Minelab Explorer SE Pro Help!

Hey there. I am relatively new to my Explorer SE. I only use the SEF 6X8 and SEF 10X12. I have similar "problems". It seems whenever I try to change settings things get a little crazy for me and I always end up going back to factory settings and using Smartscreen. I am making better finds than ever with this detector but I know I need more time out with it and I need to buckle down and study "The Minelab Explorer and E-Trac Handbook" by Andy Sabisch which I already have. Lately I have been changing only one parameter at a time to determine exactly what it does. Yesterday, while in factory preset Smartscreen I switched on "FAST" for recovery speed. Gave it a try about an hour and decided I didn't like it. Today I'll test another parameter and learn what it does. Hopefully I'll soon know how to use different settings together. I'm sure the book will explain this for me too. BTW, I never use the dual-number screen- I just can't remember what they indicate. Anyway, this is my experience with less than 100 hours with my Explorer SE. I love this detector and it does get better every time I go out. GL and HH. Matt

I am looking forward to others' response to your questions. GL and HH. Matt

Thanks for the response Matthias.

I too love the detector. But if I could only understand what she's trying to tell me I'd be a lot happier

I wonder what is the best setting for audio discrimination. I'm always in iron mode so maybe that has an impact?

I like to run an open screen and use the SMART screen. I also like Ferrous sounds.
Here's some info on the smart screen http://www.frontiernet.net/~jvokes/exscreens.htm

This thread has a lot of great info on the Explorer http://www.findmall.com/read.php?19,2015660

REAL_RAT_FINK said:

Am I setting up my machine wrong? Anyone else have a similar experience?

Click to expand...

Your ML operators manual should include a section about target identification that explains why it may be hard for "any" detector to correctly ID a target. The mixture of alloys in jewelry & coins may provides many different combinations of IDs, and those combinations are then multiplied by the effects of salt, mineralization, depth, and halo effects. Therefore, the machine does its best to ID the target, but it is not 100% certain.

At the beach (salt-water), many 10-14k gold items show the same as bottlecaps and even iron. This is confirmed in the Andy Sabisch tips and tricks book that comes with many of the Explorers. Therefore, when in a hurry to cover ground ahead of other detectorists, you might set discrimination in an attempt to just uncover the big ticket items. However, Andy re-explains the ID section discussed in the operators manual and then goes on to explain that running discrimination often misses deeper targets or good targets that are covered by junk. Therefore, run without any discrimination, even iron mask. Then listen to the audible signals to decide whether or not you want to dig. In reality, to find gold, you'll dig all the mid & low tones....so yes, you will still get junk iron, bottlecaps, pull tabs and canslaw, but you "will not miss" the potential to get gold.