Your First!J

Stuperduke

Full Member
May 30, 2017
128
243
Vancouver WA
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030
GPX-4000
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting

RustyGold

Gold Member
Aug 16, 2013
9,372
10,901
Southern California
Detector(s) used
XP Deus I & II
Xterra Pro
Primary Interest:
Other
My first detector was the AT Pro. I bought it to locate my lost wedding ring in the backyard. Since then I've lost it two more times. Lol! After finding it the first time I was hooked.
 

OP
OP
S

Stuperduke

Full Member
May 30, 2017
128
243
Vancouver WA
Detector(s) used
CTX 3030
GPX-4000
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Nice! Quite a detector for finding a lost item but then again it was a wedding ring!
 

CASPER-2

Gold Member
Jan 3, 2012
17,153
19,933
NEW ENGLAND
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
6
Detector(s) used
WHITE'S XLT, PI PRO, GARRETT 2500, 3- FISHER CZ21s, JW FISHER 8X
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
started at age 12 - 1975
first machine used - big whites goldmaster - had to use both arms to swing it
my first machine of my own - Compass 94B - TR - all metal - it was used
almost gave up after my first year - then 1976 spring - I hit my own yard and found all
kinds of goodies and honed my skills - haven't looked back since
 

Ahab8

Gold Member
Oct 15, 2013
8,408
8,288
Topsham, Maine
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Teknetics T2 SE w/15' SEF Coil/ Minelab GPX 4500/2 Garrett Pro Pointers/3 Sets Killer B Headphones/ Koss Headphones/ Detekniy Wireless headphone Adapter
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Bought a T2 about 5 years ago. My buddy had a fairly hidden cellar hole on his property. I found an 1820 Large cent, marked silver spoon and a heart heel plate. I thought "wow this is super easy" lol. Then I fell in love with the research and gave never looked back. Lucky to live in Maine with tons of great history and few people looking for it. Great thread
 

Loco-Digger

Gold Member
Jun 16, 2014
11,825
17,742
Northern O-H-I-O
🥇 Banner finds
1
Detector(s) used
F75 LTD, 1280X Aquanaut, & a Patriot (back-up/loaner)
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Back in 2002 we took a week for a family vacation and went to visit my wife's uncle down in Florida, I saw that he had a metal detector hanging in his garage. I asked to borrow it when we all went to the beach. I think I dug about $5 in clad under a pier.

Fast forward 2010 I wanted another hobby besides fishing in the local reservoirs so I bought a new Treasure Cove TC-1023 from ebay. The day it arrived I put it together, inserted some batteries. While in the garage yet, I gave my wife 4 quarters and 2 dimes and told her to put them in the back yard. I cranked both knobs to MAX and could not find 1 coin. The detector was put up in the rafters of the shed and there it sat.

During the cold winter of 2013 I found Tnet. I was very impressed by the finds that were being posted daily. Instead of simply asking how to set up the TC-1023 I mined previous posts and found a good starter setting. In late April or early May I took it out and began this journey by hunting the practice field in town. I was surprised to find that I hit a good spot and dug plenty of clad coins. After swinging like a mad man for 2 months I dug enough to cover the initial investment plus. I was very interested in upgrading to a Fisher F5, thought it was sexy. I missed out on one for sale on Craigslist which sold for $300. I did however find a slightly used F4 for $295. I was very please to move up to a big name machine and it came with the stock DD. I wanted more depth than the 8" concentric on the TC-1023 could get. I dug over $500 in those 8 months back in 2014. I must have had some beginner's luck since one of my 1st silvers was an 1875 seated dime at my 2nd permission. Needless to say both machines paid for themselves quickly. When not at work I was out swinging the coil until dark. My wife was so glad I finally found a hobby that suited me, I had carte blanche to detect as much as I wanted. I ended up selling the TC-1023 to my brother-in-law for $40 since he had used it when I took him out detecting during a visit. He also got bit by the detecting bug and soon upgraded to a Whites Coinmaster GT.

I know that this area has had MDers since the 1970's so I wanted to go deeper than the F4 could go so I began looking for a used T2SE or F75LTD. Soon enough I found an ad on craigslist from a gentleman who had to leave the hobby due to health reasons. I drove 2.5 hours over into PA to meet him and buy his gear. I got everything for 50 cents on the dollar. I found it hard to put down the F4 since I knew it like the back of my hand, but eventually forced myself to only use the F75LTD. Then I sent it off to be upgraded. Upon it's return I sold my F4 to a fellow Tnetter who works about 10 miles from my house and kept the Whites Classic ID II as my back-up machine (got it as part of the F75LTD deal).
 

sprailroad

Silver Member
Jan 19, 2017
2,577
3,979
Grants Pass, Oregon
Detector(s) used
Garrett A3B United States Gold Hunter, GTA 1000, AT Pro, Discovery Treasure Baron "Gold Trax", Minelab X-Terra 70, Safari, & EQ 800, & Nokta Marko Legend. EQ 900.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Even as a kid I was always "eyeballing" for things on the ground. I think around 1990? I bought a used Garrett A3B United States Gold Hunter, manual everything on it, not a clue as to what I was doing, but did find a few things, and knew that THIS was for me. The rest is history. At 65, I still love the obsession. The A3B?, still have it hanging on the wall, as it was the "Beginning".
 

islamoradamark

Silver Member
Aug 26, 2016
3,628
3,993
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Always liked finding stuff started off with a whites PI now i got gold fever
 

gunsil

Silver Member
Dec 27, 2012
3,864
6,207
lower hudson valley, N.Y.
Detector(s) used
safari, ATPro, infinium, old Garrett BFO, Excal, Nox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I always liked finding things in the ground. As a youngster I did a lot of gardening work for my mother and family friends and living in an area with a long settled history I found things I thought were really cool. Large cent, seated liberty dime in my yard, handmade marbles, large cents and indians at other gardens. Dug a huge bottle dump near my house from age 13-17 and made more money selling bottles, crocks, and other things than my buddies did shoveling snow and mowing lawns. I was into civil war relics from about twelve on when one could buy dug US oval buckles for three dollars and minie balls ten for a dollar. Went to a civil war show in VA in 1969 and saw my first metal detectors for sale and the next year I drove all the way to VA from NY and bought a brand new Garrett BFO with two coils. Strictly beep and dig, no discrimination at all, but with practice I could tell what some targets were going to be but I dug all. Armed with Karl Von Muller's Treasure Hunter's Manuals #s 6&7 I hit all the schools, churches, and historical houses I could find. I was the first guy with a detector and all sites were virgin and I had a blast. Bought another BFO for my girlfriend and we hunted all summer finding loads of silver coins and early coppers and some nice jewelry. There have been some years since then that I did not do much hunting after cleaning out every school and church in my county and surrounding areas, but I still love the hunt and still get a thrill every time my machine says TARGET, no matter what the target is. I probably found more with that old BFO simply because I did not have a discriminator and dug every signal, and now my local spots are pretty hunted out, but the occasional permission for an old site keeps me going. Even considering a new Equinox although my current arsenal is really plenty good. By the way, that first BFO cost me $150.00, a little more than a week's pay so considering inflation $1,000.00 machines today are still a good deal.
 

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