Best Metal Detector for $200?

[Cutover]

Hello, I am new to metal detecting and would like you know which one to get. I have a budget of $200 but might be able to go a bit more. I live in Williamsburg Virginia around woods. please get back to me soon, Michael.

 

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[digger27]

Fisher F2....if you can find a dealer with the the 2 coil package still one of the best values in a starter package out there.

Fisher F22

Tesoro Compadre for under $200 and the Tesoro Silver for about $250 but neither have screens...audio only.

The Euro Tek pro has many fans for a little more from Teknetics, the Delta 4000 does too but it is a little slower than the rest of these concerning recovery time...a big issue with some hunters.

The Garrett Ace 300 has tones and now a screen with not just icons but also very helpful VDI numbers on the screen.

Whites has the Coinmaster series with a few models at different prices but not the most popular out there.

The Bounty Hunter Land Ranger Pro has many features but you need to find it on sale for under $300 for the best value which does happen from time to time in some of the big box store websites.

There are others in the $2-$300+ price range out there also.


Popular features that most look for are good target separation, fast recovery speed, manual ground balance in bad dirt, a good choice of coil options which will cost more in the future.


Going by my experience I bought the Fisher F2 with two coils for $215, both coils were used for hundreds of hours, it worked superbly, was fast, responsive, ID'd great, was decently deep, was a great all around unit especially considering it came with 2 coils and found me more than 10X's its price in 3 seasons use in coins, silver and gold...plus it was fun and a blast to use.
Not easy to find the 2 coil packages out there now because they are discontinuing this model but there are some at a few dealers, the single 8" coil version is still available and the sniper coil can be picked up fairly cheap.


All detectors find metal but some get along with certain brands over others and you need to weigh all the features available vs. price and get an idea of which of those features are important to you.

 

[NHBandit]

Another option is to hit some local dealers to see if they have any trade ins for around your price range. Often people will buy a higher end detector as their first and then get discouraged when they figure out that it's not a magic wand and won't make valuable items appear under the coil. The last one I bought was around a $600 unit new that I paid $175 for from a guy who used it twice and then stuck it in the closet

 

[Terry Soloman]

Tesoro Compadre with 8" coil ($170). You'll have to spend $300 to get a better machine.

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[Cutover]

What about the bounty hunter time ranger?

 

[Cutover]

I think I've made up my mind, I'm going to get the fisher f2 with the 4 and 8 inch coils, it also comes with a pinpointer and a carry case for $215, is that a good price and am I making the right decision?

 

[OWK]

I'm a Fisher guy.

If it was me, I'd buy a used Fisher F4 off of ebay.

Nothing wrong with the F2. The F4 is just a better machine, and I don't feel particularly fussy about a new machine vs. used

 

[Loco-Digger]

That pin pointer is liked by very few, I have one, used it once and now it is used as a paperweight. It does not have much range, maybe 1/2 inch. I have both a Garrett Pro-Pointer and Santa brought me a Garrett Carrot last Christmas. The F2 is a great detector to enter the hobby with. It is easy to use and has enough bells and whistles to keep you happy for a while. You will get 40 hours of detecting for every 2 9v batteries.

 

[Loco-Digger]

There is not much difference between the F2 & the F4. The F4 can be ground balanced in all metal mode. I never used AM mode when I had mine, I did not care for the VCO sounds, I like tones better. It grunted like a pig in All Metal mode. I mainly hunted in discrimination mode and used to discriminate out everything and notched nickels back in. I wondered why I could not dig an Indian Head. Little did I know they ring up in the zinc range. I am a fan of the DD stock coil over the concentric coils. You can cover more ground per swing at max depth. Concentric coils need more overlapped swings to make sure you hit every square inch at max depth. The DD coil also goes deeper than the 8" concentric.

 

[Cutover]

I have another question. What would be better, the f2 or the f22?

 

[digger27]

I think I've made up my mind, I'm going to get the fisher f2 with the 4 and 8 inch coils, it also comes with a pinpointer and a carry case for $215, is that a good price and am I making the right decision?

I have another question. What would be better, the f2 or the f22?

As I mentioned that 2 coil F2 package is still one of the best values out there at $215.
I actually picked up mine for $200 when I bought it including free shipping.
I bought mine to be used only as a backup and as a take-on-vacation unit only but after I got it that thing found me so much so easily right out of the box and it was so much fun to use it became my prime detector for the next several seasons.
Still one of the best purchase decisions I have made in this hobby to this day.

The F22 is a newer product, it will be replacing the F2 when they are all gone.
The F22 is weatherproof so if you plan on hunting in wet weather a lot this is an advantage.
It supposedly works very well as all Fishers do, this was not available when I picked up my F2 back in 2010 but if it was I might have made a different choice...however...
Over the years I came to understand and love the sniper coils as I tend to hunt some very trashy sites more often than not...that sniper became my most potent weapon once I realized how well it worked.
I thought that little hockey puck coil was a joke for a long time, after mounting it as a lark one day I stopped laughing and it rarely came off after that.
The F2 has this coil as an almost free option in the F2 2 coil package and it is cheap as heck buying them aftermarket new and hardly anything when you find them for sale used.
Using the sniper coil on the F2 at first is also the easiest and quickest way to learn and get comfortable with it, too.
The F22 has sniper coil options too but the cost new for one is going to be about half the price of the entire detector.

For hunting relatively clean open areas mostly I would probably go with the F22 nowadays but that F2 and sniper coil found me so many coins, so much jewelry both silver and almost 2 dozen gold rings and other gold targets in heavy trash so easily it would be a tough choice considering the cost of the F22 sniper coils...for me, the way I hunt and the sites I usually hunt in.

The cheap pinpointer in that 2 coil F2 package isn't very good but it is better than nothing.
The way this thing finds coins in public areas finding enough clad to cover the cost of a better pinpointer fairly quickly is not out of the question.
In three seasons I found somewhere between $7-$800 in clad in public parks if not more and found it all effortlessly with the F2.

That kind of money can easily buy you a new pinpointer, a new DD coil which might work a bit better and deeper if your soil is hot and even a new upgraded unit...eventually.

 

[thekevin]

Did you ever buy a detector. I noticed that there are several "new" F2s in damaged boxes on eBay for $154 shipped right now with both coils and a pinpointer.


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