New To Detecting, Question About 1 And 2 On Vdi

[unox]

When I get a 1 or 2 with the 800 I always get a bit excited. The Equinox is renowned for throwing up those numbers for some types of Gold Jewelry as seen in F350 post. If you look at my profile pic that small nugget that you see on the end of the coil came in as a 1 as well.

[F350Platinum]

Just had a thought:

If you're getting lots of 1s and 2s that happen spontaneously when the machine has been running quiet, you might be hitting little "waves" of black sand, or you are just at the edge of the water enough to catch moving water. At that point you might want to lower sensitivity or change your beach program to the other. Look what your coil is over, change accordingly. I generally go to beach 2 when the sand is getting wet from the waves.

That little ring was high on the beach which is why it stood out. The other I found on the hill was a 10/12, what I would expect for a thin small ring 🤔

[strick]

8 hours ago, Gary985112 said:

 

Wait, it didn't pick up the chain at all? Even going over it? Was iron bias the reason? Or was there another reason as to why the 800 didnt pick it up?

The detector sees the links on a chain as individuals not as one big piece of gold. Often they are too small to detect Plus gold is a lower conductor which makes it even harder.. When you are digging gold chains you are more often then not hearing the more solid metal clasp rather then the links of the chain...so yea your gonna want to be digging ones and twos if your looking for chains. 

Strick

[Knomad]

Be Aware,

In Gold Mode in typical gold country, a 1 or 2 or bouncing between them is Very Common, and it often will be small gold or lead.  BUT, a solid 1 is much more likely to be aluminum foil, a solid 2 is not often foil, and may be gold, a 1-2 that becomes a 2 or higher as you dig closer may also be gold, But keep all iron discrimination off, and if Negative numbers consistently pop up with Positive Numbers, it becomes more likely that iron is fooling the detector. AND, Just Slightly larger gold will often readout what I call - a Perfect 10.!

Side Note -- Discrimination does lower overall sensitivity, the more you eliminate the more it effects general sensitivity, Especially in Gold Modes that will often give you Maximum sensitivity and depth in most soils, but may be too unstable for salt beaches.  

SO, YES, readings of 1 or 2 can be good.!

[midalake]

On 1/23/2023 at 7:53 PM, Gary985112 said:

Wait, it didn't pick up the chain at all? Even going over it? Was iron bias the reason? Or was there another reason as to why the 800 didnt pick it up?

Some chains are too small to detect. I have little foil here, so 1 and 2's for me are gold chains or small pendants. Iron Bias 6 or below will not affect the reading of a gold chain.  

[FloridaSon]

I run no discrimination also and lowered the volume of the iron so it can barely be heard. Makes it easier to focus on the non ferrous tones.

[Badger-NH]

On 1/24/2023 at 8:17 PM, Knomad said:

Side Note -- Discrimination does lower overall sensitivity, the more you eliminate the more it effects general sensitivity, Especially in Gold Modes that will often give you Maximum sensitivity and depth in most soils, but may be too unstable for salt beaches.  

That may have been true of detectors of long ago but not of most modern detectors like the Equinox.

All discrimination does is turn off the sound associated with certain VDI numbers. It has no affect on sensitivity or depth.

The advantage to running no discrimination is that it allows you to hear the full audio signal of all targets. 

 

[Knomad]

This is not a Theory, I have repeatedly tested the sensitivity and dept in Gold 2 Mode in the bad ground of gold baring areas. Maximum Sensitivity and depth is with No Discrimination and running as hot as you can, at these settings it acts almost like an analog detector but with target I.D readout.  The more numbers notched out the more time the detector is processing that signal instead of just reporting the signal, and so if that is a small target in ground it is fighting to find it in that extra processing can take away from it reacting to that target.  I find that if most hot ground and hot rocks read -7, -8 or-9, -8 and -9 most common, if needed I can notch out one or both of them with little loss, the more numbers notched out the more it effects both depth and sensitivity.

NOTE -- If you are hunting big targets like coins in good or modest ground you may not notice it, But try a small target at near max detection depth in other modes, then try the gold modes, in most cases you will gain depth.

 

[Chase Goldman]

9 hours ago, Knomad said:

This is not a Theory, I have repeatedly tested the sensitivity and dept in Gold 2 Mode in the bad ground of gold baring areas. Maximum Sensitivity and depth is with No Discrimination and running as hot as you can, at these settings it acts almost like an analog detector but with target I.D readout.  The more numbers notched out the more time the detector is processing that signal instead of just reporting the signal, and so if that is a small target in ground it is fighting to find it in that extra processing can take away from it reacting to that target.  I find that if most hot ground and hot rocks read -7, -8 or-9, -8 and -9 most common, if needed I can notch out one or both of them with little loss, the more numbers notched out the more it effects both depth and sensitivity.

NOTE -- If you are hunting big targets like coins in good or modest ground you may not notice it, But try a small target at near max detection depth in other modes, then try the gold modes, in most cases you will gain depth.

 

I agree it’s real.  Similar issues arise with Manticore while adjusting its ferrous limits (different than discrimination) and on Deus 2 - Discrimination can affect signal processing and is not just an audio suppression feature as D2 has a separate setting for that called notch.  Anyway, just wanted to clarify, however that the effect you are seeing is not a reduction in sensitivity so much as a reduction in unmasking/recovery for those fringe targets.  In a practical sense it manifests the same as a perceived loss of sensitivity, but it’s more like cranking reactivity/recovery way up (which clips the target audio response) than turning sensitivity down. FWIW.

[Badger-NH]

7 hours ago, Knomad said:

This is not a Theory, I have repeatedly tested the sensitivity and dept in Gold 2 Mode in the bad ground of gold baring areas. Maximum Sensitivity and depth is with No Discrimination and running as hot as you can, at these settings it acts almost like an analog detector but with target I.D readout.  The more numbers notched out the more time the detector is processing that signal instead of just reporting the signal, and so if that is a small target in ground it is fighting to find it in that extra processing can take away from it reacting to that target.  I find that if most hot ground and hot rocks read -7, -8 or-9, -8 and -9 most common, if needed I can notch out one or both of them with little loss, the more numbers notched out the more it effects both depth and sensitivity.

NOTE -- If you are hunting big targets like coins in good or modest ground you may not notice it, But try a small target at near max detection depth in other modes, then try the gold modes, in most cases you will gain depth.

 

I can attest to that. Unlike the other modes, Gold Mode has the best depth when run wide open. I often use it relic hunting when I want to dig everything at maximum depth.