Dig it all or play the discrimination game?

[Habanero]

So my fellow tesoro swingers....do you set the discrimination at a certain spot then dig every good sounding target or do you twist the disc knob to play the guessing game of what's under my coil before making the choice to dig? For you knob turners: what determines if you recover the target or just leave it there as trash?

 

[Hombre]

Do I dig it all and or play the discrimination game ?, sometimes I dig it all and sometimes not. It depends on the location I'm hunting at, if hunting an ancient site like I did a week ago, I dig everything that is obviously not iron. Sometimes I like to find gun parts at an old site if they are likely to be there, then you need a discrimination circuit that reaches down into the iron range and none of the Tesoros I have will go into the iron range. One exception,,,my Tiger Shark has ED-180 to get into the iron range, just never use it on land much.

 

[REVIER]

I never set it at one place and dig everything that beeps above it.
I thumb the knob online every target past the fade out point and then back down to listen to how the target comes in.
Targets that are broken or come in with a lot of noise or clicks I usually leave in the ground and those that come in solid get dug.
I rarely dig everything, including the bad signals, nowadays except at certain sites like basketball courts.
There I cherry pick the higher tones first and come back on repeated visits lowering the disc more and more till I eventually dig most targets because masking is a huge problem at these extremely trash filled sites.
Lots of work but at the right one the rewards can be great.

 

[slingshot]

Set and dig- according to location. At tot lots and similar sites, it's just at iron level-slightly above a/m. Tougher sites, I'm a little above iron disc. If I get a trash site, I use another detector w/sniper coil. If it has plenty of targets, it's back to the Compadre and progressively lower the discrimination until the site is cleared-which may take several trips. I mean, it's just common sense, as you never know where treasure is.

 

[hatpin]

Depends on the place. I prefer to set the disc low and dig all good sounding signal but i was at a spot yesterday that I had the disc set at max.

 

[amberjack]

yes the spot and how far I am in to it take all the easy stuff 1st then disc at below foil or on iron and dig everything that I can get a lock on, oh and how I am feeling comes in to play also.

AJ

 

[BarberBill]

There's no argument that those that dig it all retrieve the most goodies. Personally, I generally thumb the disc to get a feel for the range the target is in. Sometimes I'll do the dig it all until my persistence wears thin, then go to thumbing to disc. Have been known to set a lot of disc and cherry pick now and then. Which method I use depends on the location, my ambition and how much time I have to swing.
BB

 

[ken ward]

I am a lot like everyone here. I will start out in all metal and turn the knob just to get an idea. I will dig anyway to get an idea what is in the ground. If it is a lot of nails, I will turn the disc up to make them bad. Than I dig all good beeps... KEN. Ind.

 

[Pap]

n/t

 

[Elton]

Sometimes I like to just cherry pick too. Detecting is and has always been a hobby for me. Not a I must find great finds, or all Silver..

When it reaches the point I feel I have to detect..or I have to find the most, the best etc..I will give up detecting..

 

[Furious T]

I guess I use the setting that give me the most enjoyment where I am detecting at the time....of course this depends on the location and why I went there in the first place.

 

[JJdigs]

Always remember some old deep coins may come in around nickel or pull tabb..... Then when you start removing dirt the signal will be further along the disc, more towards a coin signal, happens a lot with deep signals

 

[Miser67]

I will dig it all until I either get lazy, overly tired, or it gets too hot. Then the discrimination comes into play.

 

[kimbershot]

i'm off "inland" detecting for the summer--to hot, to many bugs and a potential for bad boy snakes. but--i hunt civil war era sites (skirmishes and burned out properties). predecessros picked through a lot of the easy stuff with discrimination--so i hunt with real minimal disc or all metal and thumb. i dig a lot more than i probably should--but i've also located some very unique finds. hey--i'm retired, i got the time.

 

[slingshot]

One final note: The Compadre will find objects that some detectors overlook if you set the disc to just ride at ground iron mineral reject- a fine line between all-metal and iron reject. I found 4 nickels at 3" that I had passed over for 20 years because the iron mineral content was so high. When I disced out just enough to not get a signal-they came in. They were under a popular city swing set that had been searched for years with many detectors.

 

[Igrasshopper]

Sling shot I concur with you on that! I use the 5.9 coil in tot lots on my Cibola and run just above iron and a little lean on the threshold and fond things that have eluded me for a lot of hunts. Tot lots have tried my patience. But a few days ago I landed eight dimes, two quarters and a very small 925 ring. I thought it was the luck of the draw but with a little knob cranking I was able to cry success in one I had hunted so many time before.

 

[JimGilmore]

Lately I have been digging all because targets are getting rare in the public spots. Or town has a club with around 70 members. And there are detectorists in town whom are not members. With schools locking their lots more are looking for spots to hunt.
I cannot afford to travel for a $1 haul.
Yet my average is about .80 an hour.

 

[kansa54]

Lately I have been digging all because targets are getting rare in the public spots. Or town has a club with around 70 members. And there are detectorists in town whom are not members. With schools locking their lots more are looking for spots to hunt.
I cannot afford to travel for a $1 haul.
Yet my average is about .80 an hour.

So Jim, how big is your town?

 

[Mega]

I run my machines with the minimal amount of discrimination,if i am on a celtic/roman or saxon site almost all the target come out,cannot have that doubting feeling in the back of my mind was it a decent find or not,this also applies to deep barely audio signal,a decent set of headphones are ultra critical especially after you have spent alot of money on a decent detector only to buy a el-cheapo set of headphones.

Also i rarely use a screen,as these can be un-reliable but tones are pretty accurate most of the time and at greater depth as well,when using my Pulse as this does not have any discrimination as such,you have no option but to dig,but saying that as a general rule its best to use a Pulse on a site that has been cleaned out first by a VLF machine,this then gives you the advantage of a 'higher reward to effort ratio'.

Some sites i agree can be a total nightmare,can only of course speak for our sites in the UK,but some very early sites can have alot of trash,so this is when coil discipline and size of a coil is ultra important,using a small coil on a trashy site gives you a good advantage.

No 2 sites are the same,so each one has to be detected slightly different,i think this is when experience counts and not necessary the detector,after all a detector cannot work out by itself what is a good or a bad target,its the operator that decides not the machine.

A very interesting topic for sure.

 

[JimGilmore]

well we are 2 cities with about about 5-600k people in this greater area.
Wehave roughly 5 or 6 highschools and 1 college.