New to metal detecting

[SFBayArea]

Just curious, never metal detected before but after reading about the finds. I become interested. What are the best are the best detecters? Do they really pay for themselves with the items they find? Do they find gold and silver easily? How do they not get confused with the scrap stuff on the ground? It would great if someone can give me some advice.

 

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[N.J.THer]

There is no 'best' detector. It really depends on what type of detecting you want to do (land, water, coinshooting, relic hunting, etc) and the most important thing is your budget. As far as separating good targets from bad it is really a matter of training your ears to hear the difference and this comes over time with practice. If you keep at it the detector will pay for itself...it may even do that with one find if it is the right item. They will find gold and silver...I'm not sure I would say easily but if you swing the coil over it and hear the signal correctly you will find it. I usually find silver each time I go out...gold not so much but I do alot of land hunting. You want gold hit the beaches.

I hope this helps.

NJ

 

[celtex]

The best thing to do is find a local treasure club and go to meetings and see what they are about. Let some of them show you their detectors and maybe even try swinging some of them. You can get great hands on info from the members on machines and hunting sites. Welcome to a great pastime.

 

[pl8man]

Where are you in the Bay Area ? I'm in San Jose . You could check out the web site of the " Treasure Hunters Society , Santa Clara Valley ". Maybe we will meet in the field someday
Glen

 

[Rasputin]

They will eventually pay for themselves--but usually not quickly. A minimum wage job would pay for it faster, but the opportunity to find gold rings or coins doesn't exist with a part time job. It's the big payoff that keeps us going!

 

[CRUSADER]

They should call it 'Trash Digging', go in with this attitude & your do OK.

 

[IWillFindTheGold]

They should call it 'Trash Digging', go in with this attitude & your do OK.

Nice. As a fairly new MDer, I agree with this philosophy 100%.

Why, just last night I was telling myself exactly this: "Okay, even though I have found exactly 1 lonely dime and 3 pennies in the past hour, I am still enjoying myself. I must really like this hobby." [ Note that I had also picked up a lot of trash along with those humble coins. ]

Starting out in metal detecting with the notion that you will "make lots of money" is definitely not the best way to go. You will either like it or not. If you can accept - and strangely sometimes enjoy - digging up hundreds of pieces of trash and old pennies as well as the rare and glorious silver, gold and platinum items, you will thrive in the hobby. That's it in a nutshell: if the trash doesn't make you feel so bad and the "treasure" finds make you feel like a million bucks, the hobby is for you.

Final note: It is all relative. i.e. You will "easily" find silver and gold if you end up liking the hobby. That is for you to judge. Good luck.

 

[SFBayArea]

Where are you in the Bay Area ? I'm in San Jose . You could check out the web site of the " Treasure Hunters Society , Santa Clara Valley ". Maybe we will meet in the field someday
Glen

I'm in Santa Clara County too.. I usually do CRH but that gets stale after a while but enjoy it when I do get something. I understand that one can't expect something everytime out but that's the addiction of it.

 

[IWillFindTheGold]

Where are you in the Bay Area ? I'm in San Jose . You could check out the web site of the " Treasure Hunters Society , Santa Clara Valley ". Maybe we will meet in the field someday
Glen

I'm in Santa Clara County too.. I usually do CRH but that gets stale after a while but enjoy it when I do get something. I understand that one can't expect something everytime out but that's the addiction of it.

I do CRH, too. Up here in Canada we are not blessed with the great silver you Americans find while doing CRH (in your halves etc.) but I like to search through boxes of nickels for 99.9% Ni. It is great fun and quite profitable.

Good luck to you!

 

[desert dog]

WELCOME TO TNET

 

[lennon631]

WELCOME TO TNET

I was going to welcome you to TNET as well, but you already have over 200 posts so I assume you've been kicking around the other topics for awhile. HOWever, welcome to MDing, it's a blast, but don't quit your day job! Bought my machine at the end of May for over $600, and to date if you wanted to total clad and goodies, I'm about half way paid for. This, of course, is speaking in a monetary term, but as far as ENJOYMENT of the hobby and daydreams of historical "where did this come from and who lost it"? It's paid for itself ten fold. Just have fun......GOOD LUCK! Paul

 

[BuckleBoy]

If the trash doesn't make you feel so bad and the "treasure" finds make you feel like a million bucks, the hobby is for you.

Well said. I couldn't think of a more true description in twice as many words.


Cheers,



Buck

 

[Skelly607]

Do research and more research. Also have the mind set of where would coins and old coins be? I wonder how many other memebers when watching a movie or looking at a picture say to themselves,,,,,"that looks like a good place to Md".

 

[BuckleBoy]

Do research and more research. Also have the mind set of where would coins and old coins be? I wonder how many other memebers when watching a movie or looking at a picture say to themselves,,,,,"that looks like a good place to Md".

I agree with the heavy research. For my own detecting, mental images have held me up some--since they've spilled into "this looks like a place where the finds won't be." Really, I think it's ok to have an idea of where one might find things--but be careful not to exclude places or write them off without hunting them. I have found the most amazing things in the most unlikely of places before.


-Buck

 

[SFBayArea]

I just ordered a White's MXT a few days ago.. It should come in next week. I'm excited. I ordered that one since it seems easy to use and read it's good for gold. Hope that it's true.

Yeah, I figure I wasn't gonna make tons of money off it or get rich from it but I would like to find some cool old coins. I posted a lot before mostly on the CRH side. However in 10 years of CRH, I've only gotten one Barber.. it seems like metal detectors can often find oldies like that. I would like to get a seated or bust coin.. that would be great.

I figure too if I became homeless and lived in my car.. I can just use the machine to find some loose change to get a meal at McDonald's. LOL
Back up plan in case the worst happens..

 

[Skelly607]

Do research and more research. Also have the mind set of where would coins and old coins be? I wonder how many other members when watching a movie or looking at a picture say to themselves,,,,,"that looks like a good place to Md".

I agree with the heavy research. For my own detecting, mental images have held me up some--since they've spilled into "this looks like a place where the finds won't be." Really, I think it's ok to have an idea of where one might find things--but be careful not to exclude places or write them off without hunting them. I have found the most amazing things in the most unlikely of places before.


-Buck

True. Another thing I left out is if other people in your city is MDing,,,,,think of not the common places to go. Find other places that people haven't Mded before. I have a park in my city from the 1800's but its in the hood. I would hit that at 6AM or earlier.

 

[N.J.THer]

I also do alot of urban park hunting...I usually hit it at lunch time in a shirt and tie so the locals think I'm a detective doing an investigation...I never had a problem (knock on wood). By the way my avatar was found in an urban park.

I love finding old pictures of the parks to see where people were active but also to see how the layout of the park has changed. One park I found a picture of a bridge over a stream but the bridge was no longer there and the other side of the stream was a parking lot. In the grass around the edge of the parking lot I found lots of silver including a nice Walking Liberty Half. Since the parking lot was to a newer commerical building I would not have looked there without seeing the picture first.

Some research can be as simple as looking at old newspapers or visiting the local historical society. It does not have to be pouring over volumes of old books for hours, days, weeks but that works too.

 

[goldinmyear]

How many times in your life have you thrown a coin in a wishing well ?
,and how many times have you walked in the middle of a bridge ,and tossed a coin over?
I hate to give away my secrets....Theres a creek here in so. oregon called bear creek ..go's right through town
,I went to the muesum ,I saw that all the old bridges had been replaced ,and removed..Most were re-directed
I thought tomy self.. "wow" It could'nt be that easy... 18 silver dollars, 11 Barbers, 41 Tokens, Loads of garbage,and a mounds of keys...not to mention, after that weekend ,I was exhausted. That was just 2 weeks ago. Good luck my friend!!

 

[Happy Harry]

Hello SF Bay Area,

Welcome to the tash diggers of America! Just remember that one mans trash is anothers treasure. Then there are the incidental treasures, coins, rings bracelets, tokens, badges, and just plain fun. I am in San Mateo County. I hunt locally and belong to treasure hunters of santa clara valley there is also another club in San Bruno "Bay area searchers" Investagate the local history it is very rich and lots of places will just jump out at you to hunt. There are tons of local md'ers around here. Many of them use the MXT. I use the Ace250. can contact me thru this site if you wish. HHHH

 

[NHBandit]

Do it because you like being outdoors & enjoy knowing the history of old things and you'll be fine. 99% of us will never get rich doing it and alot won't even break even if money is a concern. One of my other hobbies is collecting coins and I really can't even equate that with my reasons for metal detecting. Most of the coins we find are too badly damaged to have much collector value and from a strictly financial point of view you would be way ahead to work a couple hours overtime at your "real" job and go buy the coins you want in a shop. If you get excited by finding a well worn common date Mercury dime (worth about $1.25) after spending 2 hours searching then you'll love this hobby.