New to the Forum/Have Questions

[nc-joe]

What are some quality metal detectors - White's, Minelab, Garrett, Fisher, Tesoro, to name a few
Are any made in America? - White's Garrett and some Fisher (not sure about Tesoro)
Price:
What should I expect to pay? As much as you can afford. $300-1100
Used equipment? I have bought and sold several used detectors. No problems buying used. For new detectors, check with your local dealer and Kellco is a great outfit, great people and great service. Call for the best deal.
Are they 'factory repairable' only? For the most part, Yes. Don't try to get too involved in fixing on yourself
Do manufacturers sell parts/service information? Yes, most will sell parts, but it's usually best to have them service the detectors
Accessories?Very Important, be sure to buy a detector that offers different coil options for future expansion.
What do you consider essential to take along on the hunt? A QUALITY digging tool (both shovel and handheld) a pinpointer. a finds/trash pouch, spare batteries, a drop cloth, a magnifying loupe, gloves, knee pads, quality headphones and electrical tape.

Good luck, welcome to the forum and happy hunting!

 

[panelman]

Johnnysan,
Boy have you come to the right place if you want to get into metal detecting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am relatively new to Tnet but have been metal detecting for at least 20 years. I started out when my oldest son was little and he is now 28 years old, if you have kids they will love going with you. I truly believe all subjects have been covered at least once and someone is still going to answer your questions and / or direct you to the right spot to find out. The people here are intelligent and respectful as long as you do the same. Read through the past posts, the info is extensive. HATS OFF TO TREASURE NET MEMBERS.
Happy New Year
Panelman

 

[Lowbatts]

I'm a newb, too, and would like to add my questions to these. Don't mean to hijack the post, but figured we're all in the same place for newb questions, so why not ask?

Olepossum said: a garrett pro pointer pin pointer would be a good investment.

Is this something everyone needs, or if I'm running a machine with pinpointing feature, is that all I need?

Thanks for any advice.

Wildheart

Practice pinpointing in the air, see where a flat coin hits the high spot in PP mode on your machine making note of where under your coil it rests. Then make sure you repeat the exercise with coins at varying angles as well. Right on up to coins on edge. So seldom use a pinpointer but when I do, it's a cheap little Mr. Wizard that cost $20. Works well when I'm trying to pick out co-located targets or targets in close proximity to one another. Especially if I'm trying to separate small iron out.

 

[Johnnysan]

Thanks guys. Lots of useful information here.
I was planning on ordering a pinpointer from Kellyco; they offer one for about a $100 off with purchase of a MD (<<<<notice the 'novice gaining experience' abreviation?).
A loupe is a very good idea; my eyes are 53 years old (this is very strange, since I feel like I'm 23). And a bag for trash. I figure my shirt pocket will do for 'treasure' until I gain a little proficiency in this hobby.
So--a question: a metal detector made for coins/nuggets/relics will not hit on meteorites? This means they are set to ignore iron (?) like nails and '61 Chevys ? Also, they can detect aluminum and determine size, so they 'know' a pop top when they see it?
I'll check Kellyco for tools and goodies. Sounds like a good company to deal with.

 

[Eu_citzen]

a metal detector made for coins/nuggets/relics will not hit on meteorites?

Sure it can, but there is no 100% perfect all round machine which can do it all very well. (aka find deep coins and small nuggets etc)

So it CAN find it when the conditions allow, it might help if you have a manual ground balance then it will not automatically ignore any "hot rocks" which the detector could think a meteorite is.

Though I really never have hunted for meteorites I base this on logic thinking, you might try and really locate some one who does this for way more reliable info.

This means they are set to ignore iron (?) like nails and '61 Chevys ?

What you are describing is discrimination which most detectors have today in some form or another, it allows you to tell the difference between i.e. Aluminium and silver. Though big iron does often fool the detector and so you will think it is a good target.
Small iron is generally no problem except nails where the "nail head" might look like a good target to the detector.

Then we have another form of discrimination which we call ground balance, we need it to ignore the ground since it also can contain minerals that are conductive (i.e. small iron particles)
After all we want signals from genuine targets (i.e. coins) not minerals in the ground.

Also, they can detect aluminum and determine size, so they 'know' a pop top when they see it?

Yes they can detect aluminium and with help of a pinpoint function size can be estimated though rarely to 100% accuracy.
So I have to say no.

There are some Garretts that have a "sizing" feature though it will not really help to discriminate out pull tabs and yet dig rings.

Discrimination is based on what is known as conductivity; silver is high conductive and it will give a high reading but nickel being low conductive will give a low reading.


I hope this helps,
Eu

 

[littletwig]

I would really recommend that you look real close at Whites M6. Super powerful with a short learning curve. To me it's the best detector for the money made. Welcome to the forum.

 

[Kellyco]

Thanks guys. Lots of useful information here.
I was planning on ordering a pinpointer from Kellyco; they offer one for about a $100 off with purchase of a MD (<<<<notice the 'novice gaining experience' abreviation?).
A loupe is a very good idea; my eyes are 53 years old (this is very strange, since I feel like I'm 23). And a bag for trash. I figure my shirt pocket will do for 'treasure' until I gain a little proficiency in this hobby.
So--a question: a metal detector made for coins/nuggets/relics will not hit on meteorites? This means they are set to ignore iron (?) like nails and '61 Chevys ? Also, they can detect aluminum and determine size, so they 'know' a pop top when they see it?
I'll check Kellyco for tools and goodies. Sounds like a good company to deal with.

Hey there! Lemme know if I can help at all... I'm not in sales but I do work on our websites so that gives me tons of insight to our products, specials, upcoming sales, etc. So let me know if there's anything I can do!! And good luck! I think you'll like the Classic 5, and the price is good too. - KC

 

[shiloh_f2hunter]

Have you figured out the profile thing? If not I can tell you......go to profile,look to the left then click the second one it should be in a bluish highlight.Then you should be able to do the rest.

 

[Red_desert]

Aluminum is one of those metals which is size conductive...pulltabs are in the medium-large gold ring range...aluminum cans in the top silver range. I learned a neat trick at freshwater beaches. I started looking for spots containing a few pulltabs close together. Digging them all up eaach time. After the 3rd location, maybe 4th digging...out popped some heavy gold with diamond jewelry.

A lot of old style pulltabs is a sign the place you are detecting is not really hunted out yet and could be hiding gold.

 

[nc-joe]

Thanks guys. Lots of useful information here.
I was planning on ordering a pinpointer from Kellyco; they offer one for about a $100 off with purchase of a MD (<<<<notice the 'novice gaining experience' abreviation?).
A loupe is a very good idea; my eyes are 53 years old (this is very strange, since I feel like I'm 23). And a bag for trash. I figure my shirt pocket will do for 'treasure' until I gain a little proficiency in this hobby.
So--a question: a metal detector made for coins/nuggets/relics will not hit on meteorites? This means they are set to ignore iron (?) like nails and '61 Chevys ? Also, they can detect aluminum and determine size, so they 'know' a pop top when they see it?
I'll check Kellyco for tools and goodies. Sounds like a good company to deal with.

Here's the technical stuff.... detectors run on "frequencies" depending on the frequecy it will detect some metals better than others. For example, general use detectors run from 3kHz to 18kHz. Specialized detectors for say... gold run 50kHz. There are some multifrequency detecors, like the DFX (2 frequencies 3kHz and 15kHz) and Minelab Sovereign (17 frequencies) and the Explorer (28 frequencies) and then there are Pulse Induction machines. Each one has it purpose and use. However, say a lower frequency likes silver and copper, a mid range likes about all types of metals and the high frequencies like gold, pull tabs, etc.

The White's M-6 should be looked at. Nice mid frequency, 14kHz, and has many coil and accessory options, and the learning curve is not that bad. Check around on the forums and eBay, not many for sale, says a lot about the M6, many like it and hold on to it. But do your research and find the one right for you.

 

[arizonaames]

For a beginner machine that is easy to set up and one that offers 3 different modes of use, Coin and Jewelry mode, Relic mode and Prospecting mode, I would highly recommend the MXT. It goes deeper than most machines and will find thin gold necklaces that most of the other machines will not. Also, if you get into any type of mineralized soil conditions, which I am sure that you will, metiorite hunting, you will have a VLF machine that is second to none for depth. Mineralized soil conditions call for a special detector and with the MXT, you have the best of three worlds of detecting. Only gold machines are designed for SAT adjustment to deal with mineralized soil conditions. If you do not have this feature and you get to mineralized soil hunting merteorites you will be hurting.

The big difference between gold detectors and coin and relic machines is a variable SAT. The nice thing about the MXT is that the dual control is a discrimination control in Coin and Relic modes but in Prospecting mode it becomes a variable SAT. What this means is that when a signal is sent from your coil and hits the target, it then comes back to the coil and registers a target. The speed that this happens (Threshold speed) is controlled by the turn of the SAT (dual control in Prospecting mode). You can speed up the recovery to the point that you can turn it up (cw) to the Super SAT +1 though+3. The faster that you run the SAT speed, the less depth that you will get but you will be able to hunt in bad mineralized ground that other machines cannot do. Can one recover some of the loss of depth caused by turning up the SAT? Yes, to some extent. One can turn the gain up until the ground conditions can cause the loss of a good target (experiment with a test nugget) or one can turn down the SAT somewhat and swing the coil slower. I hope that this helps someone understand the SAT on a MXT better.

Having owned a White's Goldmaster V/SAT for 15 years, I came to understand the importance of having a machine with a variable SAT control. The MXT has that. I just recently purchase a MXT from Kellyco and Wanda was my salesperson. Kellyco is a great company and I cannot say enough about the quality care of the salespeople like Wanda, Steve, and others. It is an easy machine to set up, so you will not be spending weeks trying to learn the machine and then maybe you will have it right. You can set it up in 10 seconds and start detecting. It is the machine for beginners and experts alike. Do some more research and I think that you will settle on the MXT by White's. If you do not at this time, you will come back to the MXT at a later date.

 

[Eu_citzen]

I did test if my DFX can "see" a meteorite in the prospecting program and it can.. About 2" away in a air test.
Give the signal of a hot rock..
As you may figure this isn't very good results. A MXT as someone stated should be better in theory.

 

[thompy]

JFYI the whites M-6 is built off of the MXT, M-6 is easyer to learn, more for coin hunting with multi tones

 

[arizonaames]

But does not have the SAT for changing mineralized ground and the Frequency is different. The MXT is a 10 sec start up and go. The MXT was built on the GMT, not the M6. They are completely different detectors and the M6 is coin and jewelry specific. The MXT has a freq if 13.86 Kilohertz; the M6, 14 Kilohertz. The MXT has 3 specific modes, coin and jewelry, relic, and prospecting where you can change the SAT. For $100 more, you get a machine with more options and the set up and go is about the same. The MXT will find small gold chain....go here:

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,199867.0.html

 

[Johnnysan]

I tried to post early this morning but it's not here. What I said was I went to a lot of postings on this site and after my head stopped swimming a bit I went to Kellyco; they're having a sale and must have read my mind (a buy 1 get 1 half off sale). I had pretty much decided on a Whites classic 5-ID; nice features and price. OK, for just another $84 I got a Titan 1000 and a pinpointer for just $40. Total package <$440. I remember seeing here that someone liked their Titan 1000.
I have a lady friend and I'm hoping we can spend some quality time together; maybe the next ring she gets won't come directly from a jewelry store. She thinks she needs to lose some weight too (like most females); she looks fine to me. BTW, how do you deal with the mental stress when your woman is digging gold rings and you get nothing but pull tabs?
Should I have gotten the MXT, DFX or M6? Well, maybe; those specs sure looked good. I'm a firm believer in buying quality to avoid disappointment.
Thanks again for all the terrific information. I'll tell you how the detectors work out.

 

[nc-joe]

BTW, how do you deal with the mental stress when your woman is digging gold rings and you get nothing but pull tabs?
Should I have gotten the MXT, DFX or M6? Well, maybe; those specs sure looked good. I'm a firm believer in buying quality to avoid disappointment.
Thanks again for all the terrific information. I'll tell you how the detectors work out.

If she gets as addicted to this hobby as you do, it's worth every pull tab you dig Also, if it means getting a Classic 5 ID and a Titan 1000 so she can go with you, well, the DFX, MXT and/or M6 will be there for you later.

CAUTION, KEEP IN MIND THIS CAN BACKFIRE ON YOU AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT!!! YOU MUST PROCEDE WITH CAUTION FROM THIS POINT FORWARD, AND FOR HEAVANS SAKE, DON'T MENTION WEIGHT. FOR YOUR FUTURE WELL BEING I HOPE SHE DOES NOT SEE YOUR LAST POST!!

 

[wildheart]

Thanks for all the feedback about pinpointers, and I also learned a LOT about the detectors themselves. Wow -- this sure IS the place to come.

 

[UncleVinnys]

Good questions!

Add MineLab to your list, too.
Add a good hand-held pin-pointer.
Other than that, a good pair of boots that you keep in the garage, so you don't track in the mud.

Here is a good site for lists of clubs, forums, and metal detecting sites.

http://www.metaldet101.com/links.html

Welcome!