pescadore
Elite Member
I am posting this information mainly for Newbies and others that are considering buying a new machine. I have been detecting on an off a few times since the Early 70's. My father got me involved in detecting because he was hoarding silver coins and wanted me to use the detector to find more silver for him. He bought me a Whites (i think it was a coinmaster) detector and I was pretty much hooked after that. I would read articles about metal detecting and see ads for the newest best thing and started my search for the ultimate detector and maybe even the perfect detector. I bought, sold, and traded for a lot of detectors over the years and have finally at 61 years of age realized that the perfect detector does not exist and never will. I have seen guys with Bounty Hunter detectors find more stuff at hunts than the other guys with much more expensive machines because they knew what their machine was telling them. I have heard this spill before about the guy that knows his machine is better than a new user of a top end machine but never really bought into that theory until now. I will admit that I can be pretty hard headed at times. I have come to the conclusion after years of experience that the machine is a very small part of whether you will be sucessful in this hobby. You are much better off finding a machine that has the features that you will use (not too much fluff) and learning all the nuances of the signal whether audible, visual, or both and combining that with research (and of course luck). If you are getting frustrated learning a complex machine and you are not enjoying this hobby then don't be ashamed to downgrade to a simpler machine that you enjoy because you will find more stuff by being proficient than by having the best of the best. I did that very thing recently and my good finds have improved and in April have already surpassed the number of silver coins I found all of last year as well as finding my oldest US Coin. I spent years cycling through menus and settings trying to find the perfect combination only to get frustrated and disappointed when my $1000 machine did not improve my finds. I know for some of you really techy guys out there, you enjoy adjusting and fine tuning but for me, give me a simple machine that fits my style and finds stuff. Just my honest opinion and philosophy of detecting but it is working for me. Here is a list of my past detectors. If there is number beside it, that's how many of them I have had. I wish I had all the money back that I have wasted.
Past Detectors Used :
1st Detector was a Whites TR machine that my Dad bought me when I was in High School (graduated in 1972 if that helps)
Others By Brand name:
Bounty Hunter
Time Ranger
Garrett
Treasure Ace 100
GTI 1500
Ace 250 (2)
Used a friends AT Pro for a little while
Fisher
CZ-5 (2)
Coinstrike (2)
ID Excel
F5
Minelab
Xterra 50
Xterra 505
Xterra 705 (2)
Etrac
Excalibur
Technetics
Eurotek Pro
Tesoro
Toltec 2
Golden Umax
El Dorado
Deleon
Troy
Shadow X2 (2)
Shadow X3 (2)
XP
Deus (3)
Whites
Eagle Spectrum
XLT
DFX (2)
Prizm 5
Prizm 6T (2)
M6 (Current Machine)
MXT (Current Machine)
Past Detectors Used :
1st Detector was a Whites TR machine that my Dad bought me when I was in High School (graduated in 1972 if that helps)
Others By Brand name:
Bounty Hunter
Time Ranger
Garrett
Treasure Ace 100
GTI 1500
Ace 250 (2)
Used a friends AT Pro for a little while
Fisher
CZ-5 (2)
Coinstrike (2)
ID Excel
F5
Minelab
Xterra 50
Xterra 505
Xterra 705 (2)
Etrac
Excalibur
Technetics
Eurotek Pro
Tesoro
Toltec 2
Golden Umax
El Dorado
Deleon
Troy
Shadow X2 (2)
Shadow X3 (2)
XP
Deus (3)
Whites
Eagle Spectrum
XLT
DFX (2)
Prizm 5
Prizm 6T (2)
M6 (Current Machine)
MXT (Current Machine)