Newbie Needs Advice on Best Metal Detector

[Dave in Kentucky]

Greetings everyone. I stumbled across this site and would like to find lots of valuable coins and jewelry like you guys. I need some advice on what kind of detector to buy. I'd prefer to not spend over $200 if possible. I see Wal-Mart has one called a Bounty Hunter Pioneer 202 for $198. Is that a good one, or would someone out there have a decent used one for sale? Thanks in advance for any info you can give me....

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[Night Stalker]

Dave, do a search on "best metal detector" or something like that here on Treasure Net. Everyone has their favorite brands, I prefer Tesoro, some like Whites, Minelab, Fisher, Garrett and so on. As far as the Bounty Hunter goes, I've owned a couple of them in the past, they do a decent job of finding metal objects. There are better machines out their for $200.00, but if Walmart can scratch your itch immediately, I'd say go for it. The Bounty Hunter series are good beginner machines, plus if you decide you don't like the hobby, you're only out a couple hundred bucks as opposed to a grand or more.

Check the classifieds here on T-Net also.

Hope this helped, good luck and HH,

The Night Stalker....

[DPBOB]

I love my WHITES XLT.. It is a silver finder.....& Gold too. very easy to use...

[Brush Creek]

Dave there is a for sale forum if you scroll down on the home page.
allot of good detectors there.
I don't really like bounty hunter to much used one for a while and the discrimination for me was hard to use
then I got a Garrett 250 ( wish I still had it ) as a back up
I use a XLT now

what part of Ky you live in

[hollowpointred]

for my $200 it will be the Garrett Ace 250 every time. it is a phenomanal value for the money.

[funkman]

yep...Garrett Ace 250 has my vote.....it's what I use.


Funkman

[bazinga]

If you think you will be in this for the long run and this isn't just a passing phase then I would say buy the best detector that you can afford. The $200 machines will find you lots of stuff, but the higher end machines, once learned, will find much more with a lot less work and you will know you aren't going over the older, deeper coins and jewelry.

[Postalrevnant]

Greetings fellow Kentuckian. I have the Bounty hunter pioneer 505. Its alright for a starting machine. However if you think this is something you really want to do for a long time I would say no to getting the 202 or any other BH atm. I am not knocking them, but there is better ones out there.

It seems that many peps here are happy with the ACE 250 and its near the 200 - 300 ish price range. I would say also read the metal detector reviews section here. Lots of great advice there.

I live in SE kentucky Pineville, Middlesboro Area. Anywhere near you?

Now that I have used that BH Bounty Hunter for about 3 months I am ready for upgrade and I have minelabs Exp 2 in mind. Some peps selling on ebay now cheaper than usual so they can buy the new minelab SE coming out. Also many peps tell me the slightly cheaper model XS is great and it seems to be selling well too.

EXP 2 is going on ebay from 750ish to 900ish at the moment, big drop from the 1200 new. I have seen the XS model go 500 to 600. Both seem like great choices, but both are software driven, harder to learn, slightly heavier than most detectors.

BUT WOW talk about consistent finds and depth. Its really a lot more than just the detector to find things. REsearch, location, and practice really do it. But seems lots of peps here really swear by those minelabs.

Either way read the posts in detectors section. You will find a wealth of knowledge about a lot of great detectors from many different makers.

I just wanted to say if you can afford it get the ACE 250 at a minimum and not the pioneer 202 or 505. Some great finds are found here by BH users, but most seem to be from the older Bounty Hunters.

Either way welcome to the forum and the Hobby. Looking forward to seeing your decision and seeing future posts with your finds. I wish you loads of great luck and hope to hear from you about your location. Rather if I get a chance I will look up the town name on your Avatar. Would be nice if you were atleast somewhat near me. No partner here LoL.

Postalrevnant

[Green1]

i would try to squeeze the budget a little more,, and look for a machine with more capabilities,,,,, it's like everything else these days,, the more ya spend the better product you can get,,,,

[johnrielly]

If I were you I would get the best you can afford. Try ebay it will save ya some dough. I have a whites dfx and it is the best detector I have owned BUT!!!! It can be overwhelming to get used to for a beginner. I say if your in it for the long haul give it a try and if not garretts cheaper machine like the ace 250 cant be beat for the $$$$. Good luck

[Dave in Kentucky]

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I posted this in the wrong forum so I'll make sure that doesn't happen again. I'm in Oldham County, about 20 miles NE of Louisville. I'm going to absorb this info, have a chat with The Boss (wife) and see what we decide regarding how much I should spend. She's all for me getting out from in front of the computer and TV whenever possible. Thanks again...........Dave

[sendin]

I am a beginner and just got a used White's XLT locally. It was more than the $200 you said you wanted to spend ($390 to be exact), but I know I have a machine that I can grow into and also sell if I decide to. I started out for a week or two with my Dad's old Radio Shack Discovery2 - very frustrating. Then the next two weeks a friend lent me his BH Prospector which wasn't too bad, actually got my first silver with that machine.

Cheap detectors are OK for starting out, but they are harder to sell when you want to upgrade.

I would respect the advice here that the ACE 250 would be the way to go even though I am an avid White's fan due to the research I did before making 'the big purchase.' You can learn a lot if you are willing to spend some time reading on this site and doing searches on the internet on models that interest you. And if you are willing to wait and shop a bit you can get a good deal on a higher end model that would be easy to resell later if needed.

[Michigan Badger]

All you have to do is mention buying a detector and we all jump on ya.

For $200 I'd go with the Ace 250 myself. That BH is most likely a good machine too. I'd favor the 250 over it myself.

Best to you and let us all know what you decide.

Badger

[B|lker]

Just adding my 2 cents.
$25.00 for a cheapo from Harbour Freight got me these dandys, though i`m still researching the button which may take some time both were about 6 inchs down with the rolled gold 100? year old bracelet being my first exciting find.
Also found a 14k mens wedding band under a swing in the park, haven`t pawned yet.
It took me 2-3 years to really get the hang of this basic detector and which minerals were ferrous and non.
Take this hobby slow and still get detector elbow as you learn

[lancemxt2006]

difinitally get the ACE 250. its like 225 bucks shiped with all accesories.

good luck choosing the right machine.

lance

[bcs123]

i started off with a BH pionere...i found some good stuff but i upgraded to a whites MXT and am finding ALLOT of stuff i missed....ive never tryed the Garrett Ace 250 but ive only hered good things about it...if i had to do it over i would squeze out a little extra and go for the ACE 250 instead of the BH.....just my thoughts....

[The Seeker]

What I would suggest is figure out how much time you want to dedicate to this hobby! If you want to get into it seriously buy a good machine!!! I have had great success with Whites detectors (5900 and XLT) Plus I also use the Minelab Explorer 2 . I have enjoyed these machines with very nice results. Talk to your local metal detector Dealer and he will suggest whats good for the type of detecting you have in mind!!! Good luck and HH..........

Seeker

[Dave in Kentucky]

I'm leaning towards the Garrett Ace 250. There are some on Ebay that are less than the $250 MSRP on the Garrett web site.

By the way-what is clad? Is that another word for useless junk like nails? Thanks again....

[Sandman]

I am glad you are leaning to the ACE 250. It is a good starter machine and many prefer it to the higher cost detectors with more bells and whistles. BH's aren't all that bad, but there are many out there that cost the same or less that are many times better.

Clad refers to US coins above a nickel that were minted after 1964. Before that the dimes, quarters, Halfs and dollars were 90% silver for the most part. Clad means they now have more copper.

It would be a good idea to get some detecting books and subscribe to a treasure magazine like Western & Eastern Treasures. You might find it in the better stores on the rack. You can't have to much knowledge. The guys an gals here all will try an help all they can, just ask.

HH,
Sandman

[bomber]

u can get a NEW 250 from most dealers for 200 with a warrenty, i'v e heard some bad stories about e-bay