DIGGER27
In Memory Of
Thanks to bigboar and NED, and Bart's deals at BigBoysHobbies, lots of new people now own or will own a shiny, (matte black, actually), brand new Propointer!
Also a bunch of others have recently picked up one of these and more are thinking about it.
I have used one since last June, and I can tell you it has become such a part of me and my hunting, I had to get a second one...just in case.
I am always trying to get better at gauging depth with my detectors, but I am a little better with the Propointer at this point in my MD career.
I am no super expert, but I have learned a few things and I wrote down the way I use it and sent a few PM's to a couple members that asked me about using it last year.
I am just going to copy the techniques here, and maybe it could be helpful to a couple of you guys.
I rarely have to kneel down, nowadays, unless I am digging real deep, my holes are usually very small in diameter, and recovery is usually fast and efficient which is great because this is a volume business.
HH
*******************************************************
Some background.
I started out with a real bad detector, BH Pioneer EX, which could pinpoint to an area the size of Rhode Island on a good day.
That, plus the fact that I had a large mineralization and falsing problem and very little experience, made me dig holes that were huge and it took forever to find the target...if I could find it at all.
Then I got the HF pinpointer, a real game changer.
I could find the targets in the dirt quicker, and it helped when the target was in the wall.
Considering the detector I was using, it really helped speed up recovery and made all my hunts much less frustrating.
A few months later, I upgraded to a Vaquero, Lesche digger and a Propointer.
All three, and I am not kidding here, changed my world.
The digger is fantastic, the Vaq is light years from my original unit, and out of all three, the Propointer was the thing that really made this hobby more fun and relaxing and much less frustrating than I could imagine.
I will never go on a hunt without it, and most people that use it say the same.
This is how I use it.
I use the Vaq or the F2 to pinpoint the target, and both can get me real close.
I switch my detector to my left hand, reach for my pointer hanging in my tool pouch on my right side, and turn on the switch as I bend over and place my detector on the ground.
I put the tip of the PP on the ground and feel for the vibrations.
Since my unit finds targets at least 2 inches down, or if you press the tip into the ground maybe 3-4 inches deep, all I have to do is find the spot with the fastest vibrations and sound, turn the unit off and then on which detunes the unit and shortens its field and move the tip around to find a stronger signal and do it again.
This process will narrow the place you need to dig to about a 1/2 - 1 inch area.
I wil usually detune at least once, maybe twice to really zero in.
Maybe 3 times if it is being difficult.
I bend over and stick my digger in the ground and just dig a very small plug, (literally the width of my Lesche), or just pry up a few inches of dirt and out pops the target, usually.
The hole is real small and I can just push it back in and step on it and it closes up like I wasn't even there.
The whole process actually takes me about 10 to 20 seconds to recover targets this way.
I never hit my knee and I sometimes don't even have to put my detector down...
Locate with my detector...bend over...find and detune 2 times...pop the target...stomp the grass...move on.
That is the process for shallow targets.
For deeper targets, This is my technique.
Locate, bend over,pointer on the ground and feel for vibrations.
By the way it reacts I can usually gauge how deep the target is.
Loudest audio and fastest vibrations..surface or just under.
A little less vibrations and audio..an inch or two down.
Faint vibrations and audio...3-4 inches in depth.
No vibrations or audio...more than 4 inches down.
If I feel even slight vibrations and I suspect the target is more than 3 inches, I will kneel and dig a small plug, usually about 2-3 inches wide.
I can go pretty deep on a hole this size, especially by using the pointer to detune and zero in exactly where to dig.
If I don't feel any vibrations with the pointer, I dig a little bigger plug if I think I have to go deeper than 4-5 inches.
Of course on a big or deep hole that detuning technique works really well to show you the direction you need to dig fast and efficiently.
If you have a pretty wide hole and you get the same sound and vibration as you move it around the perimeter and across the bottom, the target is going to be a can or something else huge, so I have to decide at that point if I want to proceed.
(See info about range, below).
Other advantages to using this.
Sometimes I get a smaller signal with my detectors but the pinpointer shows metal in a much larger area. This is usually going to be junk.
You can actually "paint" a picture of the object, (long rods, large can lids etc), by moving the tip around an area.
I can press the tip in the ground and drag it over an area to find a deeper target, (just a slight beep and vibration), and if the pointer picks it up, I know something is there but a pretty deep.
If you use the sliding coin trick to supertune the unit, these faint signals will come in a little stronger so you can find them easier.
Detune and supertune info here...
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=68414
RANGE IN THE FIELD
If I get a solid pretty good signal, dig down a few inches and still get a similar signal, then dig deeper and get a stronger signal but still no target, unless I am hunting for relics, I cover up the hole and move on because it's something really big and/or really deep.
The PP will pick up coin size objects at a range of about 2 inches or more, definitely more if supertuned.
Larger objects have a much longer range.
A doorknob is picked up at 4", the downspout on my outside wall at 8 1/2", and my truck at 10-12"...not supertuned.
Always use common sense...this thing will pick up a full can size target much deeper than a coin.
6-8" or even more in moist ground. The same with large pieces of iron or any aluminum.
I use it around fence lines and tot lot equipment to get closer than my regular coils.
Search the area on full power as close to the large metal as possible, then place the tip about 2-3 inches away and detune...you can now get closer to the big metal and find stuff others have missed due to masking.
Side scanning, (yes, it scans to the side,too),over hole dirt or in the hole will find anything remaining without having to grab the detector to check your dug dirt.
(I still suggest you do one final scan with your detector just before and after closing up the hole).
I have also started to hunt with a piece of coat hanger that I have wrapped around my thumb on one hand and cut off so it sits there like a ring.
When I come across a signal with my detector and cannot locate it at all with the PP, I can move my thumb slightly up till it chirps and then back down to switch it into supertune mode.
For me, this works much better than pulling out a coin and moving it up and back to do this.
Works like a charm.
I put a sticker over the speaker because I don't like the attention, but I don't need the audio at all because the vibrations will tell you all you need to know without taking off headphones, even if you are using some thick gloves.
One member wrote his experienced father exclaimed after using one of these for the first time ...
"I finally found the other half of my detector!"
I must say that I wholeheartedly have to agree!
HH
Also a bunch of others have recently picked up one of these and more are thinking about it.
I have used one since last June, and I can tell you it has become such a part of me and my hunting, I had to get a second one...just in case.
I am always trying to get better at gauging depth with my detectors, but I am a little better with the Propointer at this point in my MD career.
I am no super expert, but I have learned a few things and I wrote down the way I use it and sent a few PM's to a couple members that asked me about using it last year.
I am just going to copy the techniques here, and maybe it could be helpful to a couple of you guys.
I rarely have to kneel down, nowadays, unless I am digging real deep, my holes are usually very small in diameter, and recovery is usually fast and efficient which is great because this is a volume business.
HH
*******************************************************
Some background.
I started out with a real bad detector, BH Pioneer EX, which could pinpoint to an area the size of Rhode Island on a good day.
That, plus the fact that I had a large mineralization and falsing problem and very little experience, made me dig holes that were huge and it took forever to find the target...if I could find it at all.
Then I got the HF pinpointer, a real game changer.
I could find the targets in the dirt quicker, and it helped when the target was in the wall.
Considering the detector I was using, it really helped speed up recovery and made all my hunts much less frustrating.
A few months later, I upgraded to a Vaquero, Lesche digger and a Propointer.
All three, and I am not kidding here, changed my world.
The digger is fantastic, the Vaq is light years from my original unit, and out of all three, the Propointer was the thing that really made this hobby more fun and relaxing and much less frustrating than I could imagine.
I will never go on a hunt without it, and most people that use it say the same.
This is how I use it.
I use the Vaq or the F2 to pinpoint the target, and both can get me real close.
I switch my detector to my left hand, reach for my pointer hanging in my tool pouch on my right side, and turn on the switch as I bend over and place my detector on the ground.
I put the tip of the PP on the ground and feel for the vibrations.
Since my unit finds targets at least 2 inches down, or if you press the tip into the ground maybe 3-4 inches deep, all I have to do is find the spot with the fastest vibrations and sound, turn the unit off and then on which detunes the unit and shortens its field and move the tip around to find a stronger signal and do it again.
This process will narrow the place you need to dig to about a 1/2 - 1 inch area.
I wil usually detune at least once, maybe twice to really zero in.
Maybe 3 times if it is being difficult.
I bend over and stick my digger in the ground and just dig a very small plug, (literally the width of my Lesche), or just pry up a few inches of dirt and out pops the target, usually.
The hole is real small and I can just push it back in and step on it and it closes up like I wasn't even there.
The whole process actually takes me about 10 to 20 seconds to recover targets this way.
I never hit my knee and I sometimes don't even have to put my detector down...
Locate with my detector...bend over...find and detune 2 times...pop the target...stomp the grass...move on.
That is the process for shallow targets.
For deeper targets, This is my technique.
Locate, bend over,pointer on the ground and feel for vibrations.
By the way it reacts I can usually gauge how deep the target is.
Loudest audio and fastest vibrations..surface or just under.
A little less vibrations and audio..an inch or two down.
Faint vibrations and audio...3-4 inches in depth.
No vibrations or audio...more than 4 inches down.
If I feel even slight vibrations and I suspect the target is more than 3 inches, I will kneel and dig a small plug, usually about 2-3 inches wide.
I can go pretty deep on a hole this size, especially by using the pointer to detune and zero in exactly where to dig.
If I don't feel any vibrations with the pointer, I dig a little bigger plug if I think I have to go deeper than 4-5 inches.
Of course on a big or deep hole that detuning technique works really well to show you the direction you need to dig fast and efficiently.
If you have a pretty wide hole and you get the same sound and vibration as you move it around the perimeter and across the bottom, the target is going to be a can or something else huge, so I have to decide at that point if I want to proceed.
(See info about range, below).
Other advantages to using this.
Sometimes I get a smaller signal with my detectors but the pinpointer shows metal in a much larger area. This is usually going to be junk.
You can actually "paint" a picture of the object, (long rods, large can lids etc), by moving the tip around an area.
I can press the tip in the ground and drag it over an area to find a deeper target, (just a slight beep and vibration), and if the pointer picks it up, I know something is there but a pretty deep.
If you use the sliding coin trick to supertune the unit, these faint signals will come in a little stronger so you can find them easier.
Detune and supertune info here...
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=68414
RANGE IN THE FIELD
If I get a solid pretty good signal, dig down a few inches and still get a similar signal, then dig deeper and get a stronger signal but still no target, unless I am hunting for relics, I cover up the hole and move on because it's something really big and/or really deep.
The PP will pick up coin size objects at a range of about 2 inches or more, definitely more if supertuned.
Larger objects have a much longer range.
A doorknob is picked up at 4", the downspout on my outside wall at 8 1/2", and my truck at 10-12"...not supertuned.
Always use common sense...this thing will pick up a full can size target much deeper than a coin.
6-8" or even more in moist ground. The same with large pieces of iron or any aluminum.
I use it around fence lines and tot lot equipment to get closer than my regular coils.
Search the area on full power as close to the large metal as possible, then place the tip about 2-3 inches away and detune...you can now get closer to the big metal and find stuff others have missed due to masking.
Side scanning, (yes, it scans to the side,too),over hole dirt or in the hole will find anything remaining without having to grab the detector to check your dug dirt.
(I still suggest you do one final scan with your detector just before and after closing up the hole).
I have also started to hunt with a piece of coat hanger that I have wrapped around my thumb on one hand and cut off so it sits there like a ring.
When I come across a signal with my detector and cannot locate it at all with the PP, I can move my thumb slightly up till it chirps and then back down to switch it into supertune mode.
For me, this works much better than pulling out a coin and moving it up and back to do this.
Works like a charm.
I put a sticker over the speaker because I don't like the attention, but I don't need the audio at all because the vibrations will tell you all you need to know without taking off headphones, even if you are using some thick gloves.
One member wrote his experienced father exclaimed after using one of these for the first time ...
"I finally found the other half of my detector!"
I must say that I wholeheartedly have to agree!
HH
Well said Digger... I got one a few weeks ago !!! 
what a great tool to have in your pouch. Rely nice for shallow stuff. I cant say enough about how handy these thing are. Best 120 bucks i ever spent on this hobbie. 
