MD in Brazil - When the conditions suck, which MD is the best?

ZenSweeper

New Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2019
Messages
6
Location
São Paulo, Brazil.
Hello there you all,
let me beforehand ask for your patience and forgiveness for falling into the "creates an account -> creates a new wich_detector_should_I thread" clichè. In my defence I've read a lot of the threads in this section and mostly all of the sticky thread and I still find the need to create this one.

Now let me explain why: Brazil is a bubble from the world in so many aspects, it's far and as if this wasn't enough it has very protective laws and taxes for imports, so this creates a very "unique" scenario.

For illustration purposes check this Apple Iphone Xs Price Comparison. I obtained price infos for the same product, Silver Iphone Xs 256GB, the only difference was the location, USA and BR Apple online stores. The converted price for the USA price (USD 1149) is BRL 4315, but the here in Brazil we pay BRL 8099 (USD 2156) on the very same phone! Do the math, you can almost buy 2 of them for this $! :laughing: And we are talking official stores in this example, it gets worse when the official store doesn't exist here and middlemen thrive.

So with this in mind, bear with me as I try to explain the options that showed up to me since I've decided to get a MD. Okay, so after reading here and in other places about a good starter MD, those are the ones that both caught my attention and are available here:

1) Teknetics Eurotek - someone said you could get one for something like USD 153, so a very reasonable price for a decent starter machine, right? Yep, but here in Brazil if you want one of those the price is USD 380! (PRO is USD 460)

2) MineLab GoFIND 20 - a lot of you don't like it, I was reluctant to get it too but then I found it on sale what I hoped would reduce this price gap. I know it's kinda toyish, but hey I can get this little beauty for as little as USD 160 (its listed for USD 132 on USA amazon now), so its "only 20%" overpriced, that's what I call a deal :cool3:

3) BH TK-IV - this is one also on the poll and with lots of votes, so it's listed USD 80 just now at Amazon and I can get it here for USD 292.

4) Fisher F11 - I confess I don't know much about this one, but its the closest to the poll second place FIsher F2. This one costs USD 400 here (listed USD 156 on Amazon)

5) Chinese stuff - This category includes a variety of MDs that are abundant here, these are easy to get by and relatively cheap, but should I? For example, I can get this "Tander (I guess if they aimed at Thunder and ended up with this instead) MD". It seems to be the Tianxin MD3010ii judging for its appearance and functions and I can get it for something like USD 108. I also can get the MD3030 for something like USD 160.

6) Used MDs - this is a virtually nonexistent market, 90% of what you find consists of Chinese Stuff (I wonder why :roll: ) but I also found a Teknetics Alpha for USD 345 (USD 160 on Amazon), one Garret Ace 250 for the same USD 345 and an Ace 150 for USD 260.

Just out of curiosity, considering that EQX800 is favourite to many here, you would have to pay USD 1200 to get it here, AT MAX would cost USD 1800.

Being sincere, this disadvantageous scenario almost takes the possible fun of this hobby away for me, I've been considering on simply giving this up. I created this thread with the objective of making the options clearer even to me and mainly to hear from all you experts on this matter. What would you do in my case? I could expend some money on this hobby, it's not that I'm poor or anything, but it all seems bad deals in my country and I wouldn't like to start with a too complex/too expensive machine for something I've only read about and watched online.

Thanks for those who read down to this point, I hope at least this was an interesting read, I really enjoyed writing it and I wait for your input.

I am expecting to sweep on beaches mainly, could do some parks, I guess this info is useful so you can help me properly.

tl;dr brazilian newbie wants to start in MD and faces the obstacles of a emerging economy country, help him make his choice less of a financial stupidity!
 

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I think your best bet would be to spend the $$$$ for the Equinox. The entry level detectors you listed are still fun to play with, but they are more toy than tool. If you decide the hobby is not for you the Eq would have a better resale value.
Entry level is just that, a way to enter the hobby, if you like it you will be wanting to upgrade anyway.
 
I’d take a trip to a country that sells the Equinox 800 with a dealer’s discount for say $750. USD. Then take it back with you as your carry-on.
Or buy it and ship it to yourself from say the awesome trip to the USA you just had where you had a chance to swing that metal detector. Now it’s used and not new. So hopefully you won’t get nailed for import fees.
Welcome to the forum from Southern California. Good luck!
 
Welcome from Pennsylvania, USA. I was fortunate to work in Brazil, quite awhile ago now. We had a project in Volta Redonda, working on oxygen compressors for the national steel company there. The exchange rate at that time was quite favorable to us. We stayed at the Hotel Bella Vista. I was there several weeks by myself setting up the testing we were going to do. On my first evening in Volta R, I met two locals who attended university in Sao Paulo. They took me under their wing and I spent 6 weeks of pure bliss with them. Rather than visiting the standard tourist places, they took me local. I loved Brazil, the countryside, the food, an especially the people. So much music, so much dancing, so much fun.
It broke my heart to leave. I had been there about 6 weeks. I almost didn't. You see, I met a girl there, but that's another story. Good luck with your delema.
Tchau
 
Thank you all for your replies so far!

I think your best bet would be to spend the $$$$ for the Equinox.
That would be a step too big right now, you can get, let's say, a nice motorcycle with the money they charge you for the EQX800 here. Also, reselling not too hot here.

I’d take a trip to a country that sells the Equinox 800 with a dealer’s discount for say $750. USD. Then take it back with you as your carry-on.
That's on my plans, sincerely. There's a lot of stuff that I wanted to buy but gave up because of this overpricing situation in the last year or two so it's actually worth it to travel to USA and buy it there and bring it with me. Import taxes at airport would be something like 50% of what surpass the USD 500 limit, so I think that's doable. Now shipping it to myself used or new could be taxed and SURELY would cause it to take something like 3 months to get it to my doorstep. I could go back to Brazil walking and still make it before the MD. :laughing: Usually it can take up to this period to the Feds here clear you stuff entrance on this otherwise blessed country. On the other hand my next vacations are too soon for me to proper plan a intl travel (also ticket prices would be too expensive because of this proximity) and get back in time to have fun with the MD during the same vacations.

Welcome from Pennsylvania, USA. I was fortunate to work in Brazil, quite awhile ago now.
Oi! Nice to hear you had a good time here, Brazil is lovely, specially when you are paid in dollars/euros. The land is beautiful and so is our culture. I attended to USP, those were very good years. I know a good bunch of people who came here and ended up marrying and not going back. Actually, Brazil is a foreign waves formed country, everyone ended up here somehow and did not go back. You should come again!

Stay away from the Chinese made junk. It is not worth anything. Will not work correctly.
Notes taken, will do. The temptation is great, though. Here we have a bunch of youtubers that will make videos and reviews telling people how great a chinese MD is and everyone should get one and then leaving a referral link in the video description so they can get money with the sales. Same thing happens with chinese smartphones here, people will do the most shameful videos about crappy products to generate sales with partners chinese sites and get referral money. So it's actually difficult because those who know it's crappy will not bother making videos alerting people of this fact, but people trying to get ref money will make lots of videos showing how amazing the products supposedly are .


Let me add to my list:
Someone is selling a ACE 300i used only 15 times max for 350 USD. Feeling inclined to get it. New one here is 640 USD.
 
Thanks for all who helped, I ended up getting a ACE 300i in perfect conditions for $280, I'm very glad with it. Already hit the beach and a park with it, got some coins and other stuff. As soon as I can I'll post my findings here!
 
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