Metal Detectors

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HANGEYE

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 8, 2012
Messages
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Location
Kimberly Wisconsin
I have been wanting one for some time now, but have no idea what to look for in a decent machine. I would like to keep the price under $500.00. Not looking for specific articles like gold or silver (but if I find some I'll put it in my pocket), just stuff. We have some old logging camps in the area of our summer home from the early 1900s that I would like to explore to get me started. Any help on brand/model and features to look for or avoid would be of great interest to me.

While we are at it, tell us about some of the things you have found.

Thanks
HANGEYE
 
I've been metal detecting on and off since the early 80's. Great exercise and exciting when you make a good find. The nickels and dimes you find pay for your batteries and the silver and gold jewelry makes it worth your time. Best detector is one of those ask 6 guys and you'll get six different answers type thing. A lot depends on the type of detecting you will be doing. Coin/jewelry shooting or prospecting. You can get a good middle of the line detector for under $500, but I would stay away from the inexpensive ones. I use a Whites now and have been very happy with it. Other good detectors in that price range are Garrett and Fisher. You can find decent detectors with discrimination and ground canceling in all mentioned above for under $500. I had problems with Tesoro customer service so cannot recommend them. Bounty Hunters are inexpensive and you can find gold and silver jewelry with them, but they are cheaply made and not the quality of the others. There are some great websites with excellent info. so start looking online . I have found enough gold and silver jewelry to pay for all of the detectors I have owned many times over. My wife and daughter confiscate the jewelry so getting rich off of it isn't in the future. Old coins, especially silver ones are always a rush. You will start paying attention to the gold and silver market after a few finds. There is always the oddball find that has you scratching your head as to what it is. Great hobby.
 
My son has one, a cheapie model. The kids have spent hours finding mostly metal scrap, a few non valuable coins, and what not. The coolest thing we found was a little metal "plaque" that had Chrysler stamped on it with a long number. It was roughly 1 inch by 3 inches.
 
i used to metal detect when i was a teen. i had a white's metal detector. i always wanted a garrett. spend the extra money to get a good one.
 
I've had one for years, but never got into using it that much. I did manage to find a lot of junk with it when I did use it though! :lol:
Mine is a Compass that's over 30 years old, and it still works if I need to use it to find something.
As others are saying, buy a decent one; the compass I have also has the ground cancel and discrimination.
As a matter of fact, not too long ago I used it to go look for an arrow I missed a deer with. Didn't need it though because after searching the ground where I thought it should be, I found the arrow sticking in a tree about 7' off the ground! :shock: #-o :lol:
 
I moved to gold rich Arizona and it's loaded with old mine sites and old western home sites. Go to Walmart or cabbalas and spend $100 to see if it's for you. If you want one like the pros use then it's thousands and since it's a scientific instrument you have to practice and use it often to become good at using it or even to use it at all. The $100 ones do 98 percent of what a good one will do unless you become some sort of professional with it. Don't get cought up in the hype. Just go buy a cheap one and have a little fun. Coolest thing I found are a handful of hand forge nails from back when you got nails from a blacksmith. I found a few old horshoes and one aluminum horeshoe. I stuck with it long enough to say I'm a treasure hunter. The hours of digging and sifting dirt to find another rusty metal flake or bottle top is fun for only so long but it is fun especially if you have kids around willing to dig. If you like it then go for the units that cost as much as a new mid sized out board. Not much to gain in between except marketing.
 
i found with my lower end detector i would miss alot of stuff. i had the discrimination on mine too. friends would find stuff right where i just looked. i grew up in dinwiddie va, next to petersburg va. TONS of civil relics in the ground. and alot of trash too. LOL!
 
Holy Cow :shock: Just did some research on these things and WOW. I should have done some looking into these things before I asked about them. I was thinking you just grab one off the shelf and head out to find all kinds of treasure. If at all serious, you almost have to go back to school to learn all the ins and outs of these things. And the price range, from Yugo's to Lambos. I guess I need to start on the low end to find out if I will enjoy it as much as I THINK I will. Just need to find an all around cheep one to get my feet wet. I apologize for jumping the gun with my question about these things. I should have done a bit of research first. I really had no idea that they could be this complicated with the settings and sounds they make. I am a bit overwhelmed by all this. I guess I need to do a LOT more looking into this hobby before I take my first baby step into Metal Detectors.

Thanks for all the replies, now it's time to surf these interwebs and try to make some sense of it all.

Hangeye
 
americandigger.com and losttreasure.com are a couple
of good magazines to pick up next time you are at the
magazine rack. Do a little research into how/where you
will be doing 90% of your looking and base your equipment
on that . . . the other 10% would be like on vacations, etc
out of your area. A waterproof head will be well worth the extra $$.

I was very disappointed in the $900.00 unit I bought 20 years
ago. On the Florida beaches, I had visions of gold coins, chain
and jewelry. But, it picked up every piece of wire, bottle cap, fishhooks,
and I just got frustrated in the tuning-in and calibration process.

If you are short on patience, do a LOT of research.
there may be a "hunters club" in your area - check it out.
 
community colleges sometimes offer classes on metal detecting now too. yeah, i played with a very expensive one one time. made a bunch of different noises, had a fancy "treasure meter" on it, several knobs. that is when i gave it up.
 
Your soil type will factor in how much and what type ground balance you will need.
Some wet beach soils can require more than low end detectors provide.
I've run Garretts mostly Ace series ,from a 150 to the current 350's.
An AT Pro is around your price range...used.
I've turned up some silver.
One from the eighteen hundreds the oldest so far.
Have dug more "stuff" than a broken toilet contains.
Pop tabs ring up as cousins to gold rings.. so if in doubt dig.
Research and acquiring permissions required to get into many old use areas .
Ye olde swimming hole , pic nic grounds , fairgrounds , pay phone locations ect.
 
Have to agree with "lovedr79". I started out with an inexpensive Bounty Hunter and was frustrated after pardners with good machines found good stuff right after I had gone over it. You can always sell it on Craigslist if you don't like it. Another option would be to rent one. Don't know if you have "A1 Rentals" where you are, but I have seen them there. Like anything worth doing it takes time and practice to get good at it.
 
WOW. I have done some research and I am amazed at what I am finding. This one does this and that one does that and another does it all but you need a second mortgage to afford it and a college degree to figure out all it can do. I just wanted something to "FIND METAL" stuff, but no, it's not that easy. I guess I need to find someone in my area that has one to give me some guidance and that will be another challenge because I don't know anyone right off hand that has one. I guess I could just bight the bullet and get a cheap used one and give it a try but I don't want to become discouraged by its lack of performance and miss out on the potential these things have to offer. I'm retired and looking at this as a hobby that gives me some exercise and the opportunity to relive some of my fathers past as he worked in the CCC camps back in the day. He showed me where some of these camps were located and before my memory had a chance to start fading, I logged them on GPS. I have also acquired maps of other camps through the local Court House. I'm sure there are some great finds waiting to be uncovered. I also have locations of logging mills and shingle mills that, as far as I know, have not been touched in the last 70 years. Wish me luck folks, I'm going to chase this "hobby" till it gets tired and I can catch it. I hope it slows down quick because I don't run anymore.

HANGEYE

p.s. If anybody is in my area and is willing to TRY to teach an old dog this new trick. [-o<
 
I bought a Garrett GTA1000 about 15 or more years ago.. About the only thing it's found me is beer.. I occasionally get asked to find property corner markers and friends have paid me back with a case of beer.. Not a bad treasure. :lol:

Other than that, all I've found is coins, and nothing worth anything more than the dime or quarter's actual value.

One note.. Garrett did me right a while back.. I screwed up and broke the housing on mine.. I was bummed because this thing was expensive back in the day, and they haven't gotten cheaper. I finally bit the bullet and called Garrett about servicing it and not only was the repair inexpensive, they were amazing to work with!! Customer Service was as good as it gets!!! =D>

So, while a bit more expensive, they'll support you, even on a model that's 15 years old, they couldn't have been more supportive. They gave me a new housing, updated the software, battery packs, and checked it over.. They sent it back with a new hat, too!!! :D And the repair bill was half of what I was expecting!!

Photo I found that's exactly like mine.
$_1.JPG


Hangeye, I'm headed to Green Bay on the 22nd and can meet you to BS about them.. I can bring along my detector, too.. I've got work to do at Green Bay Packaging for a day and will be in the area.
 

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