Tired of pop tabs. Looking for Metal detector

Unfortunately, if you're looking for gold you're going to have to accept digging up lots of foil and aluminum since they will register similarly with any detector. There's not one specific target ID number for gold, it will vary depending on size, shape, alloys used, depth, etc so there isn't a way to "know" what your detector is seeing is gold. Keep digging those signals, accept you're going to find lots of scrap, and be be patient. If there's gold there and you dig every signal that sound like gold, you'll find the gold.

"When in doubt, dig it out."
 

I will second Emil W's comment. I worked a Whites IDX machine for a number of years primarily along beaches. I had a great spot that was only available a few times a month during super low tides. I dug pretty much everything that wasn't indicating Iron. Many times large fishing sinkers would register as 1/2 dollar coins and I remember getting frustrated and ignoring the screen until I started popping up some Barber
halfs. Interestingly I learned to listen hearing the sinkers made a louder bang in my headphones even though the screen said otherwise. As such sometimes you just gotta pick through the junk to the find the treasure. Good Luck.
 

Emil W said:
Unfortunately, if you're looking for gold you're going to have to accept digging up lots of foil and aluminum since they will register similarly with any detector. There's not one specific target ID number for gold, it will vary depending on size, shape, alloys used, depth, etc so there isn't a way to "know" what your detector is seeing is gold. Keep digging those signals, accept you're going to find lots of scrap, and be be patient. If there's gold there and you dig every signal that sound like gold, you'll find the gold.

"When in doubt, dig it out."
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totally agree. If you want rings you pretty much did all signals. As others have said, compared to land beach digging is easy. If you don't already know how to read beaches effectively, learn. Often the tides, currents and wind conditions segregate the light material (pop tops, pull tabs, light fishing tackle) into certain areas and the heavy lead singers and jewelry in other areas. When finding only light stuff, you need to move from that area until you start finding fishing weights and heavier items. This will be where you will be most likely to find rings and other jewelry in the wet sand.
 

Ed Osmar said:
I hunt beaches and salt water. what Metal detector is best to separate pop tabs and aluminum from gold. I have and use Minelabs Excal and 800 but am tired of digging trash.
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Well after 50+ yrs I'm still looking myself.
I decided many years ago it was easier to just not dig for gold.
Made life a lot easier-and when it did appear all that more pleasurable.
Best of luck in your search-and let us all know if you find that machine in your quest.
 

Everything said is right on! My E-TRAC displays a Ferrous # and a Conductive # for the target under the coil. The old style pulltabs generally display a "12-25". After digging about sixty of these rare beauties, I get another "12-25" and this appears in the hole...

class ring 1.jpg


Dig every signal in the sand like Peyton said!

Also, a ring will display a different conductive # depending on how it's oriented in the ground!
 

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Ed Osmar said:
I hunt beaches and salt water. what Metal detector is best to separate pop tabs and aluminum from gold. I have and use Minelabs Excal and 800 but am tired of digging trash.
Click to expand...
Then you may as well give up the hobby as there isn't a detector made that will distinguish the two with any degree of accuracy.
 

When they make that detector let us all know because right now one doesn't exist that can find only gold, but you can discriminate out some items and Iron can be descriminated so that should eliminate bottle caps except the aluminum screw tops. Try and see if some guys with different programs can help you out with a different set up for your machine.
 

On the Equinox, bottle caps are not much of a problem anymore if you have the latest software (3.1?) and use FE2 @6 or so. Aluminum junk is a different story. In 50 tones and with the horseshoe on, you can sometimes tell that it isn't a round target, but, other than that, you just have to rely on the sound and size of the target. I choose to just scoop all non-ferrous targets (and some iron ones too) at the beach. It's not that big a deal IMO. Now, in a park, school, or other turfed areas, that's a different story. I cherry pick those sites and pretty much forget about I.D.'s in the teens, except for 13. I often do dig solid 12's and under though, and find tons of foil, with the occasional gold item. If the signal jumps around, forget it. Gold is very stable and the I.D. numbers stay rock solid for the most part.
 

Others are correct, if you try to discriminate out aluminum and pull tabs you're discriminating out gold. Aluminum and gold have the same conductivity.
 

cudamark said:
On the Equinox, bottle caps are not much of a problem anymore if you have the latest software (3.1?) and use FE2 @6 or so. Aluminum junk is a different story. In 50 tones and with the horseshoe on, you can sometimes tell that it isn't a round target, but, other than that, you just have to rely on the sound and size of the target. I choose to just scoop all non-ferrous targets (and some iron ones too) at the beach. It's not that big a deal IMO. Now, in a park, school, or other turfed areas, that's a different story. I cherry pick those sites and pretty much forget about I.D.'s in the teens, except for 13. I often do dig solid 12's and under though, and find tons of foil, with the occasional gold item. If the signal jumps around, forget it. Gold is very stable and the I.D. numbers stay rock solid for the most part.
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Disagree, I've had several gold rings jump around from 32-67 (on machines with VDI 0-99), and gold chains, forgetaboutit, they're all over the place!
 

oldmxrat said:
Disagree, I've had several gold rings jump around from 32-67 (on machines with VDI 0-99), and gold chains, forgetaboutit, they're all over the place!
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Are you using the equinox when they are jumping? VDI is different on different machines, even with Minelab detectors, VDI is different on the Nox compared to the CTX3030.
 

oldmxrat said:
Disagree, I've had several gold rings jump around from 32-67 (on machines with VDI 0-99), and gold chains, forgetaboutit, they're all over the place!
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What I'm referring to is a gold object not mixed with any other metals. If you swing a loop over it, the I.D. number will at most jump between two numbers. Gold can read from right at the ferrous/non-ferrous break all the way up to a quarter, but the numbers don't jump around like other metals with some degree of corrosion can do. A pull tab with some corrosion, will usually read between 10 and 18 with 3-4 point swings in the I.D. number. Unfortunately, fresh pull tabs and other fresh aluminum junk read pretty stable too. Now, you get jewelry with mixed metals, and all bets are off as to what it will read. It's a matter of location and what you expect to find there. At the beach, scoop it. In a park, take your best guess based on what you know about readings in that particular park vs. known targets, and the experience you have with that detector.
 

Treasure_Hunter said:
Are you using the equinox when they are jumping? VDI is different on different machines, even with Minelab detectors, VDI is different on the Nox compared to the CTX3030.
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I'm talking about jumping over a large range of numbers. As I said, I'm using machines with a VDI range of 0-99 (Simplex+, Garrett Ace 400 and AT Pro. And I'm talking about 14k wedding bands, not mixed metal jewelry. It happens often enough where I can usually tell it's either a gold or Tungsten band before I dig.
 

Ed Osmar said:
I hunt beaches and salt water. what Metal detector is best to separate pop tabs and aluminum from gold. I have and use Minelabs Excal and 800 but am tired of digging trash.
Click to expand...
That’s the million dollar question I just dig’um
 

Ed Osmar said:
With most answers saying" dig everything", why bother to buy an expensive detector?
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I'm with you on that. I'm still not seeing a reason to jump from intermediate to high end detector.

I still read a lot of "learn what your machine is telling you" and "dig everything".

I don't disagree with either, but it seems the most experienced guys still do the latter.
 

Ed Osmar said:
With most answers saying" dig everything", why bother to buy an expensive detector?
Click to expand...

There's a lot more to detecting than just being able to identify gold. The "dig everything" needs to be considered in context -- that being if you're looking for gold, you have to accept that there is no detector that can reliably discern gold from pull-tabs and scrap aluminum. So if you want to find gold, you have to "dig everything" that has the same signal as gold.

But if, for example, you want to be able to find smaller, non-ferrous targets mixed in with lots of iron, you'll be better off with a more advanced detector, one that's better at target separation. And depending on the detector there are also other advantages over more basic machines. All depends on your wants and needs.

There's nothing wrong with using a novice or intermediate machine if that's all you need.
 

seagullplayer said:
I'm with you on that. I'm still not seeing a reason to jump from intermediate to high end detector.

I still read a lot of "learn what your machine is telling you" and "dig everything".

I don't disagree with either, but it seems the most experienced guys still do the latter
Click to expand...

I see one of your detectors is an Apex. I also have an Apex and use it mostly on the beach, but when I first got it I detected my 19th century blacksmith's property and dug quite a few coins and interesting artifacts, even though I had already detected on the property for decades before using other detectors.

So I assumed my property was completely dug out -- nothing left to find but iron junk.

But then I got the Deus, mainly because I like technology so wanted the challenge of learning something more sophisticated, to learn the capabilities of a more advanced machine. I was surprised what I was able to find on the same property I had detected for years, most recently with the Apex. More coins, very closely surrounded by iron, a nice bronze Napoleonic medal, again under and around iron, and the bowl of a colonial pewter spoon, plus numerous other tiny non-ferrous targets. I would have bet anything I wouldn't be able to find anything, but I would have quickly lost that bet.
 

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