Hardtack1862
Greenie
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2009
- Messages
- 11
- Reaction score
- 0
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Aurora, NY
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Safari, Tesoro Golden Saber, Tesoro Bandito ll, Excalibur ll
- #1
Thread Owner
I recently purchased the Safari from Doris at Kellyco. I am not new to this hobby, I owned a Whites 5000D/series 2 back in the day, and graduated to Tesoro's original Golden Sabre and as a second machine I purchased a new Bandito ll (non-uMax). I wanted something for my relic hunting. These were great choices over the Whites which let me down with a circuit problem, I was disgusted and tried Tesoro, Good move I still own and they have not failed me. I was if Fla. early March and I took my Bandito ll. I thought I would try a Fla. beach, what a bad decision. I knew that I would experience some unstable operation but it drove me crazy, I was not finding any thing and this detector always works well and stable. So I stopped by Kellyco and talked to Doris. She recommended the Safari for solid performance and great depth. She was right, I am quite pleased with the purchase. I took it to the beach and the detector was as stable in dry sand as it was in wet sand. The first beach was very clean but I was prepared to dig junk to learn the new detector and what better place to dig than the beach. My first experience with visual display on a metal detector and my first experience with the sounds of this Minelab. The highs and lows took some getting used to. Just remember the low tones are the lower conductivity items and the high tones are the higher conductivity targets. I went with my experience of sounds of a metal detector. The experience told me to remember that repeatable sounds are good targets and unstable sounds are junk. I decided to learn the sounds first and consult the visual display latter. When checking your target remember to "X" the target, if the sound is repeatable than the target is most likely good. To go further with this method raise the loop over the target, if the sound remains stable the target is almost a sure thing as to being good. As far as the VDI is concerned, if the target is good, the display will remain locked on the target. If the display wanders around a bit, than you most likely have located a junk target.
I have only changed one setting and that is the threshold volume. I have turned it down to 10 because I wear headphones and i like it low enough to hear the slight changes. I have played around with the High and Low trash density but nothing to report other that what the owners manual has to offer as of yet. All of the other settings are still at the factory setting until I get more experience with this detector. I have already detected a relic site (Civil War Union camp) after it was hunted for two days straight by a previous hunter and I was told that he did not miss a single inch on this lot. I found two small Great Coat buttons, a brass grommet from a tent or rain poncho, small period iron items, and a fired musket cap at fair depth. I was told that the previous hunter only found one button. I noticed that there were not many holes that were dug previously. I also found some modern items like brass shot gun shell bases, a fishing hook, nails, etc. The mode I used was the Relic mode and I was prepared to dig because I am on the learning curve with this machine. the detector impressed me, for the period items I found were small and were deep 8 to 10 + inches. The sensitivity and performance of this metal detector is extraordinary and it was not even straining to find these items. As I get more experience with the Safari I will share my findings and settings. One more item tool that is a must to save digging of most junk is a good coin probe. learning how to use one will help when determining a target before you dig.
I have only changed one setting and that is the threshold volume. I have turned it down to 10 because I wear headphones and i like it low enough to hear the slight changes. I have played around with the High and Low trash density but nothing to report other that what the owners manual has to offer as of yet. All of the other settings are still at the factory setting until I get more experience with this detector. I have already detected a relic site (Civil War Union camp) after it was hunted for two days straight by a previous hunter and I was told that he did not miss a single inch on this lot. I found two small Great Coat buttons, a brass grommet from a tent or rain poncho, small period iron items, and a fired musket cap at fair depth. I was told that the previous hunter only found one button. I noticed that there were not many holes that were dug previously. I also found some modern items like brass shot gun shell bases, a fishing hook, nails, etc. The mode I used was the Relic mode and I was prepared to dig because I am on the learning curve with this machine. the detector impressed me, for the period items I found were small and were deep 8 to 10 + inches. The sensitivity and performance of this metal detector is extraordinary and it was not even straining to find these items. As I get more experience with the Safari I will share my findings and settings. One more item tool that is a must to save digging of most junk is a good coin probe. learning how to use one will help when determining a target before you dig.