Tarsacci Cookbook and best ideas

I have read almost every post on most forums about the Tarsacci. What I have rarely seen are post that detail best setting for the environment that people are using. I realize that if you have killer settings for your environment, you would be a little hesitant to share. You earned those settings through hard work. My reason for looking for this topic to be populated is so that the Tarsacci becomes a more popular detector and Dimitar has the funding to produce the Tarsacci 2. If the Tarsacci becomes more popular then it becomes easier for us to request a smaller and a larger coil to be produced. Yes I realize that it will increase competition, but only by a few hundred users and not thousands like the Equinox hoard.

What I am looking for is what settings or tips you have for your environment. I guess that I should start by putting my money where my mouth is. Put up or shut up, right. So here are my best setting and ideas.

I hunt wet sand and splash zone on fairly flat Carolina beaches. My standard settings ar Salt 45, Frequency 6.4k, Threshold -1, Discrimination -30, Sensitivity 8, Mixed Mode and GB 630 +-50 points. I have found, for me, Frequency of 6.4k is best on the beach where high emi is caused by iPhones, condo wifi and hotels and mineralization is very low. I also found that 6.4K punches deeper than the other Frequencies. I have found that 6.4K has no trouble finding gold rings or small items on the beach. I found that Threshold setting is much more important than Sensitivity setting. If I have to lower settings to tame emi, I will lower Sensitivity before I lower Threshold. I found that if I am over a weak, scratchy signal and have trouble pinpointing that target, if I raise the Sensitivity to 9, I am able to pinpoint and the target locks on much better. After target recovery I will return the Sensitivity back to 8. The reason I set the discrimination to -30 is so that I can hear where the iron is. Iron usually gives me a better idea where the good targets are on the beach. Someone told me once that treasure usually runs with trash, and I found that to be true more than not. As I walk to a new spot to detect I will keep the machine on and hover the coil about an inch above the beach as I am walking to the new spot. With the Tarsacci the recovery rate is fast enough that it will sound off if you walk over a target. I like to think of it as trolling for targets, especially when my arms and shoulder are really tired. Like after detecting for 6 straight days.

I hope that other Tarsacci users would add their setting and tips for Relic hunting, salt water hunting, fresh water hunting, high mineraliztion land hunts and high mineralization beach hunts. I would love to see the Tarsacci as a machine someone can buy, turn it on and have a place to go to learn how to use it from people who have had success with this fantastic machine.

Beroxy,

You said you have read "most every post" on "most forums" about the Tarsacci. Have you read all the posts about the Tarsacci, on the MDT 8000 thread on THIS forum? Reason I ask is, YES, it's ALOT to read, but if you do, you will find that MANY Tarsacci users have posted, IN DETAIL, with reasoning included, how they run the machine in various situations, and why. I am not trying to be difficult, I'm simply saying that I believe that if you read through that entire thread, I think you will not only have your questions answered, but you'll have a MUCH better feel for WHY folks use the settings they do, not just "what" those settings happen to be for each user.

I think with the Tarsacci in particular (though it's true with other machines too to perhaps a slightly lesser degree), understanding WHY to set your machine up in a certain way, and what to change to combat various situations you may encounter, is more important information than just the particular settings that are generally used by specific users.

Just my two cents. But since you asked, my settings for what it's worth (though I hunt turf, not beaches) are generally nearly identical to yours across the board, though I usually run disc. mode, and not mixed mode.

Steve

I have read the 88 pages of post three times from cover to cover. A lot of great material there, but I was hoping for something a little easier for a new person. Like on your post: Do you turn the sensitivity down a little in trashy sights to enhance the Tarsacci's ability to separate targets? Does the mineralization of your soil cause you to alter your settings to increase your recovery rate? What tricks have you found, that are not on the 88 pages of posts, that make you really enjoy using the Tarsacci. Aaron's forum was a very valuable source for information, but it appears to be gone. There are very few youtube video's on the Tarsacci and even less that talk about settings or are in English.

Steve you are not being difficult, I just hoped people would step up and help put together an index of best ideas. I guess I was asking for to much.

Beroxy.......you are spot-on......on two accounts:

Your settings are nearly exacting as mine for the wet-salt beach. (Yet, I primarily use 9Khz.....and ....... conditions allowing: 18Khz for salt beach). Sometimes if my sand is extra flat/smooth....... I can drop Thresh down to 0.
And yes; Thresh adjustments make MORE difference/delta.....than Sens adjustments. Almost a 2:1 ratio (difference).

I'm the one 'driving' the 88 pages. Even though the thread is huge/cumbersome/difficult-to-navigate......... it is best to keep "data consolidation" as a top priority. Having multiple 'specific topic' threads is good.......... until we incur 'time-lapse'.......,,,,,,,,,,,.......... then the threads are buried all over the pages-and-pages of the forum.

being a relative newbie my questions were never 'what are your settings?' .. but, 'why are your settings what they are' .. more of my answers came from experimenting than from someone else ..it may be a shared starting point but, a crap shoot to think any adjustment would be the same number for somewhere else besides where I'm hunting. .. if a machine only runs best at one setting there would be no reason to make the setting adjustable.

Tom....I agree that keeping the information consolidated is what I am striving for. I would bet that over 75% of the 88 page post is congratulations and agreement post and only about 25% is actual detecting, settings and epiphany moments. If we can consolidate the highlights of the 88 pages in an easier to read format, I feel we would be better off.

ScoTTT2....I could not agree more that you learn so much more from using the machine instead of reading about the machine. There are many of us out here that have used the machine in the wild and have a lot of tips and tricks.

I can go on Youtube and watch thousands of videos on the Equinox. I can watch hundreds of videos on the Deus 2 that isn't even available for delivery yet. How many videos are there of the Tarsacci? If I were a new person looking for a new metal detector, which one do you think I would buy? The ones that are easy to research or the one I have to read for days through 88 pages of posts to get me excited about a new machine?

I thought the cookbook could be our best practice handbook. That's all I was trying to accomplish here.

Understandably ... with all of Aaron's work seemingly and suddenly MIA, and Relics 1864 lack of new videos .. there is a void to fill with such a 'cook book' ... but with the amount of new videos of the D2, mostly compared to a less expensive machine .. I wonder why we haven't seen the best bang for the buck, heads up, knock down, drag out comparison video of the two same priced detectors, Tarsacci and Deus2 .. is it apples to oranges?

ScoTTT2
Of all the Deus 2 videos that I have watched, for the most part, the maker of the video either received their Deus 2 for free and or are dealers for XP. Some of the people who are posting on all the forums about how wonderful the Deus 2 is, even though they admit to not owning or even using one, admit they are receiving a free new detector. I am not accusing anyone of being dishonest, but I am a huge fan of full disclosure. I am very pleased that I am not seeing comparison videos between the Deus 2 and the Tarsacci on the beach. I would have to believe that if the Deus 2 could easily beat the Tarsacci on the beach, we would have seen the video by now. Just like if the Deus could easily beat the Tarsacci in Culpepper VA dirt, we would have already seen the Video. I believe the Deus 2 is designed to be a Nox killer, but I sold my Nox after one week of using the Tarsacci on the beach. Maybe I am wrong and maybe the Deus 2 is better than the Tarsacci on the beach, but I am not spending $1600 to find out.

Beroxy --

First of all, PLEASE understand I was not trying to be snarky or anything, but was really trying to be helpful. I knew NASA-Tom likes to keep most things "consolidated," and I truly wasn't sure if you had ready the full thread here, and I find that thread a GREAT resource (though, yes, with alot of posts in there that are NOT specifically relevant to "performance.")

I know what you are/were trying to do, and no -- it's not "too much to ask for." I can tell that you missed the "tone" of my post, and thought I was being a bit of a jerk. I was more trying to say that I found most of the answers to what I felt you were looking for, when I studied that thread just prior to getting/using my Tarsacci.

To answer your questions in your second post, I really can't share any "deeper" or "more expert" thoughts on settings, as I do NOT have the experience yet, using the machine. I'm still very much in the learning phase. I can say that I use ground balance religiously to keep down what I call "ground chatter," the quiet ground feedback that I get, and use sensitivity -- and then threshold if necessary -- to try and reduce audible EMI, when necessary. Switching frequencies is something else I've had to do on occasion purely to mitigate EMI. BUT -- as far as adjusting settings to improve target acquisition, etc. is to a level of expertise that is beyond me so far, as I'm still in the "learning how a good target vs. a junk target" behave with this platform in the first place, and haven't yet moved to the "how can I IMPROVE target detectability," or "improve separation," or anything like that.

Please accept the olive branch, as my attempts to be "helpful" seem to have been interpreted as a bit of hostile snarkiness...

I do totally get the idea of a thread SPECIFICALLY dedicated to "expert usage" of the Tarsacci specifically, but one issue is that to keep such a thread "on point" and "on topic," it would require moderation to constantly remove posts that begin to veer from this very specific objective/topic, and that moderation is something that has never been a part of the way this forum operates, and so I fear such a topic would unfortunately end up "off in the weeds," and a year or two from now the same complaint (too much superfluous information/posts) would apply to THAT thread, too...

Steve

steveg........ absolutely spot-on. With multiple/repeat experiences on this forum........... I have never seen/witnessed a thread that stayed 'on topic'. I have zero problems with this; yet, if a 'technicals only' thread HELD TO ITS INTENT......... it would indeed be a dream!
With the monster Tarsacci thread....... you do have to skip the accolade posts.....in order to (more rapidly) get to the technical posts.

Steve,
I did not consider your initial post to be snarky or aggressive. Your post on page 88 with the 2 barber dimes is exactly what I am talking about. Excellent. The second point that you make above is really valid. If I look through this topic alone only about 3 or 4 of the 10 post are Cookbook worthy. Sorry if my response seemed short and aggressive. My dog woke me up at 2:00 in the morning and I wasn't really happy with him. Again no offense intended from me to you.

Tom,
Is there a way we can remove post that do not stay on topic? Such as my couple of posts that ramble wildly off topic?

Beroxy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Steve,
> I did not consider your initial post to be snark
> y or aggressive.

I am glad/thankful to hear that!

>Your post on page 88 with the 2
> barber dimes is exactly what I am talking about.
> Excellent.

Thanks, though I hope someday to be able to offer deeper insight into the machine. It's a different animal, for sure...

>The second point that you make above i
> s really valid. If I look through this topic alon
> e only about 3 or 4 of the 10 post are Cookbook w
> orthy. Sorry if my response seemed short and aggr
> essive. My dog woke me up at 2:00 in the morning
> and I wasn't really happy with him. Again no offe
> nse intended from me to you.


LOL! I can relate to you there. I work nights sometimes, so I sleep during the day, and there's nothing more frustrating than being awakened by a barking dog in the middle of your sleep!

Thanks for the "grace" regarding my initial post!

Steve

I think it is a good idea to have a second, more hands on how- to thread for the Tarsacci MDT 8000. Other peoples settings a only a general guide. Understanding what the settings do & how they interact with other settings & conditions is what I am working on getting a better understanding of. The machine is good enough to surprise you even with middle of the road settings. You would have to TRY to set it up to NOT report on fairly deep targets, even in bad dirt. The learning curve is in the audio first, then fine tuning to site conditions to get optimal performance.
For me, a test garden has been indispensable to learn the audio, learn the limitations of lower Sensitivity & Threshold & how Salt Balance interacts with Ground Balance and the effect Black Sand on/off gives. I just yesterday completed a new high mineral red dirt test bed. I have already learned some new insights for the Tarsacci & my other detectors.
I will try to contribute what I can to this thread, though others here have more experience & better insight.

Chris

Someone could copy and paste all the important tech data on to a new "Tarsacci Data Only" topic and leave all the accolades. Any accolades posted in the data page would be transferred over to the non-tech page. It'd have to be maintained on the regular. Who has the power and want,to do this?

Or, better idea, individual posters can copy and paste for themselves and make their personal tech notes on their Tarsacci, picking and choosing their preferences about the unit.Personally, I don't mind the non tech stuff. My posts are never user helpful or technical, . . not in me.

I started that project back over a year ago sometime during the shutdown, but even that became too overwhelming to me and I gave up. It’s just a vast amount of information and time for one person with all that copy and paste, and although we try to stick closely to using “just” the technical posts, it is doubtful we would all agree on every posts that should be included to make a proper cookbook. Still it would be immensely useful, so maybe if we break up the task into more manageable bites, say 10 or 15 pages per interested party, would the job be more manageable? Just floating ideas because I’d like to see it consolidated/streamlined too …

When the machine first came out Tom said this was a machine for a those with a certain skill set. SteveG...... it reminds me of learning the Explorer it really took time to understand that smart screen and those weak signals. Then came the E-Trac that shortened that curve for the average hunter. No one to my knowledge had gotten in the water very deep with it when i got it...... simply because it wasnt rated for that (thou capable i believe). I may have been the guy who clogged up that huge thread with my posts and finds. The MDTs setting to me are very site oriented. Like SteveG said you have to really get into how the setting affect each other and how they change..... in my case from dry, to wet sand .... from ankle deep water to chin deep. The Gulf is unique hunting..... its not the ocean and we get to hunt year round. You cant really GB..... it can change a good bit just taking a few steps. Tom came up with a pretty good GB for us around 560. It works well here thou i do adjust it when things change and i cant get it settled down in the water. I believe that because of our gray mud bottom that we sometimes get in the bottom of our troughs or a lot of concentrated black sand in the shallow. I never really liked the to fast ping pong tones so i prefer AM and switch back to disc when i cant see the screen on a found target. I have tried all the freqs and found the lower two work best for my hunting and allows me to keep the SB lower. There is no perfect multi use machine so you have to accept you wont get some targets..... but my target is gold and this machine does very well on deep gold. I have yet to find a piece of iron that turned into a gold rings...... something that does happen with others ive hunted with. There isnt much any of us miss during recent drop time if we get our coil over it. Winter .... you have to hunt differently. I change it up. Sometimes i ignore anything that gives me a hint of iron..... or anything above a 12 digital reading and i slow down and hunt carefully. I also found there is a difference with the two coils. On the standard i simply adjusted the salt setting up to smooth it out a little .... on the 12, you may have to go the other way down. Good example is the 12 coil when in 12kzh moving it up from 23 with the standard ..... down to 18 in the wash. Ive not replied much on the dirt use simply because im not using it for dirt and when Tom replied i wanted others to see that he made a post. I appreciate this machine has power and keeps me learning. The SB is something i believe we will see on more machines giving us a leap forward. Right now i like the competition going on..... and i bet the dealers do as well.

Bill......... the only way to remove posts is for ADMIN (moderator) to edit/audit....and manually remove. I 'think' I have the ability to 'moderate'..........but............it is because I do not have the time to perform such..........that keeps me away from doing it. Plus.........there's some fairly big 'negatives' in removing people's posts. It's @#$%& Box syndrome.
I TRY to use my limited time.....to post meaningful data.....when I can.
I think a "technicals only" thread would be highly beneficial. (Almost like a blog).


TEST:
@#$%&
P A N D O R A
@#$%&'s Box syndrome



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2022 02:14AM by NASA-Tom.

Beroxy, I get it, you just want the core info, without the fluff. Start the same thread on the Tarsacci Forum at the link below, and I will be more than happy to moderate/delete superfluous posts.

Tarsacci Forum

It seems to me that interested people with actual experience & knowledge can review their past posts & re summarize them here. I know my experience has evolved.

Chris

Well we have reached a crossroads with this topic. We have two very interesting offers with various pros and cons:
1. Tom has offered to host the Tarsacci Cookbook. The pros of this arrangement is that we have the 88 page Tarsacci file to pick best practices from and this forum is the birthplace of the Tarsacci as we know it. The con is Tom admits that he will not moderate this topic and it could easily go off topic and become as combersome as the 88 page MDT-8000 post.

2. Steve Herschbach has offered to host the Tarsacci Cookbook on his forum, Detector Prospector. The pros are Steve has offered to moderate this post, remove post that do not stay on subject or are deemed fluff. The con is we lose the 88 pages of posts on the MDT-8000 post.

Since we all pretty much use both Forums, Tom's and Steve's, I am looking for a group vote as to which forum the group wants the Tarsacci Cookbook to reside on. You can voice your opinion in a post or by sending me a PM. Thank you in advance for your opinion.

Well, I was not trying to start anything. I thought you just tried to get your idea going with this thread, and kind of got told reasons why it was not hoping to happen. So I offered an alternative, but kind of regret it now, as it looks like I'm trying to steal away something from this forum. It's the internet, you can have your cake and at it too, so I don't understand the comment about losing the 88 page thread. It's not going anywhere I assume. Whatever, I've got a dedicated Tarsacci Forum been up for almost two years, anyone is welcome. Other than that I'll leave this be, best wishes to you all for a wonderful 2022.

Steve H

Personally, I think Steve H's idea is a good one.

For anyone that wants to see the information in the big MDT-8000 thread here, it's not going anywhere; we won't "lose" it, and I'm SURE that some of what would be posted in Steve's forum/thread would be cross-posted to the MDT-8000 thread here. BUT -- since NASA-Tom has neither the time, NOR the desire (for noble, free-speech reasons) to "moderate" posts...

Steve H. runs a great forum, and he DOES moderate, and fairly/intelligently, in my opinion. He will routinely move posts to more appropriate "places" when necessary, and if he's saying he's willing to keep a specific Tarsacci "technicals" post "on topic," he will. It would just be ANOTHER place to go, to get Tarsacci info, and a thread that cold work the way Beroxy initially envisioned. And with Aaron's "Tarsacci" forum apparently gone, this forum, and Steve's, seem to be the two that will continue to allow Tarsacci users to post, and get information.

To me, it's less of an "either/or," and more of a "both/and." The MDT-8000 thread here is not going away, and will continue to be added to over time, sans moderation. Excellent! Meanwhile, a "moderated," "on-topic" Tarsacci "set-up/settings/best practices" thread can be maintained at Steve's forum, where Steve can keep it "on topic." Excellent!

Just my two cents...

Steve



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2022 12:38AM by steveg.

@#$%&
P A N D O R A' S box syndrome
@#$%&

Why does the word: p a n d o r a .......get scrambled!?

I for one enjoy & learn from both forums & will continue to do so. .Each has it's own flavor. I actually print off what is important to me & keep in a detector dedicated notebook. I have been re reading some posts I have highlighted this evening on the Tarsacci. Good information is valuable not momentary.

Chris

I know Aaron discussed questions some posted on his forum with Dimitar and made his reply based on this info. He worked pretty closely it seems with him while getting his site up and being a dealer passing on into of changes we'd like to see. Dimitar has a FB page i believe but its not suited for what you are wanting done i dont believe. Hes one busy guys as well. However, im hoping Dimitar keeps an eye on the posts and drops in occasionally (where ever this ends up) with clarification to his machine and its operation. Aaron provided some good info on updates to the machine as well. A lot of that fluff or accolade posts were from finds trying to show how well the machine functioned on the beach. Some from me since i was the first to use it in the water very much. Interesting idea.

Sorry for the delay. My Mother had surgery this week and my Dad is also having health issues. I will try to update and get this idea going this weekend.

My initial tips for using the Tarsacci MDT 8000 are;
Begin learning the detector at modest Sensitivity & Threshold levels. You do not have to run this machine Hot to get good depth. Quiet stability is the key to seeing the unique abilities the MDT can bring. With experience you will get a feel for how to set it up for a site. Some sites will allow high settings, many only moderate, some only minimum. Quiet stability is always the base. The depth Will be there.
Try different Headphones to find the pair that sound the best to you. The supplied ones are good, but have no independent volume control. They are loud. They also sounded a little muffled to me. The Disc tones are subtle & can get lost in Mixed mode. For me, a set of 150 ohm Killer B's was a big improvement. I know Keith Southern stated he liked the Garrett Clear Sound headphones. They are much lower ohm rated. That shows that everyone hears differently so try out everything you can. The audio is the biggest learning curve. It sounds weird at first but trust it as primary & TID as a secondary indicator. Hunt by tone. Listen for the subtleties.
Pay attention to your coil control & sweep speed as they are important for the Tarsacci to perform to it's capabilities. It works best with medium speed, Full Pass sweeps. It needs to see the big picture of target And soil And iron. If you zero in on just the "target" it loses its point of reference.
There is still alot for me to learn but it is NOT a hard detector to run within reason. It IS alot of fun and does some interesting things other detectors can't. It will surprise you every time out.

Chris