tell me what you think of harbor freight MD

kctgb

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2011
Messages
33
I bought a HF metal detector to try to get the kids interested in MDing. The kids were making some good finds last fall so I wanted to do a little testing. Very unscientific testing but this is what I did. I can't bury anything in the ground as it is frozen so I used an ice cream pale filled with dirt. The pale is 6 inches deep with no metal handle.

The MD has 9 functions,
power/volume,
sensitivity,
discriminate,
all metal mode, disc mode, tone mode.
It also has an 8 inch coil and a pinpoint button on the handle(the pinpoint function works very well). The test pieces are a penny,nickle,quarter,dime,1/4inch washer, small bolt,my 18 krt gold wedding band, and a 8 grain gold nugget about half the size of a pea. The first test was an air test and all targets were picked up at between 7 and 8 inches.The second test was to bury all targets at the bottom of the pale and swing the MD over the pale. Like I said this is very unscientific but all targets were picked up with a solid tone except the gold nugget. The MD would pick up the nugget in only 2 inches of dirt. This testing was done in all metal mode. In discrimination mode I could disc out the bolt,nickle,gold
ring,penny,washer,and the dime. the ring,bolt,washer were all under the same disc setting. The quarter would not dics at all on any setting. The third test surprised me a lot. All targets were tested on tone mode and most targets didn't have any kind of different tone. Tone didn't work very well except when it came to the nugget. This is where I was most surprised. I buried the nugget at the bottom of the pale and set the switch to tone, the discrimination was set at 0 and the sensitivity at the highest possible setting and I passed the coil over the pale and the MD picked up the nugget. It didn't make a loud tone but I could hear it without head phones. This testing was done on my basement floor so I thought maybe the MD was picking up a piece of rerod or sewer pipe in the floor. I scanned the floor with an ace350 and nothing came up so I eliminated the rerod and sewer pipe. I also scanned the dirt with nothing in it to make sure something wasn't in it I didn't know about. I cannot pickup the nugget in all metal mode or in any other combination of settings. Only in tone mode like I described above. This MD is very basic with no buttons,no whistles and no LED lights. All it has is switches and nobs and a meter. This MD seems to shine when it comes to gold nuggets as I can't get my friends ace350 to pick up the nugget in six inches of dirt and the price for the ace350 is a little over $300. I paid $50.00 for the HF MD. I am quite impressed with this MD and I think this unit will pick up small targets at around 7 or 8 inches deep maybe deeper. Someone using this unit will probably have to dig a lot but will find things. Like I said in the beginning this was very unscientific but I think I learned a lot about this MD.

I hope I didn't get to long winded. Let me know what you all think.

kctgb
 
Cheap MD

Wow....sounds like you did a okay test to me and I love how you discovered the tone detection of gold.....pretty scientific if you ask me. Remember that in real world, the older coins in the ground are going to most likely have the "halo" from being buried for a length of time.....so the detector will most likely pick those up deeper (just my opinion). You did a good job testing and reporting......I may pick up a couple of these for the kids to help in our gold hunts. Thanks

By the way, do you have a model number and/or picture of the detector?

Thanks
Harold
 
HF has a reputation of selling cheap, knock off, Chinese made equipment. That doesn't mean it won't work. It just means it's cheap, knock off, Chinese made equipment.

Personally, I do not trade there anymore for a number of reasons, but many on this forun do. And, with good results.
 
Harbor Freight has cheap goods.. they do not last long, but will work for a while. Quality products pay off in the long run. RickO
 
There are no HFs around here, no Home Depots, no Lowe's, etc. Just one tiny True Value hardware store owned by the Mayor..........how convenient!!!:lol::yes::lol:
 
kctgb

Harold,
The people that posted on this thread have made a good point. I don't know how long this MD will work as I have no way of telling how good the components are in this unit. I bought it so my children can learn how to use a MD so if it dies tomorrow I feel like I got my money out of it. It was 49.99 and HF offers a two year replacement(no questions asked)warranty for $10.00. I bought the warranty so I know I have one for at least two years. No model number but the item # is 67378. It's the 9 function MD. I'm sure they have it on their web site. I would not hesitate to use it if it's all I had.

Have fun MDing
 
Harbor Freight has cheap goods.. they do not last long, but will work for a while. Quality products pay off in the long run. RickO

Its sucks not being able to afford your hobby ...but this is one hobby you need save for and wait...I think you you said it Ricko...HH..all...
 
:agreed:, But that was some creative testing. Good Job, hope your kid enjoys. I have a neighbor who is now thinking about getting one for his boy. You just never know what your going to pull out of the ground.



Its sucks not being able to afford your hobby ...but this is one hobby you need save for and wait...I think you you said it Ricko...HH..all...
 
Harbor Freight has cheap goods.. they do not last long, but will work for a while. Quality products pay off in the long run. RickO

:agreed:, But that was some creative testing. Good Job, hope your kid enjoys. I have a neighbor who is now thinking about getting one for his boy. You just never know what your going to pull out of the ground.

Nicely put scubajoe...agree ...HH..all...
 
I have only ever bought 2 things from harbor freight:

1. a paint sprayer (complete waste of money!)
2. their double barrel tumbler ( it has yet to fail me yet. Might just be the only good product they offer)
 
Surprising results, but nice.
Quality control is not great over there, so you got a pretty good one.
The one in the box next to it might be different.
Congrats...I'd use it, it should find metal.

Other things you should or should not buy at HF...
http://www.toolcrib.com/blog/2008/0...guide-the-good-enough-the-bad-and-the-abysmal
they forgot in the list of nicknames; Harbor
shithappens.gif

I don't want to be rude but I have purchased many wonderful
shithappens.gif
items from HF tools
 
they forgot in the list of nicknames; Harbor
shithappens.gif

I don't want to be rude but I have purchased many wonderful
shithappens.gif
items from HF tools


If they were so
shithappens.gif
...then why did you purchase many wonderful
shithappens.gif
items from HF tools?

Didn't you learn the first time?:?:
 
If they were so
shithappens.gif
...then why did you purchase many wonderful
shithappens.gif
items from HF tools?

Didn't you learn the first time?:?:
if you look in my post some were up there you will find out that I said they are good only if you intend to use them a few times.
most of my tools I have are from Snap-on, Matco, Mac and craftsman,
all of them made in the USA.
I don't even like Chinese blue point brand that snap on sells.

I always try to give my business to items made in America.
and support America,
I can warranty you that 90 % of my tools and equipment is Made in USA,
every time we buy at HF tools or chines made goods we are supporting China,

picture.php


Yes, I support the USA economy by buying mostly USA made goods,
as much as I can.
 
Be Careful of this machine.

I bought a HF metal detector to try to get the kids interested in MDing. The kids were making some good finds last fall so I wanted to do a little testing. Very unscientific testing but this is what I did. I can't bury anything in the ground as it is frozen so I used an ice cream pale filled with dirt. The pale is 6 inches deep with no metal handle.

The MD has 9 functions,
power/volume,
sensitivity,
discriminate,
all metal mode, disc mode, tone mode.
It also has an 8 inch coil and a pinpoint button on the handle(the pinpoint function works very well). The test pieces are a penny,nickle,quarter,dime,1/4inch washer, small bolt,my 18 krt gold wedding band, and a 8 grain gold nugget about half the size of a pea. The first test was an air test and all targets were picked up at between 7 and 8 inches.The second test was to bury all targets at the bottom of the pale and swing the MD over the pale. Like I said this is very unscientific but all targets were picked up with a solid tone except the gold nugget. The MD would pick up the nugget in only 2 inches of dirt. This testing was done in all metal mode. In discrimination mode I could disc out the bolt,nickle,gold
ring,penny,washer,and the dime. the ring,bolt,washer were all under the same disc setting. The quarter would not dics at all on any setting. The third test surprised me a lot. All targets were tested on tone mode and most targets didn't have any kind of different tone. Tone didn't work very well except when it came to the nugget. This is where I was most surprised. I buried the nugget at the bottom of the pale and set the switch to tone, the discrimination was set at 0 and the sensitivity at the highest possible setting and I passed the coil over the pale and the MD picked up the nugget. It didn't make a loud tone but I could hear it without head phones. This testing was done on my basement floor so I thought maybe the MD was picking up a piece of rerod or sewer pipe in the floor. I scanned the floor with an ace350 and nothing came up so I eliminated the rerod and sewer pipe. I also scanned the dirt with nothing in it to make sure something wasn't in it I didn't know about. I cannot pickup the nugget in all metal mode or in any other combination of settings. Only in tone mode like I described above. This MD is very basic with no buttons,no whistles and no LED lights. All it has is switches and nobs and a meter. This MD seems to shine when it comes to gold nuggets as I can't get my friends ace350 to pick up the nugget in six inches of dirt and the price for the ace350 is a little over $300. I paid $50.00 for the HF MD. I am quite impressed with this MD and I think this unit will pick up small targets at around 7 or 8 inches deep maybe deeper. Someone using this unit will probably have to dig a lot but will find things. Like I said in the beginning this was very unscientific but I think I learned a lot about this MD.

I hope I didn't get to long winded. Let me know what you all think.

kctgb
The 9-function MD fails MISERABLY over plain gravel as it WILL go off on EVERY piece of gravel as if it were a coin and no amount of discrimination or sensitivity adjustment will solve the problem. It's not just this one as a friend of mine bought one and his behaved the same way. Totally ruins the versatility of an otherwise very sensitive, very deep-seeking detector. It's a shame for such a nice looking machine. Hope none of you have encountered gravel in the Piedmont of North Carolina or you're in for a lot of wasted digging time and effort. Don't know how this model behaves in other regions of the country and if it detects on other gravel types the same way.
 
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