Golden 10khz good for gold-but weak on silver

[Gunnar of bradford MN]

Did a test whith my Golden umax and the 7" widescan coil ,, At minimum sensitivity and wood blocks set to 3" i first put a dime ,I got a very faint signal soft i would say and from the time it started beeping until it stoped was 2.5" forward or lineal covereage next i used a quarter thinking it is bigger it will make a better sound NO WAY still a soft signal and 3" coverage sfrom start of beep to stop then i tried a copper cent and it was soft but just a bit louder and from the time it started beeping untill it stoped 3" then i went to a zinc penny and got a better signal stronger and louder and a coverage of 4" then i put my grandmass small 14k lod ring and got a very strong signal and 4.5'" coverage way better than the quarter and from a pull tab i got 5" coverage and the same from a nickle and 5.5 coverage from a nail so it seems the higher conductive targets give a much weaker signal compared to the gold ring which is as small as a dime and way smaller than a quarter MY CONCLUSION the Golden is good for gold but not for finding silver coins i bet the 2.5khz would really do better at finding silver coins but of course i have no detector whith the 2.5 khz signal but if you are a coin hunter would not a DFX be better whith its 3khz signal or a x terra 70 or a fisher 5khz or even an ace 250 whith its 6.5 you tell me

 

[JB(MS)]

A couple of things. If the ground balance is even a little positive the Golden will lose depth on higher conductive targets, and contrary to some of the posts you'll see a widescan coil will not get the depth a same size concentric coil is capable of except in mineralized ground. The size of the transmit windings is a major factor in determing how deep a coil will go, and the transmit windings in a widescan coil are only a tad over half as big as the transmit windings in a concentric coil. Below is something that James and Vince Gifford from Tesoro posted in response to a question from a Cort

 

[tvr]

Thanks for info JB,
I don't have a Golden but on the detectors I have I have typically set the ground balance near neutral or a little positive; after reading your post, I will try slightly negative and see how things go.
tvr

 

[Monte]

A lot will depend upon the make and model, not necessarily the operating frequency. For example, with a White's Classic SL series, such as the Classic III SL or IDX Pro, a 'spot on' GB in the All Metal mode might still not be quite enough for the Discriminate mode. It will leave the Disc. mode with a slightly negative GB setting and it will false miserably in moderate to higher mineralization. You need a just slightly positive GB in the All Metal mode to have a good FUNCTIONAL GB in the Disc. mode with those models.

With MOST Tesoro's I've noticed just the opposite. A 'spot on' GB (one that remains constant from about 8" to 1") in All Metal is actually a bit positive in the Discriminate mode. In other words, the Disc. mode is designed with an off-set on the positive side when GB'ed. As JB mentioned below, with the Golden