advice for getting my first machine

[brinker52]

Hello everyone, I wanted to say that I have been reading the site for about a week, and am in awe of some of the finds here. I have noticed how hard someone will work to find something, and I think the persistence is great! ( That's half the fun .) I was really impressed by the school rings that were returned to the original owners...way cool! Long story short... I'm a Dad of 3 great kids and a great Wife ... I have been a coin nut since I was a kid, and am looking forward to going out and searching for some finds of my own. I really like the pulse of this site, people are really supportive of one another, there's quite a sense of community on this site as well. If you all don't mind the question, what machine is a good starter?? I'll be taking my 11 y.o. son and possibly my soon to be 3 y.o. son out and teach them how much fun it is to hunt for treasure. I have family in KY. and Va. Beach, so I think we might have some great places to hunt while on vacation seeing my folks. Thanks for taking the time to read this if you do so, regards, Lee.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Treasure of Victoria Peak - Grab it through Amazon!

[MikeOregon]

Hello and welcome!

I'll begin by telling you that if you hang around long enough, you will eventually hear about the Ace 250. I cannot speak about that machine, as I have only seen a couple of them with my own eyes and have never used one.

However, in 2005 when I became interested in metal detecting, I read a lot and then began with a starter detector, the White's Prism II. I went with it because it was the least expensive detector made by an excellent company. I wanted to find out if I really liked detecting, and when I discovered I did, I moved up to a used White's XLT, which is still my current detector.

Because I live in western Oregon, I have the privilege of being just an hour away from the White's factory in Sweet Home. I have visited it a number of times, and one thing I must say is, every time I go there I am treated extremely well. For example, before purchasing my used XLT, they gave it a thorough checking over and assured me it was in good shape. Since then, once a year they look at it for me, free of charge, and replace anything on it that has become scratched or damaged. White's is indeed from the old school of excellent customer service. By the way, they do this without an appointment on a "while you wait" basis. Who else has that kind of service?

The Prism II is just a basic detector. I learned a lot from using it, but the one thing I wish it had that it did not was a depth indicator. However, with practice, I got used to that and was able to dig over $100 in clad before I chose to move up. You have to go to the Prism III to get the very same detector but with a depth indicator. At this point, the White's Prism series becomes more expensive than the Ace 250. Again, I am not qualified to comment about the Minelabs, but I can say that between the quality of the machines and the quality of customer service, I will most likely be a loyal White's user for a long, long time.

So now you have one side of the story. I'm sure that others will come forward with the other side as well. In any case, between the two choices I have named, I don't think you can go wrong. I do believe,however, that if you should decide to get more serious, you will need a different detector than the one you buy first, so why not spend a relatively lower amount now and save the money for the better one that will most likely come around later? One thing I wouldn't recommend, though, and this will most likely raise some opposing viewpoints is, I wouldn't spend a whole lot of money right away on an expensive detector without owning a more basic one first. The more expensive detectors, even the ones with "switch and go" technology, take a long time to learn to use properly. The XLT, for example, has dozens of addressable settings, and although you can use the machine the way it's programmed, my experience has shown me that I have done significantly better once I began to "tweak" the settings somewhat and then spend hundreds of hours listening and learning as I went.

I hope that is helpful. If it was my own son or my best friend looking for a starter detector, I would say, "get a White's Prism 2 or Prism 3." If you really really want to start with a better one, take a look at the White's MXT, or if you know now that you never, never will use it for gold prospecting, you can save a little money by going to the White's M6. However, as I said earlier, I think it's best to start more basic.

Just my opinion. Welcome to a great hobby!

Mike

 

[49er]

First, what type of budget do you have? You mentioned beach hunting. How about relic hunting beings you live in KY. I would suggest a Whites or Minlab detector.
Good luck and keep us informed on which detector you purchase.
49er

 

[49r Relics]

Hi Lee,

This post will likely get moved to the correct forum but until then I will answer here. It really depends on your budget, for the low budget, nothing beats the Garrett ACE 250 for value. There are lots of THrs here using that maching finding old coins, silver, gold and relics galore. It is an outstanding machine for the beginer. The elite, high budget machines for hunting for coins and jewelry on land are the Whites DFX, the Whites MXT and the Minelab Explorer SE Pro. There are lots of detectors in between these so if that middle of the road price range appeals to you, let us know and we can recomend some machines. Or, if you want to hunt for primarily gold nuggets or in water, let us know so we can recommend machines made especially for these types of hunting.

HH (Happy Hunting), Mark

 

[brinker52]

Thanks so much to everyone who welcomed me and responded. I was really surprised to see an email telling me I had a response to my post. I have a few hundred bucks to play with for the machine, so I will use the posts as my guide and go out and start searching for a machine...thanks guys!! I am a Ca. transplant who is originally from NC....I do have family in KY, and VA., but will probably not be hunting there except while on vacations. My first ever relic I got was on my Dad's acreage...we had just rototilled the garden, and I found a nice big arrowhead sitting right on top of the soil, I thought it was a funny looking rock... it had just rained and the rain uncovered it for me...a cool find at 9 years old for me!! I'll get familiar with my digital camera so I can post a shot of it...it was fun. I have a small handful of coins that I got while working in a grocery store in the 80's...silver dimes and such....you can tell when it hits the counter that it's silver. I used to have a guy who'd trade me straight across..even money trade for all his oldies...it was a unique deal for me..got a few halves that way! Well..have a great evening everyone, it's 12:30 pm here, and I'll keep you posted on my choice! HH..Lee.

 

[QUICKSILVER (appletree)]

Garrett Ace 250 would be your best bet on performance and price as a good starter detector! Welcome to a wonderful hobby and to the forum! I'm sure we all would love to answer any questions you might have! and that goes for all the noobies to this fine hobby!!! Good luck and HH! QUICKSILVER(appletree)

 

[gold fish]

How much money are you spending ?? I have a Tesoro Cortez, retails for about $850, and has a very easy learning curve. Since starting this hobby, I have discovered that a good beginner machine is not really the cheapest, but the easiest to learn. I have a friend that uses an ACE 250, and I consistently outshoot him. If you have the funds available, spend a little more, you won't regret it.

 

[windrun]

Ahh, you are almost same thing to me before. I read a lot of different messages on the site about many different option to choose a metal detector. Someone said, the machine is best, other person said recommend to choose other brand of metal detector. I thought that Ace 250 is best what many people like.

One day, I got an email and that is very impressive as I never thought about that! This email said, better go to your local dealership and play with all different machines. I checked on the local yellow pages and called the dealership. His business is at home. I went there, oh, that is so real nice services. The guy explained everything and let me take the machines outside for test what I like, he have many different metal under the ground in his backyard for test. I tested so many different machines for few hours.....ahhh, I love the Minelab X-Terra 50. Good thing, what if I choose Ace 250 or other brand what people recommend, then I don't like the machine.

Same idea about a new car, someone recommend the Ford Mustang for save gas, other person like BMW, other person like Chevy. Will you listen to them and purchase the car what people said or you prefer go to the dealership and test drive a new car? Same idea as metal detector.

I see several people who sell their metal detector and purchase other brand of metal detector. I asked them what is wrong with that machine. They said, oh, I can't understand how it work. Other person said, not deep enough to find the metal. Other person said, too much money to spend and find nothing. Other person said, I don't like the display operator.

When I purchased the Minelab X-Terra 50 last few months ago, then I still use it today and found so many oldest coins. I really love this machine very much! I would say thank to email, which recommend me go to the local dealership and test the machine first!

I hope that help you out.

Richard

 

[time4me]

Hi,

It would be great if like the last poster said you could go to a dealer and test a few machines. If that is not an option, you've got plenty of options to choose from. I have been detecting on and off since I was a kid. My first detector (shared with my older brother and detecting buddy) was a Whites Coinmaster. After about a 20 year break from detecting, I got interested again and went out looking for a machine. Since Whites was all I ever knew, I went right for a Whites Eagle Spectrum (this model is no longer available having been replaced by the XLT). These are great machines, as they have preset programs (many detectors do) for coins, coins & jewelry, jewelry & beach, relics, etc. You can just turn it on and go, and then learn the more advanced features and functions as you go. I have since bought a Minelab Explorer II, and while I really like this machine, it is extremely complicated and I still struggle with it - the Whites is way easier to use for me.

When it came time for me to buy a detector for my own son who is 11, I got him a Garrett Ace 250. This machine is awesome, and very simple to use. I really like the bell tones it gives off when you get a detection. I bought another Ace 250 for my nephew who just graduated high school, and he's already found two indian head pennies in a yard that I've hunted to death with my Whites Spectrum and Minelab Excalibur.

Anyways, like I said - you've got lots of options.

I live not too far from Sacramento (in Marin County). If you'd like to meet up somewhere I'd be more than happy to show you the Garrett Ace 250, the Whites and the Minelab machines. We could even go to a park or something and you could try them out. Just let me know - you can email me at [email protected].

And once you buy a detector, if you ever want to meet up to go detecting together, just send me a note.

Jim

 

[packfan_1982]

The Ace 250 really is a great starter machine. It does have some issues which are constantly debated in Garrett forums you can read about. But for the money it really is hard to beat. I currently use an Ace 250 and it does find some old coins for me. The problem I have now is after reading everybody else's posts about finding coins at 8-10 in deep with their $700 -$1200 detectors I am starting toget detector envy. But to know if you are going to like the hobby or not the Ace 250 is probably the way to go. If it turns out that you don't like it, or you do want to upgrade you can easily sell it on ebay for close to retail. If you do have the money for a more expensive detector by all means test out every one that you can, you really can't go wrong that way.

 

[ivan salis]

as in all things --how much dough and time and energy can you / are you willing to invest ? and how hard core are you going to do this? -- for the I don't want to spend more than 250- 300 bucks and I want do this now and then guy --an ace 250 is hard to beat --easy to learn -- simple to use--light in wieght and not overly costly either --a good everyday joe starter machine --- now are their better machines out there? ---you bet there is --but a 2 to 5 times the cost --I would hope they are better--- and some of the high dollar top end models have steep learning curves which drive newbies crazy --causing some to leave the hobby and "dump" their "hard to learn" machines at a steep loss $$$

I have found the 250 to be a good machine with a common range of 6 to 8 inches on coin type / sized items --maybe a bit more on larger items

now some folks say 250 stinks near salt beaches --most "cheaper" preset ground balance machine have "issues" near salt water areas and wet salt sand ---simply put its the dissolved minerals (metals) in the saltwater -- the preset ground balance is set for "basic" ground --thus it has problems near salt water as it "sees": a wall of metal and well beep like crazy non stop-- (since it can not auto "ground balance" or adjust its self to account for the high mineral levels )--thats where you the "operator" come in --by adjusting the sen / power level you calm the machine down thus making it less touchy --- true you will lose a bit of depth but the machine will now be usible ---normally ace 250 users use 2 to 3 bars of power "on the beach"--- however in some rare areas --the minerals levels on the beach or in the soil are simply too high for any "preset" ground balance type machine to work in even with the sen/power adjustments I speak of --for those areas only a machine that can be manually ground balanced will work(those tend to cost a bit more -- and are a bit harder to learn on adverage ) ---hope this helps --- Ivan

 

[brinker52]

wow!, thanks to everyone for all the replies...it's making me want to go out and get going! I am going to be in the market for a machine in 2-3 weeks, and will certainly be looking between now and then. I like the idea of going and "test driving" a machine, and actually I remember that I have a friend who I worked with who was hunting, but gave it up....maybe he still has his machine? I am going to call Rob and ask. Thanks to Richard for his post, bringing up many great points also, and thanks to Jim in Marin ....let me see what I can do about meeting up...I'll email you, and thanks again for such a kind offer!..regards,Lee.

 

[gmsparky]

check out the websites for the different companies. that will at least show you different models & prices. even E-bay has some nice things for sale at times. good luck

 

[revdrlon]

i don't care much for the ace 250, no ground balance. in my area ground balance is a must because of the soil condition. i like my bounty hunter land star, i have found several mercs and a 1898 Indian head penny along with a couple dozen wheat's and probably about $50 in clad. i also found a sterling ring in the first hole i dug with it. the land star is an awesome machine because it has a lot of features that on any other machine would cost twice the price. i paid $250 for mine on eBay but i have been told that it was an awesome deal. you should be able to eBay one for $300-$350

one thing that is even harder to choose than a detector is the right digger, i broke like 10 diggers before i found a good one. i settled on the Ames planters buddy, you can pick them up at Lowe's or home depot. the ames planters buddy is really strong, as a test i shoved it into hard dry clay and just pulled back as hard as i could and it just pulled up a massive plug of dirt where as all the others i tried would have just broke.

 

[ivan salis]

yep the bounty hunter land star is one of the least expendsive machines with manual ground balance* out there --bounty hunters tend to get a bad rap due to the large numbers of newbies with unreal thoughts of "buy a detector go out and find nothing but silver and gold" --these newbies buy a preset model bounty hunter and head to the beach --the preset beeps like mad (and they don't have a clue what to do about it ( like turn down the power /up the disc level till it calms down---duh) or what causes it to occur (the detector is picking up the dissolved metals in the saltwater---ie its too sensitive and needs to be adjusted downward to cope with it )-- so they call it junk and yard sale it --chuck it into the back corner of the garage --- this is quite unfair really to the bounty hunter models since the real problem is "operator error"--ie they picked the wrong type machine for the area they want to hunt and don't know how to cope with the area (use their machine properly) --so they "blame" the machine (easy way out) rather than address their short comings --or worse they say I need a big better machine --they then go from machine to machine --slowly learning "things"as they go up the detector food chain ---finally over time they will have "learned" enough to be good detectorist of course by that time they will have a high dollar machine in most cases --- but they will then credit their latest "whizz bang" machine rather than understand that it was their skills that finally improved enough to really use their machines properly ---thats why a skilled operator with a decent machine can run circles around a newbie with a top of the line model --- knowledge and skills count for a lot ---and just like buying a race car doesn't make you a race car driver --buying a top notch machine will not make you a "skilled "detectorist right away -- it takes time and effort to learn your machine -- you need to learn to speak it langauge --listen to its tones ( via those its telling you what it thinks it found metal wize) if its a number machine you to learn the "range" of numbers for each metal ---(some machines use both numbers and tones together) and while the machine can make errors in IDing nothing is perfect and some tyopes of items are very close on the id range metal wize (pulltabs / gold rings) it not being a person doesn't lie on purpose ----. good luck --

on the digger get the blue handle ames model --its the tougher one --- Ivan