Instruction Manual
Quick Start 1 Turn on Safari by pressing the Power button. 2 On initial start-up, your detector will default to the factory Coin Mode. 3 To select a different factory preset Detect Mode, press and release the appropriate Mode button. 4 The icon next to the corresponding preset Detect Mode, indicates that a factory preset Mode has been selected. The detector will apply the factory determined Discrimination Pattern and audio response for that Mode.
1 Congratulations on purchasing your Minelab Thank you for purchasing the Minelab Safari metal detector. Metal detecting is a fascinating and rewarding activity enjoyed by people all over the world. By getting to know your Safari you can become one of the many successful detectorists who combine their passion for the outdoors with the excitement of discovering valuable coins, relics, gold and jewellery on a regular basis.
Contents 2 Inside Front Cover Quick Start 3 How Metal Detectors Work 4 The Technology of Safari 5 Assembly 8 Adjusting the Detector for Comfortable Detecting 10 Battery Packs 13 Turning the Detector On 14 Introducing the Control Panel 16 Introducing the Detect Screen 18 19 Detecting Basics A Simple Detecting Exercise 21 22 22 23 23 Detect Modes Coin Mode Coin & Jewellery Mode Relic Mode All Metal Mode 24 Pinpoint 25 26 26 27 27 28 28 Menu Sensitivity Target Volume Threshold Noise C
How Metal Detectors Work Metal detectors create an electromagnetic (EM) field around the coil, which penetrates the ground. Because metal is conductive it causes a change in this field. The detector senses this change through the coil and sends a signal back to the control box, alerting the operator. Metal detectors can determine the size, shape and composition of metallic objects beneath the coil. Typically, the larger the object, the easier it is to detect.
4 The Technology of Safari Full Band Spectrum (FBS) Most detectors on the market operate on a single or dual frequency, ranging from 1 to 70 kilohertz (kHz). Although this technology has served the industry well for years, Minelab found that a frequency that worked well in one area would often offer only marginal performance when used in another location. Ground mineralisation, trash content and target size all had an impact on how effectively a detector transmitting a single frequency would operate.
Assembly Attaching the coil to the Lower Shaft: Note: Before attaching the coil to the Lower Shaft, remove the nut, bolt and washers from the coil. 1 Plug the two rubber washers into the holes on either side of the Lower Shaft. 2 Feed the coil cable up through the inside of the Lower Shaft, ensuring the coil cable appears out the top of the Lower Shaft. 5 5 Insert the bolt through the Lower Shaft and the bracket on top of the coil.
6 Assembly Attaching the Lower Shaft to the Upper Shaft: Connecting the Shaft Assembly to the Handle Assembly: 1 Release the Upper Shaft camlock by pulling the lever away from the shaft. 1 Release the Control Box camlock by pulling the lever away from the Control Box. 2 Feed the coil cable up through the inside of the Upper Shaft, ensuring the camlock side of the shaft is facing the ground.
7 Attaching the Armrest Strap: 1 Clip both buckles onto the outer sides of the armrest. Disconnecting the coil: 1 Reverse the steps in ‘Connecting the Shaft Assembly to the Handle Assembly’, ‘Attaching the Lower Shaft to the Upper Shaft’ and ‘Attaching the coil to the Lower Shaft’. 2 Pull the coil cable out from inside the lower shaft. Attaching the Headphones: 1 Plug the headphone jack into the headphone socket, located in the rubber seal at the battery end of the Handle Assembly.
8 Adjusting the Detector for Comfortable Detecting For comfortable detecting it is important to take the time to adjust the detector correctly. Adjusting the Armrest Strap: Holding the Detector 1 Loosen the strap by tilting the top edge of the buckle out to release it from the armrest. Thread your arm through the armrest and strap. Grasp the handle of the detector and rest your forearm in the armrest. 2 Undo the Velcro and pull the buckle outwards (towards yourself ) to loosen the strap.
9 Adjusting the Length of the Shafts A correct shaft length will allow you to swing the coil over the ground without uncomfortably stretching or stooping. If the coil is too far from your body it will be difficult to balance and manoeuvre while detecting. Adjusting the Angle of the Coil: 1 Loosen the bolt that connects the Lower Shaft to the Coil. It should be loose enough to allow the Coil to be moved for adjustment, but tight enough that the Coil can hold its position.
10 Battery Packs Safari comes with a standard Alkaline battery pack. Eight high quality, fresh, 1.5V AA alkaline batteries will power the Safari for up to 14 hours of constant use. Optional accessory NiMH battery packs are available as well (See Accessories p. 39). The NiMH 1600 mAh battery pack will power the detector for up to 12.5 hours of constant use and the NiMH 1800 mAh battery pack for 14 hours.
11 Replacing ‘AA’ Batteries: 1 Slide the lid of the battery pack in the direction of the arrow to open. 2 Place eight high quality AA cell alkaline batteries into the battery pack, ensuring that the + and – terminals are aligned as indicated on the label. 3 Slide the battery pack lid closed until it ‘clicks’ into place. High quality alkaline batteries are recommended for optimum detection time. Rechargeable alkaline, NiMH or NiCad AA batteries may be used but must be removed and recharged separately.
12 Battery Packs Charging the 1600/1800mAh NiMH Battery Packs (optional accessories) To charge your battery, only use the Minelab charger designed for your NiMH battery. Using other chargers may damage your battery and will void the product warranty. Recharging NiMH Battery Pack with the Car Charger: 1 Remove the battery pack. 2 Insert the car charger plug into the accessories socket of your vehicle. 3 Insert the car charger plug into the socket at the tapered end of the battery pack.
Turning the Detector On 13 To Turn on Safari: Press and release the Power button to turn your detector on/off. On first time start-up, your detector will default to the Coin Mode and you can begin detecting. Quick Start – Turn on Safari by pressing the Power button. – On initial start-up, your detector will default to the factory Coin Mode. – To select a different factory preset Detect Mode, press and release the appropriate Mode button.
Introducing the Control Panel 14 Coin Pressing activates the Coin Detect Mode (p. 22). Coin & Jewellery Pressing activates the Coin & Jewellery Detect Mode (p. 22). Power Pressing turns Safari On/Off. Holding for approx. five seconds resets the detector (p. 34) to the Factory Preset settings, prior to startup. Pinpoint Pressing turns Pinpoint On/Off . Pinpoint (p. 24) assists in locating the exact position of a target prior to recovery.
15 Relic Pressing activates the Relic Detect Mode (p. 23). All Metal Pressing activates the All Metal Detect Mode (p. 23). Noise Cancel Starts the scan for the quietest operating frequency. The scan takes approx. 20 seconds (p. 27). Accept/Reject Pressing in the Detect Screen accepts or rejects the detected target (p. 30). Legend Scale When a target is detected it is categorized based on the types of metal objects that typically produce a similar kind of signal.
16 Introducing the Detect Screen Depth Gauge Located in the centre of the Detection Screen is a vertical bar which predicts the likely depth of the target. On shallow targets the cursor is very close to the top and the bar becomes almost fully shaded, whereas for deep targets the cursor is quite close to the bottom and the bar is only partially filled.
17 Battery Power Icon This shows the level of stored power in your battery. A fully charged battery shows the icon as fully shaded. As the power in the battery is used the shaded area depletes until a fully discharged battery is un-shaded. Target Icons Safari will also indicate the likely target type located, using a select number of generic icons. At times the Detect Screen may display two icons at once, indicating that the characteristics of the target located are similar to that of a number of targets.
18 Detecting Basics Sweeping the Coil You will obtain the best performance when the coil is swept close and parallel to the ground at all times. This will increase detection depth and improve the response to small objects. Avoid excessive brushing of the coil on the ground. Though the coil assembly is rigid and durable, sudden jolts or bangs can cause random signals and inaccurate target IDs. Careful sweeping will ensure the detector performs to an optimum level at all times.
A Simple Detecting Exercise Before attempting to recover real targets, it is important to understand how to interpret the audio and visual signals of the detector. Gather a collection of different metal objects, e.g. various coins, gold and silver jewellery, a nail, pull-tab, brass button and aluminium foil. Take the detector outdoors, away from known sources of EMI and metal objects. Lay objects in a line, sufficiently spaced apart to allow the coil to pass between them, as shown below.
20 A Simple Detecting Exercise Detector Sounds (cont) The Audio Response is the sound produced by the detector when a target is detected and not ‘rejected’. When using Coin and Coin & Jewellery Mode, a highly conductive target (e.g. a large silver coin) will generally produce a high-pitched tone and a low conductive target (e.g. foil) will generally produce a lowpitched tone. Large targets or targets close to the ground surface emit louder signals.
Detect Modes There are four factory preset Detect Modes and four Save Modes available for searching. Each Detect Mode is customized with the optimum settings, to allow you to find the types of objects described by the Detect Mode name. The four Detect Modes are: – Coin – Coin & Jewellery – Relic – All Metal In some locations, there may be a specific pattern to the type of targets found in the area.
22 Detect Modes Coin Mode Coin & Jewellery Mode This Mode has a Discrimination Pattern that is best for ignoring a variety of junk targets, while still being able to detect most coins. One of the features of Safari is its ability to vary the tone on the target signal. In Coin Mode the Audio tone will vary according to the level of conductivity of the detected metal. For example, highly conductive metals like silver, gold and brass will produce a high pitch tone.
23 Relic Mode All Metal Mode The Relic Mode has an even lower level of rejection in its Discrimination Pattern as many rare and valuable relics can have very low conductivity, and/or ferrous content. The Audio tone in Relic Mode is different to Coin and Coin & Jewellery Detect Modes. It uses the ferrous (iron) content to determine the pitch of the Audio tone. All Metal Mode is similar to Relic Mode, the difference being that no Discrimination is used in All Metal Mode.
24 Pinpoint Pinpoint assists you in locating the exact position of a detected target. Normally, Safari is a ‘motion’ detector; it must be moving over a target in order to detect it. When Pinpoint is activated, Safari will operate as a non-motion detector; it will produce a constant audio response while the coil is held stationary over a target. Pinpoint instructs the detector to temporarily disengage Discrimination Patterns. Therefore, all targets will be detected if underneath the coil.
Menu 25 The Safari has the following user adjustable settings: – Sensitivity – Threshold – Noise Cancel – Target Volume – Contrast – Trash Density All the settings above are adjusted via the Menu screen by following these steps: 1 Press the Menu button to access the Menu screen. 2 To adjust one of these settings, use the – or + arrow buttons until the desired selection is highlighted.
26 Menu Sensitivity Target Volume The Sensitivity control is adjustable to set the best level of Sensitivity for the environment being detected. The factory preset setting is in Auto, and this will self adjust to suit the conditions you are detecting in. You can also lock the Sensitivity to suit a particular area by manually selecting a level between 0 and 20. The Target Volume control is used to adjust the maximum volume of the target signal — not Safari’s overall volume.
27 Threshold Noise Cancel The Threshold controls the audible level of sound during detecting, or the “background hum”. Most operators find that detecting with a very low but still audible Threshold is preferred. A lower level may mask responses to smaller targets and the higher levels will make targets difficult to hear. The level preset by Minelab is 12. In many locations where you will be detecting there maybe electromagnetic interference (EMI) which can make your detector unstable.
28 Menu Contrast Trash Density The contrast of the LCD can be adjusted using the Contrast control. The Trash Density control will enable you to optimise your Safari for detecting in locations with differing amounts of trash content in the soil. By adjusting the Contrast, relative to the current light conditions, you may make the information on the LCD easier to see.
29 In High setting, Safari’s signal response works faster to pick out good targets in between all the trash but requires a wider Discrimination Pattern to reject a specific target. This is easily demonstrated by attempting to use the Accept/Reject function in High setting: – Sweep the coil over a junk object that you would like to eliminate, and attempt to reject it by pressing Accept/Reject.
30 Discrimination Discrimination (Accept/Reject) Scale To Modify the Discrimination Pattern: When a target is detected, an ID number appears on the left hand side of the screen and a bar and cursor appear in the Discrimination scale along the bottom of the screen in the Graphic Identification Bar. In Coin and Coin & Jewellery Modes a Target Icon also appears on the right hand side of the screen.
31 Method 2 – To reject a specific Target ID number: 1 In the Detect screen use – and + buttons to select the ID you want to modify. The cursor and the Target ID numbers will indicate the selected ID. 2 Press the Accept/Reject button to either accept or reject that ID. You will notice the band on the discrimination scale will become shaded if rejected or clear if accepted. The Accept/Reject button will toggle between accepting and rejecting targets.
32 Discrimination To Create and Save a User Mode: 1 Select the factory preset Detect Mode you want to alter. 2 Modify the Discrimination Pattern as per To modify the Discrimination Pattern on p. 30. 3 Press and hold (approx. 3 seconds), the appropriate Mode button until the Saved message is displayed on the screen as shown below: Note: Any time a different Mode button is selected, a small sound (loudspeaker) icon is displayed next to the battery level icon.
Technical Specifications 33 Detector Transmission Full Band Spectrum (FBS). Simultaneous Frequency Transmission ranging from 1.5–100kHz Coil 11” Double D (waterproof ) Audio Output Internal Speaker or Headphones Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) 64 x 128 pixels (40mm x 70mm) Length Collapsed: 1050mm (41”) Extended: 1370mm (54”) Detector Weight 1.65kg (3.63lbs) (excluding batteries and headphones) Coil Weight (Including Skidplate) 522g (1.15lbs) +/– 10g (0.
Factory Presets 34 All Settings Setting Title Range Factory Preset Coin, Coin & Jewellery, Relic or All Metal Coin Mode Coin –10 to +40 –10 to +2 and +6 to +8 Coin & Jewellery –10 to +40 –10 to –1 Detect Modes Detect Mode Discrimination Relic –10 to +40 –10 to –3 All Metal –10 to +40 Open Sensitivity Auto or 0–20 Auto Threshold Menu Settings 0–40 12 Noise Cancel – Automatic Target Volume 0–20 20 Contrast 1–20 10 Low or High High Trash Density – Each factory preset Dete
Recovering the Target A trowel, knife or small spade are good tools for recovering targets. Once a target has been located, clear the surface of loose material and check again for a signal. If there is no signal then the target is amongst the surface material. In this case, search the surface material until the target is located. If the target is still in the ground, Pinpoint its position. 35 Check the hole for the target.
36 Treasure Locations A question most new detectorists ask is, “where do I find treasure”? There are actually lots of areas in which you can search. It is best if you research where people have been in the past, what type of objects they might have had with them, and hopefully lost. You can also go to areas people still use on a daily basis such as the beach or parks, and search for modern coins and jewellery.
Detector Care and Safety 37 Safari is a high-quality electronic instrument, finely engineered and packaged in a durable housing. Taking proper care of your detector is mostly common-sense. CAUTION – Please note the following: – Do not leave the battery pack in the Safari handle when the detector is not in use for extended periods. Damage caused by leaking batteries could be severe and would void the warranty through user negligence.
38 Troubleshooting Detector does not start at all – Check the condition of the batteries and battery connections. – Ensure battery pack is fully inserted, and it has clicked into place. – If using alkaline batteries, check whether they have been loaded in the right polarity. Detector starts, but it switches off by itself – Check the condition of the batteries. If necessary, try starting with batteries known to be in good condition. – Detector may be too hot.
Warranty and Accessories There is a two-year parts and labour warranty for the electronic control box of Safari. The coil has a one year parts and labour warranty. Refer to the supplier or Minelab for service, either in or out of warranty. The Minelab warranty does not cover damage caused by accident, misuse, neglect, alteration, modifications, or unauthorised service. For specific details of the Minelab warranty, please refer to Safari’s ‘Product Warranty Card’.
40 Service Repair Form Owners Name Address Telephone Fax ( Day ( ) Home ( ) ) Email Todays Date Detector / Model Serial Number Purchased From Purchase Date Faulty Part(s) Description of Fault cut out or photocopy Please explain how we can replicate the problem in order to fix your detector.
The World Leader in Metal Sensing Technology From our origins in 1985, Minelab have specialised in advanced electronic technologies. Our competitive advantage was created almost immediately with a highly competent and innovative Research and Development team, inspired by the genius of Mr Bruce Candy.
Minelab Electronics Pty Ltd PO Box 537, Torrensville Plaza Adelaide, South Australia, 5031 Australia Tel: +61 (0) 8 8238 0888 Fax: +61 (0) 8 8238 0890 Email: minelab@minelab.com.au Minelab International Ltd Laragh, Bandon Co. Cork Ireland Tel: +353 (0)23 885 2101 Fax: +353 (0)23 885 2106 Email: minelab@minelab.ie Minelab USA Inc 871 Grier Drive, Suite B1 Las Vegas, Nevada, 89119 USA Tel: +1 702 891 8809 Fax: +1 702 891 8810 Email: info@minelabusa.
