Metal Detecting for Beginners

Hi Everyone,
My name is Terry Anderson.

 This blog will be on everyone’s favorite hobby/ addiction/ relaxation, Metal Detecting.

When I moved to St. Croix US Virgin Islands, I knew I would be buying a Detector.
Then the hunt was on!
There are miles and miles of beautiful beaches to explore. After much research, I decided on a Garrett AT Pro and pinpointer for my first detector. Along with a stainless steel scoop.
There are so many different kinds of Detectors.
Look for one that will work better in specific areas where you will be detecting, sand or dirt. While waiting on my new gear I was watching YouTube videos, and trying to remember everything!
Then I received my AT Pro and I basically forgot most of what I’d watched on the videos!
Everything was different now that I had mine. I read all the instructions that came with it. Terminology was something I needed to learn, I’m a woman who knew nothing about detecting.
It took me a while to get it together! Everything was factory set, so I left it that way to give me a good start. It was kind of confusing in the beginning!n I knew I would be adjusting because of my location, minerals in the sand or wet or dry sand.
Do you want to use manual or automatic settings to ground balance your detector? The choice is yours for this model. When I’m ground balancing I’m looking for certain readings on my display.
If you end up at 80 to 100 that means your in “ highly ferrous material. If you balance around 60-80 that is moderately mineralized soils. Then there is the 20 to 60 range, which may mean you're near an iron object. Lastly, if you're in the 0 to 20 range your in highly conductive areas like saltwater.
There are many combinations, so you will be changing settings as your location changes, or as you improve your skills and find your favorites for the area you're in the most.
Next, I wanted to know about Iron Discrimination. If I put the discrimination to 0 I will hear anything metal. If I turn it up a couple of notches I may miss something. Whatever area you're in, you may or may not want to change the discrimination. If you leave it on 0 be prepared to dig most of the day!
I haven’t got into the notched disc and eliminate buttons yet, so much to learn! Some people like to dig everything because they might leave the “ 1 in a million “ find if they don’t dig it all. It’s best to start figuring out what works in your area. If you're in heavily mineralized soil, you may get false readings. Example; if you get a good target let's say in the 80's and the next pass you come up with a 30, and the next pass you have no response. This means your soil is full of minerals and. I like to stick with a solid number that doesn't bounce a lot. The first time out with the detector I set the discrimination mode at zero that way I’d hear everything.
At the beach, I started off and right away I was getting signals. I thought that I was getting fake signals so I kept walking. After a few more signals I stopped to dig and see why I was hitting 50’s-60’s. Bottle caps! Pull tabs!☹️ I kept going, then I had a reading of 90 and I was digging like crazy. More bottle caps! Well, they are metal!? I figured I wasn’t doing badly. I found lots of coins as well, so I was excited that I was finding different items.
I was hearing a lot of tones and I didn’t know what was going on because I thought I’d just be hearing one tone on standard mode. That was the problem, I was in Pro Mode! I went back to standard mode and I only had to deal with one tone. Standard is more stable for a beginner like me. At this point, I’m on 0 iron discrimination
I’m in standard mode and I manually ground balance. I started getting lots of signals all the time, so I dug all the time! Lots of foil, bottle caps, pull tabs, and junk. That got tiring fast! Time to set up the iron discrimination to 20. Still digging pull tabs, bottle caps, nails, and junk.
Then I could see that the bottle caps looked like a coin lying in the sand. The depth of the items made a difference in the readings. Sometimes I’d hear a faint tone, so I knew it was deeper. Sometimes I’d get a dime on 70, a nickel on 65, a quarter on 80. I felt that there was so much inconsistency I must be doing something wrong. That’s when I realized I needed to ground balance more often. Like going from dry sand to wet sand back and forth or dirt to sand. This made a huge difference. Such a difference, for my first time out, now I was really confused!
More reading and practicing are needed, after all, there are plenty of settings I haven’t even touched yet. I read and read. Practice, practice, read and read more. Don’t forget to watch the videos. Now, what about the sensitivity mode? My detector has 8 sensitivity settings, what’s that about? The Sensitivity settings for the beach should be set lower because of salt water, trash and naturally occurring iron in the sand. Wow, so many choices on every mode if I didn’t leave it on the default settings.
While I was reading, I realized I should have been wearing the headphones. Not because of the noise I was making, (no one around) but because the water is loud, and I’d miss low signals in case targets are buried deep. The headphones work really well, worth the effort to use them.
At first, this seems overwhelming, but it’s still really fun! Just get out there and have fun with your detector. All the readings and settings I’m talking about are from my detector. Yours are going to be different than mine. The fun part is every time you hear a signal it could be “ the biggest find ever!" If you would like to let us know what detector you now use, we would be interested in hearing from you! Feel free to share any advice or stories about your metal detecting adventures in the comments below!!