What is "too small?"

[mmh]

If depth is not an issue, can something be "too small" to register on a detector?! For example, can a metal detector detect a gold stud earring, that has simply fallen in the grass?! Would a basic detector work?! (Garrett Ace 250?)

[Brian]

Every detector has something thats to small for it to detect....even gold machines.
Its part down to circuit design and a great deal to do with coil size. Some machines (Deepstar P.I. for example) have a larger than normal stock coil at eleven inches but its so sensitive and has no discrimination so it will pick up a fragment of metal that most machines would need a six inch coil to find at the same depth.
First you need a sensitive detector, then as small a coil as possible and finally use little, or in the case of gold, no discrimination.
Discrimination is a problem with small gold as the signal is so slight compared to the surrounding ground mineralisation and you don't know what manufactured gold has been alloyed with. Red gold can have a high iron content so discrim. out iron and the target is gone.
A basic detector should be able to pick up a surface signal from a gold stud if the mineralisation in the area is not to high, the smallest coil size is used and minimum or no discrimination is used. Best get a similar size gold item and see what the in air performance is. If its only a couple of inches and the grass is four inches deep you have had it unless you borrow a detector aimed at locating small gold such as a Lobo, Goldbug or a machine like the MXT with a specific gold mode.

[seas1to2]

I have a sovereign elite an at the beach I have dug targets as small as this ( 0 ) at a couple of inches down, very hard to find mixed in with all the sand.I have a couple of stud ear rings an there is very little metal there to detect but they come in loud an clear most times.This is using a 10" coil.

[Carol K]

Yes, but it would have a sound like a piece of foil, piece of a pulltab, or a nickel. You would have to know your machine pretty well to find a gold stud earring.

Most of the time the signal will come in as a whisper, very faint, or it will break up, so you would have to have an "ear" to distinguish these sounds, which only comes from experience.

I can't think of anything that a detector won't pick up, except maybe a gold flake

PS Welcome to the forum.

[Brian]

???????????? 'Can't think of anything a detector won't pick up'
I can....everything. An air test might give 14 or 16 inches but the same item 'in-ground' only can be detected at half the distance because the target response is the same as or less than the counterbalancing ground effect.
On a noisy site with spits/crackles from very small iron mineralisation instead of trying the use of a smaller coil to try and bypass the problem it can be better to switch to a larger coil which will have less sensitivity but will smooth out the whole site.

[Krom]

I once dug a piece of paper clip that was ¼ long, but the thing was about 9 inches deep.

[Detector]

I've noticed the depth is usually off on very small targets. I've detected several rivet heads that had good sound but read 4" deep and were virtually on top the ground.

I did find 2 earring studs just this weekend.

[Krom]

I get that once in a while, Detector.
It's like my machine wakes up like I do... not knowing what my whole day's attitude is gonna be (although, it's 99.9% positive at th' git-go... 'til someone or something influences it by kickin' it in the... ummmm... power source...!