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     Hello all, new member here. I recently got a Rutus Alter 71 after using an AT Pro for the past couple yrs. After much research I chose this over the Nox 800 because I can't run with the crowd and after hearing an interview with the developer I was hooked. I wanted a change because my buddy was really cleaning up with his MX Sport and for me as a musician the AT Pro tones annoyed me, particularly the iron grunt gets tiresome. 

      I will say the AT has been good to but the Alter is another level and I really like it. The sweet sounds and tweakability makes me feel connected to the machine just as a really good guitar seems to become an extension of the music making not just a thing in my hands. The Alter arrived the day after having shoulder surgery which gave a couple of days with the manual and online videos before I gave in an assembled it.The next day I had it in the backyard to get familiar with the menus and such, man oh man it was comfortable to swing and well balanced.I have been out about 5 times with it looking goofy with one arm in a sling but got comfortable with it very quickly and have been hitting finds much quicker and more often.I have a learning curve ahead of me but I feel that this machine is a good platform to learn skills I have been reading about and makes those techniques accessible. 

    I have questions for anyone familiar with this detector-

   1- any headphone recommendations? I am putting together a bluetooth setup but may get wired ones also.

   2-I setup a discrimination pattern but it appears to be a global setting,can this be setup as a user program to be recalled ? Any other tips and guidance will be welcome, I really feel good about this detector.

rutus-alter-71-metal-detector.jpg
Rutus Alter 71 metal detector

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Hi Steve, thank you.I will check that out, I have been reading everything I can find including some of your articles explaining terms new to me such as how to use threshold and dual mode. Being limited due to surgery I am currently coin shooting, can't really dig beyond 6". I hope to spend time learning this machine for now with a goal towards more relic and beach hunting. I was pleased to find out the coil is submersible up to 1 meter.

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Hi ,

I have the Alter 71, it is a very underrated detector. The factory programs are a very good starting point but you will need to grow into this machine. You can set it for a simple beep dig detector or have continuous feedback from the ground and targets so the machine is talking to you as you go. Features such as iron vol, reactivity and masking change how this detector sounds along with custom tones.

I generally have a two tone audio set up with iron vol at 4 which gives you a 3 tone machine, the beauty of this is it will give you a sliding iron tone based on your disc setting, a medium tone and high tone. The other way I use it is to have 120 tones set and run it with zero disc, the audio feedback once you tune in is crazy but you can pick out tiny changes to the signal.

I use the Rutus wireless module with XP Wired backphones.

You are correct in the disc is global, I kinda get why the designer did it this way, I would suggest staring with minimal disc and only adjust up to site conditions or your tolerance level on the day. On the 120 scale disc around 12-16 is a good starting point.

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Thanks for the replies.

   Dan, I have been using stock programs and they are top notch, very easy to get up and running. Then I tweaked it so that the ID'S closely mimic the AT Pro figuring I could learn how much more this machine is capable of as far as target separation and fine tuning of disc.I thought that if certain trash was close to a particular coin- Nickel at 53, pull tabs 54 to 60, discing 56 and 57 out might make trash sound scratchy because coins ring very clear.It seems to work but I wanted to save it as an option. It being easy to restore to normal I wanted to experiment.

     On a short outing yesterday I found a 5" deep Nickel just above a 6" barn spike, no struggle to ID. The difficult thing for me is now I hear so many more targets I have to slow down an really listen LOL. As I mentioned before, the recent surgery (5/21/2020) limits my time out and depth of digging, although I got my doctors ok as long as I am cautious. I am very happy with my detector choice and welcome guidance.

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Hi Kevin,

I don't think this detector was ever intended for coin shooting, especially in the US. Although it is more than capable the thing as you have found out is you cannot save disc or notch patterns that US coin shooters would use.

The dual mode is really for finding large deep buried targets, it can hint at something large and deep out of reach of motion mode. I wouldn't touch dual mode if you only coin shoot.

Try playing with a custom tone profile as mixed metals will give a different tone to a coin of a single metal, this may be where 120 tones would be better than notch.

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That makes sense Dan, I tried a discrimination setup as mentioned to see if my idea had any merit. Just a backyard experiment with coins and common trash and it did work but not sure how it would hold up in real world situation. Although coin shooting may be under using this machines capabilities, by keeping sensitivity down to 50 to 60 range I can be fairly certain of what I find. Copper and Zinc pennies are easy to seperate. I am getting familiar with settings within my current limited use.

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This more detector test is from colleagues from Top Digin ... they are people I trust, and I'm in touch with them ....
  As you can see from this test, the Alter 71 is the right floor in the category of high-performance detectors.

Test results in Excel are here ...

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E_Im90VHp6tQlQiyfc_bp1FG88Gd-dxY/view?fbclid=IwAR3wNwwS52HbjBtEYmuKzs2ddR8mGKNCl-zYsQtMKWp9Knb1otNLoA8u6ww

 

 

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