Newbie with questions

[johnnydarms]

First of all I am new to the site, so Hi to all.

I have been wanting to purchase a metal detector for sometime now. I don't know much about them as far as what is good and what is needed. I am particularly looking for one the is good for finding coins, rings and relics. I spend quite a bit of time in pristine bayous kayaking. These bayous are tidal bayous and in the winter time the tides run 2 to 4 lower exposing a lot of the bank. I am real intertrested in these areas because I know when you get that far down you go back several years in time. I also live in a fairly historical area that has been home to native indians and industry dating back to the early 1800's. I also spend a lot of time on the beach in summer months and would like to detect there as well.

Soil types I will be dealing with will range from hard packed dirt, clay, and sand.

I have been reading through several posts on here but can't find the answers I am looking for. I would like to keep the cost under $700.00.

I want to thank everyone for their help.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[Terry Soloman]

Welcome from White Plains, New York Johnny! You will get a lot of different answers to your question. The "Big Five," Garrett, Whites, Minelab, Fisher, and Tesoro, all make fantastic dirt and freshwater VLF machines. In your situation, my recommendation is a Tesoro Vaquero Tesoro Metal Detectors - Official company web site with metal detector models for treasure hunting land or water. because you can manually ground balance it, and it is one of the best coin and jewelry hunters on the market today.

You need to do research on your own, and talk to hobbyists in your area (join a club or attend a meeting), about what they are using and why. DO NOT rush into buying a machine on my advice or anyone else's. Take your time and make a smart, educated choice. You may decide you want a multi-frequency detector or pulse induction machine for the beach, where single frequency VLF machines struggle in the wet sand. Do your homework.

According to Minelab, their BBS operating system, “simultaneously transmits, receives and analyses a broad band of multiple frequencies to deliver substantial detection depth, high sensitivity and accurate discrimination for a wide range of target types.” The key takeaway here is “multiple frequencies.” Unfortunately, radio waves regardless of their frequency still have to be filtered and balanced in heavily conductive wet-ocean sand and highly mineralized saltwater. That limits the systems depth capabilities.

Single frequency VLF machines (Very Low Frequency) like the Vaquero, have even more limitations in the harsh saltwater environment. Take for example the Tesoro Lobo Super Traq. This VLF single frequency machine (17.9Khz) is one of the finest and deepest gold nugget finders on the market today. The Lobo Super Traq, is capable of finding BB-sized gold nuggets eight-inches deep in heavily mineralized ground, or a nickel in dry beach sand at 14-inches. Put that same nugget – or even the nickel, seven-inches deep in wet saltwater sand and the Lobo could walk right over it while chattering, or maybe without seeing it at all. Why?

The magnetic iron sands (“Black Sands”), salt, and high concentrations of other minerals in the water and sand conspire to bounce the radio waves away from the target. Conductivity and mineralization act like a shield around the target and create white noise that must be filtered electronically. Think of it as turning on your bright headlights in a heavy fog at night. All that powerful light is diffused and causes a complete white out – you can’t see anything three-feet past the hood of your car! However when you turn on your yellow fog lights, you can see a little further – not as far as you could in clear daylight, but further. That is why all radio wave machines must be “ground balanced” or tuned, to maximize their depth potential, and why BBS filters and multi-frequencies are so effective – yet still limited.

Unlike BBS and VLF metal detectors, which constantly send and receive thousands of low frequency radio waves per second, a Pulse Induction (PI) metal detector fires high-voltage pulses into the sand several hundred times per second. If no metal is present the electric pulse decays at a uniform rate with no anomalies. When metal is present a small “eddy” current flows through it causing the voltage decay time to increase, which creates a measurable anomaly. Unlike VLF radio waves, electronic pulses are impervious to the effects of conductivity and mineralization, and are unaffected by salt or black sands.

PI metal detectors give the user superior depth capabilities in all metal detecting situations and soil conditions. Using the same heavy fog at night metaphor that I referred to earlier, pulse induction is like headlights that cut completely through the fog as if it were not there at all. The trade-off for that added depth and clarity is the inability to discriminate, or block out iron targets that you generally don’t want to waste time and energy digging.

Just take your time, and think about the other equipment you'll need as well, like a good hand digger (Lesche $45), and sand scoop ($25-$200). Good Luck!

 

[Sandman]

Welcome to Tnet. Terry gave very good advice which you should follow with more reading on the manufactures websites. All detectors will work in the dry sands of a beach but it is the dam saltwater sand that will make many unstable. I would recommend a water proof detector since your going to be in a kayak and only a water proof one will stand up to that harsh envirement. Metal detectors find metal so they advertise them as even finding gold nuggets, yeah but how big a nugget.

Happy Hunting
Sandman

 

[TerryC]

Welcome to the Net, Johnny..... the best and most diverse on the internet. You got a headstart with the two posts above. Hard to add more except..... try to buy local. Patronize the people that advertise here. All the people here are competative and, as far as I've seen, know their detectors. If not, they are "exposed" quickly by the Tnetters. Take care. TTC

 

[johnnydarms]

Thanks for the welcomes. I appreciate the info. I am currently working 12 hour shifts at night and spent about 10hrs of reading. Whew my eyes hurt. There are a few detectors I am leaning hard towards. Terry I may shoot you a PM tonight.

 

[treasurehound]

Boy this questions comes up a lot as to what machine to start with. All the major manufactures have great starter/beginner machines. You need to decide what type of hunting you are going to be doing and what you want in a machine. Some machines do not work well on beaches. Do you want a display to tell you what it is, how deep it is and gives a VDI number (very helpful in some types of hunting)? Some machines have a lot of bells and whistles and some are plain and simple. I have only used White's and really love them but several of my friends use other machines and I know they are excellent machines as well. I hear a lot of good things about the Garrett AT PRO and one of my hunting partners has one and he finds tons of stuff with his. The most important thing is once you get your machine learn it very well. Learn what the tones are. I started hunting 30 years ago before the displays and you had to learn the tones. I still hunt by tones and only use my display for pin pointing and depth and sometimes I use the VDI reading to decide if worth digging or not. In coin hunting a solid VDI of 20 or 22 will most always be a nickel. If it reads 20 on one pass and 38 on another and 43 on another and so on then I know it is iron or trash and will not dig it. Another tip that might help is to find a local club or a dealer who deals in several different machines to get a hands on to see which you like the best. Just because someone recommends one machine you may not like it. I have tried a few different machines and I just did not like them even though they are very popular and people find tons of stuff with them. I think everyone has a personal preference as to what they like in a machine. You have to make that decision yourself. We all can recommend a machine we like but again you may not like them. I hope this helps and good luck with what ever machine you get.