Gonna try for a better photo of the stainless steel. The one in the upper right fits me and I like it. It was January and there was snow on the ground (and ice patches). I got a signal under the ice and broke through the frozen tundra and that popped out. Often, the tungsten and stainless steel will be stamped as such on the inside. But when it isn't, you have to guess from experience.
Do you have any gold rings and what do they ring up on the VDI spectrum. I have a Nokta Simplex. Ranges from 1-99, I believe.
This is my gold. I have an inexpensive detector. I used to use a type of headphones, where there were distinctly different sounds for different types of metals, trash etc. Often the gold, (10K) which was alloyed with a majority of crap metal would not give a great tone. Those types of headphones had a short shelf life in the field, and I was constantly replacing them, and now they don't make them anymore. I have a set I have been using for a while now which are very loud, but not as finely distinctive as the old ones. For example, I will often get a junky sounding signal on silver, (now, before it was a much better tone with the old headphones) unless it is a coin. A lot of it is from experience. I don't always dig the zinc pennies. But there are junk sounds for silver and gold which I dig, which can be a nickel, gold or silver or junk. A thin crackly junk sound is usually nothing unless it's a thin chain. Copper and silver generally give a very solid tone. Nickels have their own lower tone and you can usually tell the diff between that and junk as it is more solid. Any kind of ring that is very solid (silver or gold will give a strong tone.) All of the stainless and tungsten give very solid tones. Quarters will give a stronger repeating tone more than dimes or copper pennies, and halves and dollar coins will give a louder tone than quarters. (Usually. Depends on the position of the coin, etc.) I average about 1 gold per year. Some years 2, one year 3 and some years 0. Gold finds by year: 2,0,2,1,1,3,1,0,0,2,1. Those back to back zeroes were during the pandemic when I didn't get out as much. And there was nothing out there then anyway.
When I used to go on a detecting outing(s), it was 50-60 years ago and gave it up where most of what I got were beer pull tabs (before they were permanently attached). I gave it up as a lost cause, but did find a few coins around rural cemeteries/plots and places where traveling carnivals/shows were held.
