Like CWnut said, it appears to be a matter of "target identification vs no target identification" as to what is being recommended. You are also hearing peoples personal preferences which are usually based on which machine(s) they have experience with. Let's talk about the target ID vs no ID thing for a minute as related to coin/jewelry hunting. Relic hunting is a whole different matter.
The simple fact is that metal detectors locate metal. There are things like coins and jewelry that you want to find and a LOT of metallic trash like pull tabs, nails, cans, and pieces of aluminum foil that you would just as soon leave under the dirt. Most major "advances" in metal detecting technology have centered around developing machines that can tell the difference between good stuff and bad. The key is conductivity. A penny has a known conductivity as do the other coins so a target ID detector like the Garrett Ace 250 will tell you when an object passing under its coil has one of those known conductivity values. This means that you can go out, search, dig only those targets the detector says are good and greatly reduce the amount of trash you dig up. The fly in the buttermilk is that pull tabs come in different styles and can have a conductivity that matches nickles and small gold rings. Pieces of aluminum foil can mimic almost anything depending on how large the piece is and whether it is flat, crumpled, or whatever. When a detector is set to ignore pull tabs you are accepting that you may miss nickles and some gold jewelry. This is why common wisdom says "Dig Everything!". If you set the detector to discriminate out (ignore) iron nails and small bits of aluminum you will be sure of finding those nickles and gold rings. You will also need a large trash pouch because the amount of trash you dig will far exceed the number of keeper items. The Tesoro Compadre doesn't have target ID but it does allow you to set a limit on what it will react to. This works well with the "minimum discrimination and dig everything" theory. The Ace 250 does have target ID and gives you the option to dig everything or ignore the "bad" signals. For the record, my Ace does a good job of finding nickles when set in the "Coin" mode but I do dig plenty of pull tabs.
I started detecting in the 1970's when it was a case of if the detector beeps, you dig. I followed the minimum discrimination/dig everything theory from then on regardless of how advanced my current detector was. I found a lot of good stuff. But I'm closing in on 62 years of age now and I'm reluctantly accepting that I can no longer leap tall buildings in a single bound. I have knees that crackle and two deteriorated disks in my lower back. Kneeling down, digging, and standing up is great excercise but my knees and lower back complain when I over-do it. I find that my attitude about discrimination has recently changed as well. If the area I'm hunting seemed to be fairly free of trash I'd stick with my dig-everything policy but if the area is trashy I'd find myself relying on the target ID more and more. I knew I was leaving good things behind but then again I was coming home with a higher ratio of good things to bad because I'm able to hunt longer. The Ace 250 gave me that. A month or so ago I bought what I consider to be the biggest advance in detecting ever. It's the E-Trac by Minelab. It's expensive but this thing is showing me potentials that I didn't think existed. I'm digging less trash than ever plus I'm going back to places I thought I had cleaned out and finding deeper older coins that I had missed before. I know that it's more money than you want to spend but keep it in mind if you find yourself truly hooked on this hobby.
Storm
Any suggestions on which one of these or any other suggestions on which one. I don’t mind spending up $220
