My detector is soooo heavy!

hoser

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At least that's the way I treat it. I can't tell you how many times I have seen someone swinging their coil four to five inches above the ground, and as fast as using a weed whip. Yep they are covering a lot of ground, but how much are they leaving behind in the process. I for one use my coil cover for what it was designed for. To scrub the ground and pick up those faint deep signals. I'm a firm believer that the closer your coil is to the ground, the better the finds. But, here again, that's just me. Reason I brought this up, I was watching a couple YT vids and the people hunting were way above the ground with their coil. How are you gonna find a deep coin like that? Am I wrong?
 
I use the XP DEUS it does not differ if you swing fast or slow ..So why swing fast it works great at the wiggle motions with the 9.5 HF coil .. coil should be about 1- 2 " above the ground for ground balance
 
You are not wrong at all hoser, drop that baby down as low as you can!
Unless of course you're exercising and out to get some fresh air :whistle:
 
I have seen many videos like that too. One guy in particular seems to be real popular and I'd love to follow him through a park. It would take me a lot longer to hunt it but I promise I'd find a lot that he missed. When I started metal detecting the best advice I got was "Low and Slow" Then again I am a threshold hunter so I like to listen for that change in the threshold. These guys are never going to know what that is swinging like that. If you have high EMI and need to be in the higher frequencies I feel it's a must to hunt like that.
 
Swing speed, swing height, amount of overlap, etc. should all depend on what you are looking for, what the environment is like, what your goals are in relation to the amount of time / area you have to cover, etc.

They all have a purpose and should be used intentionally to accomplish that purpose.

E.g. if I am at a new location that is a plowed field with unknown history, I am going to swing fast with little overlap to quickly get a broad sense of what the location is like, also to cherry pick the good targets that are near the surface. I can't count the number of people who comment "If I was detecting behind you I would find stuff you missed because I am very smart and swing slow!", yes but you aren't aware of what my goal is for that particular day given a limited amount of time to search especially in relation to the amount of area to search.

Once I have determined that a location is good, and there exists deeper targets or potentially masked targets, and I have picked all the juicy low hanging fruit, then I will slow down and overlap more. Also while you spent your time slowly and methodically chasing deep targets without any information as to how good/bad the location is, I will have picked up every silver coin that got brought to the surface from the plows or quickly determined the area is a waste of time and have moved on to greener pastures.

The variables of your swing should be adjusted to maximize the 'Expected Value' of your time. Any one particular set of swing variables isn't necessarily optimal for all locations and all situations.
 
A slow low swing is always better than a fast high swing. I have followed those young speedy folks and when they end their fast high path, I have followed them in the same path and had a time digging all the items that they have missed filling up my finds pouch with great valuable items. Just take your time and use a steady low swing with the end of your swing remaining the same height as the middle of your swing and you will learn very fast that is the very best procedure to use.
 
Swing speed depends on how fast your detector is, and as AC mentioned, what your goals are. In some scenarios with a fast detector, a fast swing speed is beneficial. I'm fairly certain Paystreak has a video demonstrating that.

As far as "too heavy" goes, I see a lot of hunters swinging their coil far away from them. That puts a lot of needless strain on their arm.
 
I use the XP DEUS it does not differ if you swing fast or slow
You Tuber "History Revisited" has a video buried somewhere in his video catalog that demonstrates the recovery speed on the Legend and D2. His test scenario was a line of coins with elevated nails placed close to, and between the coins. He was able to swing slow, or swing way faster than Paystreak, yet the D2 and Legend hit every one of the coins, despite the swing speed.

Sure, a depth loss will happen with such a high recovery speed, but for hunting in trashy sites, it's separation (speed) and unmasking that are the two most important characteristics.

BTW: Apparently, the original Nox was designed to be much faster than BBS/FBS, and it seems to me that from the Nox forward, the manufacturers (including Minelab) have made speed/separation a priority, and even improved on it since the original Nox.
 
The detector may very well be "fast" but the operator needs a bit of time to interoperate what his machine is telling him. Just slow down and enjoy the results. This old fart has years of enjoyment behind the throttle of many different fast and slow machines and even though it was detected the operator may miss the find.:rofl2:
 
For me, swing speed and swing height can be conscious forms of target discrimination like a couple of people have already alluded to. Swing speed and swing height are also dependent on the overall weight of the detector I'm using, its capabilities and the terrain.

At a new site that I am checking out that has stubble or other obstacles or if I want to just cover a lot of ground and hit shallower targets, I may swing a bit faster and a bit more off the ground than usual in order to cover more ground quickly. I am just trying to get an idea of the site's potential. I am also trying to not trip over my coil.!!!!

If I am gold prospecting with a lightweight VLF at most of the places I hunt for gold, there is no way to swing fast due to all of the plants, boulders and uneven ground. Often there is no way to even make a typical left to right swing and I spend my time pushing, pulling, half swinging the coil very slowly using all sorts of swing lengths BUT my coil is on the ground or within half an inch and moving very slowly. That gets multiplied if I am using a heavier pulse induction detector. I am looking for all sizes of gold nuggets from shallow 0.01 gram size flakes to deeper multi gram nuggets whose audio response may only be a whisper or break in the threshold.

Some of the more recently produced detectors do have faster processors and faster recovery times between targets for sure. Those same detectors also have slightly unstable target ID until I get the coil centered over the target. Really short faster swings help me to zero in the target with those detectors.

Like gold prospecting, if I am at a site like an open field, park or playground that has great potential for recent drops and deeper targets and I have plenty of time or plan to return, I will swing at least as slow as 1 second to the right and 1 second to the left with my coil as close to the ground as possible throughout the swing until I hit a possible target.

I hunt with lots of other detector users sometimes at group hunts at local parks. I see people with huge pendulum swings that never get within an inch of the ground and start and end at knee height. They are walking around aimlessly. Those folks sometimes get lucky but mostly they don't find much. Some of the more successful hunters I see walk pretty fast using XP detectors with short Paystreak type swings that are low and fast. They do pretty well. One of our most prolific hunters rarely has his coil closer than 2" from the surface but his swing is very flat and not very fast. He is just looking for shallower targets or recent drops. Others like me are low and slower swingers that target high traffic areas for shallow and deeper targets.
 
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Swing speed depends on how fast your detector is, and as AC mentioned, what your goals are. In some scenarios with a fast detector, a fast swing speed is beneficial. I'm fairly certain Paystreak has a video demonstrating that.

As far as "too heavy" goes, I see a lot of hunters swinging their coil far away from them. That puts a lot of needless strain on their arm.
If his goal is to miss more ground then he covers in a park than he demonstrates that well also. We can go to the point to say if your goal is to get from the 100th floor to the ground floor fast, that jumping off a building is a good recommendation. Which in and of itself is true but it's going to ruin the rest of your day. And yes, I would still follow behind anyone in a park as I said before who is swinging that fast and 4" off the ground. I can see how many of these Youtubers can always go back and find with a new detector what they missed with the previous one.
 
If his goal is to miss more ground then he covers in a park than he demonstrates that well also.
I might try and find his video.

If I remember correctly though, I believe he said he has a lot of large iron and other large trash in his parks. He said that with a fast recovery speed and swing speed, he doesn't get unwanted elongated tones and can distinguish between the large trash and coin sized targets better.
 
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And yes, I would still follow behind anyone in a park as I said before who is swinging that fast and 4" off the ground.
Yep for sure. I was hunting at our local ski hill that has been hammered but still produces a silver or two. I noticed a guy swinging his coil 4-6" above the ground and going a lot faster than I do. Trying to be nice I struck up a conversation with him. While talking I made the comment to keep your coil as close to the ground as possible. His response was I know what I'm doing and walked off. Okee dokee then. So to prove a point I covered the same ground he was doing and started finding good targets. I was staying quite a way from him and could see him looking every time I kneeled to dig. Must have finally hit home as he put the coil to the soil and he started digging too. I smiled and went back to the area I was doing earlier.:waytogo:
 
Yep for sure. I was hunting at our local ski hill that has been hammered but still produces a silver or two. I noticed a guy swinging his coil 4-6" above the ground and going a lot faster than I do.
Unless someone is looking for a piece of jewelry that was recently dropped, I can't imagine why anyone would detect with the coil that high above the ground.

Anyway, if he was using a fast detector, his swing speed isn't going to matter too much. These newer fast detectors can separate very well even with a fast swing speed. With a fast swing speed, it's more a matter of if your brain can keep up, and if your arm doesn't cry out in pain :)
 
At least that's the way I treat it. I can't tell you how many times I have seen someone swinging their coil four to five inches above the ground, and as fast as using a weed whip. Yep they are covering a lot of ground, but how much are they leaving behind in the process. I for one use my coil cover for what it was designed for. To scrub the ground and pick up those faint deep signals. I'm a firm believer that the closer your coil is to the ground, the better the finds. But, here again, that's just me. Reason I brought this up, I was watching a couple YT vids and the people hunting were way above the ground with their coil. How are you gonna find a deep coin like that? Am I wrong?
I have a friend who swings 9 inches above the sand... he is looking for fresh drops and doesn't want to have to dig deep... me I scrub.. as to weight none of these detectors are heavy to me... I laugh at the complaints I read about detecting being heavy... :yes:
 
Yep for sure. One thing I noticed is the older I get, the slower I move.:yoda::rofl2:
Me too.

In my younger days, I could take long arching (but level) swings all day long, have no arm pain, and do it all again the next day :) Now, I keep the coil closer to me, and by doing so, it relieves a massive amount of arm strain. Doing that along with alternating arms, and I've completed that arm strain and long term arm damage.
 
I laugh at the complaints I read about detecting being heavy... :yes:
Time will eventually quell that laughter 😉


You'll even know when it's coming. It begins with yelling at clouds :)
 
I recently saw a guy hunting a local park. Worst technique I've seen to date. Not only was he swinging ridiculously fast, but his coil was 6" off the ground, AND he was arcing his swing so that by the time he got to either side, the coil was easily a foot off the ground. I stopped and talked with the guy. He was looking for old coins, not surface stuff. He was speaking to me as if he was an old pro, and I was a newbie, so I didn't bother offering any advice. Didn't want to offend. To each his own I guess. More for me.
 
I recently saw a guy hunting a local park. Worst technique I've seen to date. Not only was he swinging ridiculously fast, but his coil was 6" off the ground, AND he was arcing his swing so that by the time he got to either side, the coil was easily a foot off the ground. I stopped and talked with the guy. He was looking for old coins, not surface stuff. He was speaking to me as if he was an old pro, and I was a newbie, so I didn't bother offering any advice. Didn't want to offend. To each his own I guess. More for me.
I wouldn't have believed your story if I had never witnessed it myself...and I've witnessed it a few times.

Do you Rattlehead, or anyone else for that matter, have any idea why some hunters do that? The only thing I can think of, is that they don't even have kindergarten level knowledge of how a metal detector works.
 
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