I just got back from South Beach in Miami. There were at least 5 guys working the beach and another 4 or 5 working the surf. It was a busy morning.
I put a Platypus 8x 10 coil on instead of the stock 10.5. The platypus made it a little better balanced for me. I found $1.56 today, not bad, since I was experimenting with the sensitivity and discrimination based upon reading "Mastering the Quattro." I was having some issues with stability near and in shallow water, but once I backed down sensitivity to about 15-17 range it was fine. I did dig a couple of deep holes to turn up bottle caps. I did still have some issues with loosing signals and not being able to find them, but I blame that on me and not the Quattro. I hit two really deep 10" plus crushed cans that were reading between 38 and 20 on VDI and sounded good on audio. I was using conductivity today instead of ferrous.
The learning curve is big, but it will be worth it. After about an hour and a half I started getting comfortable with it and started hitting Quarters and dimes very well. I also found an earring, cannot tell if it is trash or treasure, will have to take a look at it later. I really like pinpointing with the Platypus, I felt I could do it a lot better. I am beginning to trust the VDI and will completely trust it once I find my first ring or two so I know what they sound like in the sand and what VDI's come up. Today Nickels were hitting solid at 14 VDI and Quarters at 37 & 38. Pennies were hitting from 29 to 36 VDI.
I figure in another 3 or 4 outings I should be in good shape almost on par with using the MXT. I was a little frustrated today, as I thought I had learned more than I really did and had to back track somewhat in working with the detector today, but that is not a bad thing. I was trying to run today when I still need to be walking. This detector will take time, but I believe it will be well worth it.
