X-Terra question-notch or not to notch?

[Digger_O'Dell]

Looking for opinions on whether to notch out certain points or not. I have been reading a lot lately how many people use all metal mode when detecting, often with max tones and detect solely by ear. My experiences have been very mixed at best.
I can understand using the all metal mode and looking for the higher tone between iron such as a lot of nails. But I have only been in a few areas where this has been an issue and while testing signals I found the X-Terra has very fast recovery and little or no difference in good signals while in iron laden areas. I just have to take my time and go slow enough to let my brain process what's going on and keep focus on the task.
Using the full spectrum of tones on all metal to me is extreme sensory overload, so much rather use the normal 4 tones.I have also notched out the negative side of the scale, but know when I hit that side by the momentary threshold silence. So this way I can still swing fast in clean areas and adjust swing speed accordingly in more trashy areas and not get distracted by unwanted noise.

So My question is if there really is any benefit to using all metal mode and all the tones as many are now claiming to get the most out of the ground?

[7centsworth]

I use to use pattern one. Which has a lot of stuff notched out. But I then Started using all metal two tones and i can hear those high tones right beside those low tones. Some times when I dig a coin there will be two or three nails in the same hole. When in pattern one it would act like the coin was junk with barely a chirp of a high tone. I only use all metal now.

[Digger_O'Dell]

I never really liked the factory patterns. Sure, they are fine for a beginner but I figured out within minutes to get rid of all the mid notches. I only notch out the negative numbers and the 48 to eliminate the wrap-around effect I have read so much about.
Just wish I was able to assign where the tones landed instead of the presets.

[Digger_O'Dell]

Update:
I began trying out 7centsworth idea of the all metal 2 tone mode. I guess too often they registered too close to my notches and were silenced, especially when a lot of iron was around. But today I had gone out to a new local park for about 45 minutes after work to try it out. Yep, tons of iron beeping, but also a lot of higher tones right between and very close. One of the first digs I went after was a low 10 VDI showing full scale depth, using 28 sensitivity. And what do I find 6 inches down? A nickel on edge between 2 small stones! I rarely got any nickles before as they would only chirp at best even near the surface unless using my high frequency DD coil. I'm pretty sure this idea is going to be my new standard from now on in most situations unless proven otherwise. I also founds tons more clad and walked away with over 2 bucks, much of which was tight to other iron type debris.

Thanks for the idea!

[GMD]

The notch could mask some good targets, so All Metal is my choice. I use the 10.5" MF coil.

[Digger_O'Dell]

The notch could mask some good targets, so All Metal is my choice. I use the 10.5" MF coil.

I went to using only the top and bottom notched out, everything else was open. But the best improvement to the machine was upgrading to the NEL all frequency DD coils. Works like a completely new machine, and the performance increase is unbelievable!
But as a side note, I just recently upgraded to a CTX-3030, which is a whole differrent world of capability!