I thought this might be a good place for suggestions about metal detectors for artifact hunting.?ÿ SWMBO has expressed an interest, and right now about all we do together is eat, sleep(?!) & watch TV.?ÿ I'd like to get her outside a bit more.
Any treasure hunters here?
Thanks! SS
It's been too long since I looked at what is available.?ÿ I got a Radio Shack (remember them?) unit many years ago (certainly some other brand in disguise) for finding buried bench marks and it was a big improvement over the one I started with (forgot name).?ÿ It claims to discriminate types of metals with 4 different beeps, which is sometimes nice for searching, and it has a constant tone/variable strength mode that is useful for narrowing down the location more precisely. I would say that a useful discrimination capability would be a minimum requirement.
When I volunteered for a historical archaeology project, that unit seemed to hold its own against better-known brands that were being used. (Funny occurrence - one team was finding about 5 times as many hits as the rest, and it turned out the operator had steel toe shoes.) I was surprised that we were finding old bullets, as lead is not a strongly conductive metal.
The discrimination of that unit is not always particularly good, in that a bunch of rusty wire or nails will often but inconsistently signal the wrong kind of metal, for which I don't understand the physics. That is probably true of most detectors.
It has helped me find bench mark disks (very strong targets) over a foot deep, and in the absence of interfering objects might go somewhat deeper. I once was looking for a bench mark that had probably had its post plowed out and buried, and found a metal case two feet deep. I stopped digging when I realized it could be a communication cable splice box. Either that or a car transmission pan upside down.
