50 Tones Or.....

[flakmagnet]

Steve (and everyone), I might have missed it, but are you mainly hunting in 50 tones then? Thanks...

[Steve Herschbach]

Yes, I generally hunt full tones (called 50 tones on the Equinox) even if I technically I don't need to (digging all non-ferrous) because the secret is to use it all the time and to learn the tones and responses by digging targets. Most people just give it a brief go, then go back to what they are comfortable with.

The defaults work for me but there are a couple ways to modify the response in 50 tone mode if you have an Equinox 800 (sorry 600 owners).

Click for larger version...

[flakmagnet]

I am comfortable with 5 tones but your comment about stuffing things into 5 compartments got me thinking. I am going to shift to 50 tones and dispite the slight discomfort (it's a lot of tonal input), I'll give it a go for a few weeks and see what I learn. Thanks...

[Steve Herschbach]

Hard core types have been known to tape over the display so they can't see a target id number and hunt purely by ear as a learning exercise. I am not suggesting you go that far but it is possible to hunt with nothing but tones and be a better detectorist than by relying on target id numbers.

[flakmagnet]

I generally do hunt by the tones...just not too experienced with 50, but here we go...

 

[EL NINO77]

In 50-tone or 2Tone - in contrast to 5 tons, you get a full ,stronger sound response - especially if  items,coins  it is stored at the edge - a strong ID deviation in programs "low frequency weighted" Park1,Feld1, Beach1, Beach 2 ... or in a situation ID is less stable....

[Tometusns]

flakmagnet,

that one statement got me to thinking as well. It just seemed to make sense. So I set up field 1 just like pk1 but with 50 tones. I thought they would be similarly weighted is why I used those two. I've been listening to targets in both to compare the differences. It will certainly take some time but....I love this hobby and if something helps me to be better at it. I'll give it a go.  Tom

 

 

[fredmason]

I have almost always used two tones or five tones...I guess I will use 50 tones for a while and see if I can adjust...thanks.

fred

[Norm S]

I use 50 tones often but the tones that trigger me to look and dig seem not much different than 5 tones.. I am trying to learn the faint tones that tell me something.

I also have tried 2 tones and although they ring loud and clear I can't find much of advantage to using them . I could be missing something but the sites I been hitting I have dug so many quarters that the quarter tone goes without looking.. I hear one I wiggle to find center and drop to my knees to pinpoint and recover.

[Steve Herschbach]

50 tones will make similar sounds but the main difference is nuance.

Imagine that in five tones one tone covers a 10 target id spread. In that range we have a coin, and an irregular item that wants to read as a coin. A coin or ring for instance, and an irregular shape trash item in the same range

Round items will generally want to grab onto a single target id number whereas an irregular shape item will tend to vary more in target id. So the round item hits mostly on the one number, but the irregular item jumps around over a 6 point spread.

In five tone both items sound exactly the same. In 50 tone one will produce a clear single tone, whereas the other one will have a fluttery tone

Put another way, over a ten point spread all items will produce a single clear tone when in five tone mode, unless the item crosses the tone break. In 50 tones that same 10 point spread now has ten tone response variations.

Its all about being above to hear how solid the signal is versus the signal variance produced by any given target. 

50 tones is not a good fit for everyone and every situation. Two tones is all anyone needs who just digs all non-ferrous.

Target ID Stability