honest assessment
well your asking a question that a lot of people will chime in thier "brand preference" bs
seems like most have the idea that they have the best machine and thats all there is, well its not all there is, the serious guys like myself will use anything that comes along that does a better job and i could care less who makes it!
bang for buck and some others might agree with me and some not.
if your trying to get a low cost machine and you plan on hunting with someone else some the bounty hunters seem to give off interference for a good range from the machine keep that in mind it gets old trying to stay far enough from whoever has one.
tesoro silver umax or tesoro anything for that matter the umax brand new around 225 gets excellent depth and performs better than anything i have compared even close in its price ( I do not sell metal detectors
)
you could spend a few more bucks and try to find a nice whites spectrum or e series machine used anywhere from 250 - say 450 youd be doing real good starting out
fisher makes some decent lower cost machines and perform well also
currently i am using a whites xlt and it runs great
I did just but a minelab etrac but i havent used it yet so i will not comment on its operation or performance its also one of the most expensive units so thats not even coming to play here
you dont need fancy bells and whistles to find good stuff coins jewelry etc what you do need is some decent depth and good discrimination abilty wethers its a vdi display type machine or knobs, with most of these machines its 90% about what your hear not what shows up on the screen anyway.
honestly most of the display type machines are not consistent enough past 4" of depth to really trust however if you use a machine for a ton of hours and really learn it even the inconsistencies remain somewhat consitent if that makes any sense to you and you get a better idea of what the machine is telling you anyway even when it comes to guessing at targets 7-8" down
if you seriously plan on getting into this hobby i will tell you if you go with the cheapest thing you get your hands on and actually dig up a few nice things youl be wishing you had the next one up so if your serious you should try to find a mid range machine
however like i said before the silver umax for its price will get you damn good results ands it rock solid built machine
hope this helps
Dan