Finding gold with Safari

[lisfisher]

Hello all, I am hoping someone can help with this. I have not found much gold with my safari, but I can almost guarantee it is my own fault. I just don't know what numbers gold come up as on the display, so I often assume it's trash and don't bother to dig those signals. 14 through 24 seem to be common readings for pulltabs, but I'm wondering just how many gold objects also read in this range. Would love to know what kinds of readings/numbers other's have seen on their safari display when gold was found . I've done some testing with some small thinner gold rings, and I found it strange that the numbers were all over the place - even on the same ring, which after thinking about it could very well be attributed to each swing of the coil being slightly different, meaning any minute change in coil angle { up or down } could give different readings due to the thin ring. Just a theory though.

 

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[gunsil]

I use a Safari among other machines. There is no detector that can tell the difference between a gold ring and a pull tab, so you have to dig a lot of junk to find the gold. VID numbers aren't very helpful in this scenario since different karat gold and different sizes of gold objects will display in a fairly wide range. Finding gold means digging trash, it's as simple as that!! Of course you also have to remember that gold finds aren't that common in the first place and one has to get the coil over a gold item before one can dig a gold item. I think I found more gold with my ancient BFO non-discriminating machine simply because I had to dig every target. Modern machines with excellent discrimination make most of us a little lazy I think, and although the discrimination is great for cherry picking silver, it is fairly useless in finding the elusive gold. The only 100% positive discriminator is you after the target has been unearthed!! Dig, dig, and dig some more, that's the only way to get the gold.

 

[lisfisher]

Thanks for the info, that is what I suspected. Any idea of a "general window" of vdi numbers? +7 through +33

 

[gunsil]

I really can't give you an answer on the display numbers. I have only found one small ring with my Safari in a year and a half of using it. I use other machines sometimes, so I haven't really that many hours on it, and I don't remember the numbers the ring came up as. One would have to be a super hunter to have found gold in every display range it can be found in in such a short period of time, there just aren't that many gold targets to be found in the dirt. Beaches are different but I have salt water specific machines for that, and they don't have displays, and even at the beach gold is hard to come by. I don't use my display on my machines with displays very much, I rely more on the sound, repeatability, and crispness to determine if I like the signal, and dig a lot of trash if the signal is in the lower range of gold, lead, and aluminum. You will find with time that the sounds from Your Safari (and most other machines that have multiple sounds related to the target) are usually more reliable than some numbers on a screen. I believe most veteran hunters really use sound more than VID to interpret what the detector is telling them. I cut my teeth on a "beep and dig" BFO forty years ago, and I usually only disc out iron if not relic hunting and if I am I run "wide open" or no disc, and dig all targets. In private yards I run wide open, dig most of it, I only really use disc when hunting a park I never hunted before to see if there's any silver around and do a quick hunt that way. I dig a LOT of trash. I got the Safari for it's ability to cut through mineralized soil and it's depth capabilities, not so I could disc out many things most of the time. Finding gold with a detector mainly requires only two things----patience and/or luck. A lucky hunter with a mediocre machine will likely find as much gold as a hunter with the most expensive machine and less luck if the target isn't below 5-6 inches. Gotta get that coil over the gold, and that is usually just luck.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Hello all, I am hoping someone can help with this. I have not found much gold with my safari, but I can almost guarantee it is my own fault. I just don't know what numbers gold come up as on the display, so I often assume it's trash and don't bother to dig those signals. 14 through 24 seem to be common readings for pulltabs, but I'm wondering just how many gold objects also read in this range. Would love to know what kinds of readings/numbers other's have seen on their safari display when gold was found . I've done some testing with some small thinner gold rings, and I found it strange that the numbers were all over the place - even on the same ring, which after thinking about it could very well be attributed to each swing of the coil being slightly different, meaning any minute change in coil angle { up or down } could give different readings due to the thin ring. Just a theory though.

Really want to dig gold with your Minelab? Then STOP looking at those freaking numbers, and START digging every solid hit. End of story and word to your Mother!

 

[lisfisher]

Got it , and I'll be doing lot's of digging the next trip to the beach! I have actually found MORE gold with my old detector- a white's classic 3, only because I dug every solid signal.

 

[lisfisher]

Should I be running in all metal mode or would relic be sufficient? Not sure if all metal mode will get another inch or two of depth.

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

All metal and relic are the same except for what is discriminated out.

 

[glenn3564]

I know this is an old thread but I think I have something to add for those who own Safari's like me. I did some tests at home before going
to the beach. Don't tell her but I used my wife's ring collection and some of my own. I tested a thin solid gold wedding band for a lady. At
4" or less it consistently hit 9(same as some pull tabs) but had a distinct ring to the sound. Beyond 4", the farther away the less the VDI
would show and at 13", it would show 6 but with that same ringing tone at the end of the sound. A large solid gold Masonic Ring with many
diamonds had the same tones but the VDI up close was as high as 38 and at 15" was 20 but again, the tone at the end was distinctly different,
almost "coin like" very unlike the pull tabs that had the same tone at the beginning but more of a thud at the end. As many above have said,
the tone is more likely to help you than anythiing. I do not use coin or coin and jewelry mode at the beach. I use only all metal mode in a saved
format of disking everything from -10 to + 2 using +3 up to +39 and disk out +40. When I come across something questionable I switch out of
the saved mode and into the regular factory setting all metal mode with no disk. Usually that tells the story. My best finds so far are a $5000.00
designer diamond which I could not locate the owner (at 9") and a college ring dated 1956 I believe and did find the owner and return by checking
the graduating class for that year and matching the initials. The diamond only had the makers mark and designer's initials. Initially thought those
were the owners initials but as I investigated, that designer worked for the company whose maker's mark was inside the band. Also, have found
many other gold plated rings not only at the beach but inland also using this format but you really have to put in some time with the Safari to really
know what I am talking about. In short """it's like hitting a dime with a number that doesn't match at a depth that coincides with both the size and
metal content""".

 

[metalhead]

gold rings

Hello all, I am hoping someone can help with this. I have not found much gold with my safari, but I can almost guarantee it is my own fault. I just don't know what numbers gold come up as on the display, so I often assume it's trash and don't bother to dig those signals. 14 through 24 seem to be common readings for pulltabs, but I'm wondering just how many gold objects also read in this range. Would love to know what kinds of readings/numbers other's have seen on their safari display when gold was found . I've done some testing with some small thinner gold rings, and I found it strange that the numbers were all over the place - even on the same ring, which after thinking about it could very well be attributed to each swing of the coil being slightly different, meaning any minute change in coil angle { up or down } could give different readings due to the thin ring. Just a theory though.

i just found four gold rings in three days. i only go by tone numbers drive me nuts

 

[garviso8]

I like you, have trouble finding gold with my safari. I found one once thinking I was digging up a nickel (in the 13-15 range) depending what park I'm in , and I can't pass up a nickel since. problem is so much other junk, rings up in that range that I get bored of digging them up. not to long ago I decided to dig up a 21-22 tid # and dug up a small women's gold 14k band in a park, and I hear that class rings can even ring up as a zinc penny ,my suggestion is to dig everything within a certain range and take your chances, like they say there is no real way to be certain . there has got to be a better machine for this .

 

[lisfisher]

All good advice. Unfortunately I had to ship my Safari back to Minelab yesterday, it was having some serious issues locking onto any good target. At least I still had one month warranty left which will save me a bundle of money.