Silver uMax question...again

[deathhare]

Yes its me again and I have another question regarding depth. I posted this elsewhere but got nada so thought id give it a go here.
First Id like to say thanks to all that have suggested things to me and I really have started to learn the language that my Tesoro speaks.
Its been great fun.

Now to my question.
I ask this because ive proven that my detector is only getting about 4 inches average on coins. Ive found lots of stuff but am a little disappointed to find this fact out.

What kind of coin depth are most people getting on their stock coil?

As I'm sure people will ask, I will elaborate on how Ive come to the conclusion of 4 inches.
Numerous times I have gotten solid hits which I thought were coins (and turned out to be coins).
I have dig out a good plug that was solid and about 5-6 inches deep. I have layed the plug top side down and swept over the plug from the bottom and got NO signal at all from the target. At that point I turned the plug over (top side up) and swept the plug and got a solid signal. Upon recovering the coin, it turned out to be only an inch or two from the surface of the plug.
Obviously, since the detector gave me no signal at all from sweeping the plug from the bottom I concur that the plug's thickness from bottom to the coin was too far for the detector to pick up the coin.
I hope all this makes sense and this hasnt happened just one time. This has been many many times. Id guess well over 10 times. Of course when the plug was less thick I got signals.

Do i really need the 12x10 to get deep coins? Or a different detector?

 

[ParkHunter61]

I have mild soil ..
I could just get a good signal scrubbing the grass
on a quarter buried at 8'' and could get a good signal
on a dime at 6 1/2'' with stock coil.
The 10x12 coil does go deeper..
I have to raise the coil about 3'' before
I loose the singal over 8'' quarter....
Remember this is in mild sandy soil ..
Bill...

 

[Tom_in_CA]

If you are looking for raw depth, that's not the machine to have. The Silver uMax is better suited for separating and averaging targets (junky environments) and/or low conductors. It is not a power-house machine for depth. So for deep turf silver hunting (for example), it will fall behind other machines.

Every machine has their strengths and weakness. I pull out my Tesoro for ghost town and old-town-urban demolition type hunting. For beach hunting or turf hunting, I pull out my Explorer. In my personal opinion, the depth on a 2 filter machine like the Silver uMax, for a dime sized target, would be 6 to 8". But bear in mind, that at 8", it's going to take some judgement calls on repeatability, etc.... Contrast that to the Explorer, and 8" is still repeatable, bangs repeatedly in the same spot, etc.... But then again, the Explorer would be fall behind in certain environments and on certain targets that the Silver uMax would excell on. So it all just depends.

 

[BuckleBoy]

It is a question of the coin's orientation changing, as well as perhaps the fact that when you change the orientation of the plug, you're also changing your sweep across the target.

Ask most any XLT user, and they will say that they frequently get a good target, then the target disappears after the plug is popped.  Happens to me with my uMax with the 12 x 10 coil, happens with the Fisher 1266, happens with the Cibola, and my buddy's Ace 250 as well.  And the depth is good on most of those detectors.  

It isn't that your detector stopped working (it picked the target up in the first place), but rather that the orientation of the item changes, or the shape of the plug prevents a similar sweep.  When this happens to me, I can generally change my sweep direction or angle and the signal will return.

Just about anyone can lose a target once they change its orientation to the coil.  You have to have faith in the good signal that you got on the target and keep checking, moving the loose soil around, etc.  I also use all metal mode to find a tough one sometimes.  But the bottom line is that your machine is not lacking in depth.  It notified you of the coin's presence in the first place.   


If you're still concerned, you could try a test garden of coins and see how the machine responds.



Best Wishes,



Buckleboy

 

[deathhare]

Thanks for the responses.
I realize there are a lot of variables like coin orientation, soil composition and sweep direction/speed but I like to think most any decent detector would be able to pick up a penny at 4" no matter how its oriented. If not, I guess Im way confused.
Although I often look for coins at a few 1800s parks around town (digging only modern clad) I am mostly interested and have been spending most of my time hunting CW relics. (Finding none yet )
The good thing is that most CW targets would be a fairly decent chunk of metal compared to a coin. So the detector should do OK on those, I hope. But yeah, still waiting for my first find in that department.
I would however like to continue to hunt for coins in the future and feel like depth is an issue for this little detector. So I'm at a point where Im wondering if I should buy the larger coil and see how that works or sell the uMax and buy a different detector altogether.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Thanks for the responses.
I realize there are a lot of variables like coin orientation, soil composition and sweep direction/speed.
Although I often look for coins at a few 1800s parks around town (digging only modern clad) I am mostly interested and have been spending most of my time hunting CW relics. (Finding none yet  )
The good thing is that most CW targets would be a fairly decent chunk of metal compared to a coin. So the detector should do OK on those, I hope. But yeah, still waiting for my first find in that department.
I would however like to continue to hunt for coins in the future and feel like depth is an issue for this little detector. So I'm at a point where Im wondering if I should buy the larger coil and see how that works or sell the uMax and buy a different detector altogether. 

Most of your successes or failures in this hobby have more to do with Location than Equipment.  I've done ok with my silver uMax.  (2008 totals posted in the Annual Finds threads  )

Lead bullets will ring lower on detectors in general, regardless of size, due to their composition.  We do a lot of comparing of targets in my team, and the uMax has held up well to the other machines we have in the field, with regard to picking up targets.  If you were to buy the large coil, you'd likely get another inch of depth from the machine.  (Much cheaper option than buying a Minelab.)  If I were angling for deep silver in a park, I would likely take another detector with me all together.  But for the old homesites I hunt, and the plowed fields, I enjoy having such a light detector on my arm.  The uMax's control box is small, but the machine is quite capable in most environments.


Best Wishes,


Buckles

 

[deathhare]

Thanks for the responses.
I realize there are a lot of variables like coin orientation, soil composition and sweep direction/speed.
Although I often look for coins at a few 1800s parks around town (digging only modern clad) I am mostly interested and have been spending most of my time hunting CW relics. (Finding none yet )
The good thing is that most CW targets would be a fairly decent chunk of metal compared to a coin. So the detector should do OK on those, I hope. But yeah, still waiting for my first find in that department.
I would however like to continue to hunt for coins in the future and feel like depth is an issue for this little detector. So I'm at a point where Im wondering if I should buy the larger coil and see how that works or sell the uMax and buy a different detector altogether.

Lead bullets will ring lower on detectors in general, regardless of size, due to their composition.

Thanks for the responses.
What do you mean by 'ring lower'?

thanks

 

[BuckleBoy]

Thanks for the responses.
What do you mean by 'ring lower'?

thanks

In other words, if you don't have the discriminate set low, you will miss lead.

 

[deathhare]

Thanks for the responses.
What do you mean by 'ring lower'?

thanks

In other words, if you don't have the discriminate set low, you will miss lead.

Oh ok. Yeah no problem there i guess. Ive dug a few modern bullets and those are even smaller so I should be good on the disc.
I rarely move the disc higher than foil.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Thanks for the responses.
What do you mean by 'ring lower'?

thanks

In other words, if you don't have the discriminate set low, you will miss lead.

Oh ok. Yeah no problem there i guess. Ive dug a few modern bullets and those are even smaller so I should be good on the disc.
I rarely move the disc higher than foil.

That's where I keep mine with the stock coil. I turned it back to "iron" with the big coil and had to slow down my sweep speed.


Best Wishes,


Buckles

 

[ParkHunter61]

You definitely have the bug.
Do you have a pinpointer ?
It helps a lot locating the target after plugging
and saves a lot of time..
HH
Bill

 

[deathhare]

You definitely have the bug.
Do you have a pinpointer ?
It helps a lot locating the target after plugging
and saves a lot of time..
HH
Bill

I have a fairly cheap one ordered...the Fisher/Bounty Hunter one.
Ive been needing it so bad too. Cant wait to have that.

 

[CWnut]

Couple of questions:

1. Have you done an air test with various coins to see how far away it will detect them?

Although this is an unreliable indicator of how much depth you will get it should give you a fairly good idea whether the detector is working properly.

2. Is your ground balance slightly positive?

In all-metal mode quickly lower the coil from about 18" or so to near the ground. You should get a slight increase in threshhold volume. If you don't have an all-metal switch just hold down the pinpoint button

 

[BuckleBoy]

Couple of questions:

1. Have you done an air test with various coins to see how far away it will detect them?

Although this is an unreliable indicator of how much depth you will get it should give you a fairly good idea whether the detector is working properly.

2. Is your ground balance slightly positive?

In all-metal mode quickly lower the coil from about 18" or so to near the ground. You should get a slight increase in threshhold volume. If you don't have an all-metal switch just hold down the pinpoint button

The Silver uMax is Not a manual GB machine.

 

[CWnut]

there is an internal pod adjustment

 

[deathhare]

Ive had no ground balance issues that Im aware of. Its been pretty stable and the soil around here seems good.
Ive done air tests but like you said, they mean little in terms of actual depth youre getting in packed soil.
Of course it picks everything up on those tests.
Today i plan to do some test garden tests and checking the depth that way.
I'll post what I find out.

 

[deathhare]

The results of the tests can be found here.
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,212614.0.html