Seben extreme metal detectors

[Simon Purser]

Hi I'm new to this site and to metal detecting. I've seen many detectors on ebay that look little more than toys. The Seben range seems to be better than this, detecting large objects down to 250cm and small coins down to 35cm. They seem to be reasonable discriminators as well. Does anyone have any views based on personal experience of these detectors. Most of the feedback from buyers is very positive. I need a deep detector in the Victorian (Australia) Goldfields, but can't justify a Minelab to my wife until I show her some of the yellow stuff. Please don't post if you're only going to bag anything that isn't White's, Garrett, Minelab etc unless you know this specific brand. Apparently Seben is made in Germany and I know they make (or at least sell) excellent value for money optical equipment (microscopes, telescopes etc) Thanks for your help

 

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[jeff of pa]

I never used one But the Price compaired to the Claims just Don't Compute in my head.

This is Not a Putdown On the Brand, or Country of Origin.
Just my Personal Opinion, without any facts.

Hopefully Someone here has at least Swung one.

 

[U.K. Brian]

'Seben Extreme a Fraud' is a post you should read on the Metal Detecting Equipment forum. Its a recent post but similar comments have been made on the range for a year or two. Strictly buy at your own risk I'm afraid.

 

[bakergeol]

There was an individual who bought one on Ebay for $100. His experiences are over
on Carl's forum. There are four threads there 5/14,20,30/06 if you cursor down far enough.
This is the forum Brian menitioned above.

http://members5.boardhost.com/MetalDetecting/index.html


George

 

[jeff@middlesex]

Run away very fast

 

[jeff of pa]

I EMail'd them & told them if they Want to send me a Sample

I'll Do a Field test on it here in the U.S.

Who Knows, Maby they are Worth the Price

 

[Simon Purser]

I've read the threads re Seben extreme as noted above (thanks for that). One poster seems to have got his working OK. Interesting that one guy in US bagged "foreign detectors" cos "there's too much sea between us and them". Does that mean he'd never buy Minelab (developed and made in Australia). Should I never buy a US detector? (I live in Australia).
I predicted the "you get what you pay for" posts, but occasionally you can find a gem for little money (if you don't believe that, stay in your day job and give up treasure hunting!)
Well my wife has let me bite the bullet and buy the Seben Extreme and a Whites Eagle Spectrum (she doesn't want me to find all the gold by myself!) Once I learn how to drive them I'll post some back-to-back tests. Our farm is in the Victorian "Golden Triangle" where the world's largest nugget was found (216 pounds, not ounces) It was found back in the 1800's when a cart got stuck on it. It was sticking out of a rut on the track! Most of this area was gone over with Garretts and Bounty Hunters in the 70's and 80's but a whole new rush started when the Minelabs started detecting really deep, but being so expensive, owners are a rare breed and a lot of the ground (5000 sq km) hasn't been re-covered. Back in the 1850's it really was a "rush". The miners apparently would dug a shovel of dirt and throw it up and catch it with the shovel. If it didn't make a metal-on-metal clang indicating gold, they would cast it aside. Plenty of smaller nuggets have been found in these heaps, so here's hoping. If I don't find gold then my wife tells me we have to dine out on humble pie (on me)! 8)

 

[rayredditch]

The Seben is a COPY of the old whites (whether produced/assembled in Germany I can´t say, but probably just rebadged, it´s the same as the Chinese MD series, but more exoensive). It´s very old technology, at an expensive (for the ´technology), although service for spare parts is supposed to be good, as the coil holder/stem attachment is supposed to break reasonably often. If you want a very cheap machine that´s worth the money, has reproducable discrimination, and graphic display, then buy a GC 1010/GC 3010. It´ll get down to about 17cm (say 5 1/2 inches), and has a two or three tone system too. Even better, go for a Garrett ACE 150/250, anything but a Seben.

Ray (Currently Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany)

 

[Michigan Badger]

Simon Purser if you're still out there, here are my 2-cents worth here.

About a year ago or so I was interested in this and other similar machines made in China. I sent several emails off to people who had won the bids on these machines. All I wrote to had nothing but praise for the detector.

I think part of the problem has been that there are unscrupulous people on ebay selling defective machines as new and other such things.

I own a detector that was made by a similar electronics firm in China and I paid $60 plus shipping for it off ebay. I've had it nearly 4 years now and I'd rate in very highly. It has no problem sounding a silver quarter at 8-10 inches deep. That's about 3 inches deeper than my Tesoro got (cost $470).

I'm not pro-China at all. That country really troubles me. I use the Nautilus IIB and will most likely never change. It is all I need or want. And, it's American made.

I post this only because I believe in telling it as it is. Some of those Chinese made machines are very good for the price. Not as good as some American made machines; but good for the price. Actually, that model you mention could probably beat out better than 50% of the detectors currently made in the U.S.

Like Jeff I wrote to the manufacturer but I asked for a "sample price." They would have sent me their best machine with 2 coils for $100. This is the one they say gets 14 inches on a quarter. I passed on the offer.

HH

Badger

 

[karslake]

Hi there:

I undestand SEBEN detectors are made in Shengtzen By Zingyuaton and their detectors are the MD 5002 5006 5008. All of them to be no good at all. Only toys similar to the earlier Micronta detectors and the earlier VLF White´s. Can´t make a coin sing under 3-4 inches of soil. Great detecting in the air.....?? Just got one and made my money.. A lot of money.. Considering I paid UPS delivery.

 

[Simon Purser]

Thanks for all the feedback. I've found the Seben very unstable. Sometimes it detects really deep and other times it won't even find the car door at 2 inches. I made up a belt with little pockets for gold, silver and copper coins, a ringpull, lead bullet and a bit of iron trash which I can unbuckle and throw on the ground to set the discrim when it goes awry in the field. So far I've used the Seben in non discrim mode to find a target and then used the White's discrim when I've dug down a bit to tell me whether its worth keeping on digging. I'm still learning but if I could turn back time, I'd have just stuck with the White's. The build quality of the Seben is really garbage. It hasn't yet paid for itself but I'm still hoping.

 

[Gregmid40]

Clarification

Simon Purser if you're still out there, here are my 2-cents worth here.

About a year ago or so I was interested in this and other similar machines made in China. I sent several emails off to people who had won the bids on these machines. All I wrote to had nothing but praise for the detector.

I think part of the problem has been that there are unscrupulous people on ebay selling defective machines as new and other such things.

I own a detector that was made by a similar electronics firm in China and I paid $60 plus shipping for it off ebay. I've had it nearly 4 years now and I'd rate in very highly. It has no problem sounding a silver quarter at 8-10 inches deep. That's about 3 inches deeper than my Tesoro got (cost $470).

I'm not pro-China at all. That country really troubles me. I use the Nautilus IIB and will most likely never change. It is all I need or want. And, it's American made.

I post this only because I believe in telling it as it is. Some of those Chinese made machines are very good for the price. Not as good as some American made machines; but good for the price. Actually, that model you mention could probably beat out better than 50% of the detectors currently made in the U.S.

Like Jeff I wrote to the manufacturer but I asked for a "sample price." They would have sent me their best machine with 2 coils for $100. This is the one they say gets 14 inches on a quarter. I passed on the offer.

HH

Badger

Actually, the advertising says it will go up to 39 cm on 'small coins'. That translates to 13 3/4".

 

[theWMDsoundsystem]

Despite this being an old thread i thought i would add my experience so no one is ever scammed by this company.
I purchased one of these green plastic things around 5 or 6 year back, it was the so called "extreme" model. It looked & sounded way nicer than what i actually got
i only wanted something that could pick up a meteorite deep down, not something that was going to go off every time i went over a bottle top.
This plastic green pig could not even detect a spanner that i buried 6 inches down.
The construction of it is absolute cr@p. It is very unstable & sometimes will pick up the rust in the ground, other times it wont even pick up a hammer waved in front of it.
The pile of junk i had as toy when i was a child was better than this thing.
On deconstructing it wondering if i could re-build it a little better i found the cheapest poorly soldered pathetically thin wiring & utter junk Chinese made circuit board.
There was so much plastic i really could not be bothered trying to salvage it.
I took it outside & smashed it up with a plank in a fit rage becuese i new i had no chance of ever getting that money back from them.
DO NOT EVER waste your time & money on this absolute pile of junk,
i might as well have gone down the pub with that 100 quid !
I saved up in the end & got myself a minelab, that was the best choice i ever made, i found a large gold ring with it last year & a small meteorite, it has more than payed for itself & is great fun to use.