G
Guthers
Guest
Success! I got a metal detector today!
I stumbled upon a shop in Bellevue, WA that carried not only white's detectors but minelabs and a few other brands (Bed Rock Supply is the name of the store) so I got some hands on experience with various detectors. Ended up walking out with White's DFX! (and assorted goodies -- bag, trowel, pinpointer, a mercury dime
So far it has been a joy to use, and i've only scratched the surface on customization.
I took it to a nearby park for a spin with the default coin program and within about 45 minutes I had found six newly issued pennies!!! (oldest was 1960 or so) I doubt i'll be as excited about pennies again -- you only dig up your first coin once.
I spent all my time in an area around benches where the DFX gave me so many signals I wasn't sure what to dig up. This probably wasn't the best place to start because all the readings were foreign to me. The icons i understood well enough, but even they would hop from coins of various denominations to rings to foil to pull tabs -- I stopped paying attention to them and only dug up signals that gave me the strongest tone, and only when it was consistently strong and isolated from other signals. I have a feeling that if I went back and dug all the targets it would turn out that they were in fact coins and foil and pull tabs all tightly clusted together. There's so much stuff the DFX reported it feels as if no one ever hunted that area before.
The DFX pinpointing feature worked flawlessly, and in some cases was arguably more useful than regular sweeping. There were so many targets in one area I would just swing the pinpointer until it made a tone, then swing on another axis until I found the dead center, then i'd dig. There was always something right where "X" marked the spot. (I found a lot of pull tabs)
I may not have found much of value, but I learned a lot in that hour of detecting that I wish I knew before heading out. Such as:
-Carry a pinpointer! A pinpointer is a handheld detector that you can stick into the plug you dig up or the hole in the ground to detect metal. You can tune sensitivity to indicate when the probe has touched metal, or when it is as much as an inch away. This saves lots of time digging, as you can immediately pinpoint within the hole or plug where the target lies. My DFX kit came with one. I probably wouldn't have bought one and certainly didn't know how indispensable they were.
-Wear kneepads! Your clothing will get very dirty, and wet soil will soak through pants. Squatting on your haunches while digging isn't very comfortable.
-Carry a cloth to put soil you dig up on! This will make returning the soil to the ground easy, as well as make sifting through the sand a lot easier.
-Carry a bag to store coins in. You don't want to clean them in the field, and you don't want to put dirty coins in your pocket!
-Bring wetnaps or something to clean your hands and equipment with! You'll track dirt everywhere if you don't. And you'll have to drive home with dirt caked under your fingernails!
-Bring a quality digging tool, preferably something with a cutting edge for sawing through grass and hard dirt.
I'll be better prepared on my next outing. Now if I can only find hunting grounds with more lucrative targets....
Cheers!
John
I stumbled upon a shop in Bellevue, WA that carried not only white's detectors but minelabs and a few other brands (Bed Rock Supply is the name of the store) so I got some hands on experience with various detectors. Ended up walking out with White's DFX! (and assorted goodies -- bag, trowel, pinpointer, a mercury dime
So far it has been a joy to use, and i've only scratched the surface on customization.
I took it to a nearby park for a spin with the default coin program and within about 45 minutes I had found six newly issued pennies!!! (oldest was 1960 or so) I doubt i'll be as excited about pennies again -- you only dig up your first coin once.
I spent all my time in an area around benches where the DFX gave me so many signals I wasn't sure what to dig up. This probably wasn't the best place to start because all the readings were foreign to me. The icons i understood well enough, but even they would hop from coins of various denominations to rings to foil to pull tabs -- I stopped paying attention to them and only dug up signals that gave me the strongest tone, and only when it was consistently strong and isolated from other signals. I have a feeling that if I went back and dug all the targets it would turn out that they were in fact coins and foil and pull tabs all tightly clusted together. There's so much stuff the DFX reported it feels as if no one ever hunted that area before.
The DFX pinpointing feature worked flawlessly, and in some cases was arguably more useful than regular sweeping. There were so many targets in one area I would just swing the pinpointer until it made a tone, then swing on another axis until I found the dead center, then i'd dig. There was always something right where "X" marked the spot. (I found a lot of pull tabs)
I may not have found much of value, but I learned a lot in that hour of detecting that I wish I knew before heading out. Such as:
-Carry a pinpointer! A pinpointer is a handheld detector that you can stick into the plug you dig up or the hole in the ground to detect metal. You can tune sensitivity to indicate when the probe has touched metal, or when it is as much as an inch away. This saves lots of time digging, as you can immediately pinpoint within the hole or plug where the target lies. My DFX kit came with one. I probably wouldn't have bought one and certainly didn't know how indispensable they were.
-Wear kneepads! Your clothing will get very dirty, and wet soil will soak through pants. Squatting on your haunches while digging isn't very comfortable.
-Carry a cloth to put soil you dig up on! This will make returning the soil to the ground easy, as well as make sifting through the sand a lot easier.
-Carry a bag to store coins in. You don't want to clean them in the field, and you don't want to put dirty coins in your pocket!
-Bring wetnaps or something to clean your hands and equipment with! You'll track dirt everywhere if you don't. And you'll have to drive home with dirt caked under your fingernails!
-Bring a quality digging tool, preferably something with a cutting edge for sawing through grass and hard dirt.
I'll be better prepared on my next outing. Now if I can only find hunting grounds with more lucrative targets....
Cheers!
John
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