first detector

[blair]

I'm looking to buy my first metal detector and have narrowed down to Garrett ace 350 and tesoro cibola.
will be hunting primarily in parks for coins and things. any input or thoughts would be appreciated.

[mrwilburino]

The Cibola will get you into the depth range of a lot of older coins. The 350 will be easier to use in trashy areas. If I had both I would probably use them pretty evenly, but if I could only have one it would be the Cibola.

[ThTx]

Welcome to the addiction. Whatever you choose, you are guaranteed to have fun! Tesoros are good machines, but I am a Garrett fanatic! You can't beat the Ace series and the 350 is an awesome machine. Easy to learn, great depth and greater iron discrimination ability. Comes with volume adjustable light weight headphones, environmental cover, etc.

[Bill_S]

I know you only mentioned the two but I would also look at a fisher F2.

[Smudge]

I use the Cibola, but have never used the 350, so I can't give you an honest comparison. From what I've seen, they have some similarities. I would go more for the Cibola because there's no screen to lie to you and it comes with a lifetime warranty which the Garrett does not.

But for primarily park hunting I am going to suggest neither of those.

I will instead suggest the Tesoro Compadre. Yes, the $150 detector.

It runs at a high frequency (12 kHz) which will make it more sensitive to gold, and is better than the frequency on the 350 and almost as good as the Cibola.

The smaller 5" coil will be a blessing in a trashy areas, and almost every park is trashy.

It will give you about 6" of depth on most targets, which is where 90% of your finds will be anyway, no matter what detector you use.

It is also very lightweight and you can use it all day without getting tired. And again, there's the Tesoro lifetime warranty.

Good luck with your final choice.

[blair]

between the compadre and the cibola which would be better for a first detector? I've read good things about both. looking to get the most fun for my money.

[dbsmokey]

I'm looking to buy my first metal detector and have narrowed down to Garrett ace 350 and tesoro cibola.
will be hunting primarily in parks for coins and things. any input or thoughts would be appreciated.

Minelab Sovereign GT

[Smudge]

between the compadre and the cibola which would be better for a first detector? I've read good things about both. looking to get the most fun for my money.

The Cibola will give you better depth but has a larger coil. That small coil on the Compadre is a real blessing in parks and other trashy areas.

Honestly, if I were just starting out again, I'd buy the Compadre first.

I take it and the Cibola on every land hunt I do and so far the only time I've reached for the Cibola was at a competition hunt.

I just had the Compadre out yesterday and it kept me plenty busy. I'm posting my finds if I can ever get the photos downloaded.

If you ever want to upgrade later, the Compadre makes a great loaner or backup detector. But with more than 80% of all your finds being at 6" or less, you may never need/want to upgrade from the Compadre.

[l.cutler]

I would choose the Cibola myself. You have the option of using different size coils, with the Compadre you can't. The Ace 350 is pretty new, so I don't really know how it stacks up, but unless it is light years ahead of the 250 I'd pick the Cibola.

[blair]

well i just placed my order for the compadre. thanks everyone for the input.

[dbsmokey]

well i just placed my order for the compadre. thanks everyone for the input.

Please let us know what you think of it!

[vaquero44]

here's a thought get the cibola higher freq than 14khz the compadre and get the smaller 5'75" coil and deeper still than the compadre plus would be more sens on gold jewelry!

[ok2raise]

get both use one for a back up both are good machines

[Willee]

I'm looking to buy my first metal detector and have narrowed down to Garrett ace 350 and tesoro cibola.
will be hunting primarily in parks for coins and things. any input or thoughts would be appreciated.

What ever you get ... buy used!

You can sell or trade it later and not lose so much money.
Since you are just starting you dont really know what you will want by this summer.

[wallkinboss01]

I'm also looking to P/U my first detector. I live in Ga and would be doing most of my hunting around old homes. What should I be looking for, brands, features, and accessories? I looking to stay under or around $400 and wouldn't mind a used detector. Thanks in advance for the advice.

[Smudge]

I'm also looking to P/U my first detector. I live in Ga and would be doing most of my hunting around old homes. What should I be looking for, brands, features, and accessories? I looking to stay under or around $400 and wouldn't mind a used detector. Thanks in advance for the advice.

When spending most of your time searching old homes, depth becomes a real issue. 30%-50% of your targets might be deeper than 6". With that in mind, you're probably going to need to look at a detector in the $600-$1000 price range if you want to make sure you don't miss anything. But I'm not sure I want to encourage anyone just getting into this hobby to spend that much on a detector only to find out the hobby isn't for them.

Also, soil conditions can really dictate your choice of detector. I would recommend finding the metal detector club that is closest to you and talk to the folks there about what they are using. That is always a good indicator of what works best in your area.

[RW]

I'm also looking to P/U my first detector. I live in Ga and would be doing most of my hunting around old homes. What should I be looking for, brands, features, and accessories? I looking to stay under or around $400 and wouldn't mind a used detector. Thanks in advance for the advice.

Minlelab Xterra 305