To Dig or Not to Dig - That is the question!

[sqzdog]

I am using a White's XLT E-Series and have had it about 6 months. When hunting around old houses I get the visual indicators "target ID" It will say quarter or penny and I end up digging a damn aluminum can.

What methods or rationale do others use when deciding whether or not to dig a target? I am thinking about disabling the target ID because I think I may be relying on that too much. It has never been

Do you use the scale +/- and dig certain numbers?

All advice appreciated!

 

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[stoney56]

Sometimes you just have to dig. Lifting the coil while pinpointing might show that the target fades a bit meaning a smaller target whereas an aluminum can will continue to give a stronger signal. For the most part, I'd recommend continuing to dig as you can't always rely on the meter to be 100% accurate. It's just a barometer for an approximation.

 

[jglunt]

I would turn off target ID. Turn on tone ID, VCO & DC phase. Learn what the different tones are telling you. In the pinpoint mode I dig all + #s on the small display (upper right). Watch your bar graph for high single bar with signal. VCO will give you a good idea of relative size of the target. Small targets like rings and coins will peak and drop quickly in all directions. An exception might be a gold chain. I also block edit to reject +32 to +59. Just a few ideas for you. Remember, what works for me may not work for you so experiment.

Jim

 

[Monty]

I have a Garrett2500 and perhaps the only edge it has on any of the better detectors is that it will indicate the relative size of a target. If I am relic hunting I still dig anyway because you just never know. The chief benefit of the size indicator is probabaly with coins. Monty

 

[Rubicon]

My Garrett CX3 gives distinctive sounds for different metals, solid beeps for coins and stuttering beeps for junk. Sometimes it will beep in one direction but not the opposite. It's just a matter of listening to your machine and letting it tell you what it's found.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

My detector doesn't have a VDI and I have learned a few tricks. When you get a hit list the coil while continuing a wide sweep over the target (not a "wobble", a sweep). A can will hold a tone longer/higher than a coin. With my DD coil I get three beeps for very shallow coins, so I know if I'm holding a tone 8" over the soil but not getting a triple when I skim, it's not a coin.

If I sweep it one direction and get a totally different tone or sound when sweeping it with the coil turned and swept 90º perpendicular, it's probably not a coin.

I still dig it.

 

[BIG61AL]

With my bigfoot coil it has a nice straight edge. I sweep it from the left and then the right, top and bottom. I can usually tell from the size footprint if it is a can. Anything bigger than a playing card is 99% usually a can or partial can. A coin even a big coin will only be about a inch or so wide from one signal edge to the other signal edge.

 

[TEXMAN]

DIG EVERYTHING

 

[Felinepeachy]

I flip a coin, heads I dig, tails I dig.

 

[greywolf]

Well I think you should dig everything. Takes longer BUT at the present price for scrap alum. cans well take them home ,crush them and then when you get 50 or more #s turn them in for MONEY.

Treasure is not always gold or silver rings.

 

[rmptr]

Oh, this is fun!

I enjoy metal detecting a lot.

And I like bass fishing, too... Playing with all those fancy packaged bits of colorful plastic that may even smell or flouresce, presenting them in different ways, to see if I can catch bucket mouth for dinner!
Seems like half the fun is reading all the wild claims about new fishing lures endorsed by a bass pro.

I've dug targets that were drops, stacked 3 & 4 coins together.
I've found em flat, on edge, and every position in between.
Canslaw and mower cut coins & pulltabs take on the shape of any kind of jewelry you could image.

Let's imagine "young buck" with a pocketful of mixed coins taking his pants off and tossing them aside, for whatever reason and becoming otherwise distracted. Or how about a coin purse dropped.
Maybe even a miners poke of nuggets and coin...

I would seem that even experts get caught up in fanciful presentations of whiz-bang bells and whistles!

A target ID of any sort will more likely convince an operator NOT to dig than do the right thing.

If you have located something, find out what it is. You'll never regret it.

Dig 'em all !

R M P T R

 

[ClonedSIM]

All of the suggestions above are great, and you should take them all into careful consideration, but I'm curious if you're digging whole cans? I only ask because I sometimes run into sites that seem to have whole crushed cans buried everywhere!

If you don't have to be extremely careful with the site, then go ahead and dig them and either recycle or toss them later. But, if you want to try and avoid them altogether, then turn on your VCO and just listen carefully. A can will give off, for lack of a better word, a large signal. The kind of signal that you would expect to get if there was a quarter lying on the surface. A quick way to test for it is to pinpoint the target and lift the coil away from the ground. A coin signal will disappear as you raise the coil, but a can will hold firm till you get about the 12" mark or thereabouts.

 

[sniffer]

I've got a DFX and I dig everything on the plus side unless, I'm relic hunting. Like some others have said, if it's a small repeatable signal, dig it because you just never know

 

[BigChief14]

My Garrett CX3 gives distinctive sounds for different metals, solid beeps for coins and stuttering beeps for junk. Sometimes it will beep in one direction but not the opposite. It's just a matter of listening to your machine and letting it tell you what it's found.

So what do you do in this instance? I'm learning my Classic III and I've run across this myself. I know the Dig Everything advice but some of my old sites out in the sticks have been used for YEARS as beer drinking spots for teenagers so Lots of pull tabs & bottle caps.

JS

 

[golddigger14s]

Remember something of actual value can be masked by the junk. Remove the junk and run the coil over the spot again.

 

[dcooper1]

Some good techniques on how to avoid and/or distinguish items that MAY be a can. However, that item could also be a "plate", a spur, a stirrup, or any other large item. Depth is also not always a good indicator as the larger items (as mentioned above) will probably not sink like the smaller ones.

If you are only interested in digging coins and the smaller relics, then certainly employ the other methods and avoid the larger/not so deep targets so the rest of us can enjoy the occasional large relic left behind by someone thinking it was a can.

Now the short answer - DIG EVERYTHING on the positive side!!!! I could tell stories all day long about guessing what an item was, and being wrong - no matter who you are or your experience level, we've all done it......often.

Oh yeah - TURN THE ICONS OFF!!!!

 

[strickman]

always remember,he who dropped a lot of beer cans,probably dropped other things as well.

 

[Ray S ECenFL]

OK, for starters, you should know a little something about the targets you will be finding. Put various targets on the ground, penny, dime, quarter, pull tab, nickel etc..

Run your detector over each one and see with reading you get. What VDI number do you see for each target? Since this is not a real world test, you will see a single bar graph and get a stable vdi reading. Now you know that when an object sits in the ground those perfect readings you just experienced will not be the same. Why? Halo effect, minerals in the ground, other targets nearby and so on. If you are relic hunting, dig it all. If you are coin hunting, dig it all. To assure you self of not missing any goodies, dig it all. I once almost passed up a target because I thought it was a Lincoln penny ( my icon, told me so) but the VDI reading was too high. Yes, my detector lied to me. It was a silver ring.

I have dug targets that I would have swornwas junk and turned out to be the find of the day. The bottom line is know your detector. You can sometimes tell that a target is a pull tab, depending on the VDI reading. Just above 25 is probably a pull tab. But remember, you detector will not always tell you the truth, it tells you what it thinks a target is, NOT what is really is.

You have to make judgement calls when out in the field. Sometimes in a real trashy campground, you will find that a lot of targets are pull tabs or aluminum confetti. You will also get used to what readings you see these targets at. Your call to dig or not. I figure since I am there, why not dig, isn't that what you are doing there in the first place, digging targets? We would all like to know what is coming out of the ground before we dig, but no detector is 100% fool proof. Every veteran detectorist will have several stories of how they were not going to dig a particular target but did anyway and it turned out to be something other than they thought. Dig everything, is sound advice.

I had a problem with my XLT screes several months ago and was digging in the blind. Just going by the sound of the target. I noticed that rate of finds was improving. Why? Because I did not have the visual icon, VDI to rely on, just the audio. Dig Everyting, you can't go wrong.

Happy Hunting.

Ray S