Big Boys Hobbies

Iron pinging high?

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Garball77

Junior Member
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Mar 7, 2021
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Location
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I recently took my new vanquish out for the first time. I was flagging a couple hits when I thought I might’ve come across a really good hit. Solid tone, pinging at 6” deep, and registering at 35. It ended up being a “butterfly” off the bottom of a metal fence post.
Why would a ferrous object be hitting high? Does size matter?
 
The Vanquish and Equinox Multi IQ simultaneous multi frequency system do not use a ratio between the ferrous and non-ferrous signal to set a target ID like most other VLF detectors. Multi IQ ignores the iron portion of the multiple frequencies return signals and instead processes just the multiple non-ferrous signals for determining a target ID. That is great for non-ferrous targets. Not so great for ferrous targets. That is why the Vanquish 340 and 440 have a built in iron bias filter that is set high to better identify ferrous based targets like the steel piece of the fence post you found. The 540 has a high and low iron bias setting. You won’t hear any ferrous low tone response from the Vanquish or Equinox unless you either accept some of the ferrous target ID range -9 to 0 or use the horseshoe button on the 440 and 540 to instantly accept all ferrous and non-ferrous targets.

Steel and rusty iron can respond with readings that are all over the Vanquish, Equinox and many other single frequency detector ID ranges. That is why most experienced deep target hunters are willing to hear some of the iron targets while detecting non-ferrous targets. The horseshoe button on the Equinox and Vanquish 540 and 440 are an easy way to double check for iron. On both detectors, a reading in the high 30s is often a sign of iron/steel falsing, of a big aluminum target, a big copper target or more rarely a larger silver target.
 
Thank you for the informative response. Just to be sure, though; even with everything below 0 notched out, iron and steel will still false? And, when you say the horseshoe button is a good way to double check if it’s iron, how would you use that if you’re already set on no iron?
 
Notching out everything below 0 will not prevent larger iron and steel targets from possibly responding in the mid teens, twenties and thirties. It will just make those targets not give low iron tone responses and negative numbers. The iron bias filter is not perfect and will not be able to eliminate all iron targets, especially larger, deeper of very rusted ones. it does do really well on most shallower steel bottle caps which is what it was originally designed for. Rust, forged iron and steel give many detectors problems.

Your second question......if you have your Vanquish on a preset mode with iron rejected, press the horseshoe button and iron will be accepted and you can hear low tone and see negative number iron responses over iron targets. If you have a custom program or have adjusted a preset mode so some iron is accepted like I have to do in some iron mineralized ground (I reject -9, -8 and -7 and accept everything else) pressing the horseshoe button accepts everything. If you already have accepted the entire -9 to +40 range in your custom program or preset mode, pressing the horseshoe button will not have any effect.
 
Last edited:
jmaclen said:
Notching out everything below 0 will not prevent larger iron and steel targets from possibly responding in the mid teens, twenties and thirties. It will just make those targets not give low iron tone responses and negative numbers. The iron bias filter is not perfect and will not be able to eliminate all iron targets, especially larger, deeper of very rusted ones. it does do really well on most shallower steel bottle caps which is what it was originally designed for. Rust, forged iron and steel give many detectors problems.

Your second question......if you have your Vanquish on a preset mode with iron rejected, press the horseshoe button and iron will be accepted and you can hear low tone and see negative number iron responses over iron targets. If you have a custom program or have adjusted a preset mode so some iron is accepted like I have to do in some iron mineralized ground (I reject -9, -8 and -7 and accept everything else) pressing the horseshoe button accepts everything. If you already have accepted the entire -9 to +40 range in your custom program or preset mode, pressing the horseshoe button will not have any effect.
Click to expand...

OK, I went out on another hunt, mostly for relics, with a little better luck. Rusty iron is hitting me hard at 18-19. I turn on the all metal mode, and more often then not, I'm not getting a lot of iron response, still pinging at 18-19. At six inches flat iron and barbed wire is pinging; on the surface, the wire is rejected, but not the flat. Is this just something you have to put up with at my level of machinery and experience? I really don't want to notch out that range.
 
With the horseshoe button engaged you should get iron grunts most of the time from some direction if you circle those targets. Look for the beep disappearing as you circle or numbers and tone changing drastically.(Could be a partially masked non-ferrous or just iron). Also a shifting position of where the target is as you circle it. Again I have a lot of time on the Equinox and experience helps you decide when and when not to dig.

Small coin size targets aren't loud unless they are close to the surface. If you have not already learn to gauge the size of targets by volume, and by lifting the coil as you wiggle the coil over it. Deeper coins based on the I.D. your getting disappear quick. 18-19 IHP is going to disappear very quickly as you raise the coil. If your still hearing the beep with the coil very high off the ground it's not a coin.

Bury some size coins, maybe some Three-Ringers/buttons if you have them at different depths and wiggle the coil over them as you slowly raise the coil up. Notice how high you can get it over fore instance a 6" dime before the beep disappears. That will teach you how depth relates to the volume of the beeps.

It takes awhile to learn what to dig and what to walk away from. People looking for deep coins with the Equinox dig some iron. I do, although not a lot of it. It's always a real deep iffy signal or that very deep large piece of iron that lifting the coil doesn't help on that fools me.
 
Last edited:
longbow62 said:
With the horseshoe button engaged you should get iron grunts most of the time from some direction if you circle those targets. Look for the beep disappearing as you circle or numbers and tone changing drastically.(Could be a partially masked non-ferrous or just iron). Also a shifting position of where the target is as you circle it. Again I have a lot of time on the Equinox and experience helps you decide when and when not to dig.

Small coin size targets aren't loud unless they are close to the surface. If you have not already learn to gauge the size of targets by volume, and by lifting the coil as you wiggle the coil over it. Deeper coins based on the I.D. your getting disappear quick. 18-19 IHP is going to disappear very quickly as you raise the coil. If your still hearing the beep with the coil very high off the ground it's not a coin.

Bury some size coins, maybe some Three-Ringers/buttons if you have them at different depths and wiggle the coil over them as you slowly raise the coil up. Notice how high you can get it over fore instance a 6" dime before the beep disappears. That will teach you how depth relates to the volume of the beeps.

It takes awhile to learn what to dig and what to walk away from. People looking for deep coins with the Equinox dig some iron. I do, although not a lot of it. It's always a real deep iffy signal or that very deep large piece of iron that lifting the coil doesn't help on that fools me.
Click to expand...

Slightly confused now. What’s the better way to hunt: notch out -9-0 and learn to discriminate, or hunt in all metal and ignore the low tones?
 
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