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Questions For 50 Tone Users


GB_Amateur

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"What are you listening for?" is too general.  (Wish there were a video lesson showing how 50 tones are interpreted.)  Here are a couple more specific:

1) What tone clue will cause you to look at the screen?

2) What tone patterns cause you to dig?

3) How good is your tone resolution?  Specifically, when you hear a tone, what is the range (+/-) of TID's that you can consistently discern by ear?

What are other properties of 50 tones that you key on?

 

 

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I am mainly listening for tone duration, intensity/purity, clipping, distortion, and stability.  I would be lying if I told you I could discern the TID by tone alone but, to me, 50 tones helps the characteristics/attributes I describe above stand out better than 5 tones.  TBH it is really something that defies words and comes more of experience.  When I am interrogating a target, I am integrating the tones, display, and coil motion all at once, perhaps shifting between two different modes, all metal, and pinpointer depending on what I am hearing.

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For me.... it's about tone memory. Learned that from my ML Safari.

With the Nox, I've dug enough targets now that I know when I'm over a nickel based on tone, then reference it by looking at its TID #.

High conductors such as dimes vs quarters... there's no mistaking these 2 objects by tone. Other high conductors, I'll look at TID and most likely dig if I'm in a relic site, if in a park site, maybe not. 

But to answer your question, I think everyone hones in on their targets in a different way. I prefer tones over TID but the TID is also important for the learning process.

 

 

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I would say for me it’s like having more evidence to solve a crime.

 

i have tried 5 tones and I just don’t Like looking at TID constantly.

with 50 tones I can understand what my coil is trying to describe under the ground.

without looking at the TID

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51 minutes ago, GlazedTofu said:

I would say for me it’s like having more evidence to solve a crime.

 

i have tried 5 tones and I just don’t Like looking at TID constantly.

with 50 tones I can understand what my coil is trying to describe under the ground.

without looking at the TID

Agreed... well said

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I agree with all of the posts here.  Very good info.  It's so hard to describe specifically, but like Happa said, after using Minelab FBS machines extensively/exclusively for eight years prior, and thus being immersed in multi-tone Minelab audio output the entire time, it has become kind of "second nature," now, for me to use 50 tones on the Equinox.  I'd feel like I was missing so much "intelligence" about a target, if I switched to say a 5-tone option...

Steve

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Everyone's posted some great tips, it reminds me of the days when they made audio CD's of the Minelab Sovereign tones.

I'm mostly hunting relic sites these days, and what stops me in my tracks is when I get a mid to high tone.  Sometimes it could start off as just a squeek, but doing the Minelab wiggle, walking around the target can often allow the Equinox to zero in on the target and bring up a repeatable signal. I just love to get a high tone blip and try to bring up the signal.  Once your muscle memory's recorded this, you will not forget it.  Also don't forget to invoke the horseshoe to help analyze a target.  Great when you get an iffy (crappy) signal and want to tell if you're getting an iron false.

I've been on hunts where I never even looked at the meter and only hunted by tone.  I did a lot of that in the beginning so I could force myself to focus on learning the audio without having the TID talk me out of digging.  

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23 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

TBH it is really something that defies words and comes more of experience.

Thanks for all the thoughtful replies so far, and hopefully more will come in.  But the only thing I'm really getting out of this can be summed up in what Chase said.  I've got to give it more of an opportunity than I have so far.

Kind of interesting because I previously mentioned that with the delay in the release of optional coils I was forced to learn how to use an 11" coil for the first time.  If I had gotten the Eqx 600 (which doesn't allow customized tone breaks) instead of the 800 I would have been forced to learn 50 tones.  Now I must pretend I can't customize the tone breaks and see where 50 tones leads.  Learning to use a detector is almost as much fun as finding stuff with it.  ?

 

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I tend to key on tonally pure targets. I want lots of tones to allow things the ability to not be pure tones. Five tones artificially forces pure tones, defeating my main “tell” which is either the solidity or fluidity of the tones I am hearing. Round items tend to deliver pure tones and when doing anything but nugget hunt I tend to lean towards round items.

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29 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I tend to key on tonally pure targets. I want lots of tones to allow things the ability to not be pure tones. Five tones artificially forces pure tones, defeating my main “tell” which is either the solidity or fluidity of the tones I am hearing. Round items tend to deliver pure tones and when doing anything but nugget hunt I tend to lean towards round items.

Are the tones similar to what one hears with the BBS Excalibur or Sovereign?   I remember being able to “hear” rings and multi-metallic objects.  I assume maybe the tones might be even more telling with the advanced tech in the Equinox!?

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