So a little saddened with detecting.

[Miroku]

I got my detector on Sunday and have been to a few parks and homes. Found mostly nails and random stuff. Was looked at funny by people in the park and had cops follow me. I didn't find anything at the homes I went to and I feel like it's a waste of time. My city isn't famous for anything in particular and I can't really travel super far. I guess I will stick with CRH. I am hoping to get a refund for my gear. I know I only used it for a few days and never expected to find anything awesome but was hoping for a wheat or something. I think because I have silver fever that I want to find everything. I love reading this forum and seeing what people pull from the ground.

 

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[spartacus53]

Your being Bad Spart!!! Chug And Red

Bad

It may sound funny, but that was some good solid advise, OK, except for that cop thing

Look at the posts where people are asking what to buy, and close to 1/2 will say spend the extra bucks on a higher end machine. Now, what if Miroku heeded their advise, does he chase them down for a refund

From now on I should be the only one to give good advise, which by the way, I'd ignore myself

 

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[jeff of pa]

miroku, I have to say I loved your post. Not or the fact that you didn't find anything, but realizing detecting is not your cup of tea.

I say this for all of those who reply when asked, what detector should I get and they reply the most expensive one There's nothing like shelling out upwards to several hundred dollars for equipment you may never use, and let it collect dust

Then again, someone will still come along now and tell you about that sweet silver finding machine for a grand very soon

I would best sum it up that detecting is a hobby the requires both research and luck. Just go out for the fresh air and the joy of possibly getting lucky.

Oh, as for the cop that is following you; think of it as your private security

Don't know what detector you got miroku, fot for $1500 you can get a sweet silver finding machine

If you have the $$ Definately get the Most Expensive though ! You can't go wrong.

Seriously though, there is allot of good advice from our members
that doesn't include giving up already, unless of course you really don't like
digging history or getting dirty. it does take a certain type of personality.
the fact you thought about it tells me you may still have it. So Relax,
& give it some time. there is silver everywhere. It just takes time, Experience and a bit of luck
to find it. same as Coin roll hunting.

Besides You got the Cops attention that's priceless

 

[spartacus53]

Miroku, Jeff knows what he's talking about. He has 2 of those $1500 machines, but can't find silver.

He has a boatload of gold, but it's the silver he's after too

 

[Wyomingmedic]

Well, I might as well just chime in here.

I agree with everybody else, just keep swinging. I started detecting VERY casually a number of years ago with a bottom of the barrel machine. Nothing fancy.

This year, I got back into detecting with a vengeance. I dropped an ungodly amount of money on the best equipment I could find. What have I found? Mostly nails,pull tabs, foil wrappers. Oh sure, I found some neat old artifacts, old coins/rings/silver. But NOTHING near what I would consider interesting enough to soil myself. All of that in about 60 hours of swinging.

The other trick is to search places where they may some stuff to find.

Don't get discouraged. Part of the fun is the hunt where you remove 100lbs of trash, and only pull 1 zinc penny.

Unfortunately, if that is not fun for you, it may not be the best hobby. When you can search for 7 hours but feel like it has only been 20 minutes, and all you've found it $0.35 in clad, then I assume you have found a great hobby.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

WM

 

[Jeremy S]

This isn't a "get rich quick" activity like the television shows make it out to be. Most of the guys who find the real good stuff put endless hours into research, swinging their detectors, and digging up garbage.

To get the good stuff you gotta dig the junk. Some guys just go to a site and cherry pick the "good" signals looking for silver coins. I've gone behind them and dug the pulltab signals that were actually gold/silver rings or masking out the silver coins that were underneath all of those nails and pulltabs.

What part of Indiana are you from?

 

[JABBERWOCKY]

This isn't a "get rich quick" activity like the television shows make it out to be. Most of the guys who find the real good stuff put endless hours into research, swinging their detectors, and digging up garbage.

To get the good stuff you gotta dig the junk. Some guys just go to a site and cherry pick the "good" signals looking for silver coins. I've gone behind them and dug the pulltab signals that were actually gold/silver rings or masking out the silver coins that were underneath all of those nails and pulltabs.

What part of Indiana are you from?

TOO RIGHT JEREMY!! There is a local out-of-the-way park here and I've met a number of MDers there, most of them using Minelab Explorers, I come in behind them with my old stock Ace250 and pulled two massive gold rings with stones and a number of other good finds.
Dig'em all! GL&HH!

 

[CANUDIGGIT]

I live in Indiana. Been searching my town for around 1 year...last night at a local school I found my second silver ring (this one has a black stone in it). I looked on line to find the oldest part of town to hunt and have done so but haven't found anything old yet, however I've met several nice people and cleaned up a lot of trash and clad from the park and schools. A metal head I ran into at the local park gave me a detecting book and a 1 cent piece (1856) and he took about 1 hour to show me some of the tricks with my detector, which really helped (he lives in Colorado here visiting family). I get more exercise now than I have in years and me and the kids get out of the house for a break. Keep looking......the more you go out the better you'll understand the sounds from your detector and the more you'll find.....they say you never find it all in one place.

 

[CANUDIGGIT]

Saw your post where is schererville located? I live in Pendleton and would love to get a few good friends to travel around here in Indiana and search (after researching). I think with a few of us we could hit a much bigger place and find some good stuff....I'm still just a year into searching and have only found a lot of clad, trash, iron and 2 silver ring...1 last night (has black stone in it). If your interested let me know.. thanks
Jason

 

[Fabbr]

As others have said dont give up so soon, you wont have a chance to truly know if you will enjoy the hobby. In about 60 hours of detecting this year i have only found 3 silver coins, all dimes. Not a good percentage when i look at the other coins found, about $35 in clad, 17 wheats and 1 indian head, i think the only reason i found old stuff aside from it being old ground is that its loaded with trash. I had a blast every minute of it. If you decide to hang in there. Which detector are you using? Learn your machines subtle cues on good targets vs trash, listen closely, commit the information you hear to memory then dig. You will inevitable dig aluminum twist off tops and mics trash, if you keep at it one day, when you least expect it out will pop something that will suprise you. Good luck.

 

[downrigger47]

Don't quit I have been detecting hard
For2years and I have only found 2silver
Rings and a few Wheaties . I have found ton
of clad.Keep at it you will find something..
It isn't easy but it's fun! HH

 

[Miroku]

Thanks for all the replies. Great advice. I have the Ace250. I did go to a few more places again. I live in Elkhart. I pulled a old rusty handle and 2 beer looking caps. It was fun to hear my machine go off but sad to pull junk. I never expected this to be a quick rich scheme. I just love collecting old coins. I love silver, but really any old coin makes me happy. With being in college and trying to work I don't have much free time. A few hours here and there and I know I should be studying or something. With summer maybe I can go out more and just rent a detector.

 

[Tucson Dan]

If you would even be happy finding clad, go to new grassy parks. My 7 year old and I go to the same park all the time here and dig clad coins the entire time we're there. Even though it's only worth face value, it's still a blast. Who knows, maybe the trash will be a ring or even silver someday. The unknown is what keeps me motivated. I know that I'll never find it if I don't continue to try.

 

[Fabbr]

Is the ace 250 a "belltone only" machine? I've never used one that is but would imagine that it would be tough as it would ding on a lot of different targets good or trash, a machine with analog type audio will give you more target information imho.

 

[Old man walking.]

If it makes you feel any better, the first time I went to a park to detect I noticed that people were looking at me funny. I went back again without my detector and people still looked at me funny. So I said screw them and I haven't thought about it since. Also, you'll learn that most of those people are just interested in what you might be finding.

Seriously, I think everybody is self conscious in the beginning. Start out by going to places in the parks that are used less. I've made some good finds in these places. Also, go when there aren't so many people. You will feel much better after you've made some good finds.

 

[Tucson Dan]

I swing the ACE350 and it is a bell tone machine for the most part, which means the 250 is too. I have to say though that the display does differentiate targets but no numerical display is offered until the level of the ATPro. I'm sure some time and study would make the 250 a decent machine for one that is willing to learn it. I do fairly well with the 350 as well.

 

[Fabbr]

I see, so they are belltone/vdi? The problem that would give me around here would be buried beer cans and large iron, but I suppose he could raise the coil several inches above the ground and if he still has a strong hit it could be junk, that's what I do with my at pro in conjunction with scanning the surface with a pro pointer, if it sees nothing in this scenario it surely is a large deep target. I would think a true beginner would have better luck with something along the lines of a tesoro or comparable machine with analog type/proportional audio and decent discrimination, and would be quickly discouraged by a belltone beep and dig unit even with vdi. Either way there's a big learning curve, I think older residential yards would be best to learn on, and a pointer to streamline target location and scan the surface for more information is definately a game changer. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Fabbr]

That being said if you were to think about trying a different type of detector, you would have no problem selling the 250 as it is as I've heard a great machine, I just don't think its a great for you to learn on.

 

[squiggy]

That being said if you were to think about trying a different type of detector, you would have no problem selling the 250 as it is as I've heard a great machine, I just don't think its a great for you to learn on.

I have the 250 and just started in Dec...it's a great coin machine. ..

 

[Fabbr]

That's great! Welcome to the hobby, have you ran it in trashy areas? If so maybe you could shine some light on this machine and relay some tips and techniques to this thread concerning the 250, as I have no experience with it. My experience is limited to 8 years on a high end analog machine 15 years ago, jumped back into it recently with an at pro and have no regrets. Any help/advice with the 250 would be appreciated.?

 

[squiggy]

That's great! Welcome to the hobby, have you ran it in trashy areas? If so maybe you could shine some light on this machine and relay some tips and techniques to this thread concerning the 250, as I have no experience with it. My experience is limited to 8 years on a high end analog machine 15 years ago, jumped back into it recently with an at pro and have no regrets. Any help/advice with the 250 would be appreciated.?

Lets see..I know I need to watch the DVD again and do some test targets..I know it is recommended to take several different things and place on or in ground and see what the sound is like.
I usually run on either coin (and it will tell you what coin it is) or jewelry. ..when I run on all mode I end up digging a lot of nails and iron. ..
I find lots of coins and have found a silver ring and earring. .
Also I dug this iron cauldron which was 2 feet down..
I would say at first dig everything on all metal mode.
If you want just coins go to that mode and same for jewelry. ..
I also bought the garrett. Pro pointer and it is great!
Hope that helps...