Agree 100%
HOWEVER
I have had some good results with the following settings in super think iron and trash pits
sens- 87
TX - 3
Tones - Full
DISC - 8
freq - 25khz or higher
GB - Manual (per site, normally 84-87)
Makes me wonder does using pitch have a different filter running? Are you starting out with the pitch program and then making a custom program built off pitch?
Goldfield is also pitch correct? Has anyone tried running goldfield with the discrim-5 and trying to make it like a pitch program?
To be clear I DO NOT use the Pitch program that comeS built in to the remote. I build all my programs off Deus Fast only, primarily because I always want to default with silencer off (-1). Silencer at any level can inadvertently cause non-ferrous target masking in the presence of iron (one-way hits or worse). All the non-gold field program other than Deep use the same signal processing filter (including Deus fast and Pitch). Deep uses a signal processing filter from Deus ver 2.X software that can enhance deep targets under certain conditions but is very chatty in the presence of small iron. All programs other than Deep and Gold Field are just variations of the same program with different user settings. Like I said, I always start a custom program from Deus Fast, in this case I simply change the Disc to 7.5 from the default of 6.8 and change tones from 3T to Pitch. That's it. I run sensitivity higher or lower as necessary and run reactivity between 2 and 3 (typically keep it a 2.5), again with silencer at -1.
I don't doubt the above program will kill it in a trash pit. I use Deus like a pinpointer on steroids in that case and any tone mode will do for me (full tones, pitch, multi tones). Full tones does a great job at 0 disc and will work similar to pitch in with disc at between 6.5 to 10 (the max disc I ever run). Problem is when I am searching in thick Iron (other than in a pit), I want to have some iron volume as a reference to tell me if I am getting into a bed of nails situation which is tell tale of a hut, dwelling, or trash pit. Full tones does not have iron tones with discrimination above 0 so I feel like I am flying blind. Therefore, I only use full tones with 0 disc. If I have disc cut in to take advantage of what disc brings to the table (as I described above) I am using either pitch or (rarely) 5 tones with iron volume at 2 or 3.
Regarding Gold Field - I use that mode too but it is a lot noisier than pitch because every tiny bit of iron in the ground gets detected. It does not have a traditional discrimination circuit, it is an all metal mode that uses a form of iron rejection called Iron Amplitude Rejection discrimination which simply tries to clip the peaks of what it thinks may be iron signals resulting in choppy audio when you pass your coil over a ferrous target. On the other hand, being a true all metal mode versus the normal "discrimination" modes, it can sometimes punch deeper through mineralized dirt. Problem is, you do not get the filtering advantage of the normal discriminating modes so your target ID may be more susceptible to ferrous down or up averaging of non-ferrous targets. Also, Gold Field uses a ground grab technique for ground balancing and also reactivity operates a little differently in Gold Field mode, plus there is no silencer filter. Just another tool in the toolkit.
It's all about balancing the tradeoffs between the strengths and weaknesses of the different modes and tone settings and choosing the best one for the job at hand. Sometimes, that requires a little bit of experimentation in the field to see which one is working the best and also don't be afraid to interrogate a target with different modes or different frequencies to see how it responds.
HTH
