Which walk-through detector do you actually need?

All five units look the same from the outside — a gate you walk through — but they detect different things. A conventional metal detector reacts to ferrous and non-ferrous metal; a phone detector reacts to electronics; a precious-metal detector is tuned for copper, silver and gold; a temperature gate adds an infrared camera. Buying the wrong one means either constant false alarms or a gap in screening.

The five types compared

How the choice is made

• General security screening — an 18-zone unit is enough for schools, venues and offices. A 24-zone unit locates the metal higher or lower on the body, which speeds up secondary checks at busy entrances.
• Electronics ban — exams, prisons and secure facilities need a phone detector, because a conventional metal detector cannot tell a phone from a bunch of keys without constant re-screening.
• Manufacturing loss — electronics, jewellery and plating plants lose copper, silver and gold in small quantities; a precious-metal gate is tuned to react to those metals while ignoring the steel in a belt buckle.
• Entrance health screening — a temperature gate combines the metal detector with an infrared camera, so one queue does both jobs.

What to specify before ordering

Walk-through detectors are sized and configured per site: passage width, number of detection zones, sensitivity levels, alarm indication (light bar, sound, counter), power supply, and whether the unit must work outdoors under a canopy. Send the entrance width, the daily footfall and what you are trying to keep out — those three answers decide the model.

Frequently asked questions

Can one gate do metal detection and phone detection at the same time?

Not reliably. Phone detectors use a different detection principle and a much narrower target set; combining them in one gate tends to produce false alarms on both functions. Sites that need both usually run two gates in series.

Why do zone counts matter?

Zones divide the body into vertical segments. More zones means the operator knows roughly where the metal is, which shortens the secondary check. At low-traffic entrances the difference is minor; at airport or station throughput it is not.

Will a metal detector alarm on belt buckles and shoes?

It can, which is why sensitivity is set per site and why operators use a second pass. Precious-metal gates are tuned to reduce this false-alarm rate for factory staff.

Can the temperature gate replace a thermometer at the door?

It screens body-surface temperature as people walk through; anyone above the threshold is stopped for a second measurement. It is a screening aid, not a medical diagnosis.