Gold Rings

Yes.........This is what is wrong with screens on all detectors. Gold rings are alloyed with various metals to make them harder and the various metals have their own conductivity.
 

Do gold rings ever full into the minus numbers on the x=terra in AM mode...

Maybe very small gold rings, or rings at edge of detection depth. Air testing 6 gold rings of various sizes/karats never gave me a - ID number. Small, very narrow bands were a 6 and larger rings hit up to an 18- 21 on my XT 505.
 

I've personally never found gold with negative numbers. I've found one that was 4, several that were 6, but have even found others as high as 40. Composition and mass put gold all over the place, but not in the ferrous (negative numbers) range.
 

Over the last week I have got some hits that sound good and then I look at the LCD and it shows a minus number, so I don't dig it????
 

Over the last week I have got some hits that sound good and then I look at the LCD and it shows a minus number, so I don't dig it????
How many times it has been said do not trust the number… I would have to say a lot of gold has been passed up by putting to much trust in your vid numbers..
 

I am old school when it comes to metal detectors...I started out on the whites old 5000D back in the 1980,s....I guess all this new high tect. stuff is the way of the future but it does come with its confusion....what to dig and what not to dig...it was always more simple when you heard the sound and you dig...and I guess you can do that with these machines to...but to me its takes a lot of time hearing and looking and standing there trying to decide if its worth digging...just a thought...
 

So whats the purpose if you cant use the numbers....just a bells and whistles thing..... to get more money for there machines...
 

I really don't get the VID numbers....there are lots of things that fall into all those numbers.....I bet I dug 10 bottle caps today that the machine was telling me it was a quarter number and old iron falls in there to.. so your pretty much right, you cant trust those numbers but you have to dig them....
 

I really don't get the VID numbers....there are lots of things that fall into all those numbers.....I bet I dug 10 bottle caps today that the machine was telling me it was a quarter number and old iron falls in there to.. so your pretty much right, you cant trust those numbers but you have to dig them....

Exactly! Thats why succesful gold jewelry hunters excel at what they do. They have patience to dig all the numbers/tones that most dismiss as pulltabs, foil, canslaw, etc... This is common to most detectors, there is just no way to ignore pulltabs, foil, trash zincolns, and still dig gold rings. If you wiggle the coil as you pull it toward you, you can ID those rusty crown caps that come in as quarters. It also works for pulltabs/aluminum that hits like nickels.
 

Nobody that knows what they're doing relies on the numbers. They are simply more information, should you choose to use it. There are times when intuition just tells you to dig, just as there are times when it tells you not to bother. Time in the field with any machine is what makes a winning team. There are no magical detectors out there that I know of, just some that allow you more flexibility in the management of their features, and some that offer more/different information to you....the main computer that processes all chosen information and makes the determination of whether to dig or not.
 

I really don't get the VID numbers....there are lots of things that fall into all those numbers.....I bet I dug 10 bottle caps today that the machine was telling me it was a quarter number and old iron falls in there to.. so your pretty much right, you cant trust those numbers but you have to dig them....

Also the numbers are mostly for reference on ANY detector. I dont rely on them, I only rely on tones. I just look at the display to see what conductivity range the target falls into. They can be very accurate at some sites tho.
 

If you get a half decent two way signal dig.....the screen display is just an educated guess....the rings in my avatar were mostly pulltab range signals.

Regards + HH

Bill
 

So a $49 Harbor Freight detector should be all one needs if your gonna dig every beep with the exception of wet sand/ water then? Is that what we are saying here? The wool has been pulled over everyones eye's and it's all just bell's and whistles? I guess I have been a marketing victim then....Hey, there's a HF right around the corner! yeah!
 

I'm new here and have maybe one post to show. But I know my detector and I find gold rings. My best streak was last month. 5 outings and 5 rings. 3 gold, 2 silver. I use the ATPro in pro mode zero w/ zero disc, full sens if conditions allow and dig every decent repeatable(2-way) signal 45 and above. For a new a detectorist, it gets frustrating for sure after 100-200+ pulltabs, etc, but the one hit that produces gold resets the clock and makes all the effort worthwhile. I've just learned that gold produces if you dig where gold ranges on the vdi. Once you start doing this you'll realize the term you hear often, "its hunted out" is BS. Maybe so for coins, but not gold. Everyone, well my guess is 75%+ swinging are passing on it cause they refuse to dig trash and dig only the "easy" targets. Takes discipline to hunt this way, but the rewards are greater IMO.
 

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I used to be in that 75% your talking about Hoosier, and after picking the hobby back up after being away from it for about 6 years , I am digging all the good sounds now and most of the iffy ones , its something that when you see all the nice gold finds people have found....why not me....Its like Longhair says...you have to learn the machine and what its telling you and I am finding out its not going to happen in 2 or 3 months. I am always working the different modes and sittings to see what works best..I am 68 and I get out 3 or 4 times a week...but 2 to 3 hours a day is about the limit for me...and that's in the shade...:)
 

I used to be in that 75% your talking about Hoosier, and after picking the hobby back up after being away from it for about 6 years , I am digging all the good sounds now and most of the iffy ones , its something that when you see all the nice gold finds people have found....why not me....Its like Longhair says...you have to learn the machine and what its telling you and I am finding out its not going to happen in 2 or 3 months. I am always working the different modes and sittings to see what works best..I am 68 and I get out 3 or 4 times a week...but 2 to 3 hours a day is about the limit for me...and that's in the shade...:)
Bingo!
And it's even more than that. If you want to reduce the amount of junk that you dig, then you learn techniques along with the information the detector provides, some of which are machine specific, to avoid those pesky items. It's like you need to learn what and how to ask it for the info.
 

Don't you think they could come up with a small ground penetrating radar, say that would go down about 12" and give you a visual on the LCD....would be nice....and take all the guess work out of it...but I don't think I have enough arms and legs to pay for something like that.......Longhair I sure hope I start asking that 705 the right questions sometime down the road here....
 

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