Charles, that was very well written . Ok wise guy: Yes: Even husky men's gold bracelets are ALSO seen by the detector as "individual gold links". And a Mr. T Rope gold chain can also be seen by the detector as individual links. And in those those cases: Yes, the sum total of gold is going to be a lot. Good point.
And when you talk about a small dainty gold ring, be aware that the Explorer and Excal have no problem getting those tin-foil signals. However, you bring up a good point about how the CROWN end (of any ring) tends to eventually be downwards in the ground. A buddy of mine did a several month long study in a certain old urban park (where several decades of hunters had "cherry picked" and done quite well). He reasoned that there a) must be a lot of nickels missed, and b) must be gold jewelry missed.
So he made it his mission to strip-mine a certain section which had always been their favorite. Every few nights, after work, for a few hours, he would go there with nothing but iron-disc. and strip-mine every single whisper, no matter how much it tortured him. He filled apron after apron-full of teensy foil, tabs, etc..... And ... Over a month or two, took detailed notes and records. So that he could make an eventual computer charts and such. Even down to detail of how deep, etc...
Eventually, yes, he got a few gold rings. And yes, some micro-jewelry. And yes, some sickly brownish-orange V's and buffalos. In the end, he decided that if gold rings were his goal, then his time would have been MUCH better spent by simply going to the beach. Doh! But an interesting side discovery came-about by this experiment: He noticed that in the gold rings from-the-turf that he got this way, that .... If there were a CROWN (heavier side), that the ring would be tilted towards the heavy end (if not utterly vertical). Hmmm. He would never have noticed this , if it hadn't been for his slow methodical digs, in-order to be studying the exact GPS and depth of each item. (hence digging super carefully, instead of haphazardly just removing handfuls of dirt).
So you might be right about the tendency of a ring, with a heavier end, tending to eventually be tilted or vertical.
HOWEVER, when the discussion is the wet-beach (especially after erosion events), I don't know if that's necessarily the case. They have been "deposited" there by the tide and swells and sand-movement of just the night before or whatever.
But cutting to the chase and answering each of these "gotchas" :
1) To the extent that my "so what?" post failed to account for larger chains too (since the machine sees individual links) : I have seen many many pulse users, in their attempts to pass nails, will learn-the-sounds of nails. And they DO INDEED often pass some signals. They describe them as double-beeps. And I have often asked myself: Wait a minute, if a long-straight nail has a "double-beep", then wouldn't a gold stick-pin ? And elongated gold chain ? etc....
2) And to the extent that even if/when it's true that a goodie is snared by the pulse machine that, admittedly, the standard-machine guy misses: I have see scores of guys show up on our beaches with pulse machines. Smug and happy that they will not miss chains or earring studs, and can cut black sand with ease. But ... within a few months, they are sporting standard machines so they can pass nails. Or you see them on nail riddled beaches , pulling their hair out, so they "leave for greener grounds" (going to try nearby beaches they hope aren't so nail-ridden).
So again: While my "so what?" post had its weakness, yet there are times that even when you have to make tough choices. And in the game of beach erosion, speed becomes the name of the game. Depth becomes a non-issue. It's "how many targets can you dig before the incoming tide chases you out?". And if that's going to be 400 targets, then ... heaven-help-you if 300 of them were nails.
