Glossary

Discrimination

Discrimination is the ability of a metal detector to distinguish between different types of metal. This allows 'desirable' targets such as gold and silver to be identified over 'junk' targets such as ring pulls or metal-foil.

Ground Balance

The amount of minerals in the ground varies from site to site. In some areas the ground will contain a high amount of iron for example. Without Ground Balancing, the metal detector would see the minerals in the ground as targets making real targets undetectable. By adjusting the Ground Balance of the metal detector, the detection can be optimised such that ground mineralisation is ignored allowing 'real' targets to be detected.

Motion

Motion metal detectors require the search head to be kept moving in order for the target to be detected. Motion metal detectors are more sophisticated than non-motion and do not require regular retuning as they are constantly retuning automatically. This type of metal detector generally offers better analysis of the target and is less affected by ground mineralisation.

Non-Motion

With a non-motion metal detector the search head does not have to be kept moving to detect the target. These are the simplest form and tend to be at the lower end of the market. The disadvantage with this type of detector is that the tuning can drift over time. This means that the detector needs to be retuned periodically to ensure optimum detection performance. Some of the more sophisticated non-motion detectors have a memory retune button which automatically resets the tuning when pressed.