Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

[lerch]

Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

Just ponderin' this question.... When I hunt I dig every signal. Mostly because that beep could be the find of a lifetime. I also get a kick out thinking what's in the ground. I never really get tired of it. So here's my question. Since I dig just about every signal is a $1000 detector like the DFX (mine is waiting for me to pick it up) really worth it since I do dig everything or will the features it offers come in handy to me? I know what I'm gonna probably end up doing is ignore the VDI readings and just use the depth meter to get an idea as to where the target is. What's your take on this subject?

 

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[DigEmAll]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

I relic hunt, so every signal is dug when I hunt. When I get a hit, and start digging, it is like Christmas morning for me! When they make a VDI that can tell me the difference between a 18" piece of re-bar and a civil war bayonette, then we'll talk! When I hunt, I am haunted by the possibility that if I DON'T dig it up it WILL be the find of a lifetime! Plus, I just like to see what it is!

 

[lerch]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

I relic hunt, so every signal is dug when I hunt.? When I get a hit, and start digging, it is like Christmas morning for me!? When they make a VDI that can tell me the difference between a 18" piece of re-bar and a civil war bayonette, then we'll talk!? When I hunt, I am haunted by the possibility that if I DON'T dig it up it WILL be the find of a lifetime!? Plus, I just like to see what it is!? ?

That's exactly how I feel when I dig. You just said it better than me

 

[ramjet2187]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

I started hunting in the 70s with a BFO 'Scout', made by Gold Mountain, a subsidiary of Garrett. It had NO discrimination, so I dug every signal. About 13 years ago, I got back into MDing, and got myself a Tesoro Silver Sabre II, and although it had discrimination, I still found myself digging everything, because I don't want to miss those gold rings..............my latest purchase is a White's MXT, which is a FANTASTIC machine, and as I just to into relic hunting, and don't want to miss the find of a lifetime, I still, dig 'em all.............

Any help? Probably not, but it's what I do, after all these years.

Roger

 

[Monty]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

I dig 'em all sometimes!? There are several areas that I have hunted that has a lot of backfill.? For some reason backfill is always full of aluminum cans.? So, I sometimes discriminate everything on the far right side of the scale on most detectors.? That takes in silver dollars as well as aluminum cans unfortunately.? One good thing about my GTI 2500 is that it shows the approximate size of an object.? If I am in an area with lots of buried cans I usually can tell which hits are aluminum cans ahead of time.? Very rarely is the machine wrong, but how about the operator? Sometimes the signal looks so good I just can't pass it up!? Monty

 

[fanatic]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

I was in dig everything mode at Ocean City once with my Garrett 550. Got the faintest of signals and it didn't even register on my scale. Turned out to be a quarter standing on its edge 14 inches down. I know that sounds like its nearly impossible with that machine, but it convinced me to continue to dig everything. I wonder how my 2500 would have reacted?

 

[hollowpointred]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

some of the dfx`s features should still be usefull like the sweep speed adjust and the adjustable ground balance.anything that can get you a couple of more inches of depth should be well worth it.

 

[lerch]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

some of the dfx`s features should still be usefull like the sweep speed adjust and the adjustable ground balance.anything that can get you a couple of more inches of depth should be well worth it.

That's what I was thinking.

 

[U.K. Brian]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

Why not go for a ferrous/non ferrous meter I.D. machine ? None motion so no filter/sweep speed worries. All targets are heard and being none motion the detector head can be sat down right over the target so target masking is not a problem. Meter indicates three things, ferrous, non ferrous or there's no movement so you know to take off a few inches of soil until it does indicate.
Drawback (which is really an advantage) is the machines are a little lifty. If you start pendulum swinging then the machine sounds off at the top of each sweep. The fact you hear that your doing that stops you and makes you sweep properly.

 

[dan_h]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

Having an ID meter gives a probable ID and I find digging junk less tiresome if I know beforehand that's what it probably is. Plus, digging every signal reduces the amount of area covered, so there is a trade-off. Also, when the parks start to dry out I want to disturb the soil as little as possible, and that's when it's time to dig repeatable signals that read as good items on the meter.

 

[littlehugger]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

Reading this thread begs the question, how does it work out when you dig all signals? Do you all have a pile of gold rings?
I hunt relatively trashy sites, ie, pull tabs, bottle caps and such. If I dug everything, I would take home a huge load of tabs, zinc pennies and outright trash.
I have only found a small amount of jewelry, 10k at that. So, does digging everything up your valuable find ratio enough to justify it?
Hugger

 

[Michigan Badger]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

here's my question. Since I dig just about every signal is a $1000 detector like the DFX (mine is waiting for me to pick it up) really worth it since I do dig everything or will the features it offers come in handy to me?

This is a difficult question to answer because there are so many variables.

However, I'll be my normal blunt self and have a go at it.

To answer your question, NO. What probably will happen is you'll get so enticed with all those fun "bells & whistles" that you'll be in danger of being less productive as a treasure hunter. This may not happen to you but it does happen. THers get sort of lazy and start to trust the screen.

Fisher pretty much made modern day metal detecting and they only went to the screens and such because the new competition was doing this and sales were dwindling. Actually, one need not spend over $400 today for a machine that pretty much employs all the power the law allows.

Some people actually like messing with technology more than they like finding coins and jewelry. But, anyone will tell you the technology isn't always right.

I think after you've had fun for a year or so you'll eventually get back into the old routine.

 

[ZumbroKid]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

It just takes one find to make it worth the time and effort. This one was a screw cap reading.

 

[ZumbroKid]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

Here's some pull tab readings.

 

[DigEmAll]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

Really good research is the best type of discrimination there is. Finding a picture of a map from the civil war era in a local area history book with a dot that says "Old Bowden home" is better than any machine can give you. Especially when you get there and the road on the map is little more than a notch in the hillside woods and the home is little more than a few rocks that are a little out of place. If it was old in 1864, it is really old today!!! No pulltabs, cans, or foil!!!

 

[Michigan Badger]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

One of the first things I'll do when hunting an old house in town is make sure my detector IS NOT discriminating out pull tabs. In fact, I'll carry a few different pieces of tabs to check my machine with before starting to hunt. Another thing I like to carry is a badly corroded Indian head cent. I want to make sure it's never tuned out.

In fact this may sound nutty, but, if I'm hunting an old site that has modern traffic and I'm not finding pull tabs (or similar junk), I figure I'm not hunting.

Generally, the only thing I seek to filter out are those pesky little rusted nails.

 

[Vrent]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

If you are at an older site by digging every signal you are eliminating the shallow trash and good targets enabling the deeper targets that the trash would have masked to speak to you....if I can get back to a site over and over I will dig em all if I have a one shot site then I choose what to dig and what to ignore based upon my machine

 

[slow sweeper]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

I dig all signals 85 % of the time. But when it's starting to get too dark to see, or the rain is on the way, or I only have a half hour before I need to be somewhere, I get a little more picky. That's when I'm happy I have a detector that can discriminate.
Personally I'd rather have the ability to discriminate and not use it over never having the ability to discriminate if I'd want to.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

I have good old sites that I would like to check, but I can't because I do not have discrimination. Some contain 1700 items, mixed with 1800, topped off with much modern trash. I cannot even tell what is an old piece of rusty ferrous. I dig iron, trash, nails, tinfoil, & tabs all day and run out of time to get the good stuff that I know is there. I don't want to remove all the trash so someone else can come in and get the good stuff. It is a long drive to the location. Maybe they already have gone over it. I feel I need discrimination at these particular locations. I am definitely going to buy a unit with more features.

 

[DigEmAll]

Re: Question to the "dig all signal" crowd.

I agree with Zeb in that I too carry a pull tab stuck between the two pieces of velcro on the arm strap... ever notice that you can NEVER find one when you need one!!! Plus, it's kind of like a Masonic ring for detectorists!? LOL No, but really, I use it to check my discrimination level in those REALLY trashy areas... like where a house was that burned.? Ever try to shoot one of those?!?!?! Nails everywhere!!!!? Sometimes there will be no way around using discrimination.