Hi everyone. As I type I'm lying here in my bed sunburnt and sore from the pickaxe. I live on land in Northeast Mississippi that has been in my family for around 150 years. My family owned a plantation and a couple of houses burned. In addition my grandfather told my Daddy that when he was a boy, several groups of horseback riders came into these parts and asked permission to dig on my Great Grandfathers land. My Grandpa and his twin rode over to the bluff overlooking the creek after they left and there was an impression of a three pronged large pot left in the ground. Rumors later spread that the men had dug up a "pot of gold" that had belonged to the James gang. I wonder to this day if perhaps it was a kgc cache. Anyway...there is a lot of history here...a lot of reason for me to look. I'm looking for gold and silver coins but obviously I have an inferior detector as it keeps mistaking plowblades and aluminum beer cans for silver. I want to purchase a good easy to use detector which will differentiate between gold and silver valuables and junk. That pickaxe is rough in the MS heat. Any help and advice is appreciated. Btw I was using a Garrett Ace 150.
Newbie with land and family history
- Thread starter amandarae
- Start date
poppoplou
Forum Supporter
Welcome from Long Island, New York. You should be able to find plenty with the 150. You might consider upgrading to a 350 or an AT PRO.
Big Boys Hobbies
Forum Sponsor
Good advice! Keep in mind no matter how good of a machine you buy you still will dig trash. Its part of the game..
DIGGER27
In Memory Of
I am not sure you are understanding how detectors work.
It's all about conductivity.
Different metals might have the same conductivity and show up on detectors...all detectors, in the same area, under the same icons, or if you have them on a screen, the same numbers.
Some gold could be the same as a nickel, lead could be the same as zinc, and aluminum can and will show up as a high tone under dimes. quarters and silver.
This is physics, and as we get better at using our detectors we can find ways to differentiate between these different metals that show up at the same place.
Sometimes.
If that piece of aluminum is big you might lift your coil high and still get a signal.
Coins don't do this...large aluminum cans will.
You can spend money on a new detector, maybe lots of money, and for that money you might get some helpful features like conductivity numbers on a screen, but even these aren't foolproof, and some hunters with $1000 units still dig aluminum.
Om my $150 Compadre, my $200 F2 and my $450 Vaquero, aluminum cans "will show up as a high tone under dimes. quarters and silver."
Just something you learn to deal with and figure out ways to tell the difference by learning to understand your detector.
Spend more time doing this, asking for help from other Ace owners or searching these forums for tips and techniques about this subject, or get a new detector and start that process all over again.
If you are going to upgrade look at something like my F2 or the new Euroteks because they have VDI numbers on the screen that might help you identify more of this type of trash and maybe dig a little less of it.
This is a scale on where metals come in...for all of us.
I added cans to the correct area.
Attachments
Thanks and you are correct. I do not know very much about detectors and am very confused by this one. It is actually my cousins and I am considering getting one of my own. I've read some stuff about "two box" detectors that said they could tell the size of an object and its composition. Oh well...today was first dig around the burnt houseplace and I found 3 melted silver pieces. I'm assuming this was coins. I'm just confused by the screen and beeps. I mean accross the top is a line that says gold and beneath it, it says, ptab. I'm not sure how to tell when it beeps and lights up, I'm not sure whether its telling my I have gold or a pull tab
Ice Scratcher
Elite Member
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2012
- Messages
- 18,347
If you ever find a detector that can tell the difference between gold and a pull tab before digging, you just come back here and let us know...
You would have made a lot of friends....
<*)))>{
CrazyDiamond
Junior Member
^^ No doubt!
Give the ACE some time. I have both an ACE 250 and a 350. It took me a while to get the hang of them - but now I'm starting to really understand how to use them.
For what its worth, once I started to ignore the display I started doing better. Now I listen to the tones and focus on scanning the target in order to understand its size and consistency. After I make up my mind to dig, the very last thing I do is look at the display to see the target prediction (nickle, quarter, etc...) and the depth.
GL & HH!
Give the ACE some time. I have both an ACE 250 and a 350. It took me a while to get the hang of them - but now I'm starting to really understand how to use them.
For what its worth, once I started to ignore the display I started doing better. Now I listen to the tones and focus on scanning the target in order to understand its size and consistency. After I make up my mind to dig, the very last thing I do is look at the display to see the target prediction (nickle, quarter, etc...) and the depth.
GL & HH!
Big Boys Hobbies
Forum Sponsor
Great post Digger!
Whatever machine you use it takes time to learn the detectors language. Kind of like dating a new woman. You have to figure out what makes them tick. I have been married to mine for years and still am not sure! ha ha
