A couple of newbie questions

Dig everything for a while, and pay attention to the signal you got...You can condense the typical learning curve if you think and focus up...even if the target is junk..it teaches you something about the location and the language of your rig....this is an audio based nuanced Sport...you gotta get a feel for it accordingly...just give it a good go, learn from each target and stay at it for a bit... you will see...curiosity on a deep iffy signal is good...so extract them for a while...they will let you know...
Mud

Full cans come in like high one coins usually from the dime to the dollar range.
They sound pretty good but a few tricks.
Hit your pinpoint button and move it around the area of the high tone signals.
Coins are small as are rings, they "paint" a small area in the ground as you maneuver that coil to determine the size...cans are much bigger.
If you get one of these can signals to be sure raise your coil higher and higher while swinging over it.
Coins and rings will fade out way before large cans will, if you are swinging high over the top of the soil and getting a solid signals it is a big target.
#3 can tip...
Pinpointing cans they are so big they usually show up as shallow on your depth numbers.
If you see 3" but dig down and are at 5-6" or more and haven't found that target it is big and deep.
A can at 8" can still pretend to be only 2-3".
Swing high over these first before you dig and that can help you avoid digging extra useless holes.

BTW, conversely really small targets can show deeper than they actually are, also.

As far as those other non repeatable sounds probably false tones.
They are thrown off by metal in the ground like iron and don't even have to be under your coil.
A large rusty sledge hammer can false way deep and inches away from the edge of your coil can do this but they never repeat in the exact same place.
EMI can also cause falsing.

The behavior you described could also mean something deep and masked and maybe good but that would be rare and this is advanced stuff you will learn about down the road.
For right now concentrate on the basics because there are more you need to learn and keep asking questions.
See, you learned two new things already on this thread because you asked.

It all makes sense now. Thanks for all of the help.

I watch metal detecting videos while I am on the stairmaster every day and I watch maybe 30 a week. I've noticed that it doesn't matter what the signal is, they dig it anyway. I've never (or rarely) seen a detectorist get a low signal or a signal that denotes garbage, and skip it. So, like he said, from what I've seen, dig everything. I guess, except the non-repeatable tones. On the other hand, those tones could be iron/metal shavings that is usually found with gold!

Just sayin'

Silky

Silky said:

I watch metal detecting videos while I am on the stairmaster every day and I watch maybe 30 a week. I've noticed that it doesn't matter what the signal is, they dig it anyway. I've never (or rarely) seen a detectorist get a low signal or a signal that denotes garbage, and skip it. So, like he said, from what I've seen, dig everything. I guess, except the non-repeatable tones. On the other hand, those tones could be iron/metal shavings that is usually found with gold!

Just sayin'

Silky

Click to expand...

When you are new digging everything is recommended for awhile because that's how you learn to associate signals with targets.
As we mature in this hobby that might change.
I watch tons of video too but I don't see everyone dig every signal...most just show the ones they are digging and not the ones they skip or edit out a lot of the trash targets completely.
Many show themselves swinging over targets and passing them by and then acquiring a good signal and digging those...I like that kind the most.
I myself dig about 20% of the trash I come across and still find a ton of great treasure but I am no newbie and I spent many hours learning target behavior to get to this point and dug a carload of trash learning long the way.

As stated when new digging most is recommended but learning about cans is an easy lesson and doesn't need to be repeated over and over to learn that one thoroughly.