Good all round detectors

tassietaurusbull said:

hi i am new to metal/gold detecting, and i am after my first detector what should i be looking for ? i want to be able to search the beaches and parks around tassie and i only live 30 min at the most from beaconsfield as i live in Devonport Tasmania, so i can go gold hunt if i want, it needs to be able to handel wet sand dry sand and dirt as well I only have $500-$600 to spend on my first detector inc post, thanks Justin.

Click to expand...

Hi TTB. you do need to check this and other forums, using search, and formulate your own decision. speak to some0ne at a store that has different brands/makes, for advice. unless you buy a used tecta,nothing works very well on wet sand, consistently, in your price range.. minelab 305, ace 250, eurotek pro are some of the good entry tecta. garrett ATPRO is a good all rounder but about $800-900. a m/l explorer at $950- clearout price- is great. start off with one of the above entry models, learn, build your finds and go from there. HH.

thanks slipped disc, yea iv been looking at a few but they all are eather water resistant or not water proof, and if u all can help me out with a a1 detector that would become my num 1 detectror that will grow with my ability i can stretch the budget out to a $1000. as i like to play in the water aswell it would be good if it could handel wast to chest water too maybe ?
so what typ of detector do u run slipped disc ?
thanks justin.

As slipped disc said the At Pro is a good machine. I have one and like it. There are others around the $1000 mark but I have no experience. Read other peoples opinions around the forum. See what they are using. Good luck.

Ramjet

tassietaurusbull said:

thanks slipped disc, yea iv been looking at a few but they all are eather water resistant or not water proof, and if u all can help me out with a a1 detector that would become my num 1 detectror that will grow with my ability i can stretch the budget out to a $1000. as i like to play in the water aswell it would be good if it could handel wast to chest water too maybe ?
so what typ of detector do u run slipped disc ?
thanks justin.

Click to expand...

Hi Justin - time. you get that a lot ? check reviews for the Garrett ATpro on the forums and net. also minelab explorer [ $970 ish] if any left.
in three years, I started with a bounty hunter 3300 $258 ex U.S , ho hum. next an ace $350 - used- from a forum member $320. mmm, dunno. then a m/l 305 again -used- ex forum member also $320. great, my finds rolled in.did well. had no tecta for 6 mths. then got the Tesoro compadre $250 delivered ex aust. dealer. it is just a one tone beep, no read out on it, you evaluate the signal and decide whether to dig. takes a bit of experience. you may notice on the forum, I have done quite well with it. I have just got a m/lab sovereign XS .it's a 20 y.o tecta but still relevant today, both are in my avatar. hard to get but from about $400 - 600 depending on the model. the explorer is similar. they are waterproof, with the right coil up to the control box. some in the U.S. have mounted the box in a waterproof case.
sovereign 17 frequencies, explorer 24, I think. the AT pro is a single freq. and is waterproof ? some probs. there in early models, to 10 ft from memory. read up and decide from there. I have detected for anything from 20 to 60 hours a week over the 3 years. it has been a long,slow learning curve for me. get with some others that hunt and you will learn faster. cheers

If you want to detect wet sand or in the water, stick to the multi-frequency detectors like the explorer or sovereign, they won't be water proof, but it will be hard to get the best of both worlds on that budget. Whilst the AT Pro is waterproof, it will not handle the salt anywhere as good as a multi frequency detector, nor get as gooder depth.

As soon as you look at waterproof detectors that suit the beach, you will tend to pay a premium for the privileged, thinking of detectors like the Minelab CTX and the Excalibur. Plus you will find it hard to purchase a detector that can competantly cover all bases, better off sticking to dedicated gold detectors, waterproof/underwater detectors, and coin shooting specific detectors. People often buy one general purpose detector thinkng that it can cover all aspects of detecting, only to find that it is compromised in many areas - jack of all trades, but master of none.

Other options include a second hand Garrett Infinium, being waterproof, pulse induction, good for gold and wet sand/water detecting, but not the best detector for the park. Then maybe look at a second hand Sovereign or Explorer for all other areas.

If you discount the gold detecting and want to buy from new, something like the Explorer will cover parks, dry sand, wet sand, and shallow water hunting, and will competanly do 3/4 of what you want out of a detector. Do remember that the Explorer usually sits at a higher price point than the current Safari model, so the $970 pricing is pretty good.

want to buy a new metal detector have a garrett atpro happy looking for treasure but want to look for gold as well? don't want to cart two detectors when I travel is there a detector out there that dose both ????? help please was looking at the mine lab nds 2300 because it packs up little done heeps of reading don't care if its minelab garrett whites

IMHO don't go past minelab. I'll probly be lynched but whatever

Unfortunately the SDC would drive you mad as a treasure detector, a discriminating machine would be better suited for that pursuit.

The minelab 705 combopack might be worth looking at if you are after a single unit but the purist gold hunter would say don't waste your time.

If you can afford it, I would suggest that it is like deep sea and estuary fishing....a single rod would catch fish in both spots but you will have better chances for success by having the right tool for the target you are working.

The SDC is compact enough that finding that extra bit of space is a lot easier than a GPX, so with a bit of squeezing you shouldn't have to leave the relic hunter at home.

I don't know how the 3030 handles gold, for that matter I don't recall anyone posting a nugget find with one but it might also be worth researching.

ok guys thanks for that. its looking like having two detectors was hoping that there might have been one that could both jobs have to keep reading and thinking :| :|

Who here uses or can suggest a Detector that can be used for Gold and Coins ? I just cant afford both .
I was thinking of the Xterra 705 .
Cheers .

Whites MXT Pro; Fisher F19; Garrett AT Pro are other possibilities.

Fisher F19

Park or beach coins? F75 or not quite it's full brother t2 will do both Goldfields and coins. Mxt is a great suggestion. I think the answer lays in which ground and which type of detecting you will do most of. I'm hesitant to back the f19 I personally think it was a step backwards on the platform, based on a day of using one.

GT' the F75 looks good but getting up there in price... Tho Ill get a go of one hopefully soon' the reason I say F19 is all the research iv done on the machine fits perfect for what I plan on doing with it, it won't go as deep as the F75 but a little better on smaller gold expecially for lost nuggets out the tailings pile end that the dry washer classifies out, also the disc and notch program interests me a lot.

I'm sure we are all interested in what you have to say on both machines? I plan to buy a F19 very soon.

I live in Gulgong , so would be mainly Park Coins . I would also like to look for Gold in Hillend and Gulgong etc not WA

X Terra 705 work's very well for me coin shooting parks and sports fields. Had it in gold fields few times and found some old coins, relics and of course lots of junk. If you going to get one, get the gold pack with 5 x 10 DD coil only. I have found the 8 inch concentric coil not much of use.
Karl

Zuke_Lynzy said:

GT' the F75 looks good but getting up there in price... Tho Ill get a go of one hopefully soon' the reason I say F19 is all the research iv done on the machine fits perfect for what I plan on doing with it, it won't go as deep as the F75 but a little better on smaller gold expecially for lost nuggets out the tailings pile end that the dry washer classifies out, also the disc and notch program interests me a lot.

I'm sure we are all interested in what you have to say on both machines? I plan to buy a F19 very soon.

Click to expand...

Luke I've always thought you know your machines and I was hesitant to say anything. There was a guy basically giving an f19 away so I agreed I'd give him the cash up front and take it out for a day. If I still wanted it after a couple hours use I would take. If not I'd give him the travel money plus a 100 for the day as hire money.

It performed poorly in mineralization. I had mine beside it to ensure balanced views. I took it to a park I've hunted and a virgin lot I'd been eyeing off. I pulled $3.25. Hit it like for like and got $27. That's hard to look past. I would always wonder what I was missing. I sincerely reckon you would feel the same. The biggest advantage you have is busting out the whites beside it for the yellow.

I never looked at it as upgrade. I've played with different brands. Some are really impressive. I find my f75 very easy to use and the f19 very frustrating. The f75 gets a bad wrap sometimes but its just misunderstood. It has taken me a while to figure out what it can do so probably it makes me biased and I perhaps judge the f19 harshly. But I'm not alone I'm afraid. You get what you pay for. I just couldn't recommend it to someone asking after a machine when I think it struggles in areas I'd like to dig in.

I know this isn't very technical. I can elaborate on specifics to answer properly but l don't want to hijack Jeffs thread. Shoot me a pm if you want any direct questions answered or we can throw it up in a new thread.

Just reread Steve H thoughts. If he says better on small gold I believe it. I still think boost and no reset on settings and extra depth and accuracy on coins still gives the f75 the green light, even more so the Ltd mk 2 with emi shielding. That is my f75 biggest fault. Based upon what I have read and what I drew from the f19 I'm sure it's a winner especially if your coming across to the platform for the first time. I use mine for coins and parks. I'll also put a footnote here. I paid less than half of new cost. That made it attractive, and I get the price point argument in new machines. Your welcome to take it out for a spin anytime to evaluate.

Jeff'
Unfortuanly all "cheeper" VLF Detectors are going to struggle in bad ground not one detector does everything perfect but most detectors even the cheapest will find gold if someone's left it to find and in reasonable distance to the coil, Karl's word is spot on as there is a lot of people I know very happy with the 705 and probably perform just as good as most VLF's in bad ground.

Have a good scrounge through the coin detecting Topics and you will notice that a huge range of machines only work because of the good operator using them' the only mistake Iv ever made was to get sick of a detector once I was starting to do well with it' getting a new machine to start the process over again' but that's my thing!

Thanks GT I'll PM you soon.

To me , the Xterra at $1000 isnt "cheap" and all the research and choices and others differing opinions are doing my head in , I might just stick to sluicing and panning !