Iron hunting question (0mega or F75 LTD)

Tom you posted this response on another thread regarding hunting in iron with the O8:

"The iron range is from 0 - 40 on the Omega. BUT......as with the T2/F75 platform; If you want to unmask targets in thick/dense iron.....it becomes a requirement to discover the decomposition status of the iron you are hunting in. Then.....find where the iron JUST BARELY Disc's out.....with the utilization of a single buried nail sample. Set your Disc to JUST BARELY Disc out the nail......and keep your Disc set at this discovered/determined point. Then..........any target(s) that break squelch above this Disc set-point is now considered 'suspect' ....for further investigation. First with detector & ears............then...... after a learning curve.....with the final/ultimate shovel. "


I have a spot that has a fair amount (not blankets, but enough) of old square nails. When I've hunted it with my F70/F75 they seem to come in around 12 on the TID, I dug many to make sure.

My question is - Aside from audio fatigue, is there any advantage to running zero disc vs setting the disc up as described above when hunting nail infested sites with the O8 or F75 LTD?

Thanks!
Brian

Yes. If it's not carpets of nails; rather, quite a few nails......but scattered..........................you (on average) will do better with the F75 LTD on Disc '0' and 4-tones..........with as much Sens as conditions allow. This will allow you to ascertain greater depths..........at the slight cost of possibly masking a few targets. If the area were heavily littered with nails (carpets of nails).......you would want to use the (above post) settings in concert with monotone........and do all the unmasking that you can,,,,,,,,,,,,,,with the understanding that most probably nothing will ID properly. F75 & Omega alike.

OR.............you could do BOTH...........and enjoy the learning-curve!

((( FYI = Just because a nail ID's as a '12'......... does not mean that you need a Disc setting of '12' to silence the nail. To your surprise......it may only require a 6 or 7 Disc to Disc-out the nail ))).

Thanks Tom. I take if that the Omega would be best set to 0 disc and 99 sensitivity with 4 tones as well in a scattered nail environment (this is where I want to test it at)?

I found a 1841 seated half dime at this spot with my F70 and the 5":coil, and a 1916 merc (a bit out of place for the spot, but I'll take it), but only relics with the LTD so I want to give the Omega w/11" DD a shot there, as I suspect there must be another seated in with the nails.

Thanks,
Brian

If you plan to try the Omega there; yes, different coils will make a difference............along with monotone and Disc '16'...........AND............multitone, Disc '0' and as much Sens as you can handle.

Thanks Tom. I recall you had an Omega w/11" DD testing post, which I'm sure has all this information, but I couldn't find the post.

Where are you Cal? Considering the mineralization of your ground might be a consideration in all this. I high/moderate mineralization I think the Minelabs (esp the E-TRAC) have outstanding performance if you set the pattern correctly. As with the T2/F75/Omega less disc will get you more good masked targtets. The FT detectors are no slouches and I have a T2, F75 LTD, and Omega and I love them... the Omega is particularly fun to use and makes good finds BUT... in trash and mineralized ground, IMO, nothing touches the E-TRAC for finding masked targets but you have to use low disc patterns. I use a modified relic pattern (Jason's relic pattern). I use it mostly with ferrous/2-tones but I also use it with conductive/multi or 4-tones. (I use 2-tones in ferrous because it almost completely eliminates falsing). I also use Quickmask. I have three QM patterns I use with conductive sounds and they tend to find more than ferrous/2-tones once you've cleaned up what you can with the F/2-T. I'll describe one... it is ferrous blanked at 27 and below, conductive blanked 49 and 50, ferrous blanked 01 and 02 with 42-44 disced back in, (got that from Andy's book). Bringing those numbers back in on the 01/02 line will insure that you don't miss sliver dollars and that pattern will mostly eliminate falsing when you're in conductive sounds.

If you're on the beach with low minerals or salt then the F75/Omega will do very well if you set the GB low enough... really low. I am going to the beach soon and I usually carry only the SovereignGT but this time I am carrying the GT, V3i, E-TRAC, and F75 LTD... I want to do some comparisions.

Around here, in NW GA the V3 and E-TRAC seem to do best overall. The Omega/T2. F75 all do well too but for masked targets I don't find as much with anything as I do with the E-TRAC... in my ground... particularly in parks and other places that are "hunted out".

J

jbow I hunt with a couple of other Etrac hunters, and believe me it's dificult to keep up with them most of the time. I mainly hunt with the F75 LTD, and I believe that the ET has an advantage for turf silver hunting over the LTD. Our soil (Northern California) is complex and ever changing, and it's moderate to high in mineralization. I'm starting to like the Omega more the more I use it. One thing I'm noticing about it, is that it simply doesn't miss targets, which I feel the LTD does. I've been impressed with the depth of the Omega. I was a little unsure about its depth capabilities, until I tried it at a spot a couple of days ago where good targets are all deep, but it pulled out several 7-8" deep keepers (I don't know how much deeper it'll go in this soil, but I'd love to find out). I don't believe it'll go as deep as the LTD in BP mode, but I do feel it has a better TID, it's quieter, more stable in EMI, and it doesn't miss targets within it's capabilities of detecting.

I hunt with a CZ70 Pro, Omega 8000, F75 LTD, and have been known to use a Sovereign (although mainly for salt water beach hunting, I don't find it to be a great turf hunter).

I would love to see them make an Omega 8000 "LTD" (with a backlight too!), I think this could be the perfect detector. They blew it on the T2 LTD by only allowing the boost and cache modes to be used in 2-tone, great for relic hunting, not great for deep coin hunting in a trashy park unless you like being glued to the screen

Some day I'll try out an Etrac...

Brian