Iron Bias Fe Versus Fe2

[Smithobx]

One of the most informative threads I’ve seen. Thanks to Steve. 

[JohnnyRox]

Is there no one on here that has a hook at Minelab and could maybe get someone there to do a video or come on here and give us the lowdown on this?  

[Steve Herschbach]

I should not laugh, but the thought of Minelab responding directly to information requests and explanations, not to mention requests for accessory coils, seems to be a fantasy many of us have these days. Ever since the new marketing crew in Chicago took over a couple years ago, the engineering videos and Treasure Talk blogs all came to a halt. There was a email survey Minelab sent out this spring asking people what kind of information and videos people want to see, but so far nothing has come of it.

[Johnnysalami1957]

After reading and watching the video I appreciate how much you people know and share here. Seeing the E600 and E800 start out with high numbers in the FE and F2 settings made me realize why the Simplex+ drove me crazy in bottlecap land. When I did finally get used to using the E800 the hobby became much more enjoyable to me. But alas I sold both, waiting for bigger and better technology a lighter machine and a healed shoulder. Iffy is right when he said older people don't want to dig all day! Thank you for all your knowledge and experience. 

I liked the Whites -90 +90 segment scale much better than the scales of modern machines. Just seemed more was better but now I see there is no need for such a - scale.

[Johnnysalami1957]

On 9/13/2020 at 8:00 PM, JohnnyRox said:

Is there no one on here that has a hook at Minelab and could maybe get someone there to do a video or come on here and give us the lowdown on this?  

 You just got the lowdown. ?

[Johnnysalami1957]

Maybe FE2 is the second attempt to get FE right! Should have made FE with 20 segments of adjustments all equal....

[mcjtom]

On 9/7/2020 at 2:21 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

is Iron Bias reducing the non-ferrous false signals, or increasing the ferrous signal?

Was that resolved?  I have no idea, but something tells me that at high iron-bias the the non-ferrous signal is replaced by the ferrous one, if below threshold...

[Steve Herschbach]

6 minutes ago, mcjtom said:

Was that resolved?  I have no idea, but something tells me that at high iron-bias the the non-ferrous signal is replaced by the ferrous one, if below threshold...

Don't know, could just be semantical. I'll have to fiddle with it some more someday.

[LukeJMG1986]

I noticed something one day, while metal detecting the river here in Northern California. I was getting a reading of 11-12, and in-between it would drop to -1 or lower. I decided to dig it anyways, and it was a orange nickel. I was curious as to why it gave a ferrous response that made me question whether to dig it or not. I buried the nickel again, and started investigating which setting, if any, was causing the nickel to give a ferrous response, and I found that I had been running the F2 iron bias at 4. When I reduced it to 2, it gave ALMOST no ferrous response, and when I cut it to 0 the nickel read clean 11-12. I honestly haven't hunted with it on since. I don't think this would effect gold jewelry, which is what I'm after. I think the corrosion on the nickel was causing the iron bias to help it give the ferrous response. I'm still pretty new at this, and so I could be way off. The ground I hunt in is also very mineralized, and I wonder how much that can also contribute to a good item, giving an occasional ferrous response coupled in with the non-ferrous.