Help me with what to dig and what not to (I have a Whites XLT)

[la9]

Help me with what to dig and what not to (I have a White's XLT)

I watched the video on their site.
It says to watch the bars and dig when you have one or two and they are very tall.
and when you get a strong beep.

I've dug coins when the bars were not very tall, or had scattered bars. Once I even had a bar on the negative side, I still had bars on the positive which is why I dug.

How about sound ? Just dig when you get solid beeps ?

I'm just trying gather from the vast experience on this board, what to dig, what to look for on my screen, and what to listen for, and perhaps how much does your swing affect the results.

So I can have a better chance coming up with the good stuff.

If you could help me out I'd appreciate it.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[W6PEA]

Re: Help me with what to dig and what not to (I have a White's XLT)

I watched the video on their site.
It says to watch the bars and dig when you have one or two and they are very tall.
and when you get a strong beep.

I've dug coins when the bars were not very tall, or had scattered bars. Once I even had a bar on the negative side, I still had bars on the positive which is why I dug.

How about sound ? Just dig when you get solid beeps ?

I'm just trying gather from the vast experience on this board, what to dig, what to look for on my screen, and what to listen for, and perhaps how much does your swing affect the results.

So I can have a better chance coming up with the good stuff.

If you could help me out I'd appreciate it.

Anything that comes up on the screen. Until you know the machine. And I say that as a word of advice, it will take you a lot of practice before you can seperate the tones and then some times they will be so close together that you may think you are digging a pull tab and it ends up being a gold ring.

That's just my thoughts about it.

 

[la9]

Re: Help me with what to dig and what not to (I have a White's XLT)

Sounds like I'm going to have to get a set of headphones then......

So I can hear the pitches better.

Probably be like the pinpointer, won't know how I lived so long without it.

 

[W6PEA]

Re: Help me with what to dig and what not to (I have a White's XLT)

Sounds like I'm going to have to get a set of headphones then......

So I can hear the pitches better.

Probably be like the pinpointer, won't know how I lived so long without it.

I use a set of Grey Ghost headphones and a Sun Ray S-1 probe.
I have lost most of my hearing to a lot of different pitch sounds from being around heavy equipment most of my adult life and from listening to acid rock and roll and heavy metal music when I was a teenager. ( the last one is probably the most of the cause)

Good Luck

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Re: Help me with what to dig and what not to (I have a White's XLT)

Yep. Dig it all until you get to know the detector. You can just dig the solid hits and sounds, but you'll miss lots of keepers, and, as you note, still get some trash.

The detector salesmen would have you believe there are eight things in the ground and your detector will identify them with those nice little icons. Ain't so. There are millions of different non-iron items in the ground and their conductivity (what the detector "sees") overlaps by wide bands. And some iron is large enough your detector still gets happy to see it and gives wrong answers.

Practice, practice, practice.

 

[W6PEA]

Re: Help me with what to dig and what not to (I have a White's XLT)

Yep. Dig it all until you get to know the detector. You can just dig the solid hits and sounds, but you'll miss lots of keepers, and, as you note, still get some trash.

The detector salesmen would have you believe there are eight things in the ground and your detector will identify them with those nice little icons. Ain't so. There are millions of different non-iron items in the ground and their conductivity (what the detector "sees") overlaps by wide bands. And some iron is large enough your detector still gets happy to see it and gives wrong answers.

Practice, practice, practice.

Charlie P

You hit it on the nailhead practice practice practice....
la9 how did you learn to walk or ride a bike?
Don't give up and look long and hard at any information you can get.
Also there is no such thing as a dumb question....the only dumb question is the one that's not asked.

 

[halfdime]

Re: Help me with what to dig and what not to (I have a White's XLT)

Dig it all until you get to know the machine. Then, keep digging, especially in older sites. You'll get pretty good at predicting what is going to come out of the ground, but you can still be pleasantly surprised (and sometimes disappointed).

 

[mainer]

Re: Help me with what to dig and what not to (I have a White's XLT)

I am new to the xlt this year and have not got to use it much cause the ground is covered with snow. Last week I got out with it and I would say that I am going to be digging anything on the positive side. The only 2 silver coins I have found was a 3 cent peice which egistered as a bottle cap +55 I think was the number. And a silver roosie which was also below the numbers that silver would be. So at my old sites I will be digging everything with a plus number.
mainer

 

[DirtDiggerDaveinMD]

Re: Help me with what to dig and what not to (I have a White's XLT)

I watched the video on their site.
It says to watch the bars and dig when you have one or two and they are very tall.
and when you get a strong beep.

I've dug coins when the bars were not very tall, or had scattered bars. Once I even had a bar on the negative side, I still had bars on the positive which is why I dug.

How about sound ? Just dig when you get solid beeps ?

I'm just trying gather from the vast experience on this board, what to dig, what to look for on my screen, and what to listen for, and perhaps how much does your swing affect the results.

So I can have a better chance coming up with the good stuff.

If you could help me out I'd appreciate it.

La9,

I too have an XLT and it can be a bit confusing at first.

1. Do you hunt with a threshold, or do you hunt in silent search mode? The reason that I ask is the threshold will breakup and sometimes go away when you are over trashy items. This can be helpful when you are deciding on whether to dig or not. Silent search is nice, and I prefer to hunt in silent most of the time. Though it depends on where I am hunting, too.

2. When the bars are skipping all over the meter, with a broken up tone, you are most likely detecting trash of some sort. Probably iron, depending on how your discrimination is set on your machine. The TID, while not perfect, is pretty darned accurate. If you have a solid repeatable signal and tall solid Signagraph bars, dig the target. I dig the targets that fall into the foil, pulltab and screwcap range. Mainly so I don't miss any gold.

Many times my XLT has signaled that the target is a pulltab, a screwcap, or foil is has been dead on. It has also been 95% correct when detecting good targets. If you are hunting at an older site, set your threshold and start from the relic program, adjusting as you need to. Older coins, depending on the alloy of the metal may not show the correct icon, but the VDI numbers, tone, and Signagraph bars will indicate a good target. Small silver should fall into the 70-85 range. Indian heads may fall into the screwcap range. Like I said it's not perfect.

3. You have to swing the XLT at a brisk pace to achieve maximum depth.
The Garrett GTAx 1250 that I had prior to the XLT was meant to be swung slowly. It took some time to get used to.

4. If you want to come up with the good stuff you have to be where the good stuff is located. I mainly hunt parks and school yards. Sometimes I do old sites when I can. My good stuff is mainly jewelry. All depends on what you want. I you want old items, you have to do a lot of research.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

DDDinMD