New to the hobby - Need suggestions on metal detector

[salaloid]

Currently I dont have a metal detector but I have read a lot about them. I think Im ready for buying one, so I will appreciate suggestions and recommendations. Im inclined to buy a Minelab Explorer. The place I will be detecting does not have a lot of historical places, so mostly I will be detecting in the beach, schools and parks.

Ive read that the Explorer has some issues with respect to detecting gold jewelry. Is this correct?

 

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[salaloid]

OK. No recommendations. So I decided to buy a Minelab Explorer.

 

[Lowbatts]

You made a good choice! You could chase the popularity model, which means you go around looking at member's equipment lists and glean something from that. You could see who's finds you think are best and find out what they use, or read enough posts and you'll find some fervor for some units and some bad points for some units.

Hope you got a good deal, welcome to the hobby and you will have the time of your life getting to know that machine. Practice with coinage and jewelry in your yard until you are confident and can pinpoint competently.

Don't forget to practice good recovery habits, especially after you've one too many pieces of junk that first or second long hunt you manage to get in.

Looking forward to your finds!

 

[salaloid]

Thanks low. I just order it through Kellyco and paid around $1298 for it. I took also the BOGO offer of a second detector for $55, so my son and daughter can MD too. The second one is a Pioneer 505 Pro. Anyway... is more that I was expecting to pay, however my goal is to have a "return on investment" of about one year.

 

[Lowbatts]

Don't bet on a good RONA just yet, it's all dependent on your skill and site selection.

Worth repeating now and then, one year I made it a point to hit every carnie and fest site I could locate, all on the Monday morning when they were clearing out. Would arrive at first light and get everything the carnies didn't snag. Sometimes I hit four sites in one Monday. Not much use after that, other hunters would show up midday through the afternoon to complain about the lack of pickins'.

Also hit every tot lot at a park or schoolyard in about a 15 miles radius at least once. Christmas time that year saw me hand off two kitchen garbage cans of clad, one to each kid, almost a thousand bucks each. Probably just about 8 times what I spent on drive time, food while hunting, batteries, etc.. All my oldies that year came from construction or demo sites also. No real time to spend hunting/hitting good old sites to any detail.

But it was a great learning experience and a lot of fun. Yeah, I did keep a few peanut sacks of change for myself.

 

[sprinter]

OK. No recommendations. So I decided to buy a Minelab Explorer.

The minelab explorer takes a lot of learning, but here is a easy foolproof way to get the best from your machine. 1 If you have a back yard or a piece of ground you can use, make sure its clear of trash as you call over there, get a silver coin copper coin a piece of lead size of a coin , pull tab and a nice bit of iron, bury them about six to eight inches deep , 2 foot apart, make sure you know what is where.
2, Switch the machine on to factory settings by depressing on switch for 7 secs
3 Press menu
4 press select
5 press clear
6 press menu again
7 press display and choose smart
8 press the centre left hand key , will give you manual sensitivity,depressing the
top left key will increase sensitivity ,bottom left will decrease sensitivity 22 to
24 adjust to suit lower if you get lots of noise higher if you don't,right hand
three keys, thresh hold, bottom lowers sound, top highers the sound , you just
need to hear a slight hum , otherwise you will give your self tinnitus.
9 Press iron mask
10Press menu , choose digital , press centre key right hand side , will give you
full screen.
NOW MOST IMPORTANT FIND A METAL FREE CLEAR SPOT ,AND NOISE
CANCEL
Spend an hour going over your buried items you need to recognize the sounds
Check your digital reading, the higher the right hand reading ,ie 07-28 the
the higher the non ferrouse content of the object, be it a coin or artifact .
iron will give you 24 -17 for example but it will vary on the size of the lump
of iron , all non ferrous will give you a signal both ways when you swing
your detector over it , iron will give you maybe a one way signal if it large
or very near the surface , most times it will be null-ed out.

You will eventually know when you have a good finds by the tones rather
than the digital read out .

Good Luck .........................From Sprinter

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[savant365]

Welcome aboard and good luck getting your return on your investment. I Paid $200 for my Ace 250 a year ago and I found 1 piece of gold jewelry that was sold for $90. I plan on finding enough stuff to sell this year finish paying for the detector and accessories. It's a great hobby that really can pay for itself. HH Charlie

 

[mlayers]

Welcome to the hobbie of detecting. I sure hope you can make your goal to pay off your detector in a year. It took me 3 years to get back what I paid for mine . Good luck...Matt