Making The Right Choice

[NoSoup4u2]

Howdy Y'all!
I'm new here and very green with metal detecting...but very eager to get started! (I hope the eagerness lasts! lol)
I'm in the process of making a decision about buying a "newer" MD. I love this old Garrett Master Hunter I just bought for a great price on eBay, but I think, even though it's 30+years old, it's quite advanced and I'll need to know what I'm doing to get the full benefits from this old girl. So she's gonna wait to be used once I get the hang of this new hobby.
But, I'm here to ask for some advice/opinion. I want a new or nearly new MD. I have narrowed my search down to two possible choices. I do like the reviews on the Bounty Hunter Sharp Shooter II. Not many if any, have negative reviews on it. But those Duck Dynasty boys got that new Wildgame Innovations MX200E Gps Efx Metal Detector in the public spotlight. I've read quite a bit about it, but I can NOT find any reviews on it.
So folks, first off, do you think I'm heading in the right direction for my picks? If you feel I should be considering something else, I'M ALL EARS! .....OR, what do you think of these choices? If you think I should look elsewhere, I'm still listening! hehe
I'm looking at spending approx $200-$250 max. Yes, I"m on a tight budget.
But, I'm hoping y'all here can give me some good advice about the best "bang for my buck!"
IF anyone wishes to contact me, my personal email (I hope that's cool to do here) but I can be reached at:
[email protected]
If anyone has links for me to review, please send them there if you wish, or of course here works too.
I know there is many different tastes, likes & dislikes, but by having a more broader range for me to check out, well lets just say, it'll keep me busy doing some research on whatever I've been recommended the most. In the winter months, TIME IS ALL I HAVE!
I really appreciate any help that could be offered.

THANK YOU TO ALL!

CHEERS!

Soup

 

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[ice9]

Can't comment on your choice, but can definitely suggest that the important thing is getting out there and doing it. It's easy to get bogged down in comparisons, just get one and start swinging it around. Keep us posted!

 

[digger460]

Keep track of what you find and the signal. Just swing and get to know the machine. You'll have to do that with a new one anyway. HH

 

[Nephilim3883]

I know this is kind of an older post but I wanted to comment because I have the Ground EFX MX200E. I like this compared to my Bounty Hunter Quicksilver, it just has way more options, plus I got a good deal on both since I only paid ~$30 for the BH and ~$40 for the MX200E (had "cash" built up on a web store)

One thing that confused me was which MX200E I was getting, seems to be some different variations, you can see them on Amazon. My best guess is previous designs. I have the most recent version.

I like this thing. It has a good variety of options, it has a pinpointer mode, ground grab, GPS. The design is cool, but not important. It looks like it was made by Black & Decker because of the orange and black. I like that you can break it down to fit in smaller spaces. It has a 3.5mm headphone jack. I don't know how waterproof it is, i noticed the battery compartment does have a gasket in there but I am not brave enough yet to get into a creek with this thing yet (other than it being winter lol).

I was able to get out for the first time with this one and it works well BUT I did not do the Ground Grab to check the soil because I think I was getting a lot of hits from minerals. I went back to the manual and saw that you should turn the unit on, wait 5 minutes before doing any detecting, then do a ground grab on the soil without any metal objects in it, then you can start detecting. So next time we get a nice day out here I will do this and see how well I fair out there.