Vent: My metal detector was giving me junk signals until I changed one setting

I was out at an old farm site near Lexington last weekend, a place that's been picked over for years. My Garrett Ace 400 was going nuts on every little piece of rusted tin can, and after three hours I had a pouch full of modern trash. I was ready to pack it in. On a total whim, I dropped the sensitivity from its max down to about 60% and switched the discrimination to ignore iron completely. The next signal was a clean, high tone. Dug down maybe eight inches and pulled out a complete, early 1900s pocket watch casing, no glass or works, but the brass was in great shape. It seems the high sensitivity was amplifying all the ground noise and tiny iron bits, masking the good stuff. Has anyone else had luck with turning DOWN the power on a site like that to actually find better things?

3 comments

3 Comments

noah_chen171mo ago

Totally get that. Read a forum post a while back where a guy said running a detector wide open on a trashy site is like trying to hear a whisper at a rock concert. All that chatter from the ground and tiny iron just drowns out the good signals. Your story about the pocket watch proves it. Sometimes less power really is more. Makes you wonder how many good targets get missed because the machine is too busy yelling about every little nail.

shane_wilson1mo ago

Ever wonder how many guys just crank the sensitivity to max and call it a day? That rock concert thing is so true... I've been guilty of it myself, just wanting to hear everything. But then you realize you're only hearing the loudest junk, and the quiet old stuff just gets lost. It's a tough habit to break.

casey39320d ago

Rip that sensitivity knob right off and see what happens, learned that one the hard way digging a tenth bottlecap after cranking it to 11. @noah_chen17 nailed it, that rock concert comparison is spot on. You ever try listening for a whisper with a jet engine going off in your ear? That's what hunting a trashy park feels like with max settings. I've been guilty of it myself, thinking more power means more finds, but really you're just training your ears to ignore the good stuff buried under all that noise.