"Trust what the detector is telling you"

[TrpnBils]

What does that phrase mean to you? I saw a thread recently where a user said finally giving in and trusting his detector was the biggest "a ha" moment he's had in this hobby. That was with the 3030 specifically, but I see this phrase all the time on here in reference to lots of models, but nobody ever goes into detail about it.

So what's that mean to you?

 

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[smokeythecat]

I dig most relics, regardless of what the detector is saying, because I dig old sites.

 

[TrpnBils]

I dig most relics, regardless of what the detector is saying, because I dig old sites.

I have some sites I can do that for, which is always nice. Part of the reason I'm asking this is because I'm heading to a colonial foundation tomorrow after work that I got skunked on a couple of years ago when I was there last. It is LOADED with BIG iron (stove parts, miscellaneous mystery iron, all kinds of crap) and I know a lot of that big stuff is going to be fooling my detector. I see a lot of general site cleanup in my future...

 

[wolf74623]

what a great question! what that means to me to begin with after hunting relics for 30+ yrs is once you find a machine your comfortable with ( first detector was a whites - second was a nataluas dmc 2 made by tendel and then a Tesoro silver saber that I love. then the work begins and I also recommend digging all signals until you feel that you understand the ground and tones the machine makes which honestly takes many hrs of hunting but with my Tesoro which has a discrimination switch to read iron I can also switch it off once I locate a house site to make the iron silent and only read good metals which makes hunting trashy site more rewarding ( for many years if you ask older hunters they will tell you they would run away from house sites because the readings were over whelming and to difficult to hear good tones ) that said regardless of the switch it will also read large iron as a good reading and even small iron that has circular holes in it as good so I have to dig it to make sure but I usually go through quickly and dig those reading to get them out of the way and then start hunting. the size of the good metal in the ground will make different tones, the larger the object the louder the tone and the closer it is to the top the louder which relates to the time period older stuff is normally deeper in the ground but not always it just depends on the site, if your in a period site 1865 or before and no one has lived on it or dumped trash on it then you want to dig it all regardless. now my machine when it comes to a circular object like a military 2 piece button that is hollow in the middle will give me a two tone reading like quick beep beep close together and the same for most large coins however that depends on the angle there in the ground it could be a solid good tone but regardless your gonna dig it anyway and large lead like bullets or brass- rings really clean- not blowing your head off or chirping just a sweet tone like there's no question its good and it usually is I love those readings. however there can be a lot of broken nails in the ground and small bits of thick iron that's chirping your machine and under the chirping you also hear a weak good signal - these are the readings that take time to learn and listen for because the iron can and does mask many great artifacts for example there could be a coin or button with a few nails on top of it and the iron kills the reading or swinging the head quickly you just hear a chirp and keep going because there are so many readings and your tired of digging junk. this is where I suggest slowing down especially in a period spot take your time and listen to the ground and trust your machine! I also understand the learning curve its hard to trust something that you don't understand what its doing and no one can teach you that by talking you have to learn from hunting you will spend many days digging late stuff and trash but the day you walk into a clean period spot it will begin to make since because the reading are different when you dig a button or bullet 10-12 inch's deep and get that week but clean good signal or you think you heard something and dig down a few inch's and that signal turns good and you dig down and a great piece is discovered you never forget the sound. from my experience there is also some ground that is almost impossible to read if you don't have a good knowledge of what your machine is doing example the Virginia RED CLAY it drives people crazy there machine is constantly beeping and they dig but nothing comes up but a rock, really rick black sandy house site soil full of iron can do the same so you have to understand how to tune your machine to tune it out. if your hunting in rich sandy soil after a lite rain my machine seems to read clearer especially in cooler temps but again that's all the things you learn from time SO the bottom line from my point of view related to your question is find a machine you like that works for you and hunt every opportunity and with anyone you can and stay focused on the settings, the tones, and what you dug in relation to the tone the machine made and before you know it those things will be second nature and you will spend more time on research and permission and day dreaming at work about hunting - hope this helped and may you be blessed with some great finds >

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Depends on the detector. Some have coin denomination or ring icons and they lie repeatedly.

Others get all flustered with large metal pieces when they are programmed for coin size items.

I just take in all the information and judge for myself.

 

[cudamark]

When any of my detectors talk to me, I just take it under advisement. It's not that they are habitual liars, it's just they're so easily fooled!

 

[TrpnBils]

When any of my detectors talk to me, I just take it under advisement. It's not that they are habitual liars, it's just they're so easily fooled!

See and that's the problem for me I think - I THINK I can call out my detector on its BS but it ends up being right. I have the uncanny ability to analyze the hell out of a signal until I make it into something that it's not!