Might have been the BLING Casper.......
. Takes years to acquire those kind of finds....... its not that easy. IMO used is the way to go....... not many salt water machines out there that wont need repairs..... so plan for it. Depending on how much you are out there....... most will never have problems until after the warranty is gone. You should do fine with your choice...... lot has to do what you start out on and LEARN.
There are a lot of guys using Excals and other machines that do as well as me if not better - Ive been detecting since 1975
I know to learn your machine(s) - and believe if I used any machine - Id find a way to do well with it
good example - I use an old Whites XLT - a lot of relic hunters that use high priced land machines make fun of me but I still go to hunted out farm fields and pull nice finds they miss
keep saying I should up grade but if I'm still doing ok with it - why change
well a few yrs back - I tried to get into a large team relic hunt - the whites team was full - my only chance to go was to join the garrett team - was lucky and found a new used garrett on ebay
I got it -read directions and went out in the field with it to to get some practice - I was finding colonial coins and relics at spots that were hammered by a lot of other hunters with all kinds of machines - at one spot I pulled 3 KG coppers - my partner was shocked - I was too - I hit like 3-4 different spots and got old coins at each of them
thing is I hate that machine - I found it quirky - I used it on the hunt and did ok with it --but ive not used it since - its a back up
and will loan it out - I keep wondering if I took it out again if it would still perform - i'll have to try again sometime
but hopefully I made my point ---I use to use this pic to make my point when people would ask "which machine is better"
(think this was in 2006)
I had picked up a used cz20 on line as a back up - but had not really used it much
I started the day with my pi pro and was doing ok - I got hit by a small wave - lost my balance
and stuck my arm out and snapped my lower rod - took a break and change machines - headed back out
for the most part - I think they did equally as good or I did
Ive hunted with guys with Excals where we both did equally good in the same area - you will never see me say that my machine is better than anyone else's
cause I know its not all about the machine
