Wow thanks for the in-depth reply. I know the video was exagerrated so I am not worried. I am just having a terrible time with the Delta 4000. It is my first VDI machine and it's driving me nuts. I have to turn down the sensitivity so much, no matter how bad the ground mineralization is. It seems to just beep all of the time and on good targets that are like 8" deep, it just jumps everywhere. I don't think I am giving it enough time yet, so we will see what happens.
Ok, I think I know what is going on.
You are brand new at all this and you are going through the same confusion we all do when we are newbies.
This will pass, you just have to get some more swing time under your belt and soon you will laugh at all these problems you are having, they won't be problems when you learn a little more.
I don't have your detector but I do have an F2 and it is a close cousin.
The same guy that designed most of the Bounty Hunters also designed the F4 and another F series model and some of the Teknetics models, also.
A little of the same DNA in mine probably runs through yours so let me try to give you a few tips that might help because lots of F2 users have these same problems so I am assuming these will work for you too, and lets just pretend they are the same unit for the rest of this post.
First thing, learn to swing slow when going over targets.
Learning this now instead of swinging too fast for a long time and then trying to change is harder than learning good habits from the beginning.
Try getting good at swinging at a speed of about 1 foot per second.
The slower you go the easier the detector will be able to lock on targets and give you more accurate info on the screen.
Swing too fast and you can get that jumpy behavior you are seeing...even over good targets.
Second, turn down the sense if you have too much chatter.
The F2 is a "hot" detector...very sensitive and can pick up targets pretty deep even if it is not turned up to max and yours is probably the same.
This is important when you are brand new at this, a lot of those extra signals you are getting are what we call false.
Eventually you will learn to deal with these, you will learn by sound and info on the screen what is real and what is not, and can turn up that sense higher, but right now turn it down to a much quieter level...if you have to even lower than you usually have it now.
You can deal with all this confusing noise better when you cut some of those signals out if you can, and don't worry about losing too much depth on lower power levels.
The F2 still goes deep on the lowest setting and yours probably does too.
Third, you need to learn what those signals that show 8" deep and and others that seem good really are.
On the F2 big iron, and I am not talking about metal that is just under the coil but several inches away, irregular shapes of trash of all kinds including small pieces, more than one target under the coil at the same time and other things can cause this jumpy behavior.
As I mentioned before we call this falsing and you will eventually learn the real tones from the ghost signals.
A big tip is when you get a signal and make some passes over it real targets under the coil, especially the good ones like coins, should be repeatable and sound of in
EXACTLY the same place every time you swing over that spot.
False signals might seem like they are repeating in the same spot but in reality they don't...there will be a slight change in location, small as that might be.
When you learn a little more of what I call, "Eye-Coil Coordination" this will become easier to understand and recognize.
Just concentrate on the center of your coil and listen to when it tones and concentrate on noticing the spot when it does this.
This is a learned ability, not innate, but you will catch on eventually and this ability will also help you zero in on target locations without using the pinpoint button much when you do.
Go swing next to a fence pole or some big metal in a tot lot and watch the ground while you listen for the tone.
You will see that your detector will tone in the same place, almost but not exactly, and learn to recognize this.
On my F2 I have 3 depth bars that is supposed to give me an idea of target depth.
I don't use these for that, they are not correct a lot of times but I do use them in another way, to decide if I am hearing a real signal or a false one and also to determine if I am actually swinging over a solid real target but a trashy one.
Real signals on mine, coins, rings and whatever, will not cause those bars to jump much if at all.
Trash targets and false signals of all kinds will cause these bars to jump most of the time, and that jump will be more than 2 numbers which I actually would still consider a solid signal on my F2.
I use this to my advantage and even though I still dig a lot of trash because I choose to I usually know it is trash before I dig it and these jumping bars are an excellent clue.
You have more bars than I do.
Watch them closely on signals and notice if this is not true for you, also.
Also try to listen very closely to all the tones you hear.
Solid, good targets will actually sound different...louder, fuller, crisper than the false ones which a lot of times would be more "squeaky".
Again. a learned ability, nobody is born with this, but we all learn, eventually.
For now I would concentrate on just looking for and digging the more solid repeatable in the same place signals, including the trash...just ignore the others for now.
We all dig a lot of empty holes when we are new, but eventually we stop doing that as we learn more of the language of our detectors, the sound of those tones which are different as you get better at this.
Use these tips which are pretty universal for most detectors, use headphones if you have them to hear all signals better, go slow and just keep swinging.
The more you practice the better you get at this hobby and most things will start to make sense and "click" when you reach certain points in this learning curve.
It is different for everyone, but we all get through it and when that happens you will see how much fun this hobby really can be.
