Metal Detecting AGAIN - got it figured out now. Minelab Explorer II

Took the Minelab Explorer II out tonight after having read the owner's manual - and WOW.

I figured out how to turn the variableness of the audio pitches up to the max and this is what made all the difference also after having learned to read the smart-find screen.

WHAM WHAM WHAM!

I didn't even have that long to go out and all of a sudden it was one right after the other.

I actually found a PILE of money - okay - a small pile.  But - someone's pockets got dumped on the beach.  This is the same beach I've been at for the last three visits over ground I've really struggled to discern what I was hearing.

So now with the audio completely tweaked out - and using my new handy-dandy-sifter - it was just one after the other.  I think I only had 45 minutes or so and all but two of these were found in the same hole. 

Interestingly - it's almost the exact same amount as what I found last night (63 cents tonight and 64 last night).

So, reading the owner's manual was relatively painless - but I've played around with it enough to know what I needed to do as soon as I went back after having read it.  So in a way - I really hadn't played with it enough to understand the owner's manual yet.  The Minelab Explorer II has a very steep learning curve - or so a lot of people say and I agree.

At any rate, the piles of change were sounding or looking like they were a "pipe" buried underground because the minelab wasn't differentiating between the individual items - so it looked like something really large underground - way to big to be money. 

And then tonight when I went back.....a pile of money. 

I was having an easier time differentiating between trash and money though.  I didn't dig up a single piece of trash this time with the audio set with the maximum differentiation.   I was ONLY picking up money. 

Now - I know what money looks like but I'm not quite certain about the different metals that I'd be interested in digging up. I do have some gold coins and silver coins in my safe I might go and test out on the minelab to see what kind of reading I get and start looking for jewelry.

How I got into metal detecting you ask?  Funny you should ask.  Well - let me tell you.

When I worked for Select Comfort's Home Delivery in Portland (and was the Senior Technician for an area covering Oregon, Washington and California - WOOT!) during a delivery in Woodburn, Oregon, with Jonathan my Brother In Law who worked with me, a man was a coin collector.  I collect coins too.  But he had some stuff I had no idea how to find.  Namely raw gold nuggets.  And then he whipped out a Minelab Explorer II and took me and Jonathan outside to show us how it worked and explained where he got all his rare finds.

Having tried metal detecting before with an early model from Radio Shack that simply had a needle on it, when I saw the display as he searched his lawn - I knew I had to have one.

No.

Not just have one.

I had to have one before Jonathan.

Or anyone.

So - I went Minelab Explorer shopping.  And they were well over $1k. 

So I waited until I found one for less than $1k and saved my money up until I had zero dollars and a nice empty high interest credit card and was broke in college and bought one.

And now - two years later - I'm figuring it out.

Although on my very first day I found a dollar at Seaside.  I'd be totally stoked about going back to Seaside now though - last time I found a penny and enough nails to build my own house but now I know I could discriminate them out much easier this time.

The one thing I like about it is I can use regular AA batteries.  I hate battery chargers.  About the only thing I'm willing to charge is my cell-phone.

So in conclusion: HOORAY MINELAB!  I think now that I know what I'm doing this would SMOKE a White's Metal Detector having played alongside someone with one a few times - I'm absolutely convinced the Minelab is the king in this instance. 

That and my handy dandy sifter.

Metal Detecting: Minelab Explorer II - Lake Oswego....AGAIN!

Went metal detecting on the banks of the Willamette again tonight.  Nice night.  Rachel played in the river, left Matthew at home so the kids could have a break from each other and I could have a break from TWO kids, although having the one can still be a handful.

Anyways, I think I'm not using the minelab right.  I'm having all sorts of issues with it.  Maybe I actually need to read the owners' manual.  At any rate - I made a sifter out of a windshield wiper fluid bottle that was empty.  I drilled a bunch of 5/8" holes in it (smaller than a dime) and cut the end off .  Then when I found something I dug a pile.  Then picked up part of the pile with the sifter. 

If the pile still showed something in it - I'd get another part of the pile with the sifter until it didn't show anything in it.  Then - SIFT AWAY!  I found this went even faster if I dipped the whole thing in the river. 

I was having a hard time on the heavily populated side as there's so much trash to sift through, but when I got to the other side where only lovers make out - the beeping dropped drastically and I was only hitting money at that point.  Actually all but two pennies were found on the "lover's lane" side of the park.

Here was my finds this evening (two quarters....I think....a dime....four pennies)

Much better with the sifter.  I don't have to worry about it going through my fingers anymore.  Now I think I just need to read the owners' manual.

Here's a bunch of jellybeans I didn't find with the minelab.