Best cheap detector?

[LuckyLarry]

I often wonder why it took so long for people to realize that the ace 150's and Ace 250's were inferior to the Fisher F-2's, some Bounty Hunters, AND even the Tesoro Compadre. Here are some recommendations that I found not surprising at all, and I pretty much agree with their findings: Of course now we have budget Teknetics that are even better - in most cases.

www.metaldetector.com/learn/buying-...al-detectors?gclid=CPLIns_Z6q4CFWgaQgod9CQDLw

LL

 

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[TerryC]

Technetics and Fisher.... are the same company. Hmmm... also checked your listed website. The 150 and the 250 are listed with your Compadre... further down the list but I saw nothing on the webpage declaring them inferior to the Compadre. Don't mess with my 250! TTC

 

[U.K. Brian]

There's often an inability to move on and realise that what might have been best at one time is now way down the list.

The Ace models did push the other manufacturers to come out with better models in the same price range or just reduce the price of a more expensive model in their range so that it competed on price with the Garretts but had better performance/build quality.

No in-ground test bed and you leave yourself open to parting with money that could be better spent.

 

[nsdq]

i like my 150 works darn good for me it may not be top of the line but it does the job from junk to gold

 

[LuckyLarry]

Well Terry in this case it's called deductive reasoning, the Compadre is about on par with the Aces, nothing more..

If otherwise, the author would have given them different ratings, and he didn't.

The owner of the site voiced his experience and opinions as to which ones were the best ones for children. In fact I've owned all of them save for the F-2, but I've matched it against the others and I can tell you that without question that the F2 is the winner over the Aces. The Compadre is sitting here right next to me, and it never has been quite up to par with the F-2.

It is me who views the Aces inferior, and others too, of course. Mainly it's because the Aces really suck in highly mineralized ground, and they make that dreadful BONG BONG sound while getting less depth than the F2 and the others - in higher than average magnetite soil. Additionally, they have troubles distinguishing between nickels and pulltabs, more severely than the BH models. It's not a bashing, it's just how it is. As Dave Johnson (and U.K. Brian said or implied) , technology moves onward and changes, and as Dave Johnson said "there are engineering changes as time goes along" or words to that effect. The aces are out of there now, having been replaced with better technology as soon as the F2 first came out.

HH all,

LL

 

[TerryC]

Tnx for the response, LL. I 've been detecting for awhile... owned 9 machines up till recently. I own 5 now. All are specialized machines... doing different jobs for me. The 250 was never meant for highly mineralized soil. It was put out there with an "average" gb circuit, for the average detectorist at a decent price. Well.... simply symantics. I own one now. I owned an F 4, which was the BEST bottle cap and dime finder in the world... but not much else. Anyway, to each his own. Thanks again, friend. TTC

 

[spartacus53]

Lucky, the best thing you can do is read up on a few that are in the price range you want spend. If you're looking for bells and whistles and they don't jump out for you, do the following. Most machines from what I have been reading pretty much work the same way in this category, so you can't lose.

Now.....

1- Either pull an 8x11" ad page, or write its name on a piece of paper
2- Shuffle papers like a crazy croupier
3- Place face down on the floor
4- Take a few paces away from the pile and flip a coin over your shoulder
5- Whatever it lands on, buy it
6- Then just have the patience to learn the machine.

No matter what you purchase, it will work for you once you learn the machine. Plain and simple

Now have a go at it, and let us know what you will get

 

[relichunters]

Tesoro Silver uMax and Bounty Hunter Quick Silver gets my vote.

 

[liftloop]

Technetics and Fisher.... are the same company. Hmmm... also checked your listed website. The 150 and the 250 are listed with your Compadre... further down the list but I saw nothing on the webpage declaring them inferior to the Compadre. Don't mess with my 250! TTC

......Your not serious about the ace 2 fiddy are you.

 

[liftloop]

White's all the way.


liftloop

 

[jerseyben]

I have owned an Ace 150 and an F2. I have used a Bounty Hunter (the beginner's model) and an Ace 250. I used an OLD White's Coinmaster as a kid but those are obsolete now so no comparison.

I will say the Ace 150 is a fun and easy to use machine with the Ace 250 being just slightly better overall. In fairness, I must say that with a bigger coil the Ace 250 can go surprisingly deep! The Bounty Hunter was no joy to use; beep and dig - too simple. However, the F2 is the winner in my opinion. Extremely lightweight, fast, and keeps up with the Aces as far as performance goes. VDI numbers really takes it to a new level. I just sold my F2 for $150 so you really cant beat it for price either.

My OPINION is: I would be perfectly happy using the Aces or the F2. I am sure the other beginner machines out there would be great as well. I just personally feel the F2 provides the best bang for your buck.

FYI: I am now using an Etrac with an AT Pro as a backup.

 

[spartacus53]

Just flip that coin already and get a check mark up there

I'm giving you the best non biased opinion you could ever buy

 

[G.A.P.metal]

Larry
I have found out that what you said is true.
I bought an ACE 250 and a Fisher F2 for the kids at my church,the first pick when the kids go into the closet where the detectors are kept is the F2 the kids even know witch detector is better.
I asked them Y they get a little deeped and better finds fits them better the kids know....but they love both machines. Great to see the kids detecting and compairing notes.
Gary G.A.p.metal

 

[LuckyLarry]

What the author didn't know though, is that the best detector for children that age is the "Explorer", from China. It gets 8" on a quarter and 7" on a dime in air, and it cherry picks MUCH better than an Ace or Compadre, or any of the BH's listed. It won't however outdo the F2 at anything except for locating old wheaties in and amongst trash. I still own mine and I gave my Ace 250 to my 35 year old daughter and it drove her crazy, so I bought her one of the Chinese-made one's - and she was absolutely pleased with it. The Ace had been sitting for months being used as a doorstop for a closet, She couldn't stand the noise it made either.

This is a clone of the Chinese one, and it only weighs 1.5 pounds:

compare.ebay.com/like/370593180674?var=vl&sort=BestMatch

LL

 

[GibH]

I just got an MD1023 yesterday to play with. I haven't had time to really do more than a few tests with it. I did not get 8" on a quarter air testing it. I got 7" on a quarter and 6" on a dime. I've read how to tune it to the coil and will see if it makes a difference. Discrimination works very well with no loss of depth like some other chinese detectors. I'll bet a 10 turn pot would be awesome with it. It actually weighs about 2.5lbs.

The main reason I bought it was because of what I have read on it's auto ground balance. It seems to handle the bad ground in Australia really well. I will take it over to the beach and try it on the wet sand this weekend sometime.

They seemed to have changed it a bit. It now has 3 knobs. Sensitivity, Disc, and power/volume. It looks like this now:

 

[TerryC]

Technetics and Fisher.... are the same company. Hmmm... also checked your listed website. The 150 and the 250 are listed with your Compadre... further down the list but I saw nothing on the webpage declaring them inferior to the Compadre. Don't mess with my 250! TTC

......Your not serious about the ace 2 fiddy are you.

Allow me, LL, to hyjack the thread for a moment... Yes, I am serious about the 250.... "in its place". Although I have more spendable income than most, I hold on to my MDs long. My Impulse 8 and GTA 500 are out of print... but I know them WELL. That means more and makes them "better" for me than newer machines. The rest, of course, is a toss up. As Spartacus says above, picking a machine in today's market is a matter of preference. Tnx. TTC

 

[Woodland Detectors]

 

[bazinga]

And people always argue with me when I tell them a Compadre is very often recommended for children... The diehards all seem to think it can compete with any machine out there.

 

[LuckyLarry]

The Compadre is lightweight, but it doesn't go any deeper than the cheap Chinese one for $88, and it's 6.5 Khz cycle finds silver and copper better too. If you consider a 50 pound 9 year old weighing in at 50 pounds(?), he or she would weigh almost 1/4th my weight. A 3 pound detector feels light to me, but if I weighed 50 lbs I would think a 3/4 pound detector would feel light, but not a 2.2 pound one like the Compadre.

Doing the math at roughly the equivalent of the 9 year old carrying something that weighed 4X what I am carrying (4 X 50 pounds; = 200 pounds)=12 pounds of metal detector. 12 pounds is one heavy detector, and at 1/2 that weight (1 1/5 pounds) it would seem like me carrying a detector that weighed 6 pounds. The Compadre weighs around 2.2 lbs, so that's 2.2/1.5=roughly 150% (y). 150% of 6 pounds=9 pounds!

Would I want to carry a 9 pound detector? Not on your life! But for a short time I'd carry one that weighed 6 pounds.

The Compadre to a 50 pound kid is like me carrying a 9 pound detector.

The cheap Chinese one to a 50 pound kid is like me carrying a 6 pound detector.

I'll pass on the first one, for sure. No wonder kids get tired of detecting fast!

Now if the kid weighs 100 pounds, the weight would seem like half the 6 pounder or half the 9 pound detector = 3 pounds, or 4.5 pounds respectively. This is just a rough scale, but close. So the 1.5 pound Chinese one is just about perfect for a 100 pound child, about like me carrying a 3 pound detector.

LL

 

[relichunters]

Don't support China