from the side of the barrell than at the tip of the barrell. I layed a dime on the edge of a cardboard box and moved the Propointer barrell downward close to the dime. Didn't get a buzz until the tip was 1"past the dime. Hope others will do this test to see if they get the same results. If so, then this explains all those times I kept digging past the coin and still getting a signal that I thought was something large, and deeper than I was willing to dig.