Posted on 25 January 20231 February 2023 by shelton75 — Leave a comment

The revolution that is not coming

I have a strange feeling that the world of metal detectors is stuck at a certain point. We have been waiting for spectacular changes for years and they are not coming… maybe they are coming differently, but on a different scale than we expected.

Minelab Manticore or XP DEUS II are really good devices, but do they bring anything groundbreaking apart from the dose of well-known solutions?

Certainly, SMF devices are better than what we know from the past, but they are also not without their flaws. The advantages include stable operation in more difficult conditions and better ID compared to single-frequency devices. More accurate signaling of objects from both ends of the scale – low and high conductors. This makes detection easier. This makes detection easier, e.g. old and fine silver is the beginning of the scale close to iron, while large is its other end in SMF, it works really well.

What disadvantages? Less resistance to EMI interference – after all, we work in a wider frequency range and slightly worse performance when it comes to depth.

In my case, I always choose an advantage in the form of better identification and separation in iron, and this can be different, opinions are divided here.

It must be remembered that such a Nexus MPV3 is completely immune to EMI interference, which makes it much deeper and, after adding the adaptive speed of separating the target, insurmountable … unfortunately, you have to pay for it and it is a device for conscious detectorists. It is not light and consumes 10 AA batteries in a short time. Something for something as they say.

We also have the Tarsacci MDT 8000 with hybrid PI and VLF technology. A mix of pulse device performance and VLF discrimination. The detector is really deep and works great in iron or with magnetic stones. Unfortunately, target signaling and its interpretation is no more difficult than in VLF and SMF devices.

It’s better, multi-frequency detectors are more stable. Such a good old Whites Spectra, using three frequencies, is much shallower and very susceptible to interference. It will not separate as well, especially in iron. In addition, under high-voltage lines, there is no chance and nothing will change it, no change of settings.

It remains to wait and watch what the next years will bring, I know that it will be interesting, that’s for sure.

Posted on 18 January 202318 January 2023 by shelton75 — Leave a comment

Depth or separation?

Depth or separation? The eternal question and sleepless nights. I choose to separate objects because this is the most crucial thing in the places where I am able to search. The race for a few inches leads to nothing constructive, but the ability to see in iron does. Scrap heavily masks targets, and it’s not big objects and nails, but also decay dust – its condensed oxides!

The electronics of the detector have to process a lot of signals in a moment, and if we add other conductors to this, the time to generate a signal is very short. Larger signals effectively cover the response of small objects – higher conductors.

The level of mineralization of the substrate, the sweep angle, the conduct of the probe, and the frequency of work are important. All this has a dramatic effect on the effects. Wrongly selected detector and incorrectly set, and there is no chance for any effects. I have experienced this many times and it was very painful. A change in approach, improved probe guidance, and higher operating frequency, and we begin to hear signals previously unavailable.

So what is my recipe for a lot of iron? It depends on many parameters, but to simplify … a higher separation speed of the so-called recovery speed, higher operating frequency, lower sensitivity to conditions, and lower discrimination. Slower sweep, still parallels to the ground. You can also raise the probe slightly up … so if we are fighting with large disturbances from the ground. It will be shallower this way, but we will hear objects that we had no idea about before.

Finally, you can use a single high-frequency operation, an adaptive refresh rate device (Nexus MP V3), or a hybrid PI/VLF detector (Tarsacci MDT), but who can afford that?!

You can find more on this BLOG and on YouTube and social media on Facebook. Speak soon. Comment under the article.

Posted on 18 January 202318 January 2023 by shelton75 — Leave a comment

Minelab Equinox vs Tarsacci MDT coin conglomerate

As you can see in the video below, Minelab lays out such a goal as a conglomerate of coins. It’s a difficult goal. Tarsacci is being tested.

Posted on 18 January 202318 January 2023 by shelton75 — Leave a comment

Tarsacci MDT 8000 how to set up?

How to set up the Tarsacci MDT 8000 detector correctly? The device has a clear and simple menu, without any hidden functions, but still requires a lot of time to take advantage of the new technology, which is not used by any other manufacturer.

The first and key choice is the operating frequency of our detector. We choose from 6.4 to 18 kHz. Interestingly, even a low frequency allows us to detect very small objects in size … well, the charm of PI (pulse induction) used in this hybrid. Lower frequency means better performance – depth, but also worse separation of objects in cluttered terrain. It is also better for signaling coin-shaped and volume objects, as opposed to foil or pieces of aluminum.

Another workflow problem. We have three types: all metal, discrimination, and mixed mode. All Metal will be good for virgin spots, where the signal appears from the holidays. We only have one and we have to look at the ID displayed on the screen. DISC is the only right solution for total trash. The signal is short and if it is repetitive you have to dig. The mixed mode gives us additional information about the size and depth of the object. Places clean or moderately littered.

Before we start, we look for a clean place and calibrate to the ground, if we still have a signal from the ground, we increase the value by 50, this should mute the device. Next, we hear the response of the ground. We can try to use the SALT function – salinity level. We pump the probe traditionally above the soil and adjust the value to mute the response. The starting point is 29. Finally, we are left with THRESHOLD – TRH. You have to be careful here. Too high a value and we lose ranges and we will not hear small objects. We always set the limit. If the ID shows low values when sweeping the probe, we need to compensate with this function.

Iron breaking through the scale and falling into color can be handled by using a DISC value of -29 or +26. Finally, there is the sensitivity adjustment. It’s not worth exaggerating. MDT 8000 already at a value of 4 is deeper than most known detectors. We eliminate all instabilities and interferences by reducing the sensitivity or changing the frequency.

I am curious about your opinions on the Tarsacci MDT 8000 detector, write under this post.