Metal detecting can be separated into two fundamental areas: - gold prospecting and coin, jewelery & relic hunting, with a section of this being underwater detecting.  Also, there are a couple of models that are deliberately planned to be very proficient and can be utilized for either purpose.  In order to get the best detector for anyone’s demands, an individual needs to  determine which area is most likeable.  In any event, after much research and deliberation, an individual will be able to buy a highly specialized detector, encompassing the necessary features within the overall design.

Even though gold prospecting detectors are inclined to have excellent ground balancing abilities and are often stronger in depth and sensitivity than the coin hunting models, gold prospecting detectors mostly lack discrimination. Coin and treasure hunting detectors possess advanced and accurate discrimination and target identification abilities, but may not perform well in heavily mineralized ground. Consequently, on that point is a trade off in performance and characteristics and the detector should have the abilities that may be functional for the intended area.

When researching different metal detector models for purchase there are four main features that can be utilized to categorize how one detector equates with another: Depth; Sensitivity; Discrimination and Ground Balance.  Other factors that should be weighed are the size and types of coils obtainable, types of batteries and hours of usage, and the most important factor, the cost of the detector.

In regards to depth, it is the distance that a metal detector can penetrate and determine metal physical objects in the ground. Often, some detectors formulate remarkable distances when demonstrated in the air but are very disappointing when the target is buried in the ground.

The depth attained can be determined by factors such as the frequency of the detector’s electro-magnetic field, sophistication of the circuitry, how well it will cope with mineralized soils, stablility and low-noise during detector operation, the size of the target, etc.  In addition, depth is often affected by the frequency of the detector. Low frequencies will tend to provide better depths and higher frequencies will ordinarily improve sensitivity, but at low-grade depth.

Sensitivity is key if gold prospecting is the preferable central point.Since the frequency of the detector influences the sensitivity of the detector, this characteristic is highly important for consideration.

The discrimination function determines the type of metal that has been detected before uncovering. Treasure hunters love this important characteristic because it is a extraordinary time saver.  In fact, notch discrimination enables the operator to wipe out unwanted metals while letting in preferable items. Most discrimination systems function by testing the conduction level of the target and produces an appraisal of the identity of the target. Moreover, notch discrimination segments the full conductivity range of metals, permitting the operator to receive only those segments that are desired.  The more notches available, the more accurate the discrimination will be on the detector.

Discrimination is not advisable when searching for native gold nuggets, as impurities in gold, as well as concentrated minerals in the soil around the nugget may confuse the discriminator, resulting in a false reading. For this reason, most metal detectors designed for gold prospecting have limited discrimination ability.

For the most part, ground balance is probably the most important function on the metal detector for gold prospecting, however, this is one of the most overlooked feature when comparing metal detector capabilities. The ground balancing setting counterbalances for the effects of minerals in the ground.  In essence, this permits the detector to skim the ground and simply provides a signal when it passes over a target. If the ground balancing is not correctly prepared, the detector will produce false noises from the ground, which makes it very difficult to tell the difference between ground noise and a metal targets.

All metal detectors come with some variety of ground balance, many can be manually adjusted, some are factory pre-set and others are a true automatic tracking where the detector is testing the ground effect continuously and alters the ground balance setting to suit. Metal detectors with true automatic tracking excel in highly mineralized soil arenas, as their ability to compensate every few seconds makes them so much easier to use and to a greater extent efficient.

Finally, consider the essential purpose for the metal detector such as gold prospecting, hunting coins in parks or searching for lost jewelry on the beach, then consider what every machine has to provide to suit that purpose and the characteristics that will be important.