Every detector, even the best ones have their demons. One drives its users buggy finding nails, another wastes its owner's time finding aluminum foil, while another discourages its user by finding tin cans. It takes considerable time to learn to live with these demons until the manufacturers invent the perfect machine. This machine will show up on our doorsteps one day because the evolution of technology will provide the manufacturers with what they need. That day will probably witness a stampede like the Oklahoma land rush for new detectors and then to find those elusive old coins we all look for.
Until then we must persevere with the tools we have and learn to provide a work around for the foolishness of our detectors. My detector's demon is the squashed aluminum can and it has provided endless diversion for me digging them. It is so clever by using the cupped depression in the bottom of the can it can throw my pinpoint off and have me digging a hole large enough to bury a basketball. It places these large targets in the middle of a field of coins and in acres of trashy parks for me to find. For a time I was completely defenseless blundering from first one can to another and digging in the hot summer sun.
One day I discovered a way to peer at this demon without falling for his dirty trick and avoid some of the obvious cans by holding down my pinpoint button and judging by the depth meter how wide the signal is. In other words these cans will generally indicate as penny or dime and if you lay a dime on the dirt and scan it in pinpoint you will observe a sharp ramp up when you move the center of your coil over the coin. Find a can that indicates dime and move your coil over it and you will notice first that the depth meter is very slow to move and the target is very wide. This will work to spoil most of these cans but not all. There is a certain shape of crushed can that can fool this method but there is a way to discover this one too. This can will often indicate that it is a dime on the surface or a inch deep and even if you use the previous method can deceive you. This one is found out by simply lifting the coil a couple of inches and it will often still indicate 1 inch deep. By utilizing both of these methods you can send your demon running.
Your machine may have a different demon and if you have been successful in exorcising him please email me with all of your techniques and I will include it on this page. Please indicate to me what kind of machine you have and all of the information you can add. I will not use any specific names or machine types on this page but we each know our problems well and this can benefit the detecting community especially the newcomers in our ranks. It seems that the way we have dealt with it in the past was to deny that our machines were anything less than perfect but that didn't help everyone who did not know what to do. If there are multiple resolutions to these problems I will try to list them all where possible. First identify the demon by what he likes to trick you with and then what you do to fool him. Thanks for your inputs.
