New to the hobby and can not decide on which detector to get

[jon321]

I have $600.00 to spend on a detector but cant decide on which to get,. I do not want the ACE 250,I figure since i got the cash i might as well get something with a little more options,and in the long run i would just end up getting rid of it for something better.So what can $600.00 get me.I live on the Oregon coast ,on the beach here,and that's where I would like to start scouting around for treasures.I did look at the minelabs 70, but do you guys have any advice for a detector.

Thank You

 

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[Keppy]

Hi, Myself i like the ............Minelab Sovereign G T ............, It is a top notch beach detector and also top notch for inland hunting that is my input.............And welcome to Treasure Net and the world of detecting.....................==Jim==

 

[Dixie Digger]

iv owned almost every model in the last 50 yrs and in that price range id go with a Minelab Sovereign GT.if you buy the Optional Sun Ray S12 coil it it the best beach combo iv ever used! the Tesoro Tiger Shark is good too but not as deep as the GT.but it is water proof! and the lifetime warranty is nice...in my order of best...1st Excal ll ...2nd Sovereign GT...3rd CZ20/21...4th Tesoro Tiger Shark. a multi frequency detector is much better on salt sand !! a PI is the deepest but you will dig every bobby pin from there to China! good luck ..DD

 

[Eu_citzen]

Research White's beachhunter series to.

 

[Keppy]

If you go with the Beachhunter check it out first some has had problems with water leaking in for some dealers are selling them with the old black o rings in them instead of the new red seals in them and after the water gets in your detector is worthless....Check out the forum....... Beach & shallow Water.....By ..txkickergirl.....she had trouble with a new Beachhunter.......

 

[gmanlight]

Talk to detecterists around you to see what work some work better than others in different places i had a sov gt

with 12in coil got same depth as BH id with smaller coil I have read BH id had issues in SOUTH CAL

As far as bad units if you read enough you will see defective units from ALL the major brands thus buying local can help

WHY does everyone want to spend your money you said 600 not 800 + If u want i traded sov gt + cash = 950 .00

For F 75 and would do it again tomorrow if u want 600 or less there plenty to choose

 

[Keppy]

Talk to detecterists around you to see what work some work better than others in different places i had a sov gt

with 12in coil got same depth as BH id with smaller coil I have read BH id had issues in SOUTH CAL

As far as bad units if you read enough you will see defective units from ALL the major brands thus buying local can help

WHY does everyone want to spend your money you said 600 not 800 + If u want i traded sov gt + cash = 950 .00

For F 75 and would do it again tomorrow if u want 600 or less there plenty to choose

I did not say the... BH id... was not a good detector i said be careful for some dealers are selling ones that should have been returned to Whites or should have got the new seals and put in the detector ............And on the F 75 i heard there was a big learning curve.....and you would be spending a $1000.00 for a F 75...........

 

[EasyMoney]

Well, I have spent a great deal of time hunting Oregon, Washington, and California beaches and on these beaches ALL the Minelab Explorers and ALL the Minelab Sovereigns suck for depth, including the GT. The Minelab x-terra 70 is a slight bit of an improvement, but it too is a bit on the slow side for our beaches.

Sure, those Minelabs do run quite smoothly, but that's the end of the discussion. The right Fishers, White's, and Tesoros all work well here and do go deeper than the Minelabs, although the DFX is a slowpoke just like the SE's, II, and Sovs are. The MXT's work very well on our beaches but not with the factory 950 coil. In fact they really do suck when equiped with that coil in our soil. The Nautiluses, Garretts, and Minelabs leave a lot to be disired because they were better designed for Eastern, Southern US soil and Central European soil, and not much thought was given for our uses here. Garrett designed an aftermarket chip to try to help with their difficulties here in the 1250-2500 series, but it still did not take care of the problem well enough. The Aces, all of them have lots of troubles in our soil too, from the 100 through the 500. Nauties make good boat anchors in our soils and you can take that one to the bank, but they work super well in the deep south.

The above I just wrote is not an opinion either, and personally I really wish there was some way for people to rationalize their statements and realize that when one detector works well on Texas, Florida, Jersey or other beaches, it doesn't mean that they would work well in other beaches some 3,000 miles away. Think of the Eastern USA as "regular" and the Western USA as "Mars".

It would serve those who live in high iron areas to make a better choice for different soils than to follow the recommendation of someone who lives in a completely different place. In our soils here there is often more than 1/4 cup of Fe ore, very different than in most other places. I have seen as much as 1/2 cup of iron with half a cup of silica all in the same cupfull of dirt, something that is never seen in other parts of the USA. Yes, I know that people have good intentions when they recommend a detector, but I really do become quite disenchanted and sympathetic when I see someone toss their Minelab into the trunk in pure and utter disgust when someone who totes a $239 Tesoro outhunts, outfinds, and out discovers someone with a machine that cost's 3X what the Tesoro does (when searching on our beaches or inland here). And I'm not talking about the high end Tesoros either, those too often have as much trouble in high iron soil as do the Minelabs and Garretts here. In the Rocky Mountains area the same above applies too, it's a different world here, and people need to make note of it.

I write this to inform, not to cause a problem, rather to save someone some unnecessary problem and expense in the future by purchasing the wrong detector for the wrong area. For a fact, my cz-70 or a cz3d or an F-75 or one of my old Compasses or a Silver uMax or Vaquero or Cibola with an 8X9 without a doubt will locate treasure on our beaches 1-2" deeper than a Minelab or Garrett or Nautilus when using similar coil sizes. the Tejon and the Cortez, etc, both have a b - - ch of a time here, inland AND on our beaches, they cannot and do not ground balance well at all, even when sent back to the factory to be readjusted and re-calibrated. They run with too high of gain for all that iron, just like the Fisher 1270, Tejon, and Nauties do.. This is not a joke, it's just the way it is.

No offense meant anyone, I just wanted to clear this up and make life a bit easier for Jon. And Jon, don't buy one until you try one. This is a very different world here than most of the rest of the USA. The most productive and best working detector I have ever found to use on Oregon beaches are the original Silver Saber, with various certain Fishers (and Compasses) coming in at a very close second.

EasyMoney

 

[gmanlight]

Nice post Easy people get caught in depth readings of brand x [ I'm guilty also ] and dint find out how it works on

home turf then if brand x does not produce its tagged a piece of junk or you dint know how to use it

Its just not built for that area

 

[EasyMoney]

Exactly Gman. Most people are guilty of this too. When I first started out, in spite of my electronics experience and having worked in the biz for quite some time - I have been guilty of the same thing in the past too.

Testing in clay or plastic pots or "test beds" can produce the same misconceptions, wrong advice, and bad reviews. In fact I've seen people who have been TH'ing for over 30 years who do not understand this concept (AT ALL) that all detectors have a different search pattern, and that this fact alone can cause wrong or poor relative readings when tested in the above manner, something that does absolutely zero good in the real world of TH'ing. Those individuals keep their blinders on and their minds closed to reason too, and will not give up their opinions on the subject - - at all. Their mind is already made up.

I once saw a man wrap his very expensive White's detector around a tree because my cheap Bounty Hunter found an $800 rose gold ring, searching right behind him. After that he stabbed it right through the heart and sent it and a note back to White's stating "I killed it". White's was very good about the situation and offered him a new detector of his choice. The stabbed detector hung on the wall for quite some time in quality control before they finally decided to take it down.

If you want to buy a detector, contact the people in your area and see what works for them. After that go try one that you think you might like. NEVER buy one on another person's recommendations first though. Check it out for yourself first, personally

In my test plastic pots them being 8" in diameter and 12" deep every detector I tested read differently than the place where I got my seashore sand. Some of the readings were completely reversed relative to each and every detector I tried that way. That test alone proves that we cannot use models of any kind, to include thinking that one detector is THE detector for all occasions, all soils, and all conditions. Dankowski speaks about this in great depth on his detector site regarding detector choices, variables, and capabilities.

The bottom line is, that the only way to know how a detector will behave for you is to use it before you buy it. Yes, it's good to know that detectors do not all come out of the same mold, but it does help to understand their inherent behavior patterns first too, before you decide to drive even to "just try one out".

After all, gas is over $4 a gallon now, isn't it?

EasyMoney