Salt Water Hunting

[dewcon4414]

I seen Nuke asked about beach hunting in the iron bias thread. Ive got about 100 hours on it now beach playing ..... i say playing because i just got a pair of phones done on the 1st.   So..... now im hunting ... about 28 hours serious and about paid for the detector in the last 4 days.  You gotta want to hunt with this machine because she likes minerals and concentrations of aluminum.    So .... few things ive done to quiet it down.   One is ..... you can move the Iron bias from 0 finding a decent number without going over board..... and 6 default is to much for my beach, it seems 2 works well.   Also.... recovery speed.. the lower you go the longer those tones are stretched out making it sound like you are hunting right next to an electric fence lol.... moving it to 5 worked for me.   Let me throw something else in here ...... GB.  My beach was reading auto GB 12 in beach 1 in the wet sand.... but do another GB in beach 2.... you will get 4.   ADD 5 digits to you beach 2 GB will get you about the same sensitivity as beach 1, yet is a little quieter.    Anyone ever hunt with an Xcal with sensitivity set at just above 8 in disc..... thats what this machine can sound like...... and those digits jumping that Brandon showed on his video is what you may get..... until you hit a target.  If you run all the defaults......and in beach 2 shes pretty quiet...... but you aint getting the best out of it.    I also was using AM and reduced the target volume to 2 for iron....... throwing those tones in for me broke up the constant low tones the machine was giving.    Cant wait to see what others think about the machine IN the water and the suggestions/tricks they used for depth, sensitivity and chatter.

[mn90403]

I have had many hunts where I get the coil wet but I have not submerged the detector.  I haven't hunted the trough at the California beaches.  Our waves lately are not moving objects like they have in past years.

When I first got my Nox I experimented with the recovery speed.  One night when I was new with it I found good objects by making the sounds longer with lower recovery speed.  Now I have 'caught up' a bit to the machine and can hear targets better at higher recovery speeds.

I'll vary my pattern when water walking to zig zag to look for patches.  Some can be parallel to the beach and the best ones are just large areas with objects high and low.  Sometimes I'll look at the black sand layer and walk it and other times I'll cross it to find my first couple of objects.  Other times I just go to a certain part of the beach that produces and just grid.

Settings sometimes don't matter.  I can't find what is not there.

Mitchel

[flakmagnet]

Interesting post dewcon...especially the GB thoughts...and Mitchel, bingo...

[dewcon4414]

Flak..... i cant take credit for knowing this.  Tom Dankowski and i talk  and having spent many hours testing the EQ he has some good advice.   Vance detectors also sent out an Email on relic hunting .... he advised running in AM..... and increasing the GB by 2 to 4 digits.   Tom also recommends .... field 1, then park, then beach 1 in the dry sand.   What i found was field and park sometimes gets difficult to hunt with when the sand is damp..... it tends to really light the salt up.   BUT field 1 definitely is deeper and more sensitive in the dry sand.   I adjusted field to match what i was using in beach..... much easier to use.  I set up beach 1 and put it in my USER PROFILE....since i find myself trying different things right now between beach 1 and 2..... saves time.   Ill be getting another pair of phones from Tony Eisenhower next week....... so i should be able to stay in the water.   I did find a difference in my headphones than the wireless ones....... im hoping Tony's is better.   Ill start doing a little more adjusting to see if i can find a good balance between sensitivity and depth next week.   You wont find a better moving machine out there i can  tell you that.  I did remove the ML shaft and switched over to the Andersons new one that should be available in a couple of weeks.   Just not a fan of aluminum in the water or those locks.    Im seeing more people now doing their own jacks so more of the gurus should be in the water soon.   ML could loose out by not having the phones and that cable ready.   UNLESS...... they come out with something different in those yellows that can match their wireless phones..... those i really like.

Oh.... take a look at your screen when you fire up the machine..... see whats on.  I night hunt so sometimes after the sun comes up i forget to turn off the back light... it uses battery.   I also turn off the bluetooth if im wired. 

[Mark T]

Is that 2-4 digits from the default zero GB or after you have done an auto GB and got a number ?

[dewcon4414]

The way it read....... you auto GB...... then add the digits.  He also recommended 0 iron bias, a high but STABLE sensitivity, and sweep speed at 3 as a starting point ... but bump it to 4 if needed.