How sensitive are metal detectors?

How much metal do you have to have on you to set off the metal detectors in a public building/venue? Or put another way: how many metal-bodied lights can I carry before I get prodded and poked by a guard who thinks I have a weapon?

1 battery will set off the metal detector, make sure you empty all pockets of everything. It's usually not a big deal.

It can vary from one detector to another, and most of them have different levels of intensity that they can be set at to detect smaller metal objects. We have to pass through one on the way in and the way out of my work, and the guards routinely play with the settings. I've passed through with the same exact amount of metal on my person for weeks, and then one day it starts setting the detector off. They also have the in and the out detectors set to different levels of intensity. Unless they have them cranked up really high, small amounts of aluminum or titanium won't set them off for me.

nbp said:

How much metal do you have to have on you to set off the metal detectors in a public building/venue? Or put another way: how many metal-bodied lights can I carry before I get prodded and poked by a guard who thinks I have a weapon?

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Many detectors can be configured for whatever level of sensitivity is required. I had an interview at the VA hospital in NYC, and I got stuck at the metal detectors for 20 minutes, while the guards (who were acting like total ***, btw) figured out that what was setting off the detector, was a GUM WRAPPER in one of my inner pockets. In the end, I was 10 minutes late, and my interviewer got pissed and went home.

I use a metal detector at work and they are very senesitve. Packs of gum are always setting it off. If it is the hand held kind and you want something to make it inside stick it in your shoe. If it's a walk thru kind I don't think you'll make it. I have no experience with the walk thru but my friend works a topless club and says that they catch everything.

I've seen the shiny metal looking wrappers (that I swear are plastic) for a granola bar set them off at the airport before.

I know from experience that Ti won't set off detectors (I've got a Ti bolt in my head which hasn't set off anything). If you can find a light with every metallic part made of Ti, including the emitter or bulb, connections, and battery, you should be okay. Good luck finding something like that, though.

It all came down to a gum wrapper with me several years ago.

TigerhawkT3 said:

I know from experience that Ti won't set off detectors (I've got a Ti bolt in my head which hasn't set off anything). If you can find a light with every metallic part made of Ti, including the emitter or bulb, connections, and battery, you should be okay. Good luck finding something like that, though.

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I carry a sharpened titanium card in my wallet, and it has never set off the detector at work, even when they crank the sensitivity way up.

My experience is that it varies wildly. I've gone through one detector with a pocket full of change and keys(A polymer/composite frame subby pistol and a couple rounds would have contained less metal.) and been fine, the detector didn't go off. Got stopped going through the exact same detector a couple weeks later because of the change in my pockets, and it kept going off after I'd pulled the change out. Finally tracked it down to the brass lace hooks on my boots.

Sneaking a gum wrapper into a club is no big deal, but I would be very careful with what you try to get past a metal detector.

:buddies:

In addition to guards tampering, there are some that are just plain broken. I went through one at Oakland airport with my metal watch, belt buckle and cell phone. When I realized it I told the TSA agent, who remarked that it had been broken for a while, and they were going to fix it later that day.

I traveled a lot for a while, and it's a crap shoot as to how tight they set the sensitivity. Going through with the same "payload" had various results.

The stainless steel laces in my breastbone (from surgery) are enough to show up during the handheld scans.

I'm unclear as to why you are concerned. Metal detectors are great opportunities to show off your favorite EDC.

Daniel

gadget_lover said:

I'm unclear as to why you are concerned. Metal detectors are great opportunities to show off your favorite EDC.

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True, but sometimes you just don't wanna have to deal with it. I hate having to empty out all my pockets; not that it happens that often.

Like many CPFers though, I also carry other stuff around, and it's my knives that concern me sometimes. Some of my small knives would never be dangerous (nor am I), but metal detectors don't care about intentions. I don't carry any thing real expensive, but I would hate to have them confiscated.

I might have to look into getting one of those sharpened Ti cards for my wallet after hearing what some of the others have mentioned, that they don't set off detectors. I don't like being without a cutting utensil. Makes me feel naked if I don't have at least one knife and one light.

When I know I'm going to a metal detector, I move all metal to one pocket, that way it's easy to pull out. I've carried a Carbon Fiber knife for a month now, and I love it because it doesn't set them off! It stays tucked in a pocket with no metal near it. As for sensitivity, I've had some set so sensitive that the zipper on the fly of my pants has set it off. And some so insensitive that I've walked through with steel toed boots, a surefire A2, and my keys and not set anything off. It all varies on location and the amount of security they want. In some instances my boots have set off detectors, but the guards ask If I'm wearing steel toed boots, and I say yes, and they say well just go anyways. (this has happened at fairgrounds)

You have to watch carrying things like carbon fiber knives through security checkpoints. If you are searched for other reasons (forgot about the tear gas in your computer bag, for instance) the stealth knife will probably trigger a much more intense 'discussion' with Homeland Security and you will probably miss your flight.

The fact that the screening systems miss ceramic edges, many toxins and and other stealth weapons does not guarantee that you will be lucky all the time.

Daniel