My Expanded Case For 3 Tones

[flakmagnet]

12 hours ago, Tiftaaft said:

Zincs are annoying for sure.  But I have also found some interesting finds (mostly at depth) in that zinc range... including my two IHP's (not to mention two gold rings).  I battle with myself over that same dilemma every time I hunt, and usually leave several shallow zinc signals in the ground... I'm not proud of that.  haha.  ~tim.

I'm still wavering. Now I think I will be prudent and stay at 19. Sigh. 

[Chase Goldman]

20 hours ago, flakmagnet said:

I'm still wavering. Now I think I will be prudent and stay at 19. Sigh. 

Since it's a tone break and not a notch, I wouldn't overthink it or lose too much sleep on precisely setting that mid-to-high breakpoint unless you truly have the discipline not to ever glance at your display if you get a solid mid tone and walk on.  No way I could hunt that way, the more TIDs binned in a tone the more I am dependent on using visual TID as a crutch because the tone will sound more stable in that case, unless it just happens to cross the tone break, so I will be looking for a bouncy visual TID to make a dig decision.  BTW if you do get that flutey tone because you are crossing the high tone break, that's a big audio clue in and of itself (something Zincolns often do with the default 20/21 default high break fo 5 tones ).  So what I am saying is that even if you don't have that high break optimized, you will still have visual TID to back you up and may hear the tone jump the break to alert you to the fact that you may want to pay more attention to that target.

50 tones gives me a better audible feel for target ID stability which factors into my dig decisions. (Bottlecaps are typically flutey in 50 and sometimes even in 5 tones, but so are coin spills).  That's why I usually just default to 50 tones and be done with it unless I am taking a leisurely stroll through a park and punch up Park 1, default settings.  As I've mentioned previously, I'm inherently lazy and don't really like to spend a lot of time customizing tones.  That's just me, tho.  Again, I am not saying 50 tones is better than 3 tones.  It's better for me because of the way I use audio.  Not better for others who are looking to create more "stable" audio. It is a personal choice based on how you hunt (VDI vs. Tones), where you hunt (salt beach, fresh water, hot soil, parks, plowed fields, cellar holes, woods), and what you are hunting for (coins, relics, jewelry, gold).

[flakmagnet]

Thanks for the thoughts Chase. You make sense as usual. I am not overly worried really, about where the tone break falls for exactly the reasons you mention. I got out today on dry beach sand and found that the simplicity of 3-tones (with the break at 19), was easy to use and did not give rise to many questions on what to dig. 

 

[Tiftaaft]

Wasn't exactly sure where to post this... but thought it most relevant on this thread.  It was a rainy day here, so on a lunch break, I put on my slicker and decided to hit a little triangle patch near a park in my town's "old neighborhood" hoping to find an oldie or two.  I also wanted to try the "3 tone" setup discussed above.  I made iron the low tone, 11-13 & 20-40 the high tone, and everything else mid tone.  Even so... I dug a few mid tones for good measure, especially when they were hitting hard.  Near my car on the way back, I got a SOLID high tone... locked in at 11.  In 50 tone, I may have looked and kept walking as it would have caused me pause because it was near nickels, but I probably would have passed because it was rainy... I was in the "old neighborhood"... and I was really looking for an old coin under the conditions.  But I have to believe... because it was HIGH tone and yelling at me... TID be damned... I dug the 11.  Glad I did.  Appears to be 10K, with 10 channel set diamonds (yet to be tested). 

There is another thread about turning the tone scheme on it's head and setting high tone to the gold areas, and low tones to the coin areas - so our conditioned response to dig high tones will find more gold (and foil and other junk targets)… at least that is what I took from the thread.  I'm starting to think there is some validity to it. 

BTW, this is my first Equinox Gold.  E800 - 11", Updated firmware, Park 1, Custom tones/bins as outlined above, recovery 6, IB 2.   

~Tim.