Iffy sounds and deep coins

[Bridge End Farm]

as soon as I get a pin pointer

When do you plan for that? or me being the pack rat I can be at times probably have one around here sitting, I will look for it if you need it

 

[vickilynn]

I've seen it mentioned a number of times that it takes 100 hours to really learn a machine. At the beginning stage which is where you appear to be, I'd hunt a lot in all metal and switch to discriminate before digging and take note of what your id reads and how the target sounds. That way you'll be aware of all the detector can beep on and also be learning how it acts as to id and sounds in discrimination. By digging all of the hits you'll get an education as to the id accuracy and also get a feel for how the machine acts with masking. (good targets next to junk, iron etc.) Coins on edge or at a slant can be hard to pinpoint and beware that it is surprisingly easy to overlook them (especially if they've taken on the color of the soil) and fairly often they'll end up flipped out of the hole and be hiding in the dirt around the soil while you are digging deeper as your machine will still be telling you the target is there. I strongly recommend that you add one of the handheld pinpointers to your arsenal. They speed up recovery of coin size items considerably and make it easy to locate a coin just inside the wall of the hole or plug you have dug.


One of my machines is a Prizm IV. For what it's worth, down to 6" or a bit more, it seems to be very accurate on coins. I need to qualify this statement a bit. When the target is truly a coin the Prizm gets it right 99% of the time. However, there are a lot of pull tabs, bottle caps, bits of foil etc. that can and will also read as a coin.
So when it's the real thing it's very accurate, but the targets that cause it to read as a coin falsely definitely confuse the issue. This is where learning the sounds, repeatable (or not) signal etc. helps pay off in identification. Coin shooting in parks I often get a single high tone (coin)hit that won't repeat but every time the tone is repeatable especially from east/west then north/south and the id reads penny quarter etc. The odds are very high that it is what the id says it is. The more you use your machine, the more sure you'll become in deciding which signals are worth your time and which are not. Most of all be patient, persistent and try to keep it fun even when you get frustrated.
HH
Bill

Thanks Bill , I called the place that my kids got my prizm V from this morning and they quoted me a price of around $125 for a pin pointer but were out of stock. I may have to drive to the big cities and find one if I cant wait. And I know I can't !!! : )

 

[vickilynn]

Things like targets that vanish, move, or just don't seem to appear no matter how deep you dig (but you continue to hear a beep), are all examples of how you need to hook up with someone proficient in your area. Isn't there a club there? Or a state-specific forum? I have seen a beginner dig for a half hour at the foot of a building: each time, no matter how deep and wide he made the hole, the signal was still there. So naturally he just assumed it must continue to be deeper, or wider out, or whatever. Finally he gave up and called me over to check on this signal. It took me 3 seconds to figure out the problem: Since his signal was at the base of the wall of a building, he was merely hearing a pipe, that was giving a signal off the lead edge of his coil, yet he couldn't see the pipe, because it was behind the wooden walls of these old barracks building.

Another time, I watched a newbie dig for seemingly forever. He finally found it: a barrel hoop that he'd been digging straight through the middle, deeper and deeper, when the barrel hoop had only been an inch deep. He just dug in the center of the target (makes sense, eh?) and had been digging through the center. He didn't know the subtle sounds and tones that would'e alerted him to what was going on.

Last example: A beginner sends his XLT back to the factory 3 times for repairs. Tells them: "I get signals, but when I got to hone in on them, x-marks over them, or whatever, they dissapear!" Each time Whites sent the machine back telling him it was not broken. Finally, in disgust, he calls the factory personally to tell how unsatisfied he is. They tell him "you must be operating it wrong, re-read the instructions". He was insulted, as if they'd just insinuated he was a dolt or something. FINALLY, with the help of someone to actually go out and hunt with him, he realized his problem: Whenever he'd heard a signal, he would slow down to hear it, and presto, the target disappeared! (d/t he was in motion discrimination, and the XLT is a fairly fast sweep machine, ie.: the faster, the deeper). He confided in me later, that when he read the part of the instructions that said "must be in motion to detect and hear the target", he just thought "well DUH, of course you have to be in motion How else is someone supposed to advance through the field, if they're not moving, swinging the coil?" You see? No amount of printed text instructions could describe to him what was meant. It simply has to be shown. That is why I suggest you hook up with a skilled hunter (not just a sandbox hunter), who routinely finds old and deep coins. Go out to an area, even if it's just for clad, and take turns flagging and retrieving targets. Even flag bad targets, so you can go over the difference between those, and good sounds. Watch the way they pinpoint, dig, etc....

I think I understood almost everything except (d/t he was in motion discrimination, and the XLT is a fairly fast sweep machine, ie.: the faster, the deeper). The faster the deeper?
Sounds like great advice. Thanks Tom
Vickilynn

 

[Tom_in_CA]

You ask what I mean by motion discriminator, faster = deeper. All the current generation of discriminators are referred to as motion discriminators. I assume it's the same for your Whites Prizm. That means, in order for the detector to process the signal, there has to be motion of the target (or coil), when in disc. mode. Unlike pinpoint mode, where you can stop right on the target, and it continues to buzz. Try your Prizm in disc. mode and see: you'll get a signal waving the coin. But now stop perfectly still holding the coin rigidly constant. The target will "disappear" That's because it takes motion.

The speed needed to get signal varies from machine to machine. Some are very slow, and other are about moderate. None are as bad as the early motion discriminators (late '70s/early '80s) where.... in order to get any sort of appreciable depth, you had to swing it as fast as a golf club!! The XLT, while not like that earlier type, still has the tendency to need a bit faster swing than other current motion discriminators. In fact, when you have a real deep whisper, the user will notice that he can "bring it in" better with a bit of a concerted faster swing over the spot. Does all this make sense?

 

[diggemall]

Pinpointers:

Somewhere on TN someone posted a discussion about the hand-held metal detectors Harbor Freight sells. Nobody had anything negative to say about them. For 14.99 plus shipping they're about as inexpensive a pinpointer as you can get

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=97245

Diggem'

 

[Bridge End Farm]

Pinpointers:

Somewhere on TN someone posted a discussion about the hand-held metal detectors Harbor Freight sells. Nobody had anything negative to say about them. For 14.99 plus shipping they're about as inexpensive a pinpointer as you can get

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=97245

Diggem'

I got a harbor freight here I gona go see these. Thanks for that post