A refind experience

The Beep Goes On · Jan 18, 2026

I created a test garden about 20 years ago or so in the backyard. It wasn't very useful, as I found out, due to the EMI being put out by the electrical box on the back corner of the house. The detectors I was running back then had a hard time with it, and their depth wasn't up to the task either for the most part, especially with the interference. I pulled the pieces I could find including a gold ring, etc., but I knew I missed some. Today I used the Manty to see if I could find the stragglers ... had Normal for the audio at 24 Sensitivity and it was chatty being affected by the EMI. I switch to Enhanced audio and lowered the Sensitivity to 20 and it quieted down like the EMI wasn't even there. I found the two stragglers ... quarter was obvious, the dime was not, but gave enough indications that it had to be one of the targets, and it was. Now they're back with the rest of the hoard ;-)

The Beep Goes On · Jan 18, 2026

...quarter looks like crap, looks like I cleaned it a bit too vigorously, but silver is silver.

K9-1 · Jan 19, 2026

Im still learning my detector. Im gonna have to do a test garden. The area im currently at has so much trash in the ground its frustrating! Im debating on setting it to the coin setting just to try and eliminate some of the trash!

The Beep Goes On · Jan 19, 2026

K9-1 said:
Im still learning my detector. Im gonna have to do a test garden. The area im currently at has so much trash in the ground its frustrating! Im debating on setting it to the coin setting just to try and eliminate some of the trash!

It can be a good way to learn about your detector. I ended up finding that just getting out there and, if learning, digging pretty much anything that's got you curious is a good way to go, and you might find something. You'll have different ground conditions versus the same ground every time with a test garden. Real world > Test garden > Air Tests. A garden is great for comparing detectors and tweaking settings/observing behavior in known conditions. Air tests are more convenient.