Is Sensitivity the Same as Discrimination?

[beachsands]

I just got my new Garrett GTP 1350, and while I was out plowing my yard this morning, I was trying to figure out how to filter out the junk. So is a detectors sensitivity the same as its discrimination? I thought the manual was vague on this issue.

My front yard is so full of junk that you can get 5 or 6 rings on one sweep. I think that if I can figure out how to work my way through this mine field that it will help at other locations with lots of bad targets.

Joel

 

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[lab rat]

No--

'Sensitivity' is how powerful your detector is at a distance. If you maximize your sensitivity, you should be able to locate deeper or smaller targets than you would with low sensitivity.

'Discrimination' is how a detector weeds out unwanted targets by eliminating signals of certain electromagnetic frequencies. If you set your discrimination off, or low, you should get more signals than if the discrimination is high. Hopefully the targets you overlook by setting discrimination high will be trash, but there is no guarantee of this.

Usually using discrimination will reduce sensitivity somewhat. I'm not familiar with Garrett machines, but the discrimination on my detector (Minelab) only reaches about half the depth of all-metal mode. Normally I'll hunt in all-metal mode, but in a trashy area I'll use discrimination.