Digging targets less than TID = 20?

[mts]

I mentioned this in another thread recently... When I first got the Simplex, I dug everything. I haven't found any gold yet so keep that in mind. But so far, every single item that had a TID less than 20 was aluminum scrap or foil. Since then I have decided not to dig anything with TID less than 20. I'm wondering what I am missing out on or if anyone else uses a similar tactic.

I hunt a lot of trashy areas so I just can't spend the time digging so much trash for the low possibility of finding a small gold item/charm. Time is money and I feel like in those trashy environments I'm are better off sticking with higher probability targets. That is just my personal philosophy for the types of sites I'm currently hunting.

And that leads to the following questions:

1. Has anyone ever dug a gold item that had a TID less than 20? If so, what was it?

2. Does anyone else have a limit to what they will dig? ex: Nothing less than 20, nothing less than 15, etc.

3. Using air tests I see that gold items can be all over the spectrum. For the items you've found, what were the approximate TID ranges that you have experienced for gold items?

 

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[Rmeav8r]

I don’t generally dig targets less than 20 also...but sometimes I dig then just to satisfy myself that it’s not trash. I just started water hunting and with less trash and I’m digging almost everything I find and so far the 15-20 have been trash. I did find a nice gold medallion and gold chain on my last hunt, the VDI was all over the place but mostly in the mid 70’s. After I got home I separated the chain from the medallion and did a test on the ground....the medallion was a solid 78 and the chain was all over the place from 11 to 20! So if your hunting jewelry I think you have to dig those low numbers. This is probably not new news to those more experienced than myself, but it was an eye opener to me.
Happy Hunting in 2021!

 

[mts]

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated!

Yes, I can see that small chains and charms could be below 20. So I'm going to miss those items. I think my main concern is gold rings. I would hope that those wouldn't ring up below 20. But then again, if it is VERY thin and potentially broken, I could see a small gold ring possibly ringing up below 20. I just don't have any evidence of it yet, thus the post.

I have to weigh the time spent digging foil for hours in a park vs the benefit of finding a small chain. So far, my belief is that by digging less foil I will have more time to dig better targets and thus increase my likelihood of finding bigger gold items and silver coins. This only applies in trashy areas. In an area with very little trash and higher likelihood of dropped chains and charms, I would be more likely to dig signals down to say 12-15.

 

[Richard Guy]

you can always go back to those 'less than 20' targets after you picked through others. i would still listen for solid low tones, especially if I get a quick 'beep-beep'

 

[mts]

I just got the SP24 coil and now nickels ring up at around 30 instead of 25. So it looks like I will probably have to adjust my rules a bit. I don't know yet what my new cutoff will be with the new coil. Will it ring up foils scraps above 20? Time will tell.

 

[Richard Guy]

with earlier sw versions, and running the stock coil, nickels were coming in at 25, now they report at 32 in my soil using 2.77 with the SP24. Pennies are also reporting higher