Looking for a good metal detector

squiggy

Silver Member
Dec 14, 2012
2,785
934
CA
Detector(s) used
Ace 250..garret pro pointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Depends on what kind of detecting you are going to do...land, beach, lake, dry beach sand, wet beach sand etc...

Sent from my VS920 4G using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 

TheRingFinder

Bronze Member
May 22, 2013
2,223
1,991
Minnesota
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
Minelab - E-Trac / Excalibur
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I'm from northern California am just getting into metal detecting, I'm looking for a good cheap machine to use and only have a budget about 400$ any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Yeah, like the squigster said - Please give as much information as you can about what type of hunting and areas you will be hunting.. Thanks!!
 

marh415

Full Member
Apr 30, 2013
199
59
Rhode Island
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Garrett ACE 350, Garrett Pro Pointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
With your price range around $400 and considering what and where you'll hunting, you may be better off looking for a used higher end machine! Good luck!
 

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
3,992
In Michigan now.
Detector(s) used
Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Gold Huh, what kind, jewelry or nuggets?
 

squiggy

Silver Member
Dec 14, 2012
2,785
934
CA
Detector(s) used
Ace 250..garret pro pointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Where in northern care are you?

Sent from my VS920 4G using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 

squiggy

Silver Member
Dec 14, 2012
2,785
934
CA
Detector(s) used
Ace 250..garret pro pointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Was to say where in northern. ca are you?

Sent from my VS920 4G using Tapatalk 4 Beta
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
Sandman has a good question: Did you mean "gold" as in ... "gold jewelry" ? Or gold as in nuggets/prospecting? Because the type machine will be different for both. There's a few cross-over attempts (machines that can go back and forth between each venue, with the controls switched). An example of a cross-over machine is an MXT. I think you can find one of those on the used market for your budget.

But be aware: Any machine that is a "cross-over" like that, will excell in neither arena. There will be better coin/jewelry machines, and there will be better prospecting/nugget machines.
 

mntnflyr4fun

Jr. Member
Jul 12, 2012
41
19
Oregon
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Etrac with 6x8 SEF & ML 11" Pro coil, MXT PRO with D2 coil, Whites V3i
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I'm in redding ca, and I'm looking for gold nuggets.
Keep an eye out for a used Whites GMT. I see them on both ebay and Craigslist often and many sell in your price range. The Whites GMT is a great nugget shooter but ya gotta learn how to hunt for nuggets with any of these nugget sniffing detectors. The GMT can find very small nuggets in highly mineralized ground...Whites service is 2nd to none so you can't go wrong..

Good luck
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top