Best Metal Detector to start with?

[dave14110]

Snookie very hard question to answer as every machine is built for a purpose. we don't use Gold machine in water, nor do we use coin machine in goldfield. most machines are design specifically for one purpose some may be good at many type of detecting but not excellant at any. Some discriminate others don't. My opinion is as follows
Gold, Minelab GPX 5000.
Coin, Minelab CTX 3030, Garrett AT pro, or Minelab Xterra & many others depending on price.
Waterproof machines Whites surf, Garrett Infinium, Garrett atx, Minelab Excaliber.
Then we have some machines that can do some Gold, Coins, or beach like The CTX 3030, Garrett atx, Plus some shortly to be released but again it still comes down to cost.

 

[snookie]

thanks heaps dave legend mate , cheers mark

 

[Sweetgold]

If you start out with a cheap DS 2100 for, you will learn all about manual ground balancing and when up grade it would be well worth knowing about how the auto tracking works.

 

[Guest]

There is no need to spend big money on detectors.

A good coin machine which was ahead of its time and launched by Garrett in the 90's is the GTP 1350. Look hard enough and if your lucky you
can buy one of these for about $300 US. It runs under 7 KHZ and runs deep and its aimed at finding coins. I had an opportunity yesterday to
purchase its bigger brother the GTI 1500 for $400 delivered but gaveit a miss due to Business being slow. What this machine has is a target
ID feature perfect for giving cans a miss. If the object is too big the machine will tell you.

If you want the best coin hunting machine take a look at the XP Deus. Fully wireless and simply amazing.

For the beach and salt water you can use a Garrett Sea Hunter but be prepared to dig deep holes. These have no discrimination and I purchased one from
the USA for $390 US plus postage a few months back. If I want the best machine for salt water nothing beats the CZ21.

The CZ21 is a multifrequency machine. The CZ platform does not loose depth when used in discrimination mode unlike many other machines and is
used by professional deep sea treasure hunters. Its in fact built like a tank.

Tesoro make excellent detectors and if weight is an issue Tesoro have some of the lightest machines available today.

For deep coins on mild and normal soil nothing beats the Tom D tuned CZ3D with serial 1021. I have found half cent chopped 1c piece at 6" and 7"
and once you learn the chirps are the deep signals then you will find more. These sell 2nd hand for $650 and are hard to find. Mine has been tuned by Tom
to detect a dime at 11.9". This is the machine to use at old homesteads and ghost towns. Crank up the discriminator where you won't loose the detection
depth and listen for the high tone.

Technology on coin hunting metal detectors made huge improvements in the 90's and early 2000. What we have today is a focus on lighter machines with a focus
on water proofing.

If you have the money then grab yourself a nice glossy magazine and take your pick.

If you want to be smart with your money do your research and learn about the technology powering these machines.

Examples

1. lower khz detects deeper than high khz machine in most cases.
2. Multifrequency machines are great in salt water and even Whites makes one.
3. Machines that won't loose depth in discrimination mode
4. Machine Tones. Relic hunters need one. I find coin shooting you need 3.
5. Awesome iron separation features. A detector that does this well is the Teknetics G2 or Goldbug DP.
6. Coil choices.
7. Machine weight.
8. Your budget.

Then spend some time researching whats available from the past and present and grab yourself the right unit.

 

[mickeydee]

ive just brought a garrett graphic target id, still trying to learn how to use it

 

[snookie]

wow thankyou so much for that beautiful advice wolfau,im so new to fossicking,, I have done a lot of fossil hunting in my years,and have a reasonable knowelage of this, this is just so different, and very exiting I might ad , I love learning new things,and enjoy the outdoors,, I was mainly looking for a reasonable gold detector,something that I could put under water, and that will work as well on land , do the coin detectors pick up gold aswell.im going to start my journey in the gold fields of ballarat area,and just work my way around,,. how deep do gold detectors go, maxium depth regadless of price out of interest.
thankyou very much once again, very greatful for your advice, mark

 

[Guest]

 

[snookie]

yes very much so. thankyou very much for taking the time to explain all that to me,. because I now know what I want, thankyou

 

[dave14110]

snookie all coin machines should pick up gold but often they won't handle mineralized ground and give false readings or falsing.
I have the minelab CTX 3030 which is coin machine it has discrimination Target ID & handles mineralized ground very well it is also waterproof. But I do also own many other machines some are dedicated Gold machines .
Alternative Waterproof machines to this is Garrett ATX, or infinium but neither Garrett machine can discriminate anywhere near as good as CTX 3030.
If you are wanting gold machine there is absolutly nothing wrong with the older SD 2100- SD2200 GP Extreme these machine can be purchased under $2000 but none of them are waterproof.
Hope we aren't confusing you to much.

 

[Sparra]

As much as I would like buy a top of the line detector we are just about to start building a new house on a shoe string budget...I do have the chance to buy a Whites GMT for $600 as a first detector...Is this price ok and are they a beginners detector??? Maybe I should wait until the Easter Raffle.... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Cheers...Sparra

 

[Guest]

great advice here..

 

[snookie]

thanks heaps dave, when you say water proof, do you mean just the coil part at the end and the neck? or the whole thing, is there such a machine, that you can take completely under the water, also dave when you talk about discrimination,is that the ability to block out other rubbish targets,i sort of under stand what you are saying,.., thanks heaps mate, mark

 

[Guest]

great question..

 

[snookie]

thanks dave

 

[Guest]

The GMT is a fantastic machine it will run well in most situations but the extreme, for $600 I'd grab it and it wouldn't take long to pay off in the right area' they do have a tricky learning curve but what doesn't ? Amazing how small a GMT will find gold iv found multiple pieces around 0.01 gram

 

[Sparra]

Thanks fella's...I did read all the posts about the GMT on the linked thread,was just looking for a bit more reassurance...I will pick it up tomorrow and start the learning...

Cheers...Sparra

 

[Guest]

Add any questions you mite have or any tips or tricks in the GMT posts as there is still a few out there that have a lot of knowledge on this machine.

 

[dave14110]

When I say waterproof I refer to whole machine including control box (yes submersible). Although many machines have a waterproof coils but one slip goodbye machine.
Yes discrimination you can knock out target, but I prefer to watch numbers especially in high trash area's then pick out what you have learnt to be better target. the reason I do this rather than just blank out is I learnt with the Xterra 70 when it blanks out a rejected target you can also miss the good target right next to it. Where as not rejecting but watching & learning machine you get to know good target numbers or tones bad target numbers & tones. Different target different number but not exact as some rubbish can have same number as good target depending on the brand.
I have recently brought CTX which is waterproof although I already know it is great machine & have done some testing I have not learnt the numbers yet.
My reason for CTX is it is fully waterproof & has discrimination which I like, it can handle mineralized ground well also.
Whilst not the best gold detector it has test well on samples. Many goldfields or area's within goldfield have not been touch much by Gold detectors due to high rubbish content & Gold detector don't discriminate very well if at all .
So this was another factor of me adding the CTX 3030 to my arsenal.
Hope this helps & doesn't confuse too much.

 

[snookie]

very good advice wolfau, im loving every bit of it, thankyou very much;
and to every one else as well, big thanks , keen as mustard

 

[Guest]

If anyone asks me which vlf detector to buy for the Goldfields it will only be the GMT or Fisher Gold Bug.

And why I would suggest these its not because others won't work its because these 2 machines are high

frequency and the nuggets they find they have no competition with other machines. The only thing I suggest

is to go to a rich goldfield that is very shallow. You are targeting nuggets on the ground sitting among the ironstone

and original bedrock material. I picked up a few bits this way back in the 90's with my 18khz Tesoro Dingo which

was a killer on those nuggets.

Just learn to use your machine and be patient..