Another newbie here, Need advice ..please

[aldta]

Hello all,

I have been wanting a metal detector for years... and after speaking with a novice (who found a diamond ring within his first week)
I have decided to purchase one.
First I am in lower NY (near the city)
At this time I am interested in finding coins & jewelry mostly in parks (a beach every so often)
My budget is about $300

I came across the garrett ace 350 and bounty hunter platinum

but I am open to any suggestions

I hope I helped you help me by being as descriptive as i could

Thanks in advance

 

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[aldta]

I am very pleased with my Ace 350. For the money, it can't be beat. Definately not the best, but it is a great value and so far has worked flawlessly. Get a pinpointer as soon as you can afford it.. Worth every penny!

That's great to hear, I did buy the 350 with Garrett pro pointer (for under $400)- it should be here tomorrow, so I'm excited

 

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[kayden]

If any body paid 200 bucks for a ProPointer they got ripped! They retail for 149.95 and most dealers including myself offer them for around 120.00 to 130.00 dollars. Including free shipping. Just saying. But I agree with kayden the harbor freight ones are total garbage. Spend the money on a ProPointer, don't use it on your first time out then on your next hunt use it and you'll quickly realize its your new best friend. You probably won't be able to find one of these used because 99.9% of people who buy them would cut off one of their fingers before they'd part with their ProPointer.

This nuff said!

 

[BOOTY SEEKERS IA]

I have a 250 and love it. Have found as old as a 1864 2cent pc., lots of coins and lots of trash. My view on the pinpointer is get one, it saves sooooooo much time.

 

[aldta]

Tesoro silver umax! ;-)

already have the 350 but Thanks!
Starting new thread but DEFINITELY understand why a pro pointer is handy!

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

aldta,

I know your new and it can be overwhelming... First know saltwater has minerals in it, unless you have a detector built to handle it then wet salt sand and saltwater will drive a detector nuts, it basically thinks there is metal everywhere due to the minerals in the salt.....Your not going to get a detector you can use in the wet salt sand or salt water for $300.....

The ACE 250 and 350 are good starter machines, some find they want to upgrade quickly after buying one and others never upgrade, it is a personal choice.....DON"T make the mistake of thinking I'm going to buy a detector and start finding gold jewelry, there is a learning curve, some may find a gold ring the first week, some never find one...While detecting is fun for most of us, and highly addictive for some of us, it is still a hobby with a learning curve. It is like thinking I'm going to buy some golf clubs and then discovering you suck at golf, it takes time to learn. There is beginners luck true, but that is usually rare...............

Understand $300 is on the low end of detectors, if you practice, practice and practice some more, get to know your detector you will likely find some nice things, just don't think whats wrong with my detector after a few weeks or couple months because your not finding any gold....

 

[Buford420]

Just wanted to put in my 2 cents, as i still consider myself a newbie and I was in your exact situation mere months ago. I ended up going with the ace 250. The first week, I found a 1 ounce silver mens ring, 2 silver coins, at least 15 wheats and a smaller silver ring. This was just in my backyard. It was great practice and the ace 250 is a great learning machine. The problem is when you move out of your backyard and find that all the parks, schools and churches are filled with trash and have been hunted by real pro hunters. It took 2 months for me to find my next silver coin, (1918 standing liberty quarter). Ive started to learn that if you want silver coins, you have to hit those deep, iffy signals. Once you have put in some time with whatever detector you choose, you will realize the same. That first week with my 250 seriously hooked me and i have put in hundreds of hours just in the past few months and upgraded to the At PRO. I guess what i really want to say is, I started with the 250 and had great success, but beware cuz with great success, comes great addiction. lol

 

[aldta]

The Ace 350 is a seasoned metal detector having evolved from the ACE 150 which operates at 6.25 Khz with 3 modes (All Metal, Jewelry, Coins): , to the ACE 250 which runs at 6.5Khz with 6 modes: (All Metal, Custom, Jewelry, Coins, Relic, and Pin Point).
I would recommend the ACE 350 as it should be more sensitive to small objects since it operates at a higher frequency, 8.25 khz vs 6.5 khz for the ACE 250. Also, the 6.5" X 11'' open elliptical DD coil would work better in mineralized soils than the concentric coil on the ACE 250. It would work well on land and dry sand at the beach plus you would be able to search more area on each outing.
In comparison, the AT Pro is a revolutionary new design, and is not seasoned. As with any new machine with new capabilities, it take years to identify problems and satisfactorily resolve them

I will say that the 350 picks up VERY small items
(small as an earring)
I do feel that maybe I should upgrade…but not sure…

aldta,

I know your new and it can be overwhelming... First know saltwater has minerals in it, unless you have a detector built to handle it then wet salt sand and saltwater will drive a detector nuts, it basically thinks there is metal everywhere due to the minerals in the salt.....Your not going to get a detector you can use in the wet salt sand or salt water for $300.....

The ACE 250 and 350 are good starter machines, some find they want to upgrade quickly after buying one and others never upgrade, it is a personal choice.....DON"T make the mistake of thinking I'm going to buy a detector and start finding gold jewelry, there is a learning curve, some may find a gold ring the first week, some never find one...While detecting is fun for most of us, and highly addictive for some of us, it is still a hobby with a learning curve. It is like thinking I'm going to buy some golf clubs and then discovering you suck at golf, it takes time to learn. There is beginners luck true, but that is usually rare...............

Understand $300 is on the low end of detectors, if you practice, practice and practice some more, get to know your detector you will likely find some nice things, just don't think whats wrong with my detector after a few weeks or couple months because your not finding any gold....

Thank you I can tell you are very in tune with even newcomers
-- Yes I noticed this weekend that my machine doesn't do well in wet sand…and am very disappointed because I don't want to feel limited when I'm searching
I did, at first think that not that I would necessarily find gold right away (i mean it actually has to be where I'm looking) but more so that the detector would do the work in letting me know it was gold - so if i walked for hours and scored land ..I would hear a special tone…. :-/
I do enjoy it though - and it is addicting for sure-
And funny you say that because I am already starting to feel that maybe I should upgrade… maybe I jumped too soon…. one reason being not being able to search wet sand…

:-(

Just wanted to put in my 2 cents, as i still consider myself a newbie and I was in your exact situation mere months ago. I ended up going with the ace 250. The first week, I found a 1 ounce silver mens ring, 2 silver coins, at least 15 wheats and a smaller silver ring. This was just in my backyard. It was great practice and the ace 250 is a great learning machine. The problem is when you move out of your backyard and find that all the parks, schools and churches are filled with trash and have been hunted by real pro hunters. It took 2 months for me to find my next silver coin, (1918 standing liberty quarter). Ive started to learn that if you want silver coins, you have to hit those deep, iffy signals. Once you have put in some time with whatever detector you choose, you will realize the same. That first week with my 250 seriously hooked me and i have put in hundreds of hours just in the past few months and upgraded to the At PRO. I guess what i really want to say is, I started with the 250 and had great success, but beware cuz with great success, comes great addiction. lol

Great addiction is right, friend….and I haven't even had luck yet lol

 

[luckyolson13]

Is there any Canadians on this site?

 

[aldta]

Is there any Canadians on this site?

SO random! lol

 

[luckyolson13]

Just seeing if there was more localized advice and knowledge on the hobby

 

[aldta]

No worries - good luck

 

[bigtruck68]

i only have used two brands of detector whites and tesoro, i prefer the tesoro over the whites for two reasons, !. they are much lighter and @ they are real easy to learn and use. i use a silver umax and a deleon both are excelant machines. i have a whites 3900 and 4900 that are very capable machines if you want to fiddle with the setting all the time. in my opion the tesoro,s dollar for dollar are the best machines out there today.my $500 deleon will run side by side with any $1000 machine out there.

 

[steveouke]

Wet sand can be an issue. You should be able to back your sensitivity down some and still get good depth.