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Highlights of my 2013 metal detecting week in England
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<p>[QUOTE="lordmarcovan, post: 2580770, member: 10461"]I used a Garrett GTI-2500 in England but it died on me over there. I had a rain cover for it but must've gotten water inside the control housing when I hosed the mud off it back at the barn one night. I have yet to send it off for refurbishing and repair. Since returning home I've only gotten out a few times but bought a near-mint 1990s vintage Garrett GTA-350 for $125, to plink around with. Though much more basic, it is a perfectly adequate secondary backup machine for me. I have yet to hit silver in my very few outings since England, but the 350 did score me some 4"-5" deep Wheat cents, so I know it can find slightly deeper, older goodies. I used the model above it, the GTA-500, almost exclusively from 1992-2004 or so, and made most of my finds with that, during my most active hunting period in the late '90s.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Steve- a $30 machine will find stuff, and people <i>do</i> get lucky, but generally speaking, that's a "toy". Last I looked, "real" working machines started in the $200s new, respectable midrange ones $300-500, and the high end reaches into four-figure territory.</p><p><br /></p><p>My late Garrett GTI-2500, state of the art around the millennium, was a $1000-ish machine new. I got mine used, via a coin swap, and added some accessories for another $150-ish. I will add, however, that the other five members of our England team all used the Minelab CTX-3030, a $2500-ish GPS-equipped bit of wizardry, and absolutely <i>ran circles around me </i>with their finds (partly due to equipment but also due to sheer skill). And I would say I did as well with my old $400-ish Garrett 500 as I did with the more feature-laden, $1000-ish Garrett 2500.</p><p><br /></p><p>The takeaway here is to suggest that you stick with a good $200-500 machine starting out- don't buy a toy but don't buy <i>too much </i>machine, either, until you know whether the hobby suits you or not. It is a wonderful adventure, but real <i>work</i> and definitely requires a <i>huge</i> amount of patience. This is why 70-90% (my guess) of all novices drop out after just a few fruitless, frustrating outings, and banish their still-new detectors to the closet. (I myself very narrowly avoided this fate and actually gave up for a year before I finally dusted my machine off and went out for "one last try", and unexpectedly popped an 1899 Barber dime. That broke the jinx. I had an 1875 Indian cent and a 1941-D silver quarter within an hour of that, and was hooked for life. Site selection is very important.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Also, because so many newbs drop out, you can find nice nearly-new machines at good prices on the secondary market. Note the 15-20-year-old Garrett 350 I'm using presently- I paid $125 for an older but near-mint-condition unit that cost $350-ish new and probably had less than ten hours of use by the original owner.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I went with the Colchester group. You can reach their page by following the link I put in the OP. I had a good experience overall and their pricing was fair but I was not a good fit socially with my barnmates. We got along OK but I formed no fast friendships and clashed mildly with one colleague and our barn leader (more than half the blame due to me). There are many such tours. I chose this one because everything but airfare was included: room, board (spartan on both counts), ground transportation, site permission, export license assistance, etc- all legal and above-board.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="lordmarcovan, post: 2580770, member: 10461"]I used a Garrett GTI-2500 in England but it died on me over there. I had a rain cover for it but must've gotten water inside the control housing when I hosed the mud off it back at the barn one night. I have yet to send it off for refurbishing and repair. Since returning home I've only gotten out a few times but bought a near-mint 1990s vintage Garrett GTA-350 for $125, to plink around with. Though much more basic, it is a perfectly adequate secondary backup machine for me. I have yet to hit silver in my very few outings since England, but the 350 did score me some 4"-5" deep Wheat cents, so I know it can find slightly deeper, older goodies. I used the model above it, the GTA-500, almost exclusively from 1992-2004 or so, and made most of my finds with that, during my most active hunting period in the late '90s. Steve- a $30 machine will find stuff, and people [I]do[/I] get lucky, but generally speaking, that's a "toy". Last I looked, "real" working machines started in the $200s new, respectable midrange ones $300-500, and the high end reaches into four-figure territory. My late Garrett GTI-2500, state of the art around the millennium, was a $1000-ish machine new. I got mine used, via a coin swap, and added some accessories for another $150-ish. I will add, however, that the other five members of our England team all used the Minelab CTX-3030, a $2500-ish GPS-equipped bit of wizardry, and absolutely [I]ran circles around me [/I]with their finds (partly due to equipment but also due to sheer skill). And I would say I did as well with my old $400-ish Garrett 500 as I did with the more feature-laden, $1000-ish Garrett 2500. The takeaway here is to suggest that you stick with a good $200-500 machine starting out- don't buy a toy but don't buy [I]too much [/I]machine, either, until you know whether the hobby suits you or not. It is a wonderful adventure, but real [I]work[/I] and definitely requires a [I]huge[/I] amount of patience. This is why 70-90% (my guess) of all novices drop out after just a few fruitless, frustrating outings, and banish their still-new detectors to the closet. (I myself very narrowly avoided this fate and actually gave up for a year before I finally dusted my machine off and went out for "one last try", and unexpectedly popped an 1899 Barber dime. That broke the jinx. I had an 1875 Indian cent and a 1941-D silver quarter within an hour of that, and was hooked for life. Site selection is very important.) Also, because so many newbs drop out, you can find nice nearly-new machines at good prices on the secondary market. Note the 15-20-year-old Garrett 350 I'm using presently- I paid $125 for an older but near-mint-condition unit that cost $350-ish new and probably had less than ten hours of use by the original owner. I went with the Colchester group. You can reach their page by following the link I put in the OP. I had a good experience overall and their pricing was fair but I was not a good fit socially with my barnmates. We got along OK but I formed no fast friendships and clashed mildly with one colleague and our barn leader (more than half the blame due to me). There are many such tours. I chose this one because everything but airfare was included: room, board (spartan on both counts), ground transportation, site permission, export license assistance, etc- all legal and above-board.[/QUOTE]
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Highlights of my 2013 metal detecting week in England
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