a very Avid Detectorist: said:
So, from the perspective of a professional detectorist, I know that in 95% of cases, a good find made with an under $400 consumer-grade 'entry-level' model is going to be indistinguishable from one found with an over $800 'top-end' model and additional $125+ accessory search coil. The 2X to 5X price multiplier comes in terms of build-quality, and specialist features, and sometimes a bit of uselessness, that is the ability to tinker around with various adjustment settings that might or might not accomplish all that much....
When it comes to considering detectors, if you spend $900 to $2500 what do you get over a low-cost model, such as a Garrett 300i? Do you get greater sensitivity, better metal discrimination, a better-built machine, really decorative decals????
Folks should-have the intention of actually buying something new, to advance to a better all-purpose detector and coil choice once they understand a little more about the hobby.
There are "entry-level" or "beginner-level" detectors offered from most major brand detector manufacturers. Some of us might consider a few of them to be a pretty decent choice to get started with, and some of the others just fall short of being very appealing,
if you really want to get serious about this great sport.
I've been enjoying the 'thrill-of-the-hunt' and have enjoyed a lot of successful good-target recoveries since I got started in March of '65. Most of the detectors I preferred to use from the latter '70s and on to the late '90s found a tremendous amount of desirables, and none of them were what we would consider 'top-end' or 'marvelously-feature' devices by todays standard .... but all of them could perform just as well today as they did back then. matter of fact, in my current working Detector Team I own and use four that date back to an introduction in '94 or '97.
Through the years I have invested in and used some of those top-dollar devices, such as owning at least 3 of the Minelab BBS units, 7 or 8 of the FBS models, and recently their Equinox 800 Multi-IQ. I've also had 3 of the White's Spectra-series models, and Fisher F75 or Teknetics T2 Ltd. SE when they were retailing for $1000 or more. None of these are in my current group of detectors.
Instead, my very proven performers are suited for specialty tasks to take on extremely dense iron contamination, or to be very competitive and useful for day-to-day Coin & Jewelry Hunting. I can take on plowed fields, pasture or rangeland, hunt in some dense wooded areas, or confront a freshwater or saltwater beach. Most are a Single-Frequency device, but a couple of them are Simultaneous Multi-Frequency, SMF, and for all of them I have selected my favorite search coil(s) to work well in various places I take them.
I do NOT own a current top-dollar detector. All of these retail brand new from a lower price of $299 for the Nokta / Makro Simplex + to mid-price MSRP such as the Garrett Apex, Minelab Vanquish 540 or Nokta / Makro Racer 2. My other detectors to round-out my 'team' are either discontinued models, like the Nokta FORS CoRe or FORS Relic, or they are from defunct companies, such as my Tesoro Bandido II microMAX and Silver Sabre microMAX devices or White's XLT and MX-7.
Today, we have a lot of really good detectors, currently produced of made in just the past half-dozen years, or some really good 'used' models that provide us with excellent in-the-field performance. It's no problem to get very good build quality, decent balance, feel and handling complements by very good in-the-field performance, and stay within a $300 to $900 budget for one of the better mid-priced to higher-priced detectors.
Monte.
Welcome, and good luck with your decision!
