Son is interested in Metal Detecting (suggestions?)

[Ike1981]

Hello,

My 10 year old has been asking for a metal detector for over a year now. He has always been what I call a "rock hound" and loves finding/collecting things. With Christmas coming up my wife and I are looking into purchasing his first Metal Detector. What would you all suggest for a young first timer? We have a limited budget but want a detector that is not a toy, and is going to work. He will be using it mostly at old town sites and parks ect. Are there brands to avoid? Thank you all in advance for your time!

 

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[Showtime2385]

I started with the Fisher F2. This is a really easy to learn great machine that will only cost you 200 brand new and comes with a 5 year warranty. I have found many great things with this machine and my fiancee continues to pull great things from the ground with it. I purchased the NEL sharpshooter coil for her and it woke this machine up even more. Good luck!

 

[kingskid1611]

Welcome to Tnet. I would probably get a bounty hunter, they are more in the way of new hunters that may or may not stay with it. I tried to get my youngest interested and he stayed with it for about 3 months and I ended up with his detector. If he gets hooked pretty heavy then you can let him save for an upgrade. I hope he gets addicted to it. Congrats at a good sport for him.

 

[Captain Caveman]

I would suggest a entry level machine with a VDI from one of the better brands. Some suggestions would be the Fisher F2 or F11/F22/F44, Garrett 150/250/350 and the Minelab GoFind 20/40/60. I'm sure there are others that will be listed by other members. There are some entry level detectors without a VDI, visual display, but I would definitely suggest a VDI for a 10 year old. All of these machines will find coins and jewelry and have some level of iron and trash discrimination. A lot of folks on this board started with one of these machines, myself included with the F2. These machines can grow with him for years and if he is still interested, he can upgrade later. Even though I have a number of detectors at this point, I still take my F2 out occasionally, and it still finds stuff!

Whatever you get him, he will be excited. From the way you describe him, he will be a MDer for life! Good luck to you and him!

 

[Ike1981]

Thank you for all the quick replies, I can tell already this is an awesome forum. If I was to be honest I am kind of excited too, I can see us doing this as a father/son thing. We have looked at the Bounty Hunter Gold Digger. I can get it for under a $100, which is more inside our budget. Any experience with this one? I would love to spend a few hundred on him but unfortunately its not going to happen this year If he likes it, maybe next year I can splurge a little more.

 

[Captain Caveman]

The one issue you need to think about, IMO, is discrimination. Discrimination allows the user to not hear or see signals from certain metals/ranges. For instance, iron, aluminum and pop tops. With your son only being 10 years old, I would hate for you to buy a detector that makes him dig everything. My concern is after digging a ton of nails, pop tops, aluminum wrappers, etc, he would get discouraged and quit. For the little extra money for, let's say an F2, he would not have to dig these items. You could help him set it up so that the only thing that would make the detector make a sound is pennies, dimes and quarters. I didn't list nickels on purpose as they tend to ring the same as pop tops.

As his interest grows and he gets more confident in what he is doing, you could back off of some of the discrimination so that he could find other stuff, like jewelry.

Hope this helps.

 

[toolmanbutch]

If he was my Son, I would get him a Minelab CTX3030

 

[kingskid1611]

If he was my Son, I would get him a Minelab CTX3030

Okay toolman, I will be your son so I can get one for Christmas!

 

[Ike1981]

I didn't spend that much on my first 3 cars combined!!! lol

 

[Patriot 1776]

Hello,

My 10 year old has been asking for a metal detector for over a year now. He has always been what I call a "rock hound" and loves finding/collecting things. With Christmas coming up my wife and I are looking into purchasing his first Metal Detector. What would you all suggest for a young first timer? We have a limited budget but want a detector that is not a toy, and is going to work. He will be using it mostly at old town sites and parks ect. Are there brands to avoid? Thank you all in advance for your time!

Bounty Hunter Quick silver, great price for starting off

Bounty Hunter Quick Silver Metal Detector | Coin / Jewelry Metal Detectors | MetalDetectors.com

need any help give me a call
dennis

 

[Indian Steve]

Get him a Tesoro Compadre, Garrett Propointer and a good digger. The Compadre is $160 new with free shipping on ebay, weighs 2.2 pounds, One Knob with GREAT discrimination, and has a Lifetime Warranty. I have one with the 5.75 coil that my daughter now has and found a gold ring, several silver rings, two cut Spanish Reales, Flat Buttons and piles of clad in the year that I had it and my daughter has added several rings and lots more change to the list.

 

[TheHunterGT]

My son (12) has a Bounty Hunter Gold Digger that he received for Christmas 2014 from Grandma. I had just scored a Garrett Scorpion off Craigslist for prospecting and he wanted one as well to fart around with while in the mountains. Little crap found a 10K ring at the local lake his first day out with it. I have that video plus live digs in my sig if ya want to see what it can do.

In the 5-6 inch range it is a coin tyrant with crazy fast recovery speed...very good disc that takes out iron/foil/5c/tabs out in order one by one...and decent separation of close trashy objects.

For $60-70 I am constantly surprised by it. The recovery speed alone is worth the price.

 

[G.I.B.]

If he was my Son, I would get him a Minelab CTX3030

I've sent you my adoption papers.... Dad.

 

[Loco-Digger]

Ike is there a harbor freight near you? You can get him a detector $39.99 (with coupon) and CEN-TECH pinpointer for $17.00, Buying these will allow you to buy him a garden trowel or other digging tool. If he takes to detecting and wants to continue, you can always upgrade in the future. Maybe have him save some of his digs for the upgrade, this way he has some skin in the game.

 

[T.C.]

....and of course he would let me borrow it occasionally!!

If he was my Son, I would get him a Minelab CTX3030

 

[T.C.]

I started out with a $19.95 Radio Shack detector (30 years ago??)....it wasn't a Cadillac, but it got me into a great hobby!!

Ike is there a harbor freight near you? You can get him a detector $39.99 (with coupon) and CEN-TECH pinpointer for $17.00, Buying these will allow you to buy him a garden trowel or other digging tool. If he takes to detecting and wants to continue, you can always upgrade in the future. Maybe have him save some of his digs for the upgrade, this way he has some skin in the game.

 

[ZR2guy]

I would suggest either the Fisher F2 or a Tesoro Compadre. Both are great machines for their price and with their capabilities, not just for beginners. If you get him the Compadre, he will learn to hunt by tone which is a huge advantage if he decides to continue in this awesome hobby. Both machines hold their value pretty well. Heck, if he doesn't like metal detecting, you can keep the detector for a good back up if you already own a detector and if you don't already own one, well, you can have fun then.
I believe that metal detecting is a great way to make learning history more interesting, especially for kids. Teaching him to dig PLUGS, NOT HOLES and cleaning up trash that he digs or finds while hunting goes a long way to aid in teaching him responsibility; not that you aren't already working on that with him but just another good example that can also be fun. This really is a great hobby. I wish the detectors that are available today would have been around when I was 10. I still feel like a kid when I go hunting; kind of like the prize in the cracker jack box. You don't know what it is until you pull it out and see it with your own eyes. Good luck with whatever detector you decide on. Happy Holidays to you and yours!

 

[slink]

Alot of good choices offered.If some are out of your budget you can buy the bh gold digger with confidence it is a very capable detector.The bh gold digger and junior are likely 2 of the most under rated machines ever made.

 

[Sandman]

There is no finer first detector than a Tesoro. It has no display to lie to him as the displays only report what it might be by the conductivity. Like Pull tabs and many gold rings come in at the same reading. The field test for the Tesoro Compadre is right here. This is not a toy an has a Lifetime Warranty. https://www.losttreasure.com/Home/FieldTestDetail/6093

It's just over hundred bucks and will make a fine one for you if he gives it up.

 

[TheHunterGT]

Alot of good choices offered.If some are out of your budget you can buy the bh gold digger with confidence it is a very capable detector.The bh gold digger and junior are likely 2 of the most under rated machines ever made.

Agree 100%. At the price of $60-70 or less in some places...you cannot go wrong. Both are coin hogs at 5-6 inches...perfect depth for public parks and schools and perfect depth for a kid starting out. If he has meteorites in his area...both will find meteorites that more expensive machines miss.

Here is a vid from Scannerguy1968 showing it in his test bed.... https://youtu.be/uGWMBQ9F7mA And here he is showing it on small meteorites..... https://youtu.be/bvgmhvFFQ1Q

If you check the comments on that last video you will see him talking about the recovery speed I mentioned in my earlier post. The recovery speed of the Jr and Gold Digger are outstanding. Anybody who calls them "toys" is simply misinformed in my opinion. They have found silver and gold rings by many users and have excellent reviews across the internet.

If the kid loves it and uses it then pay the $150-$200 for the Compadre or Ace if you feel he wants and needs more. Both are great machines...no argument there. But for somebody on a budget.....$60-70 is a world of difference compared to $150-200 on an item the kid may no longer use in a short amount of time.