The ideal detector for 20th century battlefields?

[Tommygunn]

Hi to everyone, first post and all that.
I'm new to metal detecting and since I'm obsessed with all aspects of WW2, and since I live in Italy these days, I would like some advice on an ideal detector.
I will require a detector that would be ideal for battlefield exploration. A detector that can find the smallest to the largest item in all metal types. I will also occassionaly do some recreational beach detecting on both dry and wet sand.

I'm looking at a price bracket of between $220 to $320.

The Garrett 250 has caught my eye but I heard it is not so good on wet sand and of course I don't want to rule out the rest of the market.

Any help greatly appreciated.
Tom.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

You say you want a detector that "can find the smallest to the largest item in all metal types.". If so, then get a pulse beach unit (several different types and brands). Or if you really want to fulfill your requirements ("find the smallest"), then get a nugget machine like the Minelab GPX4000! Heck, you won't even miss a BB or a staple!

But of course, I jest Believe me, you DON'T want a machine that does what you say you want it to. You'd never get out of an area the size of your living room, d/t you'd be digging every little piece of flitty #$^@#$^. You probably want a machine that "at least" has discrimination to reject iron (small pieces anyhow). WWII battlefields will be littered with shrapnel, bullets, iron, etc.... Maybe a little less-so in the areas where they camped and lived, rather than fought though. There are some guys hunting Russian Nazi occupied sites, and they do find Nazi memorailia (medallions, buckles, buttons, helmets, canteen stuff, etc...), but generally hunt the fortified line sites, where the Nazis lived and slept for a year or whatever.

 

[Tommygunn]

You do indeed jest at that price.
Thing is I want to find the usual ferrous material such as bayonets, weapons etc but I also do not want to miss the small items which were made out of all sorts of alloys(Tombak) etc such as metal lapel insignia, awards and other small non precious metal items.
In any case all items interest me and I would say that battlefield finds are hard to categories since there is such a wide variety of finds to be had.

 

[Rifleman]

If you really want to be successful, you are going to have to spend more money than you are planning now. The Ace 250 is a great little detector, but better suited for coins. It will drive you nuts in areas with lots of iron junk. There is no free lunch. The 250 can be used in all the areas you mentioned except wet sand, but you will not find the better or hard to get finds with it unless you happen to be lucky. Many of the civil war areas have been hard hit. It takes a better quality detector to make the good finds.

Good hunting, John K

 

[EasyMoney]

Save your money and get a REAL detector, not some piece of s - - t ike the Ace 250!

The Tesoro Silver uMax makes a very fine one for your needs, and the larger coils really do punch deep. They handle bad ground EXTREMELY well.

The Tesoro Tejon was DESIGNED for relic hunting, costing about $500. In a test at Gary's of Great Britain the Tejon with it's 8x10 coil was the only vlf detector tested that even made a peep on a dime-sized coin buried at 10". It was weighed against an Explorer, a couple of White, etc. , and others, including the Nexus. The Nexus though, is NOT a vlf detector, but it could find the coin with ease..

A Fisher 1236x-2 costs about $300 and it's a pretty fair one for your uses too. And it handles bad ground very well. It also has a noise filtering switch to cancel interference noise.

I would get the Tejon with the big 8X10 coil and the 5.75 coil for littered or trashy parks if you want a real workhorse. In Italy the soil is fairly weak, but I'd run a Tejon with the lowest sensitivity possible anyway, otherwise it's raw power might be a bit overwhelming to a beginner. It is not however the detector I'd use in highly laden with black sand highly minerlaized soil.

For that I'd chose the F-75 and run it with it's lowest sensitivity until I got used to all it's power.

EasyMoney

 

[stanjam]

WHen looking at battlefields, make sure you watch out for ordinance and mines. They can ruin your day.

In the $200 range I have the ACE 250. It is a good entry level machine for the money, and will let you find all kinds of metal. For the $200 price range, it is one of the better recommended detectors, though it may not be the best suited for wet sand on beaches.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

In your price range I'd seriously recommend a used Minelab Musketeer Advantage. Since you want to dig all metal anyway the lack of a VDI indicator won't hinder you. I find very tiny things (i.e. the small metal collar for a lead pencil eraser at 9" one day and a 1/4" copper gasket for a model engine glow plug at an old flying site at 4"). You just have to listen carefully and have a good set of headphones.

One day I could not find the target and, on sifting the soil carefully in dispair, I found I was over a bunch of nichrome lightbulb filaments! They're not very big but apparently exciting to a detector.

 

[Tommygunn]

Thanks for the input fellas and to Easymoney for the 'Gary's' name drop.

Well, I've been looking around and the Fisher 1236x2 and the White's Prism IV are both looking attractive.

What are peoples opinions on digital/analogue displays do they really help at all or are they all show? Would I be losing out if I went for a Fisher 1236 instead of a White's Prism IV in terms of the display, or lack of?
Indeed, which would you rate the best overall?

 

[EasyMoney]

The more you use a metal detector, the less you will care about visual ID, different tones, depth meters, and anything else.
A well - experienced metal detectrorist will also have little use for a hot rock ID indicator, he already knows how to identify hotrocks without one.

If it's your first day on the job though, it won't hurt if you buy one with a bunch of toys on it. Besides that, you could sell it six months later, lose a bit of money on it, and get a more promising machine that does the job a lot quicker and cleaner.

For example, picture yourself operating a Minelab SE, with all the toys and slow processors to slow it down to a crawl. You could be like every person I've ever seen with one, spending hours and hours setting up, reading, re-checking, and reprogramming every time you use it.

Or, you get get yourself a Tesoro uMax or an F-4, Prism 5, 1236x-2, Compadre, etc, and go out there like a striped ape during massive conglomeration ovulation with a bad case of the DT's plus the runs and full of some real good steroids and speed all at the same time, and search 10X the area and find 4X as many goodies in less time as the Expl user poking along using his @$$*^+@^%^ meter...

Anybody who knows how to use their brain or their ears (or both) can do as well or better without a meter if the detector is superior and quicker in it's operation. All you gotta do is turn the thing on..and go. and the ones I suggested can be run at Mach One (5+ feet per second), and they will operate like a Tiger in a pen full of fat sheep.

EasyMoney