Your first metal detector?

[DetecTom]

I want to see what kind of responses I get to this question- what was your first metal detector? (Pics welcome too) Let’s see what you got!

 

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[ecmo]

O.k. so I've been holding off contributing to this but decided to. The reason being that I really don't know what my first 2 were.

The first I bought from someone around 1976 and only paid like $10 used and it was a piece of crap that could only find things about 4" in diameter and 2" deep.

The second and first good one I bought from an old friend and school mate in about 1987. I paid him $50 used and remember him telling me if I was to ever buy a new one the good detectors started around $250 (in 87). I know I used to try figguring out what brand it was but didn't see anything on it that I recognized as I was only familiar with four American names at the time, Whites, Fisher, Garretts, and Bounty hunter. The only thing I vaguely remember is it " seemed"liked said made in Germany. Also remember it had a tunner, ground balance and on/off and sensitivity, oh and yes it ran on 2 batteries that were 1" square by 3" long.

Went by and visited him year before last and he said he thought that machine was a Whites. Dunno, but it was a good one until the coil got broken by my young daughter. In 1997 I bought my first new one, a Whites classic SL ll.

 

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[nuggetdog]

Bounty hunter 1 in the 1970s

 

[ArfieBoy]

My first detector was a BFO "Crusader" sold by "The Association" run by Gene Ballinger.

 

[Zaphod65]

I am waiting for my first one to be delivered by Santa Claus and my wife. She got me a Nokta Makro Simplex+ . Can't wait for Christmas.

 

[Jason in Enid]

My first detector was a BFO "Crusader" sold by "The Association" run by Gene Ballinger.

LOL, I remember seeing ads for "The Association".

 

[pulltabfelix]

An used Fisher Gold Bug back in 1987.

 

[CASPER-2]

started detecting in 1975 - used a Whites gold master from early 70s
my first detector of my own was a Compass 94B

 

[RebelYell67]

Minelab Equinox 600. It’s two weeks old now. Love it. [emoji16]

 

[Coinboy]

I’m 13 and i just got my first detector a Garrett ace 200

 

[teleprospector]

I started in around 1972 helping my Dad find property pins with a aqua locator magnetic needle, taught me to search low and slow with lots of overlap. I then went to a Radio Shack. Took that with me on my Dad's lot surveys and got permission all the time to search. In '76 my Uncle had a BFO. He still has it, but around 1990 I got a White's coinmaster, then went to Tesoro, Garrett, then to a White's MXT, 2 box units then underwater Detectors.
Jon

 

[jk1031]

My first one was a White's Coinmaster that my Dad had. Once I got interested in the hobby later on in life, I got my first detector. It was a Bounty Hunter Tracker IV. For the price, it was an incredible machine. I took it as far as it could take me, so I just upgraded to the Nokta Makro Simplex+, which is blowing my mind on every hunt.

 

[ARC]

"when I was your age we didn't have those fancy smancy electronic wizmo's... all we had was a magnet taped to a stick".

:P

 

[civil_war22]

Here’s broken_detectors, and I first. Back in the early 90’s. I remember the day I found my first civil war bullets, and buttons with it. It had incredible depth for a $99 detector back then.

 

[jk1031]

To be fair, my Dad gave me the metal detector because he relied more on dowsing rods.

 

[civil_war22]

To be fair, my Dad gave me the metal detector because he relied more on dowsing rods.

Dad used them a lot too. When he worked for the city of Alma water and maintenance they’d make fun of him for using them, but he rarely was wrong in locating water lines underground

 

[Jason in Enid]

Here’s broken_detectors, and I first. Back in the early 90’s. I remember the day I found my first civil war bullets, and buttons with it. It had incredible depth for a $99 detector back then. View attachment 1780302

Such a love/hate relationship with that detector! It was my first too. Yeah it sucked but it was what I could buy as a kid and I did find a lot of stuff with it!

 

[civil_war22]

Such a love/hate relationship with that detector! It was my first too. Yeah it sucked but it was what I could buy as a kid and I did find a lot of stuff with it!

Yeah it had a rather worthless ID needle, but the pinpoint worked pretty good. I can say I wish I had it still, I’d let my son use it because it did find me a lot of civil war relics, even though it would only hit hard on lead and some even deeper bigger iron objects. I know we’ve came a long way since the advent of detectors, but some of the earlier ones seemed to go fairly deep compared to some of the newer ones today, and were a heck of a lot easier to operate. The disc wasn’t all that great, but it got the job done.

 

[l.cutler]

"when I was your age we didn't have those fancy smancy electronic wizmo's... all we had was a magnet taped to a stick".

:P

Wow, you had tape!

 

[civil_war22]

"when I was your age we didn't have those fancy smancy electronic wizmo's... all we had was a magnet taped to a stick".

:P

Funny you say that but before the whole magnet fishing craze like today my brother, and I use to tie a stereo magnet from a sub woofer to a rope, and throw in the creek by our house, and the pond. I wish like hell I would have marketed something from that brain child 30 years ago

 

[Ziggy-Grimm]

A piece of crap Radio Shack one just like this one I found on Google images:



Circa 1988ish? When I was like 6 years old.