Tesoro Silver umax users...locating gold

[reeceaian]

Is there truth to the fact that you will have a hard time detecting gold (rings/ jewelery) if your discrimination is set above foil? My current retrieval method is to set the disc to foil and when I get a signal, I raise the disc to tab and if the signal disappears or gets crackly, I don't dig. Probably a tab. If the signal is still there after the disc is raised, I dig. I mostly retrieve coins with this method. Should I leave the disc at foil and dig every signal in the hopes of finding some gold? Does anyone have any other good settings/ methods of increasing my chances to find gold? Thank you.

 

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[metal mania]

dig it dig it dig it

 

[mts]

Is there truth to the fact that you will have a hard time detecting gold (rings/ jewelery) if your discrimination is set above foil? My current retrieval method is to set the disc to foil and when I get a signal, I raise the disc to tab and if the signal disappears or gets crackly, I don't dig. Probably a tab. If the signal is still there after the disc is raised, I dig. I mostly retrieve coins with this method. Should I leave the disc at foil and dig every signal in the hopes of finding some gold? Does anyone have any other good settings/ methods of increasing my chances to find gold? Thank you.

Keep in mind that different types of gold items can register anywhere from foil to tab. 10kt gold can easily look like foil and be discriminated out at the tab setting. So your method may be discriminating out certain types of gold items. The best option for finding gold is to set the discrimination at foil and dig everything.

Also, I was quite shocked a while back to learn how much depth MY Silver uMax loses when turning up the discrimination. Therefore, I do not recommend using the "dial-a-discrimination" method of target identification. I would be interested in hearing how your machine works compared to mine. Perhaps mine has a flaw. I can set my discrimination at foil and detect a dime at about 7 inches. If I raise the discrimination up all of the way, I can only detect that dime at a meager 1" or so. The depth seems to stay fairly constant up to the zinc penny range (6" on a dime at this point). Turning the discrimination up past the zinc penny range causes the depth to drop off exponentially until it is virtually nonexistent. Give this a try and report back on your findings. Hopefully, your detector works better than mine.

What does all of this mean? In general it means that if you turn up your discrimination you will likely lose a little depth. How much depth depends on your detector. So imagine a gold ring that is just at the threshold of being detected. You can just barely detect it when your discrimination is set at foil. But when you boost your discrimination up to tab the depth of your detector lessens to the point where that gold ring is no longer detected. This gives you the false belief that it was not a gold ring. For about a year I used the "dial-a-discrimination" method to determine if what I was about to dig was a silver coin. It is no surprise that with my detector I NEVER found a silver coin using this method. The only way I could have found a silver dime using that method was if the dime was sitting directly on the surface. Again, hopefully your detector is better than mine and mine just has a flaw. My Vaquero does not do this. Only my Silver uMax.

 

[reeceaian]

I think all the silver's do that, well mine and yours anyway. I tried an air test with a dime (Canadian) and it lost significant inches when I turned up the disc past penny.
I also tried a depth air test with my gold 18k wedding band and it was detected solidly at almost 10 inches set at foil. I then brought up the disc to tab and it was only detectable at about 1-2 inches. I just wanted to see if this was the norm for this machine. I guess I'm going to cease the "dial a discrimination" method and grin and bear the consistent tab digging and leave it on foil in the hopes I'll find a little gold. Thanks.

 

[mts]

I think all the silver's do that, well mine and yours anyway. I tried an air test with a dime (Canadian) and it lost significant inches when I turned up the disc past penny.
I also tried a depth air test with my gold 18k wedding band and it was detected solidly at almost 10 inches set at foil. I then brought up the disc to tab and it was only detectable at about 1-2 inches. I just wanted to see if this was the norm for this machine. I guess I'm going to cease the "dial a discrimination" method and grin and bear the consistent tab digging and leave it on foil in the hopes I'll find a little gold. Thanks.

Thanks for the feedback on how your machine works. I had sent an email to Tesoro about this "problem" and they said it was normal behavior. The Silver uMax is a great machine for the money. But as we've found out it really is a "beep and dig" machine. I now set my machine at foil and just leave it there. And my finds have improved because of it. I do a lot more digging. But my finds are way better than before.

Good luck.

 

[Smudge]

Set your discrimination anywhere above "IRON" and you will start losing gold targets. Gold is mixed with other metals when jewlery is made that puts it all over the conductivity scale.

 

[gylnne]

Appreciate this post, have the Silver Umax on order.

Curtis

 

[reeceaian]

I never had issues with any of my finds, mostly coins including our $1 and $2 currency. I'm just hoping to expand to more lucrative items in lieu of just modern clad. You're right though, with relation to cost, the Silver is the best.

Curtis, it'll take a bit of a learning curve with all of the beeps, chatter and settings but i don't think you'll be disappointed. Have fun!

 

[luvsdux]

The folks who use no discrimination and "dig it all" find the most gold jewelry. All detectors tend to miss small gold once the discrimination is above iron and smaller pieces possibly even then. By the time you get from foil to tabs, a lot of jewelry will be missed. Unfortunate, but that's the physics and reality of detecting with the current technology. Your Silver µmax is great detector for the price, but if you want the gold, keep your discrimination to a minimum.
luvsdux

 

[mts]

The folks who use no discrimination and "dig it all" find the most gold jewelry. All detectors tend to miss small gold once the discrimination is above iron and smaller pieces possibly even then. By the time you get from foil to tabs, a lot of jewelry will be missed. Unfortunate, but that's the physics and reality of detecting with the current technology. Your Silver µmax is great detector for the price, but if you want the gold, keep your discrimination to a minimum.
luvsdux

I don't disagree. But for some of us it is painful to use such low discrimination settings. If I set my discrimination level lower than foil it is true that I could pick up some more jewelry items. But the cost of doing so would be countless pieces of junk that would likely make me want to stop detecting altogether. Foil is the lowest "bearable" setting that I can use.

Also, although it is not black and white, a majority of the jewelry items I would find at lower discrimination settings will be worth less anyway. Many 10K items will come in around the foil level while 18K items will come in closer to the tab level. The items coming in below foil will likely be plated or very low valued items. It's not an absolute, but in general this is going to be the case. There is a point where you have to decide just what you are willing to sacrifice in return for your sanity.

But just to play devil's advocate, there is a school of thought that would say that the lower valued items will far outnumber the higher valued items anyway. People don't spend time looking for low valued jewelry that they have lost. But they will search quite hard for an 18K gold ring. Add to that the fact that fewer detectorists set their machines lower than foil and you can imagine that there could be more potential for finding "quantity" rather than "quality" by setting the discrimination much lower.

I can certainly see how one could make a good argument either way. For my sanity and for the places that I hunt, I can't bring myself to turn my discrimination below the foil setting. But perhaps I will start doing so on a few hunts to see what kind of results I can get. You never know. I may end up turning off the discrimination completely and never turning back.

Good discussion!

 

[relichunters]

The higher you turn it up, the less you will find. Gold hangs low on the descrim, unless it's a big thick gold watch or something, then higher. I recommend all metal mode for gold.

 

[scrounger d detector collector]

ive had my silver quite awhile now . i did a gold test one day .

etrac will find small gold the umax cannot see at any setting.

its just a more sensative machine.

i dont worry that much about not finding tiny gold anyway.

because it so little. dont have much metal to be worth anything

 

[luvsdux]

I certainly understand using discrimination in order to dig less junk. Rather than practicing what I mention in my post above, I usually use some discrimination, although I'll dig it all sometimes for a while until it wears me out. The jewelry items I have found responded with the disc set at iron.
luvsdux