The detecto metal detecting thread.

Oh ye of little faith. Press on, all well be well.

 

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Is there any such thing as a metal detector that can find all metals (including gold and nuggets) for under $350 or will i have to increase my funding? I've never done detecting so far in my life (well, actually once with a $50 detector my brother bought)

 

Mine is a Pioneer EX 'Bounty Hunter'.

Three years ago my 25 YO daughter comes to me in tears, wailin' about her lost nose-pin wit' a wee diamond in it, an it's right out there, she could almost point to it...Help Me, Pappy!

I trot down to my local junque store and gave $75 for this rig which I had noticed the day before, popped in a fresh 9V, and 'out there we go'.

Maybe six hours later, after covering every which way about 50 square feet, tramping over & over the six-inch deep ground cover: Not a PEEP...not even a whisper.

I had never used a MD prior, but you learn quick enough the basics. Tested it several times with very small jewelry items, and all seemed to be OK...but we never did find that thing.

Point of the story, of course: I have this (admittedly low-end) MD, and I've been inspired by this thread to go try it out in a couple of likely spots. Hope I don't catch THIS bug, too!

 

Well, after trading a few emails, I was able to finally confirm that it's a legit machine and not a knockoff... At least the next two days have been freed up so that I now have time to just stress about whether this machine is worth the ridiculous cost. We've gone out a few dozen times and really like the experience and the fresh air/exercise. It's been a great way for us to spend family time together, but other than a couple of buffalo nickels, some wheat pennies, lots of modern coins & a few random military items, we haven't found much that was remarkable with the cheaper detectors.

Mainly, in the past, we just found modern coins or trash. We had a cheap $50 Garrett that was almost completely useless and then upgraded to a slightly better $120 White's which we began using exclusively. (There was a noticeable difference between those two lower end models... We resold the Garrett for $35 a couple of months ago and couldn't have been happier to see it go. We were at least able to find coins with the White's, but only reliable to about 4" - 5" of depth regardless of what the box advertises. I would never recommend that anyone buy the cheap Garrett that we had. We would test them both on the same spots and found it almost completely useless.) We got better at the sounds and can now reliably find coins with the White's one, but again..they were almost always modern coins due to the depth issue. (Best finds: 1 gold earring, an indian arrowhead next to a sound that we never located & a civil war relic in Pgh from the Whiskey Rebellion.)

Early morning has been best time for us (It's also the least embarrassing! I'm a girl & still kind of care about how I'm perceived by others..). We have occasionally met up with other detectorists at the larger parks and all have been extremely friendly and great about offering tips/pointers. We noticed that the serious ones were all using the higher end $1,000+ models. We've been discussing the idea of upgrading, but it's such a large investment that we've been hesitant. Again though, we're not just doing this for the coins/relics. We just enjoy it more than walking around the mall or spending $50 at the movies. (I'm a Redbox/Netflix kinda girl...) We're treating this as we would a weekend vacation out of town with the hopes that we break even one day or at least resell the machine while it still has some value. We estimate that we find about $1 worth of modern coins for every hour spent detecting with a few random really fun items discovered. That was our rate with the $120 model. I'm not sure what the rate of return will be with this new one, but it seems like a moderate risk. Hope that helps anyone else who was on the fence.

 

Are either of these any good?
http://www.metaldetector.com/fisher-gold-bug-metal-detector
http://www.metaldetector.com/tesoro-vaquero-metal-detector

 

I have a cheapo one.. Decided to take it to a park. Found a lump of iron (was a rock that beeped) and some copper pipe.

:O

 

me too, $95

 

Well...Here's the White's one that we got for $120 on Craigslist: http://www.whiteselectronics.net/calif/models/model1/

I think it's an ok lower model, but again, it was only really effective at around 4"-5" for us. There were times when we were able to dig a little more, but not much. We did find a lot of modern coins with it though and I think it's a good entry level model.

 

Metal Detecting seems fun, but there aren't many places to do it where I live. There are some awesome videos on youtube of Eastern Front metal detecting. I find myself watching metal detecting videos for hours, lol, there is something very entertaining about the characters making the videos and their commentary.

 

Sorry, I'm not sure. From the research that we did, the best mid-range one seemed to be the X-terra 705 ($629 - $729 new, $500 used).

 

Oh, Amazon ran out of those and there's none left for sale for under $700 now.

 

Our e-trac arrived and works great, but we haven't figured out how to use it yet. We're giving ourselves a couple more weeks, but will be reselling it if we can't figure out how to decipher the misc tones that seem to beep constantly. It's very different from the ones that we've used in the past.

Dj, have you considered the used ones offered at Kellyco?

 

Look for tutorials on Youtube.

 

That was actually the first place i looked but their prices seemed to be even more expensive than all the other websites.

 

I'm sorry...what?

 

My dad found an old homestead while hunting back in 1968. When I was small, we took occasional trips out to visit it. It was a very small log building, 3 rooms, with what my dad called 'chinking' between the logs ( he explained that it was a mixture of clay and moss and mud and stuff ). I remember one time there was a giant set of gashes in the old wood door, obviously done by a bear. On another visit We found a single shed deer antler (8 points! ) hanging from a low tree branch. Dad saw it first and pointed it out to my brother and I. Foot race was on! I still have it today.

We returned to the shack, wow, it's already been 5 or 6 years ago now..... The last time we went out there the shack was gone. All that remained was the obvious, uniformed lines on the ground indicative of a building site. The cellar was the same way (when i was young it consisted of a very small..... Not quite a building..... Resembling the dimensions of your standard outhouse but when you opened the door there were a couple stairs leading downward but the ground reclaimed everything below that)

It also had a clearly defined, hand dug ditch/irrigation system that marked the perimeter.

Anyway, I really want to target this area, but want to do it right as it will be a nearly 2 hour drive, followed by another 2 hour minimum hike through forest terrain, bouncing like moon men through waist deep moss :thumb: and finally arriving at the rather swampy forested section containing our target destination. It would be safe to say there is lots of moisture, but when I say swampy I don't mean marshy. There isn't any standing water but its still wet. Hope you understand what I'm trying to describe.... Is there a machine better suited for this terrain?

When my return FINALLY arrives I intend to get a detector in the $500-$600 range, but I want the detector to be able to pick up at least 12" deep through hard packed ground. Is this a reasonable expectation for a machine within the quoted price range? What models actually detect that deep, as opposed to just claiming they can on the box?

Help me out man because I intend to have 3 generations of men from my family making up this expedition. It may just be an experience we all remember forever.
Thanks for the guidance!

 

um... This was a serious question (or series of questions) that I hoped would get lots of exposure on a Detecto thread can no one offer some guidance?

 

Silentnviolent - The only mid range name that I keep hearing over and over on the other boards is the x-terra 705. I'd love to hear what you eventually find out there!

 

Thanks PittsburghMom! I try to not get my hopes up too high, but I just have that feeling, you know? Even some late 19th century farming implements would make me happy. (Of course, an old mason jar or something with coins of any type wouldn't be scoffed at )

 

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/05/16/teenager-rare-viking-era-find-metal-detector/