Do you happen to know the weight of the E-trac and V3. I am not in the market but if I ever do want to go top of the line one consideration for me is weight. I have very severe neck and back troubles.
Thanks
coins...how deep?
- Thread starter Coin_Master
- Start date
Do you happen to know the weight of the E-trac and V3. I am not in the market but if I ever do want to go top of the line one consideration for me is weight. I have very severe neck and back troubles.
Thanks
Beefcake
Elite Member
my quality finds to trash ratio certainly improved with the purchase of the DFX. Depth is relative to being able to tell what the target is before you dig... granted not always totally acurate, but I believe it makes a huge difference in whether to dig or not which equals speed and more opportunity of targets.
I agree 100%! Very well said.
Coin_Master
Moved On
right now metal detecting is a hobby for me instead of a career. I would not conisder spending 1500 on a whites v3, now as i get older and get a place of my own (im 17) i will probably get a high end one.
it is useless to argure about detectors for the simple fact is everyone thinks thier's is better then yours, its like someone saying fords suck and honda rules and vice versa. Metal detector owners seem to be very biased. one person will claim that his whites will find stuff where someone had a garret and a garret owner thinks that he found stuff where there was a whites used.
there is nothing wrong with being biased, everyone looks for diffrent things in a metal detector. also people use them for diffrent things.
it is useless to argure about detectors for the simple fact is everyone thinks thier's is better then yours, its like someone saying fords suck and honda rules and vice versa. Metal detector owners seem to be very biased. one person will claim that his whites will find stuff where someone had a garret and a garret owner thinks that he found stuff where there was a whites used.
there is nothing wrong with being biased, everyone looks for diffrent things in a metal detector. also people use them for diffrent things.
EncrustedYen
Elite Member
So true detecto.
Based on what people post here at the FMDF I would say that the typical successful hunter is likely to be using a machine from $200- $1500 made by one of the big name companies.
Can't recall anyone whose main machine was a $50 cheapo...though there very well could be. Likewise we don't have many in the super expensive bracket.Spending several thousand dollars to chase after that last Barber Dime everyone else missed just isn't most peoples idea of fun.
The guys and gals who find the most goodies are generally the ones out there on a regular basis. They put in the hours and are constantly seeking out new territory.
Cherry Picker
Forum Supporter
Yes people are likely to recommend the brand they use, and they are probably being very honest about it. Thats why there is no single one detector that can claim "the best" status. Now if someone were to recommend the Explorer for prospecting or a PI for coin shooting, then you need to be concerned.
Truth is what ever it takes to make you happy, is the best detector for you. Be that a $50 machine or a $1,500 machine.
Here is a story that has always stuck in my mind about one person and his reason for recommending his brand of detector.
This guy was new to metal detecting and wanted the very best so he bought a $1,000 machine. He took it to the local park and schools but never found anything but clad. After six months he sold the detector and said to heck with it. About a year later he caught the bug again, but this time he didn't want to dish out a bunch of money only to be disappointed, so he bought a $150 detector. He took it to a private lot where he started pulling some nice old coins right off the bat.
Now when you ask this guy what detector he would recommend, he will be very firm that the $150 detector out performs the $1,000 detector he owned before. Fact is he is being very honest and not trying to mislead anyone.
Truth is what ever it takes to make you happy, is the best detector for you. Be that a $50 machine or a $1,500 machine.
Here is a story that has always stuck in my mind about one person and his reason for recommending his brand of detector.
This guy was new to metal detecting and wanted the very best so he bought a $1,000 machine. He took it to the local park and schools but never found anything but clad. After six months he sold the detector and said to heck with it. About a year later he caught the bug again, but this time he didn't want to dish out a bunch of money only to be disappointed, so he bought a $150 detector. He took it to a private lot where he started pulling some nice old coins right off the bat.
Now when you ask this guy what detector he would recommend, he will be very firm that the $150 detector out performs the $1,000 detector he owned before. Fact is he is being very honest and not trying to mislead anyone.
Land Fisher
Junior Member
I think it's pretty clear that a $1,500 detector will yield better results than a $50. But what I'm less clear about is whether it's worth upgrading from a $400-500 detector to a $1,500 unit. Is there much of a difference there?
I am new to the hobby, so this is just an opinion. I know that probably some people go out and buy a V3 to start, but for the most part is seems like the majority that buy the real top of the line are hunters that have years of experience. They have really mastered and honed there skills with years of countless hours swinging a detector. I doubt there is any substitute for that. Now that they are at that level they can probably best utilize what the top of the line machines offer. Someone like me is better off learning to learn as much as I can and build up my level of expertise before I spend $1500. Right now I wouldn't take advantage of all it has to offer, and by the time I could do that there will be even better machines to choose from instead.
Beefcake
Elite Member
Remember Mr. Nugget. He bought that NatGeo $15 detector that he used for a couple of weeks until he was able to get a new one... but he had a blast with that NatGeo and that was all that mattered! Your detector becomes part of you in this hobby. Confidence and comfort with your machine makes a big difference. I feel at ease when I use the DFX, now if I were to switch to a minelab - equally good machines- I wouldn't be as comfortable with the different sounds and symbols that are involved. I loved my Ace 250 and would not hesitate to use it again if my DFX broke down. If the coins are there, you will find them with a "low end" machine... location, confidence in your machine, and enjoyability are the three determining factors for my success. Here's a pic of that mean NatGeo.... I still can't help but giggle at the design of this bad boy...looks like a clothes iron...
Attachments
silentknight
Full Member
MrAir
Full Member
thought id throw this in here
a man with a $1500.00 detector sweeps a field and finds nothing
a man with a $100.00 detector sweeps the same field and finds a gold coin
what have we learned here
the detectors is only as good as the person using it
experience and technique is everything
:-)
a man with a $1500.00 detector sweeps a field and finds nothing
a man with a $100.00 detector sweeps the same field and finds a gold coin
what have we learned here
the detectors is only as good as the person using it
experience and technique is everything
:-)
randwool
Forum Supporter
Vito
Elite Member
~Alan~
Forum Supporter
I was surprised recently when I was on our local park, before the surface was re-laid. We were finding early decimal coins and ring pulls at between 4" - 6" deep. So they had sunk that deep in around 30yrs. It does make you wonder.
Golden
Elite Member
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2007
- Messages
- 1,288
I don't think anyone doubts that the person behind the detector is a major factor, but to believe a top of the line detector doesn't factor in is to believe there is no difference between a $50 detector and a $1,700 detector. I just don't believe that is the case. There are also too many variables involved to make it a simple call.
LOCATION:
Give a $50 detector to a novice and put them in a place where no detector has gone before, and chance are they would make some great finds. Put that novice in an area that gets hunted frequently, and chance are they will be very disappointed. We see that quite often. Take that same novice with a top of the line detector, and the chances increase quite a bit that they will make some good finds.
EXPERIENCE:
Give that veteran a $50 detector and put them in an area frequently hunted, and chance are they would be disappointed. Odds are better that they would make some finds, but in the end the detector is the weak link.
My experience I posted above is the perfect example. I had years on my old trusty detector, and was very sure that there was little I had missed. I had no experience on my new top of the line and it turned my old "hunted out" sites into new virgin territory in one day. All I'm trying to say is don't underestimate the value of a "better" detector. I did, and I learned a valuable lesson from it. I will now always know new technology WILL bring me more finds.
If you're fortunate enough to live in an area where any fair detector does you good, then I say great, but just remember this. Even that garden of eden will dry up over time as mind did, and then you'll need more than just experience. After 30 years of hunting our city park I can say with confidence, if you plan on coming to Dodge City and hunting my park, you had better bring more than experience.
Totally agree with Detector here.
Just a follow on: the more expensive top of the line detectors have the inbuilt technology that some of your cheaper versions may not have. You pay for what you get. In having said that, however, any detector in the hands of a master will perform well within it's scope of function. There are detectors our there that superceed other models and makes in their circuitry, such as the number of detecting frequencies, excellent target IDing, better and more accurate pin pointing, the ability to detect in close proximity to other detectors and in heavily mineralised ground, and then you have your underwater machines with their variations between models and makes. Where one detector will outshine itself in one type of hunting, it won't do so well in different ground. Some detectors do very well in all types of ground.
So long as you are comfortable with your detector and how it works, nothing else really matters.
Just a side point, I entered a detecting competition a few years back where every man and his detector came along to hunt for buried tokens. There were professional gold hunters with their expensive gold machines, the more expensive relic machines like your Soveriegns, Explorers and Quattros, then your cheaper models like the Garrette Ace 250 and 150. The most amount of tokens found in the competition were found by a chap with an Ace 250.....yet you can be sure the more expensive detectors ran over the same areas as he did, but didn't find one token. Why? I believe that sometimes 'simplicity' and having 'mastered' your detector, works in your favor.
Golden
bob woods
New Member
well i have been m/d for less then one year i start with a used white's id-pro and within 3 month's time with the coins that i found it paid for it self. about two month's ago i got a used white's mxt and have found a few gold rings and have paid for half of the cost of it and i am still learn the way of the hunt
Land Fisher
Junior Member
Neighbor down the street recently re-did his own lawn. I don't know how common this method is, but he had quite a bit dirt hauled in, spread it around the existing surface, then laid new sod on top of that. So basically, he added 2-4 inches over a weekend.
Would be interesting to know a little about the history of landscaping and sod practices over the years.
Would be interesting to know a little about the history of landscaping and sod practices over the years.
z118
Forum Supporter
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2006
- Messages
- 3,180
This is by and large true, but I do like to point out that I hunted with a $100 BH Tracker IV for my first year and I did pretty well in my opinion.
http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=12926
I guess another factor we don't talk about too much is passion. A guy with a real bad case of the detecting bug and a low end detector will smoke a guy with a $1,500 detector who just isn't that into it or is too lazy to dig.
Lowjiber
Forum Supporter
In golf, there's an expression that is often used when a fairly poor player starts buying the latest driver or the latest "inovation" in irons..."YOU CAN'T BUY A GOLF GAME."
I used to carry a single-digit USGA handicap, and it's been my pleasure to play with three professional golfers in my lifetime. Believe me, they can beat you with a hockey stick.
The same is true in metal detecting as reflected in a few of the posts above. Nothing beats experience. I think I'm pretty good, but would never go head-to-head with someone like Detector, or others on this forum, with years of experience...even if he was using a stud-finder from Ace Hardware and I had a Vision.
I've hunted with a guy who's 82 and has been hunting for 35 years. I learn from him every time. I hope to be half as good as he is when I'm 82.
Luck does play a part. In golf, you'll read stories about the rookie who, on his first day out, made a hole-in-one. I once saw a terrible golfer "skull" a 9 iron into a tree line and the ball bounced out and into the hole. However, the experienced golfers are the ones who put every ball close enough to the flag the majority of the time to "get lucky".
My granny used to tell me that, "It's a poor carpenter who blames his hammer." So, for those who are just starting out and think you need a $1500 machine...think again.
I used to carry a single-digit USGA handicap, and it's been my pleasure to play with three professional golfers in my lifetime. Believe me, they can beat you with a hockey stick.
The same is true in metal detecting as reflected in a few of the posts above. Nothing beats experience. I think I'm pretty good, but would never go head-to-head with someone like Detector, or others on this forum, with years of experience...even if he was using a stud-finder from Ace Hardware and I had a Vision.
I've hunted with a guy who's 82 and has been hunting for 35 years. I learn from him every time. I hope to be half as good as he is when I'm 82.
Luck does play a part. In golf, you'll read stories about the rookie who, on his first day out, made a hole-in-one. I once saw a terrible golfer "skull" a 9 iron into a tree line and the ball bounced out and into the hole. However, the experienced golfers are the ones who put every ball close enough to the flag the majority of the time to "get lucky".
My granny used to tell me that, "It's a poor carpenter who blames his hammer." So, for those who are just starting out and think you need a $1500 machine...think again.
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Good post. One of my favorite quotes, that applies to most things is this definition of luck.
"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity"
I was self employed for many years, and I can't begin to count how many times I have witnessed people that let opportunities slip right past them because they were not prepared. Then there are the few that seem to always be "lucky" time and time again, but of course it is they who had worked the hardest and were always doing something extra to improve themselves. They put themselves not only in position to take advantage of an opportunity, but even more important were able to recognize that opportunity because they were prepared to do so.
