Why do you need 50/100 tones?

longbow62

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I am not sure why you need 50 or 100 tones on a machine. Can anyone tell the difference between tones that are close together. Like say 50 tones and tone 45-46? Even between 45-50?

Talk about smearing. You get a deep signal or a partially masked target and the tones fluctuate all over the place just like the numbers do.

Obviously you can have to few tones. I would not want just one. Two is also not enough for me. Three is okay, but personally think 5 is optimal. 5 tones then looking at numbers is what I find the easiest for me.
 
The tone may fluctuate but the pitch of the tone stays relatively similar on a full tone machine. Less smearing of tones with dramatically different pitches. 5 tone machine would be the worst. A 2 or 3 tone machine would be my second choice. Garrett should give the user options just as most other manufacturers do
 
i like fisher's choice of four, myself. simple, yet usable.

Yeah Im probably in the minority but full tones has worked for me. I understand how 3/4/5 tones works for US coin hunters but Im more of a colonial relic and coin hunter and pay less attention to certain numbers and dig it all. The stuff that falls inbetween the standard tone bins is often the best stuff
 
I like 5 tones on my Nox.
I had sensory overload using delta pitch(100)?on my F 70
One tone on Compadre was wierd but workable.
 
I like 5 tones on my Nox.
I had sensory overload using delta pitch(100)?on my F 70
One tone on Compadre was wierd but workable.

Same here. The Fisher delta pitch and NOX 50 tones are a bit much... sensory overload. I ran 4 tones on my F75 and 5 tones on my NOX.

I can see how there is probably more information in 50 tones but I'm not sure my brain can handle it. I may try again after I have more hours on the NOX.
 
Can anyone tell the difference between tones that are close together. Like say 50 tones and tone 45-46? Even between 45-50?

On a CTX or Etrac, absolutely. On the Equinox, not so much.

I love using 50 tones on my CTX but on my Equinox it drives me nuts. Sensory overload. Much prefer 5 tones on the Nox.
 
In my opinion and in my experience it depends on the situation and site hunting. As in when best to use and how many tones needed.

Places with lots of nails and other metal bits using 50 tones gives me an advantage of being able to hear more separation and unmask things by ear more i can hear the shinny flashes and glimmers under and in the same hole as rusty nails and metal trash.

The issue for most people is they dont need that much information from the detector to hunt the sites they hunt and things become overwhelming / not as enjoyable or ear fatigue sets in quicker.

All they want to know is where the target is how big and if its low med or high tone so they can dig.

That does not require all the extra beeps pops buzz floout toot root in the ear.

I have a home site that i am only able to dig 10 holes per month. 50 tones has really healped me to cherry pick 🍒
 
I like full tones on my old DFX. I could not stand full tones on the Deus. Weird (meaning me of course). Full tones on the Equinox took some time for me to get used to. I started out with 50 tones using a trashy park coin program with many trash targets and iron rejected so I could get used to nickels/14K gold and clad dimes on up to the highest tone so I didn't get complete overload. Now I can switch to 50 tones when the situation is right and I have the 12/13 tone and the 24 to 40 tones memorized.

Jeff
 
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I've always run full tones on all my machines, including the equinox. I like to hear everything and let my ears do the discriminating. I try not to get too caught up in visual ID numbers, they vary too greatly, especially on deep targets/targets near trash. This is why it's nice to have the technology to make that choice.
 
Different people like different things and whatever works best for you where and how you hunt is Your answer.

But there is a metric S-Ton of info in all those FBS tones and after a decade of listening to them i am still learning even more every season. I am a better detectorist than i otherwise would be because i have more info.
 
I have 8 tones on my MX5 and 3 on my Ace. If visual ID is on a machine, as with mine, it's futile (to me) to have more than 4-5 tones. Even with the 8 tone Whites, the tones usually fall in 5 target groups. I STILL look at VID in nickel category for decision making.:cool3:
 
I am not sure why you need 50 or 100 tones on a machine. Can anyone tell the difference between tones that are close together. Like say 50 tones and tone 45-46? Even between 45-50?....


With 3 to 5 tones the ear can quickly and easily pair a specific pitch to a RANGE of conductivity. That doesn't mean the goal of 50 tones is memorizing dozens of more specific conductivity-pitch pairs. Instead, it's more of a different way of listening. While the general relationship between conductivity and pitch is still important, such as low, medium and high, and while there will be specific tones you internalize with experience, the point of more audio information is to hear more audio characteristics. Ascending, descending, stable,narrow, round, long, tight versus loose edges, gaps/separation, etc...

Trying to internalize all of those pitches would be frustrating, and we all know that targets vary with any detector, and the skill won't transfer to other detectors, or even the same detector with different audio settings. But, the skill that is transferable to other detectors with more tones is the ability to assess signal characteristics based on RELATIVE changes in conductivity.

The Equinox has options to make make 50 tones easier on the ear, or more complex. See page 48 of the manual. I never see anyone mention these settings. Maybe because they're a million times easier to demonstrate than describe in words. In short, while in 50 tones, you adjust the high tone limit of ferrous (the advanced tone break setting) in combination with adjusting the gap between ferrous and non-ferrous (under advanced tone pitch setting). All I can say is grab a variety of targets and experiment. Fortunately, you can hear the difference in tones as you adjust the parameters. (These features are similar to the Variability and Limit features on the Explorer and E-trac.)

As somebody mentioned above, using 50 tones is somewhat pointless if the ground is clean. Not because the extra info can't still be helpful, but because there will be fewer partially masked targets and you're going to dig a higher percentage of the available targets anyway. But, if it's really trashy, or you're just trying to be super-selective, the additional audio in 50 tones can help identify separation, pinpoint the conductive center of a target, ID rusty nails, etc...
 
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With 3 to 5 tones the ear can quickly and easily match a specific pitch to a specific RANGE of conductivity. That doesn't mean the goal of 50 tones is trying to memorize dozens of conductivity/pitch pairs. Instead, it's a different way of listening. The general relationships between conductivity and pitch are still important, such as low, medium and high, and there will be specific tones you eventually internalize with enough experience using the same settings, but the point of more audio information is to hear more audio characteristics. Ascending, descending, stable,narrow, round, long, tight versus loose edges, gaps/separation, etc... You don't have to memorize dozens of conductivity/pitch pairs to get started do that right away.

Not only would trying to internalize all of those pitches be frustrating, we all know that targets vary with any detector, and the skill won't transfer to other detectors, or even the same detector with different audio settings. But, the skill that is transferable to other detectors with more tones is the ability to assess signal characteristics based on RELATIVE changes in conductivity.

The Equinox has options to make make 50 tones easier on the ear, or more complex. See page 48 of the manual. I've never seen anyone mention these setting. They're a million times easier to demonstrate rather than describe in words. All I can say is grab some targets and experiment. Fortunately, you can hear the difference in tones as you adjust the parameters. In short, adjusting the high limit of ferrous in combination with maximizing the gap between ferrous and non-ferrous can make 50 tones easier on the ears. (These features are similar to the Variability and Limit features on the Explorer and E-trac.)

As somebody mentioned above, using 50 tones is pretty pointless if the ground is clean. But, if it's really trashy, the additional audio in 50 tones can help identify separation, pinpoint the conductive center of a target, ID rusty nails, etc...

Once again, perfectly said.
 
It is clear that many different methods work for different people, and the main reason is that whatever method the specific person is using, it’s the best way for THEM to actually interpret the signal. People who have used an Explorer will appreciate this...I can actually hunt in Conductive Sounds with NO discrimination and tell a coin from a nail. After many many many hours, they are two different sounds with different qualities to them, but to the “new guy”....doing this would be impossible. Everybody is at a “different level” of detecting on a particular machine, and whatever provides suitable results is what most use. That’s why the options are there...to accommodate a wider range of users and skill levels.
Even on a machine with just one tone...a “monotone” machine...there are aspects to the signal which tell you a lot....after time has passed using it. THAT is always the key, whether it is 1 tone or 100 tones...experience. It is all but just about impossible to describe or teach.
 
See page 48 of the manual.

Thanks for the eye opener. I think I should read more of the manual.


I've never hunted anything but trashy areas, even the farming fields around here are loaded with garbage, ferrous garbage everywhere.....

I can't be staring at my VDI to figure out if it's garbage, junk, useless, worth a second thought, a reasonable target or something of interest.

so my point is ... 50 tone + all metal mode ... or dig up a lot of garbage.
 
Some people have more keen hearing than others so that may be the reason.
Me I have to work on that a lot.
Also if you are detecting deep signals the tone may be the only thing you have to go by.
Also on deeper signals the VDI may be off and jump or not reading at all.
I prefer 5 tones because my old mind can’t handle anymore than that.
Donut/Doug
 
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