The most commonly asked questions I get when talking treasure hunting is, “What’s the most effective metal detector?” Everyone asked that real question is going to have his/her own slant about them. They all have their particular experiences, and each has their own “type” of treasure they go for. I’m no exception. So, I’m going to give my “slant” to see if what I contribute will narrow the selection down a lttle bit.
First… by far the key criteria in selecting a metal detector is “choose a metal detector that you will use.” I would not care how fancy or expensive metallic detector is… if all it will is sit in a corner having a jacket hanging concerning this, it’s going to find forget about treasure than the usual child’s toy. I only say this, as I have experienced those with an arsenal of metal detectors… some rudimentary, and several fancy… and lots of times they pick the basic detector, because each of the settings, controls, buttons, and what-nots for the fancy detector are merely too complicated on their behalf. They don’t have fun with this; they don’t comprehend it, and so they do not apply it. So, if you’re a novice to metal detecting, or don’t relish thinking about having to learn what all those buttons, knobs, and screens do and mean, then perhaps you’re best having a more “basic” model, a minimum of until you get experience and determine what exactly you desire and can handle.
Metal detectors just do that. They detect metal… all metal. Ferrous metal is iron based and could be drawn to a magnet (iron, steel, etc.). Non-ferrous metal isn’t iron based and will not be drawn to a magnet (aluminum, copper, nickel, silver, gold, platinum, etc.).
Ground Balancing – Many detectors will offer you circuitry to handle mineralization inside the soil. Mineralization may be caused by salts, iron, “black sands,” “hot rocks” or another “hot” deposits that naturally occur. If you are planning on nugget-shooting (detecting for gold nuggets), choose a machine that is certainly specifically designed for nugget-shooting. In case you are gonna be beach combing (detecting at the lake), decide on a beach machine (not merely is the circuitry better made to handle the mineralization available at the shore, but many are better created to withstand the saltier environment). If you are detecting at various locations, for example parks, fairgrounds, and other public venues, then the “general purpose” machine is going to do. Just remember, you will want machine with a few sort of ground balancing capability.
Sensitivity – Most detectors have a sensitivity adjustment. Looking coil in the detector is actually an antenna that has an electromagnetic field emanating within a pattern that’s “shaped” by the shape of the coil (round or elliptical are the most popular). The space (depth) it reaches can be a factor of power output and frequency. Once this field is disturbed by the target (metal), the circuitry senses the disturbance along with the detector registers with sound and/or visually on a display (meter or graph). The sensitivity adjustment will permit the detector to sense this disturbance by smaller targets (at the given depth) or even a given target with a greater depth. The trade-off is the more sensitivity, the higher the aftereffect of non-target “junk” and mineralization. Setting the sensitivity too much will result in false hits, roughly much electrical chaos that targets are missed, especially weak targets. An excessive amount of sensitivity could also cause a medium or large size target to “overwhelm” the circuit and cause it to blast an overload signal.
For more details about metal detector take a look at this website.