Looking For Help With Seeded Hunt Settings Using The Deus 2

[philber]

I'm new to the Deus platform and have near 100 hours on the D2 with the 11" coil. I'm thinking of using it for a seeded hunt coming up and wanted to get some suggestions for settings. What mode would you suggest? What reactivity level? What sensitivity level as the targets will be tossed on ground or buried maybe 2" deep. Any other settings adjustments you would recommend? Thanks!

[CPT_GhostLight]

Well that really all depends on your ground conditions. Will the hunt be in grassy soil or on a beach? Is the ground heavily mineralized? Is the grpound wet or dry? Are you in the US or another country? It helps for us to know these things to make relevant suggestions.

For my mineralized ground in the Mid-West of the US, in a hunt for shallow coins I like to use the Fast program with the Sensitivity at 92-95, Reactivity 2.5, Audio Response 5, and everything else at the default settings. It really hits coins hard for me.

[Chase Goldman]

Seeded hunt leaves it a little too wide open for advice.  Can you provide more details?

High conductors only or all types of conductors?

Relics or coins or both?   Will they be using tokens for prizes?  What are the tokens made of?

Are the targets buried or hidden in the grass or sand?  Are natural targets expected?

As mentioned above, what are the soil conditions?

Is the field wide open or a small patch where you will be tripping over other detectorists and subject to detector EMI?

All these factors can help people give you the best setup advice.

In general, unless you are going for natural targets too, the seeded targets are not generally deep or even on the surface.  You can lower your sensitivity settings so that you are less subject to adjacent detector EMI and also so your detector will be less likely to hit on deeper junk targets.

If the hunt is limited solely to silver high conductors, you can notch out everything up to the 90's and just dig anything that beeps.  In that case, I like to use pitch tones.  That way you get more modulation when you are swinging directly over the target and don't have to rely so much on pinpointing.

Work on optimizing your recovery routine.  Recovery is the most time consuming part of the process and the less time you spend swinging your coil, the fewer targets you will recover.

HTH

[philber]

On 10/10/2022 at 3:14 PM, Chase Goldman said:

Seeded hunt leaves it a little too wide open for advice.  Can you provide more details?

High conductors only or all types of conductors?

Relics or coins or both?   Will they be using tokens for prizes?  What are the tokens made of?

Are the targets buried or hidden in the grass or sand?  Are natural targets expected?

As mentioned above, what are the soil conditions?

Is the field wide open or a small patch where you will be tripping over other detectorists and subject to detector EMI?

All these factors can help people give you the best setup advice.

In general, unless you are going for natural targets too, the seeded targets are not generally deep or even on the surface.  You can lower your sensitivity settings so that you are less subject to adjacent detector EMI and also so your detector will be less likely to hit on deeper junk targets.

If the hunt is limited solely to silver high conductors, you can notch out everything up to the 90's and just dig anything that beeps.  In that case, I like to use pitch tones.  That way you get more modulation when you are swinging directly over the target and don't have to rely so much on pinpointing.

Work on optimizing your recovery routine.  Recovery is the most time consuming part of the process and the less time you spend swinging your coil, the fewer targets you will recover.

HTH

There will be coins and tokens, no relics.  Mid, low and high conductors, though I really dont care if I miss mids and lows (but they'll be combined in a hunt separate from high conductors anyway)  Tokens will be aluminum xp tokens. Targets might be tossed on grass, or buried 1-3" deep.  Ground is super dry around here. 

The mineralization is not overly high, it typically ground balances at around 87 on the D2.  Natural targets will be rather sparse, the area has been hunted/cleared fairly well.  Most fields will have fair amount of space for detectorists to avoid each other, but naturally you cross paths sooner or later.

One hunt will be strictly silver.  I use the wiggle back method to pinpoint targets, so how does pitch mode work then?  Seems like it wouldnt help any since Im not pinpointing in the center of the coil? (I havent used pitch mode much)

[philber]

On 10/10/2022 at 2:58 AM, CPT_GhostLight said:

 

Thanks. See reply to Chase; I think it covers all the points you asked on.  Oh, and I'm in the US

[palzynski]

I have 40 hours with the D2 , and probably 700 or 800 hours with the D1... On the D2 I always use SENSITIVE nr2 , 5 tones , SQUARE audio . It is the best mode I found for what I m doing , coins hunting in trashy areas . It is very reactive and accurate and should work very well for a seeded hunt .. 

[Skate]

I'd turn the sensitivity down to around 55-65, operate in Park, two tones and set the discrimination up to 30-35. Surface and 1-3 inch targets will be easy to spot. Identify target, confirm with pinpointer and dig. Do some testing in your yard and see how low you can take your sensitivity because the last thing you want to do is dig non seeded targets that are deeper than 1-3 inches. Bury a dime at 2 inches and see how low you can go before you don't identify it. 

You should do exceedingly well with the D2. 

[CPT_GhostLight]

Since you've been using the D2 a while, I'd say use whatever program you are most comfortable with for land hunting. I'd dial the sensitivity back a bit but not excessively and don't go crazy with the notching unless you just want silvers. Run the Reactivity between 2 and 3 and you should do just fine.

I got my D2 near the end of April and took it to a seeded hunt in June. I was very new to the Deus 2 (and I'm still learning) but I ran in Park mode pretty much with stock settings, but with the Silencer at 2 instead of 3. I ran the Sensitivity at 92, not for depth but to boost the EM field around the side of the coil to pick up nearby targets a little easier. I never heard any interference with other detectors nearby. There were 800 coins and tokens planted and out of the 35 very good detectorists in the field with me, I ended up with 41 coins and tokens, so not too shabby for my first seeded hunt and with a new detector. 😉

I now prefer Fast for coin hunting. I can still use the wiggle off method with pitch and it fades off really quick on the edge of coins making it easy to pinpoint them.

I hope this helps and Good Luck on your hunt.

[philber]

Thanks all!