Suggestions on an upgraded metal detector please!

[Staci (Fargo ND)]

SOLVED: Replacing an Ace 250 ...but with what? A Tesoro Outlaw!

I've been detecting for around 15 years...I started out with a bounty hunter and about seven years ago purchased an Ace 250. It's nice and light and has a good sharp "ding" that makes it easy to pinpoint. However, it's downright terrible at ID'ing accurately. I'm looking for a new machine and really would love to hear some opinions!

Needs:

• Good at ID'ing (my Ace 250 says "SILVER" on tin cans and iron any further than 2" down)
• Good discrimination when I don't feel like digging up every nail
• Lightweight (I weigh about 100lbs, so with a heavy detector I'd last about 10 minutes)

Wants:

• Volume Control

I'm not sure what my price range is as I haven't looked at machines in so long, so I have no idea what to expect to pay for a nice machine. I'm not a pro, and I can only use it half the year here in North Dakota, so I'd like to buy something decent for a reasonable price although I know "reasonable" is completely subjective.

Any help, suggestions, or questions are welcome...I will do research on my own as well but value much higher the opinions of everyone here over advertising and Amazon reviews. Thanks all, I'm looking forward to detecting this year!

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UPDATE 2015/04/25
Most likely going with a Fisher F5 (and small coil) for its low weight, great features and analog control knobs. Thank you all for your help!

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UPDATE 2015/05/02
After letting the Fisher F5 marinate in my mind for a few days, I realized the features I picked it for could be found in just about all Tesoros... analog controls, no deep menus to navigate, excellent discrimination and great target separation.

After looking at as much information as I could absorb, watching videos and reading reviews, I decided the Tesoro machines were exactly what I was looking for. I have no need for a display, the detectors are amazingly light, and the target separation and disc seem second to none. I decided to go with the Outlaw as I found a great deal on one while searching for a nicely priced Vaquero. Really I think I'd be happy with most of their lineup past the Compadre ...but I think the fine-tune discrimination, manual ground balance, and re-tune features will be perfect for my needs. Not to mention it weighs all of 2.2 pounds...a half pound lighter than my Ace, a very light detector!

I definitely think there is no "best" detector out there as there are too many variables in the choice. For me, a display ended up being at the bottom of the list of importance ...for someone else, it may be at the top. There are many things that both new and experienced detectorists need to look at when buying a machine and we all value things at different levels of importance. I would highly recommend listing out each feature and need/want in a list and assigning a level of importance to them; it makes the choice less difficult and narrows down the options quickly.

The Outlaw I picked up was used and came with two coils, the 8" and a 5-3/4 which I think I'll try out first. Thank you all for your help, I'll put up an update once it arrives and I get some time with it. Maybe this thread can help someone else narrow down their choices in the future.

 

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[bottlecap]

Well...........let us know if you get one how you like it!!

 

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[Staci (Fargo ND)]

After letting the Fisher F5 marinate in my mind for a few days, I realized the features I picked it for could be found in just about all Tesoros... analog controls, no deep menus to navigate, excellent discrimination and great target separation.

After looking at as much information as I could absorb, watching videos and reading reviews, I decided the Tesoro machines were exactly what I was looking for. I have no need for a display, the detectors are amazingly light, and the target separation and disc seem second to none. I decided to go with the Outlaw as I found a great deal on one while searching for a nicely priced Vaquero. Really I think I'd be happy with most of their lineup past the Compadre ...but I think the fine-tune discrimination, manual ground balance, and re-tune features will be perfect for my needs. Not to mention it weighs all of 2.2 pounds...a half pound lighter than my Ace, a very light detector!

I definitely think there is no "best" detector out there as there are too many variables in the choice. For me, a display ended up being at the bottom of the list of importance ...for someone else, it may be at the top. There are many things that both new and experienced detectorists need to look at when buying a machine and we all value things at different levels of importance. I would highly recommend listing out each feature and need/want in a list and assigning a level of importance to them; it makes the choice less difficult and narrows down the options quickly.

The Outlaw I picked up was used and came with two coils, the 8" and a 5-3/4 which I think I'll try out first. Thank you all for your help, I'll put up an update once it arrives and I get some time with it. Maybe this thread can help someone else narrow down their choices in the future.

 

[yotman1]

Don't use any machine but the XP Deus Check (Removed by mod, vendor is not a supporting vendor)

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Yotman had to edit post, can't post names of non supporting vendors...

 

[rainyday101]

After letting the Fisher F5 marinate in my mind for a few days, I realized the features I picked it for could be found in just about all Tesoros... analog controls, no deep menus to navigate, excellent discrimination and great target separation.

After looking at as much information as I could absorb, watching videos and reading reviews, I decided the Tesoro machines were exactly what I was looking for. I have no need for a display, the detectors are amazingly light, and the target separation and disc seem second to none. I decided to go with the Outlaw as I found a great deal on one while searching for a nicely priced Vaquero. Really I think I'd be happy with most of their lineup past the Compadre ...but I think the fine-tune discrimination, manual ground balance, and re-tune features will be perfect for my needs. Not to mention it weighs all of 2.2 pounds...a half pound lighter than my Ace, a very light detector!

I definitely think there is no "best" detector out there as there are too many variables in the choice. For me, a display ended up being at the bottom of the list of importance ...for someone else, it may be at the top. There are many things that both new and experienced detectorists need to look at when buying a machine and we all value things at different levels of importance. I would highly recommend listing out each feature and need/want in a list and assigning a level of importance to them; it makes the choice less difficult and narrows down the options quickly.

The Outlaw I picked up was used and came with two coils, the 8" and a 5-3/4 which I think I'll try out first. Thank you all for your help, I'll put up an update once it arrives and I get some time with it. Maybe this thread can help someone else narrow down their choices in the future.

Good choice Staci. To me the display is insignificant also. I am not knocking the digital displays, I just prefer the simplicity of listen and dig. I work on high tech crap all day and when I go detecting I want simple and effective- no menus, no displays. Put the time in and learn the Outlaw well and you will do good with it. If you need help there are plenty of Outlaw users on the Tesoro forum here and at Findmall. Any of them would gladly help you with questions.

Some quick tidbits from me:
Your detector will respond to targets based on conductivity of the target. If you set the disc. at nickel, it will only respond to targets that are conductive above that disc. setting. Not totally true though. Some targets will get partially discriminated out and they will give pops and clicks in the audio. A good target will give clean audio from two directions. By that I mean from side to side and front to back. If you get clean audio from two directions above your disc setting, Dig!

You want clean audio from two directions and you also want your item to size up coin sized (assuming you are coin hunting). By this I mean there will be a small clean audio signal when the coil is passed over it. If you get audio from one side of the coil to the other it is a large non coin sized target. A coin will have just a small sweet spot.

Next is my opinion and it differs from others. I recommend starting with the disc set just shy of a penny. This way you are cherry picking and basically looking for pennies, dimes, quarters, and halves. This method lets you experience success earlier and lets you learn the sound of a good target way quicker without digging tons of trash. As you get more experienced turn the disc down to just shy of nickel and have at it! You will now start to learn to sort out trash from nice round targets. Of course some right sized shaped trash will always fool you. Certain bottle caps crushed just right still fool me. In my opinion this is a better way to start and learn vs. the turn the disc down low and dig all targets method. I tried this method at first and like my method better.

Good luck and congrats!

 

[Badlands Hunter1]

Hi Staci - I'm from Minnesota and I use the Minelab E-Trac, I started detecting around 30 years ago and have been through a lot of the machines. I settled on the E-Trac, it really is an incredible machine; Though pricy......If you've been at it for 15 years, I'd say you should be getting close to "Pro" status..........Time to get a "Pro" machine!!

Minelab Xterra 705 is also a good choice as there are several varieties of coils available. Just recently there is rumored to be an aftermarket coil that can run on all three frequencies! That way you don't have to switch coils to use the three available frequencies. This would seem to me to be the ultimate machine for its price given the fact that there are several aftermarket coils available. Small high-frequency ones to find small gold, all the way to large and very large low-frequency coils that are suitable for other, very deep... large or small relics... and all coils in between. Maybe slightly off from the truly "pro" machines, the Minelab Xterra 505 or 705 would be valid contenders with the big dogs given their flexibility and pricing. (In a similar way as the AT Pro but with more options and aftermarket coils.) If you can find a good used one from a reliable source the money saved could be spent on another coil, or two of choice. IMHO