New to the game, advice?

[Grimcow]

So I have been looking over these forums over the past week or two because obviously I have grown a curiosity in metal detecting. What brought me to this was a somewhat new ambition to collect old coins. So I am looking to get an entry level MD. I have looked over all the posts of other people asking the same thing and keep seeing the same names come up and had kind of narrowed it down to what I was thinking I wanted. Talking to my girlfriend today though I realized I was crazy not to consider that I probably would want to look for gold nuggets also seeing as I live in Flagstaff Arizona, there's a lot of good places close to where I live. So my question is what, if any, would good a good entry level MD that I could search for coins AND gold with? I was hoping to spend around $300.00 but it will most likely be a month or so before I get the chance to purchase one because Ill be taking a nice long vacation for a few weeks to head back to my homeland in Michigan. I understand $300 is not a fortune to spend on a MD soooo I could give or take maybe $100 or so bucks if needed to get the MD that is going to do everything I would want. Any suggestions or help would be great. I quite honestly don't even know 100% if I am able to get a MD at that price that would do both and be a quality (for a beginner) machine. Thanks in advance for any help and good luck to everyone on their hunts!

 

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[Grimcow]

Also any advice on a good place to buy them would be cool too! Thanks again

 

[fella]

Brand really isn't going to matter. You'll might get 20 different suggestions and not one will be wrong. Or right! Whites, Tesoro, Garrett, BH, will all have machines that will work for your needs.

Where to get one? I'd suggest a local dealer. Others will suggest site sponsors. All I'll say is JoeBlowsDectors.com isn't doing your local economy any good!
My local dealer will match ANY price advertised by ANY .com sites plus it gets me a good resource for help & questions.

 

[Grimcow]

Rock on I will have a look around and see what shops are here in Flag. I was kinda thinking I might get a response like that from my research on here, was having trouble finding if these entry machines would do coins and the every now and then gold searching. Sounds like they will then, and thats good to know! Thanks alot fella I appreciate the input.

 

[fella]

Any of em will do fine on coins. For gold hunting I'd suggest looking at the higher kHz machines. Typically the higher the kHz the better it will do on smaller finer gold but at price of giving up some depth(again typically). Dunno if there will too much of a difference in machines in the 300 dollar range. They'll all work about the same for coins and gold.

This is my suggestion...spend a bit more money if possible and get the Tesoro Vaquero ($450us). It's really a great well rounded machine. It's US made w/lifetime warranty. It goes as deep as anything else, has outstanding discrimination, does well (from what I understand) on gold etc etc.

 

[dirtscratcher]

Maybe talk to shops around Flgstaff about a used unit. For 300 dollars a machine that will find nuggets and coins is a tall order. If you buy used make sure you check it out first, Ive bought several used and never had a problem.

 

[Grimcow]

I had actually been looking at the Tesoro Vaquero and thought that looked nice, thanks again for the input. Dirt I will definitely do that. I figured it was a tall order.. if it comes to it I will just have to settle on a unit that i can take out to find some coins and make sure that Md'ing is something I am for sure into (but I am not sure how I wont enjoy it.. I spend my days outside hiking or mountain biking as is!). Is there any particular thing that is important to check out on a used MD? Like I said I am pretty much as new as it gets to this. I am thinking like most other hobbies its usually not a bad idea to start off with something used

 

[Longhair]

Ill be taking a nice long vacation for a few weeks to head back to my homeland in Michigan.

Where 'ya headed?

 

[Grimcow]

Well I will be there two weeks. We just built a Cabin up by Manistee this past summer. It will be my first time seeing it so I am pretty pumped. Then a week later I head down to Howell where I am from to see the rest of the family.

 

[Longhair]

Well I will be there two weeks. We just built a Cabin up by Manistee this past summer. It will be my first time seeing it so I am pretty pumped. Then a week later I head down to Howell where I am from to see the rest of the family.

I'm pretty close to Howell and I have a few machines, including an entry level machine that you could check out. Contact me via PM and I'll meet you for a test whirl.

 

[Grimcow]

er Pm sent but I think I may of mistook you this morning... I had to take some drowsey meds last night so I was pretty groggy this AM