Attention: this is only a test.......of a motion detectors' ability.....

[Steve(MS)]

to detect in iron. I have devised a test to see if there is a motion detector that will pass the test and it goes like this:

Place 4- 3 1/2 nails in a square formation so that their ends are touching, then place different coins(one at a time) in the middle of them and see if your detector(s) will get a signal from the coin. Set your unit to disc out iron or whatever...use any size coil you desire.
Use old nails, the more rusty, the better, not any that might have some kind of plating.
If your unit will respond to this test then place a nail across the center of the coin with the square formation and then see if you can get a signal.

If there is a model or models that will signal on the coin,I for one would like to know.

I know that there are some that don't believe that out of ground tests are valid, well just bury the nails and coin about 1 or 2" deep then. Then there are some that think that is an extreme test, oh yeah? How many times have any of us shyed away from a small area because the nails were thick?

Then maybe some will think this is an unfair test for motion units, if so propose a test that will show how the units that deal with trash better can be shown to actually be better. The nails in the square formation could be moved out some to create a larger square if desired(the ends would no longer touch). I would like to know which units actually do deal with nails better than others and it doesn't look like much activity right now on this forum.

I must admit I do have a 100 khz Compass that will signal on the coins in this test(it is non-motion/TR type) but I an still curious if there is a motion unit that could do something with the test and motion should give a little more depth and have other abilities that the old TR's don't.
Hope I have some takers on this, regards.
Steve(MS)

 

[suxbux]

Yes-the Teknetics T2 motion detector will "hit" on the coin. It is known for seperating out the goodies in a junkie area.

 

[JB(MS)]

May have been you that posted it. Tried your test using a nickel, zinc penny, dime and quarter with my 15 year old Gold Mountain GMT 1650 with 8 inch coil and it got all the coins using four nails, and got the nickel, penny and quarter using five nails but lost the dime.<center><img src="http://jb-ms.com/Stuff/nailstest.jpg" border=3></center>

 

[Steve(MS)]

that was me but I don't think I will be able to find a 1650 so I was seeing if there are other ones that can handle those trashy places well. Regards,
Steve(MS)

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Add a hundred years in ground with lots of rust and halo and its a different story...A lot depends on if the nails are touching the coin or if the coin is close enough to an old coins halo. I know what your trying to do but under most field conditions wouldn't find this situation...Again might E-mail Monte as he has done many tests and may help..to give you an idea of what detectors he would recommend...

 

[Steve(MS)]

on tests on top of the ground, it won't do it in the ground. I am not sure what you mean by field conditions, but I have had many times found iron nail concentrations even more dense than the simple test. To say that just because a test can't match exactly field conditions therefore the test is not relevant is missing the point altogether. I have heard that some models do better with iron trash than others but the ones that will hit a coin with a single nail nearby isn't going to get it with dense iron situations. Yes if one is hunting in wide open places then he might not run into these areas but most finds we make in the future are going to be in the hard to find category, most places that are the obvious places to metal detect have been detected many times, the only areas of those places that may be give up some good items is the trashy areas.

 

[Skillet]

I just wanted to get some basic target separation info and post the results. I used 5 machines and found the Tesoros to do better with the iron while my Garretts seemed to have the edge with pulltabs.

While these kinds of tests can't possibly simulate all field conditions, I feel that they do yield useful information; I have coin and relic gardens in my yard that I refer to, knowing full well that the targets haven't been there long enough to acquire a "halo", but if I can hit deep inhaled targets, I assume that I could likely hit the older equivalents a little deeper.

The closest you could come to recreating actual field conditions with targets covering many more of the possible variables (haloed iron at differing depths, shallow foil etc) would be to plant some targets among heavy, old small-iron trash and gauge which machines do better.

The type of testing that you are doing should serve to gain a general idea of how different machines handle trash-masking. I'd like to see more posts of this kind!

Skillet

 

[Dig'n in Va.]

When I get a chance I'll give your test a try with my DMC IIB.. With this detector I can lay two large rusty nails over a brass CW button so that only a tiny bit of button is sticking out from under the nails. It will give a high "good" tone on the button that none of my other detectors could do. The IIB is great in iron trash if it's set up right. The disc. side has to be set up to give the high tone on anything above small iron and the all metal side has to have a low sensitivity setting.. I'll give your 4 nail "box" a try and see how it does.... Dave