All three detectors we examined are of the VLF (very low frequency) sort. It’s the commonest, works effectively in most floor situations, and is used on each the most cost effective and among the costliest machines. (The opposite principal sort, pulse induction, is strictly high-end.) A VLF detector works by producing oscillating electromagnetic fields through the coil. The sphere penetrates the bottom after which reverses polarity, and, in a way, echoes again to the coil. If the sector encounters a steel object within the floor, it induces an electromagnetic subject within the object. That, in flip, alters the character of the echo, and the electronics within the management field can interpret the change and point out the possible identification of the steel—all of them reply otherwise to the electromagnetic subject, yielding totally different echoes. (That mentioned, the interpretation is much from actual: The depth, measurement, and orientation of an object can all change how the machine “reads” it. In my expertise, aluminum pull tabs typically registered at frequencies that would have indicated silver or copper. Alan, with 30 years of expertise beneath his hat, mentioned, “I simply dig the whole lot” the machine picks up.)