in boost than using the same settings as DE.
The process was invented for hunting in areas where you raise the coil higher off the ground, over stalks and vegetation in fields, hunting in woods and such, but many of us use it for hunting in areas where your coil is flat on the ground, too.
Not everyone, and keep in mind these top end FTP products can be some of the deepest machines out there at regular DE speed, but many of us do especially some of us that have to deal with some pretty difficult ground.
I used it in great soil in Kansas and Missouri, overall I did not sense a not a huge amount of difference in depth in either all metal or disc nor did I get a whole lot of clearer signals on deeper targets while using it.
I could easily get to 10-12, even up to 14-15" in depth with good target data without boost.
There actually might be more of an advantage or difference in good soil than I thought but because I seemed to be getting great depth without it, and a quieter hunting environment, I didn't use boost a whole lot in disc.
Now here in the SE. with mineralized dirt and particularly in my sites that seem to have more than our share of iron from microscopic to huge I can tell you boost does make a difference to me a lot of the time.
I have experimented a lot with boost here in the last few years, turning it on and off, using all kinds of different gain, thresh and tone settings plus in all metal.
Gain from very low to maxed out and thresh from -9 to +9 which I can control in disc and many different combinations using both.
Plus all metal again with many different gain and thresh settings and trying boost on and off in most all of them.
The results have been way different than out west.
On many deeper targets I could hear in boost in both all metal and disc were completely silent without boost.
Some targets that were jumpy and iffy firmed up a lot when boost was engaged.
In some very noisy high EMI areas I have tried changing from higher gain that was very chatty to much lower gain but with boost that still seemed to get pretty deep, get some pretty good solid dig me signals on some deeper targets but was overall quieter than using no boost and higher gain.
I do all this experimenting because even though I have learned to hunt with extreme chatter, noise and jumping and still be successful I still think the quietest hunting environments I can manage will still let me hear the most and miss the least.
Masking is a huge problem here so not only does hitting on the right combination of settings well might give me an advantage, if only a small one, but I found moving the coil at the correct speed could too.
Fast sometimes, slow at other times...definitely slower when I am using boost.
When I get a new detector I do this kind of thing for many hours, change settings while swinging over the same targets and observe what happens.
I dig less than normal in my initial heavy experimental phase but once I find a few combinations of settings I have confidence in and that I know work I just settle down and hunt and I always make up for all those targets missed at the beginning.
I do the work at first so I don't have to work so hard up the road in the future.
In your soil and sites your mileage may well very but all I can tell you is maybe spend a little time experimenting yourself.
Get a signal on a deeper not quite super solid target and switch to boost and see if it comes in better.
Maybe adjust your gain down some to quieter levels and see if you also can pick it up while still keeping your tool quiet.
Hit and miss to me is the only way that seems logical to get this data, try many things and explore the things that seem to work and ignore the things that don't.
What works in one state and one kind of dirt might not in another but the only way to find out is to try.
I just figure boost was installed in these things for a specific reason but there might be more reasons to use it than that.
As long as it's there if we can find a way take advantage of it and find even more...why not do just that?
