Keeping Records this year of metal detecting

[Waterdog]

I downloaded a program from Ginkgoware idetect to help me keep records of where I go and the most productive sites. Some sights are more productive than others. This helps me look back and see where I need to concentrate my efforts to be more productive in the new year. Also keeps a running total of the amount I find.
HH

 

[John-Edmonton]

I have been tracking my location/finds for 20 years. There are an amazing number of patterns which show up, and also, places which regularliy suck! Also are the denomination of coin totals.

 

[artman60]

Yeah, I'm kinda old fashioned. I have a paper note book. I list the date, where I went, and what I found (not trash). I don't list dates on the coins, unless they are silver (doesn't happen often for me), keep a running total of clad for the year. My cell phone also doesn't have apps, games, directions, and I guess pretty soon, service. Kid tells me pretty soon I'm gonna hafta get another phone cause mine is so old it's not gonna work on the new systems LOL. Artie

 

[mudpuppy]

Yeah, I'm like Artman...just a notebook on totals and maybe a side note if I found a wheat or something...Still, its really cool if you can keep and manage a running total throughout your life...its sort of cool to look back on and see and remember that particular day.
Mud

 

[fongu]

Maybe this year I will keep up with my finds. I had several notebooks, but didn't follow thru all year.

 

[Chestnut]

I use an excel spreadsheet but that program looks very nice. Not sure I'd keep track of more info in the field to warrant using it. Like the map feature. Has a lot of nice features and its free. Wish there was a phone app so I could add info in the field. At the moment I just bring the coins back and enter the date, location, denomination, year, mint mark, depth found (approx.) any notes like "coin spill" and value. Then I keep a running total of face value and number of coins found.

 

[Southwind]

I wrote a program called Finders Keeper many years ago but never had time to keep it updated.

 

[rplante]

I've been using i-Detect for the last year and absolutely love it. It's a feature rich application but if you want to keep it simple, you can.

It's capable of recording/categorizing finds, locations including GPS and Google Earth maps integration, and user defined report generation. It's an impressive program and as it's a free download I encourage anyone even mildly interested to give it a try.

But, and there's always a but, make sure to back up your database!

I recently lost my hard drive and although I have an external HD for backup purposes, I found when I went to restore my system that the i-Detect database folder was not being saved. I was able to ultimately extract the file from my non bookable drive but it was a bit touch-n-go for a while. Scared the bejeezes out of me but you can bet that my back-up program now includes the database.

Lesson learned.

Randy