A friend I hunt with only uses a 31" Lesche...makes neat holes and pretty small if you need too.
A guy I hunted with once had a very bad back and this was all he used...he couldn't couldn't really bend over so he couldn't do this hobby without it.
I have one too but I only use it sparingly in the woods and a few other places and for close work in holes...digging around rocks and roots you can't cut through, I prefer the hand tool.
My friend with the 31" can't understand how we hand tool guys can stand it but I told him you use it long enough we can become fast, efficient and still go deep.
Most times either will do but some people still think that small shovel is used to make big holes so some never bring them into parks...a perception thing.
Also getting back to that gold stuff and regarding maybe digging tons of trash because you are using lower disc...I don't and haven't for years.
I got tired of digging tons of junk a long time ago so I started looking for ways to cut out and avoid digging the bulk of the trash I come across out there but somehow stay successful and I did...and still continued to find tons of clad, older great coins and gold.
I dug huge amounts of garbage getting good at these methods and as my knowledge and skills got better my confidence grew with them and my trash volume lowered over time...and I mean by a lot like at least 80% of what I used to dig.
I call these high percentage methods and they are not perfect but in my case my enjoyment in this hobby increased and my quality and quantity of great targets actually soared.
I probably miss things doing it this way, so say the numbers vs. digging it all or close to it, but my success rate is surprisingly high so continue to do it this way to this day...and many others use similar methods especially using Tesoros.
These methods entail understanding your detector well and target behavior as best as you can...especially important to me since I hunt in extremely infested trash and iron filled sites 95% of my time.
Using my Fishers it is all about the tones plus watching the screen for specific target behavior...my digging rules I go by I call them.
On my Vaq and Compadre it is all about hunting on low disc to get the loudest, clearest and deepest signals then thumbing that disc knob on all targets to figure out every target the best I can before I dig them, something I have always done since day one and kind of a game I have always played with myself.
At first I did it the way the manuals say to thumb up to the disc out point.
Eventually I found thumbing past that point to silence then coming back down while swinging over targets and listening closely to how targets "come in" is way more accurate in every way you can think of.
It becomes extremely fast and efficient with enough practice, too.
Why Tesoro doesn't put this method in their manuals is beyond me but there are tons out there that agree and only do it this way.
I do it using both of my Tesoros, have for years, and for me it works.
Anyway you want to do it is fine, dig it all, set the disc and dig everything that beeps above it, thumb up to the disc out point or this way of thumbing past and then down...it is a hobby, do it any way you want to enjoy it the most.
This is my way and it seems to work...again for me.
Here is a thread from a hunter that tried it and I describe it in more detail there and there is a blurry movie in there I took long ago showing me finding one of those lower foil gold rings...the disc on my Compadre ended up right on the L in foil.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/t...r-27-s-method-thumbing-disc-knob-up-down.html
This was right next to a trashy picnic pavilion, there were tons of caps, tabs foil and can slaw of all sizes.
I avoided digging about 80-90% of the noisier trash I came across next to that pavilion, went after just the signals that came in quiet and instantly solid and still found gold using this method.
Luckily, every piece of gold I have found so far with any of my detectors have all been at 5-6" or less in depth and every one acted solid...all within my digging rules.
Not saying gold could never come in noisy, jumpy and/or iffy, especially the deeper ones, but so far for me they never have so my rules are in place and I won't change them till I see a need in the field in real life.
So far in about 6 years+ hunting with my Tesoros I have not seen that need.
Just another way to think about doing this hobby and the most enjoyable and productive way I have come across so far.
. had a nice time with my Vulcan PP set sensitivity at 5 and was hitting deep for objects except for those 10-12" signals on my detector was having hard times getting too, I could stick that Vulcan down the hole and still unable to find it, so just buried the soil back up and moved on, unusual but again the ground was wet and I was getting very small thin pieces of scrap metal that is likely broken up in my ground that it was sensing with great sensitivity.
