Metal detecting in California

[niv.dob]

Best metal detector to use in California

Hi guys,
I am about to buy my new metal detector!

After a lot of reading, I was sure I am going to buy EuroTek pro. However, I realized now that the area might be with high miniaturization content, since I live in the west coast (California, San Francisco).

Which detector will be the best option to buy to the california soil? maybe the new Fisher F44?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[Knut dirtfisk]

At pro

 

[RustyGold]

What's your budget? Welcome to TNet!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

niv.bob, you need to say what type hunting you'd be doing in SF area (or drive to reach). Eg.: Parks turf ? Beaches ? (dry? wet? both?), oldtown urban demolition tearouts? relicky ghost town type ? nuggets/prospecting ?

I'm not familiar with the two machines you propose. But the popular machine in your area that most are swinging (which effortlessly goes from beaches-wet-dry, to land/turf/relicky), is any of the various Explorer incarnations. You don't even need the latest CTX incarnation (unless you intend to go wading/scuba).

 

[niv.dob]

Thank you, Good point.

My budget is max 350$ for my first detector.
I intent to hunt parks and beaches (dry sand as a start).

The EuroTek pro that I thought to buy, but now I am worried about soil miniaturization:
Amazon.com : Teknetics EuroTek PRO with 11-Inch DD Coil : Hobbyist Metal Detectors : Patio, Lawn & Garden

The Fisher F44, which has manual ground balance:
Amazon.com : Fisher F44 Weatherproof All Purpose Metal Detector : Patio, Lawn & Garden

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Thank you, Good point.

My budget is max 350$ for my first detector.
I intent to hunt parks and beaches (dry sand as a start).
....

If you're going to be hunting SF parks, then target-ID starts to become an important issue. Eg.: you may elect to pass surface foil or zinc, in your quest for deeper older silver coins. A machine where "everything starts to sound the same" may be ok for relicky sites or beach. But will not be as useful where a little bit of .... uh .... selection/cherry picking comes into play.

I don't know how either of those 2 machines factors into that. Fishers tend to have broad category lumpings (which is fine if you don't need much target info). And I don't know about the eurotek. But for $350, I'm betting you could find a used Explorer XS or II or SE, or Etrac (etrac's weren't known for having sounds as sweet as the predecessors). Granted, for that price you wouldn't get an in-line probe included, but ...... you could get a handheld loose one for land hunting (don't need probe for beach).

JMHO, but, as I say, I'm not too familar with the 2 machines you list. They're not used much around here. Especially not for parks/beaches.

 

[RustyGold]

I own the Eurotek Pro and find it quite a capable detector. It has great target I.D. and is usually unaffected by ground mineralization!
From the manual:
All soils contain minerals. Signals from ground minerals can interfere with the signals from metal objects you want to find. All soils differ, and can differ greatly, in the type and amount of ground minerals present. The Eurotek Pro has a preset ground elimination setting. No user adjustments are required. Some good YouTube videos on it.
Best of luck on your decision.

 

[RustyGold]

BTW. Check out prices from Bart at bigboyshobbies.net
You won't pay retail

 

[niv.dob]

The question if I need a detector with manual ground balance, or an automated ground balance is enough.
I have read that the EuroTek pro was made to deal with low miniaturization ground like in Europe..