ghound
Elite Member
Out of interest, what coin do folks usually use in terms of conductivity for the test, i'm guessing nickel or lower?
Cheers, a 1975 one cent, is that the coin?
Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I wouldn't put a lot of faith any any nail board test. When properly adjusted pretty much any detector can pass the nail board test.
This is with a 13 year old DFX
ghound, Good Morning. Let me help answer any questions you might have about the 'official' Nail Board Performance Test. This is a product that is widely used in this industry, and came about from an encounter I had in May of '94 at the southern Utah (USA) ghost town of Frisco. At the time I was joining a 3-club holiday detecting outing and also evaluating a detector.Out of interest, what coin do folks usually use in terms of conductivity for the test, i'm guessing nickel or lower?
I have found the only thing a nail board test proves is if you have your detector adjusted properly for that test or not. I can make my 30+ year old ADS 4 pass the nail test.
But hey, it's your money.
Not sure how you get that to mean I'm saying it means nothing, but I believe you just like being argumentative.I have found the only thing a nail board test proves is if you have your detector adjusted properly for that test or not.
Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I wouldn't put a lot of faith any any nail board test. When properly adjusted pretty much any detector can pass the nail board test.
This is with a 13 year old DFX
Not that it has no value, but not the value that is being sold is all I'm saying. As I said it almost meets the misinformation definition in my opinion.
Anyone who has been detecting for any length of time knows this test is nothing but a guide and does not reflect a real world scenario. It only serves to try and impress those who don't know any better. That is why I say it boarders on being misinformation.
But most experience people already know this.
The Nail Board Performance Test, or an Air Test or Bench Test, or evaluating a Planted Target Test Bed, all have a few things in common. First and foremost, they are only a Test.I see the nail board test much like an air test. I find value in an air test, but only a fool would expect that to mean you'll get the same results in the live ground. By live I mean not planted but natural settings.
The Nail Board was, as I described above, an actual, in-the-field encounter. The old school had been gone a long, long time, much more than 50 years, and the scattering of iron nails and the Indian Head cent, in particular, had been that way most likely closer to 75 to 95 years.Take those same nails and leave them in the ground for 50+ years with a coin next to them and then test the results. They will be nothing like a nail board test.
You can adjust any 30 year old detector you want and possibly do well on the NBPT. You can change coils and see what differences in performance their might be.As I said I can adjust my 30+ old detector to impress those less knowledgeable on the role the ground and a 50+ year old rust nail actually would respond. It simply a matter of proper adjusting any detector, with the proper adjustments, to pass the nail board test.
If you think it is just a 'slight-of-hand' trick, well come work you magic and show us how it's done.It little more than a slight of hand trick nothing else. And I actually tend to place it in the area of misinformation, but I'll leave that up to the user to define themselves.
You ARE taking away a detector's performance ability because you haven't put them to a test in actual comparison, obviously.Now I'm not taking anything away from any detector. A good fast responding detector, which generally means a simple electronic path, does great in high iron sites.
I won't argue a lot on this one because you are basically correct. The Deus, with the right coil and working up the best settings, can do well enough to pass the NB test. I don't personally care for the Deus, but for those who do and learn it well, it might be the right detector for them and their needs.I think the Deus is one of the few exceptions that is both a well featured detector capable of extremely fast recovery making it great in trashy sites.
Most of the older detectors were in the 'simple design' category because they used analog based circuitry and were not a blended A/D or all digital circuitry design like most modern detectors are.Oh, and the reason some older detectors respond so well is the simple design.
Yes, many of the older detector makes and models lacked the depth potential of most of today's top-end offerings. But NO, you are incorrect when you say: "... it is still just a matter of most any detector properly adjusted for the condition will do just fine with the nail board test."No depth but fast to respond. But it is still just a matter of most any detector properly adjusted for the condition will do just fine with the nail board test.
Like an 'Air Test' it is a guide in some respects and does give an indication of possible performance in a comparable in-the-field setting, which is exactly what it is!Its little more than a guide and nothing else. Just like the air test.
BCK, I basically agree with you, but we have to determine first what is and what is not 'ideal' and that does NOT necessarily mean it is 'unrealistic.'I do not believe any test done in ideal (read: unrealistic) conditions that will never be seen out in the field to have any sort of value. Just my opinion. Feel free to disagree.