Test Garden Recommendation ????

I never seem to get the depth out of my machines I hear others report, as I seem to be limited to about 6" on coins (not including silver dollars and halfs), and have machines that I know should have a LOT more horsepower (C$, F5, F70, Tek Omega, Edge, etc). I figure a test garden is the only way to really test these machines out in a controlled test environment to learn what their really capable of, although I understand that a test garden will never equate to real world hunting, but it should help to learn what each machine is capable of and how to best tweak it for maximum performance.

I was thinking I'd bury three clad dimes, one at 6", one at 8" and one at 10" for depth testing.

Bury a copper penny and a zinc penny at 6" or 8" to have different targets to test.

Bury some old rusty nails next to some coins, say 6" deep maybe an inch away from the coins to test for unmasking and target separation capabilities, or should the nails be over and/or below the coin?

Also maybe a coin on edge at 6" or 8". I should probably have an old nickel in the mix too.

Any suggestions on a good test garden setup ?

TIA,
Brian

One thing I have found Cal is that in Calif and our soil we have a harder time getting more depth. I have read where guys say they dig 11 inches alot. I will get 8 inches on a dime sometimes. We once hit a Indian Penny at Golden Gate Park at 10 inches it was a loud hit. It took forever to dig that hole even in the easy to dig grass. The penny came out really nice and it dated back to the late 1800s

I know Tom has a way to get the targets ready to seed in the test gardern. Once you dig the hole it changes the maytrix of the ground and you have to follow what he says to get it back to the way it was before you dig..What do you do to stop it from sinking over the years?

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

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If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

Read this thread posted about 2 months ago......it may help........see ya mark

[www.dankowskidetectors.com]

Thanks Mark, that's exactly what I was looking for.

hh,
Brian

I remember my first attempt at a crude test-garden. I buried a clad dime @6"..... and another one at 10". (Early 1990's). CZ could easily detect the 10" dime ... but could NOT detect the 6" dime. Long story short.... fairly severe silent masking on the 6" dime. The dirt SOUNDED clean before I buried the target......WRONG! I took a rare-earth magnet and removed many flecks/flakes/rusty-filings out of the dirt that was directly above the 6" dime.

Moral of the story; SANATIZE the dirt BEFORE you ever think of burying a target in the ground. This is the SINGLE MOST COMMON MISTAKE us detectorists make whilst creating a test-garden.

Some stat's: Detectorists of whom have a moderately (or better) created test-garden..... are the top 10% hunters; subsequently.... with aprox 90% of the better finds. (((((This should seem logical/common sense; however, never assume)))))!

THIS BRINGS TO MIND ANOTHER POINT WELL WORTH THE MENTION: I see many folks place a nail on top of a dime...... touching the dime........... usually resting on the surface of the ground. This is NOT a good test. It provides some....but very little data. The REAL test is to have the nail suspended AT LEAST 1/2" ABOVE the dime....... and see what happens. ESPECIALLY IN REAL DIRT. Bury a dime @6".... but bury a nail at only 5" or 5-1/2"..... EXACTLY ABOVE the dime. Depending on the size of the nail........ you will probably find that ALL of your detectors in your inventory will fail to acquire the dime. ------REALITY CHECK.

Tom

Tom, have you ever used a detector that could see the dime just below the nail?

A CZ with the large coil; HOWEVER, the audio was bouncing between low-tone iron.....and high-tone coin,,,,, which sounded EXACTLY like a nail that was 'falsing' to high-tone on a irregular basis.