Needing help choosing the right metal detector

[oxtail]

Hello there,

I live in chillicothe, ohio and I want to get a new metal detector for finding relics and coins. I had thought about the garrett ace 250 but I want to be able to use it at the beach in salt water areas also. One of my concerns is that we have iron rich areas around also and want to get as deep down as possible "not sure exactly if iron and discrimination could effect my depth range". The biggest challenge is the areas I am hunting the most which are public parks "lots of pull tabs and foil". I don't know what to look for though since I'm new to this.

Thanks for the help!
D.L.Tennant
Oxtail

 

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[Terry Soloman]

You will have to go with a multi-frequency VLF metal detector to detect at the beach and on dry sand, dirt and fresh water. That starts around $1,000.00 new. Minelab Safari comes to mind. The quest for the perfect metal detector to this point has been quixotic. Minelab, has come the closest to building a fully submersible beach machine that can discriminate out iron in wet sand and saltwater. The “Excalibur” uses Broad Band Spectrum, or “BBS” technology, and retails for about $1,300.00.

According to Minelab, their BBS operating system, “simultaneously transmits, receives and analyses a broad band of multiple frequencies to deliver substantial detection depth, high sensitivity and accurate discrimination for a wide range of target types.” The key takeaway here is “multiple frequencies.” Unfortunately, radio waves regardless of their frequency still have to be filtered and balanced in heavily conductive wet-ocean sand and highly mineralized saltwater. That limits the systems depth capabilities.

Single frequency VLF machines (Very Low Frequency), have even more limitations in the harsh saltwater environment. Take for example the Tesoro Lobo Super Traq. This VLF single frequency machine (17.9Khz) is one of the finest and deepest gold nugget finders on the market today. The Lobo Super Traq, is capable of finding BB-sized gold nuggets eight-inches deep in heavily mineralized ground, or a nickel in dry beach sand at 14-inches. Put that same nugget – or even the nickel, seven-inches deep in wet saltwater sand and the Lobo could walk right over it while chattering, or maybe without seeing it at all. Why?

The magnetic iron sands (“Black Sands”), salt, and high concentrations of other minerals in the water and sand conspire to bounce the radio waves away from the target. Conductivity and mineralization act like a shield around the target and create white noise that must be filtered electronically. Think of it as turning on your bright headlights in a heavy fog at night. All that powerful light is diffused and causes a complete white out – you can’t see anything three-feet past the hood of your car! However when you turn on your yellow fog lights, you can see a little further – not as far as you could in clear daylight, but further. That is why all radio wave machines must be “ground balanced” or tuned, to maximize their depth potential, and why BBS filters and multi-frequencies are so effective – yet still limited.

Unlike BBS and VLF metal detectors, which constantly send and receive thousands of low frequency radio waves per second, a Pulse Induction (PI) metal detector fires high-voltage pulses into the sand several hundred times per second. If no metal is present the electric pulse decays at a uniform rate with no anomalies. When metal is present a small “eddy” current flows through it causing the voltage decay time to increase, which creates a measurable anomaly. Unlike VLF radio waves, electronic pulses are impervious to the effects of conductivity and mineralization, and are unaffected by salt or black sands.

PI metal detectors give the user superior depth capabilities in all metal detecting situations and soil conditions. Using the same heavy fog at night metaphor that I referred to earlier, pulse induction is like headlights that cut completely through the fog as if it were not there at all. The trade-off for that added depth and clarity is the inability to discriminate, or block out iron targets that you generally don’t want to waste time and energy digging. While a pulse induction machine detects all metals without discrimination, the minute differences in the signal tone and quality can give a skilled and experienced operator a clue as to what the target may, or may not be.

 

[Rawhide]

Terry gives great advice and not much can be added to his post. I met a old man at the park last week, with a vintage Bounty Hunter. He was pulling coins out of the ground so well I watched him and learned some things. Not many detectors are gonna do land and beach well. Since your new, just get a entry level machine. I have a beast of a detector (F75) that makes hunting parks a chore. I pull bb size stuff up at 8", and that isnt fun. Its nice to have the big screens with number and programmable settings. But not necessary. Your gonna dig trash no matter what. I can set my 3 tone bounty hunter to hit silver hard, and it will keep me happy with clad coins all day long in the park. I own a few detectors and they all have different jobs. You will not get hurt too bad if you buy the Ace 250 or some other economical choice. But you will quickly want more detector once you realize the lack of programmable controls and depth and discrimination of Iron. If I could afford another detector, it would be the Minelab GT Soviern, which would most likely fit your needs. Good luck.

 

[dig kzoo]

if you want to find relics the ace 250 / 350 should work fine as an entry level machine. I dont care for mine so much but thats just me.

 

[chillicothedirtdigger]

Hey Just saw your thread on here and i thought i would just give my 2 cents worth of help for ya. I seen you said you was interested in the garret ace 250 right? well thats a good machine but i would go withe 350 or even up it to the Garret At pro which is a fantastic Machine in its own. Its like having two detectors in one. It has the Standard mode for beginners and the pro mode for the more advance detorists. Tecknetics also has some great machines. The delta 400 was my first machine and it quickly taught me alot about metal detecting but i sonnn found myself wanting more from my machine so i bought the At Pro with the 8.5x11 stock coil then i added on the 5x8 dd coil also. The machine is waterproof and can be fully submerged under water up to 10 feet. It has found me some real good stuff nad well worth the money which is about 595 with the stock coil. You can get great deals at KellycoMetaldetectors online so if you want a deal then thats the place to buy from. One more thing you may also want to purchase a good hand held pin pointer like the Garret Pro Pointer. It saves you so much time looking for the object once dug up etc. Goodluck and if ya ever need a partner to hunt with send me a message. I live here in chillicothe also