Go by the sound of the beep,ya ok?

i'm not familiar with the DFX firsthand, but i see nothing wrong with looking at the screen and getting to know the target by the sound and by what your machine is showing on it's screen.
after all, you paid for that screen, you may as well use it too. it's no different than looking at the speedometer in your car to confirm your speed, lol.
there's never anything wrong with listening to advice and making use of it when and where you can, but do what ever feels right for you as you learn your machine and what it's telling you both with the audio and visually.

and welcome to the hobby and to the forum!
HH

Pete

Hi greenhorn, welcome to the forum, I'm new to the detecting, I have a much simpler detector with only three tones. What I have found is that once you relax and start putting in a few hours that your brain kind of automatically takes over, like training your brain, and you just about know by instinct what to dig and what to leave as far as shallow coins and jewelry goes, yet, I haven't figured out the deep stuff yet, so just put in your hours and use your screen and adjustments as much as you want, it will get easier in time.

It sounds like the multi-tone function is turned off. If you see a button with a musical note, press it to turn on tone ID.

I don't even look unless I get the high-pitched 'coin beep'.

Hi Greenhorn, from the Great Lakes State of Michigan.

Let's talk DFX. It sounds like the machine is new to you, so I'll start from that assumption. It's a fantastic machine that provides the flexibility to handle just about any situation, once you really understand it. Learning the ins and outs of the machine and its' programs takes time. Jeff Foster's book Digging Deeper with the DFX will probably help you.

To start with, stay with the factory programs and settings. To many users start out trying to make many changes. This unbalances the machine, makes it either chatty, or the opposite, almost non responsive. The machine doesn't work the way they think it should, and they can't find anything but clad and junk - mostly junk. Therefore, the machine either gets sold, bad mouthed, or just put away and not used. The moral is to stay with the factory programs, until you start to understand how the adjustments work and compliment each other.

All the "old timers" are telling you to listen to the tones. Well, sure, that nice smooth metal coin sound gets your attention, now it's time to to check the most important tool you have - the SignaGraph! Don't know what the old timers are using, but it doesn't sound like a DFX. After a good tone, the SignaGraph is the first thing to check, and you have to look at the screen to see it.

Over time, the DFX is going to become a best friend. You will ultimately find the changes that work for you with the items you hunt. Surprisingly, you'll find that your modifications, are tweaks to the standard programs, not wild, radical departures.

If you have questions about your machine, you should feel free to pm me, or just post them on the forum. There are a goodly number of smart, experienced DFX users on this forum that would be glad to help you out.

HH

Hunt with the thing for about 100-150 hours.
Sorry to break this news to you but sometimes...most times...that is what it takes.

Fun learning, though, if you give it a chance.

Awesome response, dirtymoney! As a fellow DFX'er, I'll add a few quick notes.

If you're using the stock coin program, I believe Tone ID is set to OFF. So you're right, you can't go by the sound. If you turn Tone ID to ON you'll register different tones over the VDI range. It will take some getting used to, but it's a really helpful feature.

But even with tone id on, dirtymoney is so right about the signagraph. Users of other machines with tone id can do well to ignore the number showing up on the screen and go by the tone, but the signagraph gives you an added visual display with further useful information to help you determine good targets from bad, even if they sound the same (or very very similar).

Here's an example, which took a lot of practice to get right, but will show the power of the signagraph once you really learn it. In NC/VA red clay with a target at depth, all signals are going to blend together into the iron range. Simple fact of life, and true on any VLF detector. But using the signagraph, I look for deep but repeatable signals in all metal (well, I use pinpoint, which is an all metal mode) with a spread out signagraph and occasional high tone. Sometimes this is still iron, but many times its a deep nonferrous target. Now if I get that same iron tone on a deep but repeatable target with occasion highs, but the signagraph is tightly averaged over a small VDI range, it's iron. Every time. I would have missed many good targets deeper in the red clay at some of my sites (or dug a LOT more trash to get them) without the signagraph. Conversely, spread out signagraph results in the ferrous range I find are more often junk than those with tight spreads around a vdi number. But not always, so dig it anyways.

There is a lot to be said for just going out and digging a lot of stuff though. Reading the literature is great, but it takes hearing targets and digging them up before you really start to get everything the machine is telling you instinctively. Practice makes perfect and all that. Good luck!

I agree with gtoast99 the more you use it the better you wiil understand the machine !

Yes...dirty money and gtoast..yes....that signagragh in coins and jewelry mode is awesome. My partner cleans up with it. He digs very few trash items. Just coins,coins,coins. Maybe he'll chime in. I know that after some years he is now working on his own programs. That machine seems underrated to me. Good luck with it and I know we'll be seeing some great posts from you soon.

Greenhorn take a look at this site,
after you read the manual.



http://www.dfxonly.com/forum/index.php

spending time with the unit

welcome greenhorn spending time with the unit is the best way to learn the unit. Every unit is different over time you will be able to know what the unit is telling you. If i was to get a new unit i would have to spend time with it to learn what it is telling me. don't push it take your time read your manual and put some time behind


Steve