Best Tip I've heard in 49 years of metal detecting.

[Texas Jay]

Probably the best metal detecting tip I've heard in my 49 years of hunting came from the late Charles Garrett when he said that you need to put 100 hours on your detector before you can really understand its capabilities. Truer words have never been spoken. Too many people, who are just starting out in this amazing hobby, allow others to talk trash about their "beginner detectors" and take their unwise advise to move up to a "deeper, better, or more expensive" metal detector before they've used the one they have for even 10 hours or less. I bought a Garrett Ace 250 several years ago but only this year decided to give it a real workout and learn what it could do. So I've let my more expensive detectors collect dust for the past few months and have used the 250 exclusively. Yesterday, I logged my 105th hour on that little detector and it has performed amazingly well. I regularly hunt with guys who use detectors that cost at least 3 times and as much as 10 times the cost of my Ace 250 and I usually come out with the best finds of the day. Let the other guys sit around at the coffee shop, bragging about their expensive detectors, while you get out in the field with yours and make some truly remarkable discoveries. Above all, have fun!
~Texas Jay

Central Texas Treasure Club

 

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[Indiana-FH]

I think the point being the more time you invest in YOUR metal detector the better you will get. I started years ago with a Bounty Hunter 505. I used that thing for years it paid for itself time and again. The 1st time I went out with it, I was as lost as last years Easter egg. I have used White’s, MXT, Minelab ETrac... I just purchased a Garrett AT Max.. because it will work for my needs I am now inside the learning curve I understand that and will work with it..till I know what it is telling me when the signal goes off...

 

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[TerryC]

Some here, like Against The Wind, are missing the point of Texas Jay's post. ATW, I read your posts and KNOW you "been Dare done dat" but what he is saying is the people that give up on a machine because they found very little in the first 25 hours or so are not cutting it. They have an operator problem not an operation problem. I also have been detecting since '70. Those were the BFO days. I have owned dozens of machines and STILL praise my two 250's highly! I have put several hundred hours on them.... making the point, knowing the machine finds more than a machine not operated correctly regardless the price. Sorry for stepping on your toes, Windy, but TJ has a most valid point. ╦╦Ç

 

[Normsel]

I started out with an ACE 250 and followed the advice of Charles Garrett right away. By the time I had 100 hours on it I found enough clad and rings to pay for it. In three months time I had found enough to upgrade to an AT Pro. I used the AT Pro for two years everyday and found enough to upgrade to a Whites V3i and then to a Minelab Etrac and now I have two Minelab Equinox. An Equinox 800 and an Equinox 600.

I have not disliked any of the detectors I have owned but it has been the challenge of learning the new detectors that I enjoy. I have noticed with each detector I have bought until I had at least 30 hours on them I was sorry I bought them but at around 30 hours things began to click and by the time I had 100 hours I felt I understood them and finding most of what was there to find. I will admit I two of the detectors even though I did well with them I never fell in love with them like I did with the AT Pro and the Equinox.

About 5 yrs ago I seen where a guy had 5 metal detectors for sale but they were from the around 1995. I doubted they were worth what he was asking for them. He said to me I can find anything you can with my detectors. Being somewhat arrogant I said I doubt it. He said I know what every whisper from my detectors means and that's because I know my detectors. He said you probably rely on both VDI and sound and even then not sure. He said you probably dig 10 false targets to my one because you rely on what you see with the detector VDI and not what the detector is telling you. I thought about what the man said and put tape over the screen on my detector and in about 30 hours I knew nearly every target I was digging and surprisingly even had tabs and bottle caps pretty well figured out by their slight difference in tone.

An expensive detector has many more bells and whistles to give you information and stronger signals but will not find more if you know your less expensive detector.

I don't always go with what I know works because I am always trying to find that extra little bit out of the detector and it rarely works. I have about 250 hours on my Equinox and at 73 years old I hate dropping to my knees for a tab or bottle cap but I still do. However using 50 tones I dig fewer and fewer because I know what the detector is telling me and the all metal button helps a lot.

Back in 2005 I bought my grandson a $15 detector at a Farm & Home store. He was 6 at the time and all the detector did was beep. It had no adjustments on it at all. They live on 50 acres and my son lost the key to his tractor and decided to use it to find his key. He not only found his key but dug $3 in silver coins and $2 more in clad. He dug every beep but he found the key and coins. They didn't use it much after that until I gave my grandson my Ace 250 and he has found almost $400 using it over the past 5 yrs and he hunts maybe 50 - 100 hours a year. He uses it at a city park after festivals and carnivals and at the high school at the end of football season.

It's not the detector it's how well you know it. Like Truth said you really look cool with an expensive detector.

 

[TerryC]

I started out with an ACE 250 and followed the advice of Charles Garrett right away. By the time I had 100 hours on it I found enough clad and rings to pay for it. In three months time I had found enough to upgrade to an AT Pro. I used the AT Pro for two years everyday and found enough to upgrade to a Whites V3i and then to a Minelab Etrac and now I have two Minelab Equinox. An Equinox 800 and an Equinox 600.

I have not disliked any of the detectors I have owned but it has been the challenge of learning the new detectors that I enjoy. I have noticed with each detector I have bought until I had at least 30 hours on them I was sorry I bought them but at around 30 hours things began to click and by the time I had 100 hours I felt I understood them and finding most of what was there to find. I will admit I two of the detectors even though I did well with them I never fell in love with them like I did with the AT Pro and the Equinox.

About 5 yrs ago I seen where a guy had 5 metal detectors for sale but they were from the around 1995. I doubted they were worth what he was asking for them. He said to me I can find anything you can with my detectors. Being somewhat arrogant I said I doubt it. He said I know what every whisper from my detectors means and that's because I know my detectors. He said you probably rely on both VDI and sound and even then not sure. He said you probably dig 10 false targets to my one because you rely on what you see with the detector VDI and not what the detector is telling you. I thought about what the man said and put tape over the screen on my detector and in about 30 hours I knew nearly every target I was digging and surprisingly even had tabs and bottle caps pretty well figured out by their slight difference in tone.

An expensive detector has many more bells and whistles to give you information and stronger signals but will not find more if you know your less expensive detector.

I don't always go with what I know works because I am always trying to find that extra little bit out of the detector and it rarely works. I have about 250 hours on my Equinox and at 73 years old I hate dropping to my knees for a tab or bottle cap but I still do. However using 50 tones I dig fewer and fewer because I know what the detector is telling me and the all metal button helps a lot.

Back in 2005 I bought my grandson a $15 detector at a Farm & Home store. He was 6 at the time and all the detector did was beep. It had no adjustments on it at all. They live on 50 acres and my son lost the key to his tractor and decided to use it to find his key. He not only found his key but dug $3 in silver coins and $2 more in clad. He dug every beep but he found the key and coins. They didn't use it much after that until I gave my grandson my Ace 250 and he has found almost $400 using it over the past 5 yrs and he hunts maybe 50 - 100 hours a year. He uses it at a city park after festivals and carnivals and at the high school at the end of football season.

It's not the detector it's how well you know it. Like Truth said you really look cool with an expensive detector.

Norm, truer words were never said. God give me the strength to hunt 'til I'M 73! ╦╦Ç

 

[Mvgirl]

This is my first year of detecting. I'm using an $80 Bounty Hunter Jr. so don't let anyone say your cheap machine is not gonna find stuff!!! All of this is silver, I've found all this since June. I want to buy a Garrett Ace 400 or 350 so if you have one that you want to sell let me know. I probably won't buy one till next year but still let me know if you want to sell.

 

[bravobob]

Ever so true. I've been using a $20 Craigslist bought Bounty Hunter TK4 for 18 months. Beep and dig. I get out about 10/12 hours a week. When i first started , i ran around in full discrimination , i got to where i could actually tell the difference between a dime and quarter. Now in tone mode , Iron,Tabs,zincs,nickes,dimes,quarters, no problem 95% of the time.

Top two rows , last three months of 2017.
The rest 2018 so far. Bottom row this years gold .

 

[A2coins]

I think the 800 has a big learning curve and that's under stating things. I've hunted with a Tesoro Tiger Shark for years and have had the 800 for 3-4 months now and I am still trying to get my head wrapped around it sometimes. On the beach, it's pretty simple to operate, but when I get around an old home site that has a lot of junk in the ground I am having trouble working through the yards. The detector is really sensitive and the ID jumps around too much for me to get a good idea of what's down there at times. I always had a really good idea whether it was going to be a coin or junk when I dug with the Tesoro, so I am thinking that I may be better off using that on the two old home sites that I am working for now until I have more time to spend figuring the Minelab out on places that aren't so trashy. With the Minelab, you need that 100 hrs per mode IMO.

I have the equinox and AT MAX the max signals are clear seoeraton much better easier to use hands down better machine

 

[Iffy Signals]

Times have changed. When Garrett made that statement Detectors ran on Steam

 

[Rookster]

I like that. Thanks.

 

[Hillbilly Prince]

Whether it is guns, cameras, bows, or detectors there are people who think they can buy talent and skill, and companies are somewhat aware of this

 

[xr7ator]

Very well said, HP.

 

[smokeythecat]

"Steam". I like it. And companies NEVER stretch the truth about their detectors. Never. No Company. Ever.

 

[Truth]

I have the equinox and AT MAX the max signals are clear seoeraton much better easier to use hands down better machine

See I liked my ATP better than my Max

 

[gunsil]

Metal detecting is maybe 10% gear and 90% luck. Guy with a cheap machine has good luck one day and finds more and better stuff than guy on the same field the same day with a top end machine. Next day the opposite is true. I have hunted hundreds of hours with the same friends when we all had the same machines, and always one or the other will find more and/or better stuff on any given day. LUCK. I have seen this many times. No matter what machine one uses one still has to pass the coil over a good target. Most coins and jewelry in parks and yards will only be in the top 6" if the ground has never been landscaped or silted over by flooding. I think the hype for great depth is overrated unless one hunts landscaped or silted over areas, deep woods spots will have deeper items due to larger build up from fallen sticks and leaves than parks and lawns. Folks who use a lot of discrimination pass over a lot of goodies, no doubt about it. As I say over and over again, the only true target ID is when it is in your hand, and "he who digs the most holes finds the most goodies".

 

[Texas Jay]

Metal detecting is maybe 10% gear and 90% luck. Guy with a cheap machine has good luck one day and finds more and better stuff than guy on the same field the same day with a top end machine. Next day the opposite is true. I have hunted hundreds of hours with the same friends when we all had the same machines, and always one or the other will find more and/or better stuff on any given day. LUCK. I have seen this many times. No matter what machine one uses one still has to pass the coil over a good target. Most coins and jewelry in parks and yards will only be in the top 6" if the ground has never been landscaped or silted over by flooding. I think the hype for great depth is overrated unless one hunts landscaped or silted over areas, deep woods spots will have deeper items due to larger build up from fallen sticks and leaves than parks and lawns. Folks who use a lot of discrimination pass over a lot of goodies, no doubt about it. As I say over and over again, the only true target ID is when it is in your hand, and "he who digs the most holes finds the most goodies".

The secret to improving your chances of finding better targets repeatedly is not luck. It's research and knowing your detector. I've never known a successful detectorist who relied on luck and never researched his sites before hunting them.
~Texas Jay

 

[Irishgoldhound]

I think the best tip I’ve ever heard and has gotten me more gold and jewelry than ever b4, is from the best treasure hunter around...Mr. Gary Drayton. “Nobody ever gets it all..The gold is there you just have to slow down and be methodical on your hunts” after reading and watching his videos I’m able to find more goodies on each hunt.

 

[TORRERO]

My best gold coin was with a $329 beep and go. You never know.

BEST ?? How many have you dug ??

 

[Tpmetal]

I invite you to come down to central Texas and see how you can fare against my Ace 250 and me.
~Texas Jay

I bet you anything I could bring my mxsport and slay that 250 ten ways from sunday. My first machine was a bounty hunter time ranger I used for 2 years, hundreds of hours. Then upgraded to the mxsport which blows it out of the water, got easily over 1000 hours on the sport. now I'm learning the equinox. The finds difference from the mxsport compared to the cheap bounty hunter was incredible, at least 5 times more good targets being dug. If you learn your machine you will do better obviously, but theres no substituting the change in depth and seperation that my newer detectors get. Ask 3cylbill about how his tesoro stacked up against the mxsport on deep silver and indians at our spot. There were so many signals his detector couldn't even see, even when I pointed them out and let him test and play with his settings. So on a site with targets only around 6 to 8 inches max, sure I bet your 250 would mostly keep up, but come to some of my sites with heavy trash, mineralization, or deep targets and I guarantee you will see a complete lack of performance. I suspect your friends just don't know their machines well enough, or are digging far less target types than you, or possibly you tend to swing the better areas due to intuition and reading the site well.

 

[Texas Jay]

I bet you anything I could bring my mxsport and slay that 250 ten ways from sunday. My first machine was a bounty hunter time ranger I used for 2 years, hundreds of hours. Then upgraded to the mxsport which blows it out of the water, got easily over 1000 hours on the sport. now I'm learning the equinox. The finds difference from the mxsport compared to the cheap bounty hunter was incredible, at least 5 times more good targets being dug. If you learn your machine you will do better obviously, but theres no substituting the change in depth and seperation that my newer detectors get. Ask 3cylbill about how his tesoro stacked up against the mxsport on deep silver and indians at our spot. There were so many signals his detector couldn't even see, even when I pointed them out and let him test and play with his settings. So on a site with targets only around 6 to 8 inches max, sure I bet your 250 would mostly keep up, but come to some of my sites with heavy trash, mineralization, or deep targets and I guarantee you will see a complete lack of performance. I suspect your friends just don't know their machines well enough, or are digging far less target types than you, or possibly you tend to swing the better areas due to intuition and reading the site well.

There's only one way to find out. Get out your road atlas and set your car in the direction of Brownwood, Texas and give me a call when you're on your way. I'm in the phone book. Most of the sites I hunt have heavy trash and deep targets but very little mineralization issues. I was hunting with another CTTC member last Monday, who also uses and Ace 250 and is very experienced with it, and he found the oldest coin, ever found with a metal detector, in this county (which didn't have a settler in it until the late 1850s) - an 1805 Draped Bust quarter in Poor condition as it is nearly slick. It was about 9.5" deep.
~Texas Jay

 

[RichieRich]

I tell folks at least 100 coins on a new machine