May I ask a dumb question?

[WHADIFIND]

I think I've decided on upgrading to an AT-Pro. I've been borrowing a friend's on a couple hunts. I've found a wide range of targets, even a few silver rings. I've got a pretty good handle on the ID numbers that each show.

I've only been back to this hobby for a few months now and I still haven't located a single piece of gold jewelry. I know that is just something that can be expected. With ANY detector. But, can someone shed insight on whether gold shows up above say, 80 on the ID? Or does it only show up below? I thought a solid piece like maybe a school ring would show up as 80 or above.

Just as an aside, I got a funny hit the other day. with the AT-Pro. It rang up as 95-98. Consistently, repeatably, and very solid. I know that sometimes a large, solid piece of aluminum will show like this. But, this was hitting like a small coin. I ran the detector over and over trying to guess what would do this. Never seen it before.

It was a small watch battery! LOL

HH!

 

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[DANGLANGLEY]

The only thing I know about the AT-PRO is I want one. I see that you have a Groundhog. I had one back around 1980 and I remember that thing being a nickel finding machine. Have you noticed that about yours? I hope you get your new machine soon. Have a good one.

DANGLANGLEY

 

[WHADIFIND]

The only thing I know about the AT-PRO is I want one. I see that you have a Groundhog. I had one back around 1980 and I remember that thing being a nickel finding machine. Have you noticed that about yours? I hope you get your new machine soon. Have a good one.

DANGLANGLEY

Yep, my Groundhog is excellent at finding nickels, if you let it, for you could turn up the discrimination too far and lose them. Mine was bought in '77 AND, even though the meter has long been busted, it still works well!. I modified mine to use 6 batteries. Not for power but it did make the batteries last longer.

I have all sorts of tricks to give but they are all on this OLD groundhog.. Like, if you hunt in VLF and locate a signal then flip over to the TR side, if it's a coin, the sound will get noticeably louder. If not, it's usually not a coin. Now, who am I going to give that advice to these days? LOL

Thanks for the response.

HH!

 

[james-florida]

I also have my sights set on the AT Pro. I really want an all terrain and all weather machine. I'm new to the hobby and have searched for hours on end and so far the AT is the only one that matches the usability I wanted and is in the price range that I feel comfortable spending. I'm 21 years old and a college student so I don't have a lot of money to play with. I'm interested to see what others have to say about the concern your having.

 

[m.langlois]

I bought one this year. Love it!!! This past weekend I found a 10k whitgold wedding band in a lake that rang up as "41". I air tested my wedding band on it and it rings a consistant "51".
I don't think you will be unhappy with it, especially for the price. Like any detector, it takes some time toget used to it.

Good luck and happy hunting.

 

[lookindown]

Ive found gold with mine ranging from 38 to 77.The majority of rings ring up in the 50s. A 0.5 gram hollow earring rang up the 38 and a size 12, 8.6 gram 10k ring rang up the 77. White gold rings read lower than yellow gold. Got a 5 gram gold cross that only reads 42. The metals that are mixed with the gold have alot to do with the numbers they ring up. There are no set rules. Pull tabs sound just like gold rings.

 

[WHADIFIND]

Ive found gold with mine ranging from 38 to 77.The majority of rings ring up in the 50s. A 0.5 gram hollow earring rang up the 38 and a size 12, 8.6 gram 10k ring rang up the 77. White gold rings read lower than yellow gold. Got a 5 gram gold cross that only reads 42. The metals that are mixed with the gold have alot to do with the numbers they ring up. There are no set rules. Pull tabs sound just like gold rings.

Thanks for the information. That sort of confirms my impressions of the machine. I only got to use it infrequently so I sort of concentrated on ID's from around 53 & up. Sounds like I may have missed a few by the lower numbers but not too many as I pretty much dug all the pulltabs. Maybe next round or two I'll try digging everything and see.

One thing I'm confused about though is why some targets get so jumpy. I know it could be a combination of a LOT of factors. More than one target, mineralization, etc. But, barring that, why would a target ring up all over the place?

Thanks again!

HH!

 

[lookindown]

Thanks for the information. That sort of confirms my impressions of the machine. I only got to use it infrequently so I sort of concentrated on ID's from around 53 & up. Sounds like I may have missed a few by the lower numbers but not too many as I pretty much dug all the pulltabs. Maybe next round or two I'll try digging everything and see.

One thing I'm confused about though is why some targets get so jumpy. I know it could be a combination of a LOT of factors. More than one target, mineralization, etc. But, barring that, why would a target ring up all over the place?

Thanks again!

HH!

A lot of the targets in the 40s are foil and small can slaw. If a place is real trashy I dig 50s and up. In the water I dig everything but iron. Most of my jumpy signals are trash. Like you said, there are a lot of factors, you just have to decide whether you want to dig it or not.

 

[gleaner1]

Jumpy = trash. Most of the time.

 

[U.K. Brian]

With some of the older detectors with analog meters jumpy I.D.'s could be better identified by knowing which side of the coil hitting the target first gave the most accurate I.D. ie an approach from left or right.
As for the older detector tricks there's still non motion detectors made/sold in Europe that they work on though the Groundhog tricks are mainly down to the way Garrett wound the coils to allow some degree of discrimination in the deeper all metal mode.
As for the modern Garretts I don't really like any of them and trusting in VDI's with any detector doesn't half cost good finds especially as so many let visual take presidence over audio.

 

[WHADIFIND]

As for the modern Garretts I don't really like any of them and trusting in VDI's with any detector doesn't half cost good finds especially as so many let visual take presidence over audio.

I've been around the hobby for too long to allow myself to forget that audio is more important. After all, visual is just some circuits trying to interpret the sound and give something visual. Actually, the same could be said about the visual. Except that visual gives 50, 60, 70 etc. and the audio can give many, many sub frequencies. A bit of a finer edge.

The VDI is just a reference. Not unlike the old meter on the groundhog. I was just curious as to whether the VDI tended to show higher than 80. Evidently, not usually.

Thanks for the help.

HH!

 

[james-florida]

As of right now the only detector (my first detector) that I own is a Bounty Hunter Pioneer 101 that I bought at a yardsale about 3 weeks ago for $5. All I have to go buy IS sound and I can distinguish from the 3 different tones it makes. The solid loud higher "BEEP" is either silver/clad/large aluminum. The second is the "DEEP" tone, usually meaning iron/pull tabs/keys/junk. The third is the mixture of both "BEEP" & "DEEP" that comes out more as a "SCREECH" this usually happens on surface foil/zinc pennies/ and other, random things.

But, let me also say that the "SCREECH" can sometimes be misleading. For instance, if an iron object is in close proximity to a "good" find, the detector can pick up both targets at the same time. On any "screech" I comb over the target carefully to see if I can distinguish two separate signals rather than just the single "screech"

Like I said, I've only been at this hobby for 3 weeks so I really can't give any real insight.

I am, however, proud to say that I have found 1 silver ring so far!

 

[Giant056]

My only banner find was a huge 10K (just shy of 1/2 oz troy), I found it with a water detector but as soon as I got home I checked it with my MXT and it VDI'd in the 50's. I think the VDI's would probably be close to what the AT Pro would be.

 

[WHADIFIND]

Thanks to every responder. All the information helps to piece together this new type of detector, (new to me). I'm still inclined to go with the AT-Pro because it is so versatile. I do plan on doing some water hunting again too and this machine will handle that too. My first love though is to uncover a fine old coin from the plain old dirt. Maybe because I can actually see it uncovered instead of finding it in a scoop.

One thing I am still kind of wondering, would high mineralization cause the VDI to show as another range of number? I'm sure it can interfere, but would it change the normal numbers by a lot?

Thanks again, everybody.

HH!

 

[james-florida]

One thing I am still kind of wondering, would high mineralization cause the VDI to show as another range of number? I'm sure it can interfere, but would it change the normal numbers by a lot?
HH!

In high mineralization, wouldn't you be able to ground balance to "zero out" the mineralized surrounding's so it would still detect the object's as it normally would in the normal range?

 

[WHADIFIND]

In high mineralization, wouldn't you be able to ground balance to "zero out" the mineralized surrounding's so it would still detect the object's as it normally would in the normal range?

As I understand it, one can, to a degree zero out mineralization. But, the nature of mineralization makes that difficult at best. You see, if you zero it out here where I'm standing, Three feet away it's liable to be different. At a different concentration, depth, level, density, etc. See what I mean?

Maybe the new machines are better able to handle this, but I think it's still not an exact science. As it was said, don't put all your confidence in the numbers. I've found it better to make my guess as to what each target is before I dig, then dig it and see. I learn better that way.

HH!

 

[james-florida]

You have a good point. Thanks for helping me see it from different perspective. I'm sure ground balancing can help counter some of the effects but nothing can be perfect.

 

[WHADIFIND]

You have a good point. Thanks for helping me see it from different perspective. I'm sure ground balancing can help counter some of the effects but nothing can be perfect.

Glad to help. Just keep it in mind when ground balancing, maybe, do it a little more often. The problem I usually have is finding a patch of ground that is free enough of targets to balance. That's another issue.

HH!

 

[cahil_2]

I own an AT Pro and have found it somewhat difficult to use as it falses so much that you have to concentrate really hard on the sounds and it is difficult at times to pick out the good signals amidst all the falsing. However, I like it due to it's versatility as an all terrain machine.

 

[Mortamus]

If you have some gold rings put them into a plastic bag and bury them 4 or 5 inches and check it that way to see.

As a beginner myself I say "dig everything" it's how you learn........everyone here will tell you the same.

Good luck!!