Intro & Quick Draw II Auto Notch question

[MDRay]

Intro & Quick Draw II Auto Notch question

Howdy,

Outside of the new member introductions this is my first posting, and my first MD. Just picked up a Bounty Hunter Quick Draw II.

Rationale for selection: I wanted an inexpensive starter MD to make sure this was a hobby for me. But I didn’t want something that lacked too many features or else it wouldn’t serve me well. The QD II seemed to be the right balance of cost and features. I wanted the multi-tones, the digital readout, the target ID, the depth finder, and the ability to do some selective discrimination. I know the Tracker IV is lacking some of those features, got them on the QD II, but avoided spending the extra dollars from a higher end unit from BH or other brands. Seemed like a perfect fit for my first MD.

I got the WalMart special where it was bundled with a case and a pinpointer. I’ve already discovered that the BH pinpointer is helpful … but just barely. I’m lucky to get 1/2” on mine, less is more typical, and sometimes I have to actually touch a coin before it sounds. Clearly if I stick with this hobby, and save up some money, I’m thinking there is a Garrett Pro-Pointer in my future.

I also purchased the 4” coil since there are some parks with metal bleachers & fences I want to explore, and I’m thinking I’ll need the greater precision and ability to hunt in tighter spaces.

I’ve already used it successfully to find a property marker in my yard that had become buried over the years and had eluded my searches prior to obtaining a MD. I’m hoping to get in my first real fun hunt today with my family if the weather cooperates (it’s raining right now). We’re going to explore some old ridgelines that might have held some development in the 1940s and earlier, swing by a local park, and then check out a community beach in our area.

I do have a question for those of you more experienced with the BH models. There seems to be a contradiction on the BH web site about exactly how the Auto Notch feature works with the Disc/Notch knob. The manual (http://www.detecting.com/manuals/MQD2 Reader.pdf) on page 12 seems to indicate that as you turn the knob clockwise it slides, or moves, the notch to the right. Quoting: “The Disc/Notch control operates in this mode IN THE SAME MANNER as outlined in the Notch mode instructions, except that the Auto Notch does not eliminate the more valuable nickels.” Given the Notch mode does just slide the notch, that seems to imply Auto Notch works the same, except that it starts specifically above nickel, rather than sliding up past everything starting at iron. However on the product review / field test also linked off of their web site (http://www.losttreasure.com/content/archives/first-texas-mfg-quick-draw-ii-metal-detector) the author writes: “If a person wanted to ignore a wider band of objects such as pull tabs and screwcaps, they can do so by selecting the AUTO NOTCH mode. In this mode, the Disc/Notch adjustment now adjusts the width of the notch zone. The notch zone automatically begins just above the nickel zone, and ends at some point higher, determined by the setting of the Disc/Notch control.”

So there is confusion: is this sliding a fixed width notch with the default set just above nickel, or is this changing the width of the notch with the base held constant just above nickel?

I’d appreciate any insight from those of you more experienced.

I look forward to enjoying this hobby and to joining your community!

Thanks.

 

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[msupd206]

Re: Intro & Quick Draw II Auto Notch question

Im right there with you. Just got my Quick Draw II this week and have been having trouble trying to figure it out.

 

[Sandman]

Re: Intro & Quick Draw II Auto Notch question

Welcome to Tnet. It has been a while since I used and sold the Bounty Hunter line and can't explain it to you any better than you already know. Hopefully someone here has a better explanation than the conflicting field tests. Might be better to just leave auto notch off and rely on simple disc knob till you get more experience or get a major manufacturer detector. Everyone that has a BH talks about upgrading, but it just takes learning it.

 

[ivan salis]

Re: Intro & Quick Draw II Auto Notch question

auto notch is a preset setting * it will cull most small iron (like nails and such), and some pulltabs--- nickles ,gold and copper and silver will be left "in" in auto notch (two of the most pain in the rear items are basically what the auto notch is set up to get rid of small iron items & some types of pulltabs ) ==

the regular "notch" is adjusted by using the disc level knob while in this setting (which allows for a greater amount of user control vs the auto notch)--as the the discrimation level knob increases the more types of differant metal items that are cut out --the higher up you go the more metals are lost *-- the metals range runs like this ---first iron items , then foil , then aluminum , then pulltabs ,(nickels are quite close to pulltabs as is some gold items) -gold . then zinc , copper and silver at the high end of the scale .

to set up a bounty hunter to find as much gold with as little "junk pulltabs" as possible do the following --in notch or adjustible discrimate mode --get a nickle and a pulltab * -- check that the ground is metal free first -- then place the nickle and tab about 3 foot apart on the dirt * --place the detector in disc or "notch mode "-- have the disc level at the minimum -run the coil over both should "beep"-- now very slowly up the level until the tab no long rings up (you have to wave the coil over the tab while doing this *)--now check and see if the nickle still rings up if so yer set -- if not very very slowly move the disc level downward until the nickle does ring up * listen closely the nickle should "ping" clearly and if the tab is picked up it will sound "scratchy" not clean like the nickle --learn the tone differance between the two.

if your hitting nickles -you will find gold if its there and in range .

since its by the electricial conductivity signature of a item * that a detector figgers out what its found metals wize and how deep what it has found is -- it can be fooled since its set up for coin sized items and metals -- a larger sized can made of aluminum has a similar electical conductivity level as a silver dollar or half dollar -- but one way to sort them out is the fact that a coin will drop out of range (small target) while a can being much larger will not --so raise your coil --if target stays in can --if it drops out --dig and see what it is.

 

[woof!]

Re: Intro & Quick Draw II Auto Notch question

I personally regard notches as a gimmick that the customer would be better off without. Marketing dept. regards it as their job to give the customer what the customer says they want regardless of whether or not they'd be better off without it. What manufacturers actually sell reflects that compromise.

What I hate most about notch is that there is no right way to do it, only wrong ways, and in the design of the product you have to pick a wrong way and run with it. Some customers will like it, some won't, many will be confused, and nearly all of them would be better off pretending they'd never heard of it.

My personal recommendation is real simple: don't use notch features, not on anyone else's products and not on ours either. A few experienced users will disagree, but at the same time many experienced users (some of whom have a whole closet full of metal detectors to choose from) don't use notch on any of their machines.

* * * * * *

There's a general rule of thumb in beepering, and that's to use as little discrimination as possible. The experienced users who find the most stuff almost universally report that they search at low low levels of discrimination and yes they dig a lot of trash but without digging, the good stuff doesn't get found either. And their almost universal recommendation to newbies is to search with as little discrimination as possible, because without doing so, you won't learn what your machine will and won't do in the presence of trash and mineralization.

This principle (and my personal preference) has been vindicated in our most recent new platform introduction, the G2/GB machines. There is no notch. There's not even target icons on the visual display. There's a two-tone discrimination system inspired by (and much improved over) the one in the Tracker 4. Most users search with the tone break at ferrous/nonferrous, with only the dirt itself silenced by the discriminator. They hear everything and dig according to what it sounds like. Very few customers have said they wished we'd added more features.

In all fairness, the QD2 isn't the same thing as a G2/GB. But some of the same principles apply. In general the more you dig the more you understand what your machine can and cannot do. And the more you understand your machine plus the more you dig using your brain as the most important discriminator, the more good stuff you're gonna find.

--Dave J.
Chief Designer, Fisher-Teknetics-Bounty Hunter

 

[MDRay]

Re: Intro & Quick Draw II Auto Notch question

Thanks guys, this was very helpful.

 

[Keppy]

Re: Intro & Quick Draw II Auto Notch question

I personally regard notches as a gimmick that the customer would be better off without. Marketing dept. regards it as their job to give the customer what the customer says they want regardless of whether or not they'd be better off without it. What manufacturers actually sell reflects that compromise.

What I hate most about notch is that there is no right way to do it, only wrong ways, and in the design of the product you have to pick a wrong way and run with it. Some customers will like it, some won't, many will be confused, and nearly all of them would be better off pretending they'd never heard of it.

My personal recommendation is real simple: don't use notch features, not on anyone else's products and not on ours either. A few experienced users will disagree, but at the same time many experienced users (some of whom have a whole closet full of metal detectors to choose from) don't use notch on any of their machines.

* * * * * *

There's a general rule of thumb in beepering, and that's to use as little discrimination as possible. The experienced users who find the most stuff almost universally report that they search at low low levels of discrimination and yes they dig a lot of trash but without digging, the good stuff doesn't get found either. And their almost universal recommendation to newbies is to search with as little discrimination as possible, because without doing so, you won't learn what your machine will and won't do in the presence of trash and mineralization.

This principle (and my personal preference) has been vindicated in our most recent new platform introduction, the G2/GB machines. There is no notch. There's not even target icons on the visual display. There's a two-tone discrimination system inspired by (and much improved over) the one in the Tracker 4. Most users search with the tone break at ferrous/nonferrous, with only the dirt itself silenced by the discriminator. They hear everything and dig according to what it sounds like. Very few customers have said they wished we'd added more features.

In all fairness, the QD2 isn't the same thing as a G2/GB. But some of the same principles apply. In general the more you dig the more you understand what your machine can and cannot do. And the more you understand your machine plus the more you dig using your brain as the most important discriminator, the more good stuff you're gonna find.

--Dave J.
Chief Designer, Fisher-Teknetics-Bounty Hunter

...You are so right........