I'm new to metal detecting and I'm having a problem with the F2 discrimination. For example, the screen will say it's a quarter, but ends up being a mason jar lid. I'm starting to wonder if I should have looked for a model with integrity because it seems like the F2 lies like a politician. I mean when it hits there is definitely something there even up to 15 inches deep so far, but just not what it says it will be. After digging what seems to be a hundred holes, I can now understand what it feels like to go for big bucks and instead get the whammy.
Seriously, I'm not looking to strike it rich. I find a lot of enjoyment from a historical standpoint. I'm looking for some tips on how I can improve so the detection results are better.
You are kidding me, right?
I mean, that first part was a joke, correct?
Even though you said seriously, still kinda hard to tell.
I will assume that you were kidding, and try to help.
You do realize that there are many things that come up the exact same in the MD world, right?
Aluminum and steel might be the same signal as dimes and quarters on many detectors.
Pull tabs, nickels and gold rings, too.
Zinc penny signals might actually be a zinc penny, but it also could be all manner of zinc items like pins and rings and tokens and toy cars which could also be made of zinc.
Even two very large class rings I have dug, gold class rings, show up on all my detectors including the F2 as...zinc!
Then there is the size thing.
If the object you are chasing seems bigger than a coin or ring when you swing over it, like you will get the same solid signal tone and numbers over a large area, or when you use the pinpoint button the numbers and tone won't change over a large area, guess what?
That thing ain't gonna be a coin or a ring.
Probably something more on the order of that mason jar lid.
If the bars on the right have only one lit up, and the pinpoint button signal says 00 or 01, and you dig 4-5 or 6 inches down and still haven't found anything, it is going to be something large and deep that has fooled the detector and in turn, fooled you.
The detector did not lie to you, it is just telling you about the world in the only context it knows.
All detectors lie to you if you understand how it really works in this MD world of ours.
You can, however, learn to get past and then get around the lies to a certain extent...eventually.
Learning to listen and hear the the tones and all their colors, which actually are slightly different, (a quarter does not sound like trash), and learning what the numbers are really saying to you on the screen, whether they are solid or jumpy, is something that is
the most important thing we talk about around here when you are starting out as a total newbie, or even as a more experienced hunter with a brand new machine...
That thing is called
***LEARNING THE LANGUAGE***, and just like learning a spoken language like French or Spanish, at first it truly is a foreign language that seems to make very little sense at first, but much more sense later when you have learned some of the words.
This confusion is entirely normal.
I went through it, lots of others have too...we all have at one point or another.
Some have a harder time of it and it takes a little longer till that "Eureka" moment hits and you get it, others learn things right away and find it a little easier with a little shorter learning curve.
Little by little, as you learn a tip here that works, and hear a tone that you finally recognize there, you will finally put it all together and that's when this hobby really gets fun...and it usually doesn't take all that much time and it sure is fun while you learn.
Rest assured even the best of us still dig trash...sometimes a lot of it, but overall, we dig way less and find way more than we did at the beginning.
You will too, just keep swinging and practicing and asking questions.
We are a pretty helpful bunch, and I would like to think pretty good looking, too,
but I guess that fact doesn't really count for much in the grand scheme of things.
Lots of us use the same detector as you do, and many here are very good with them and enjoy it immensely.
I myself have found more wonderful things than you would believe with this so called beginners detector, including many items that were historic, and some silver and gold along the way, too.
But not right away, I also had to put in my time learning.
Here are many tips in this thread that I put down as I learned things, and there are many more tips all over the forum if you use the search function and put in "F2".
Good luck, HH, and keep swinging!
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=53930