Budget Help

Greetings, and welcome to the forum. I pretty much started off with the Ace 250, and it was a great machine. When I felt the time had come to upgrade, I went with the Garrett AT Pro. Personally, I wish I would have started with the AT Pro. Yes, it was a bit more money, but there was a learning curve after switching machines. That time would have been better spent learning the AT Pro and what I could do with it. Also, it has sealed connections, so if there is water in the river bottom, or you want to search creeks or streams in the area, it will do it. So there you have my two cents....for what it's worth.

Go with the AT pro. Fairly simple to learn and will do you right in the river. If you find you like the hobby, sell the AT pro and get the Nox.

DooDahMan said:

I would spend some hours coin hunting in local parks and yards and maybe a beach (family vacation) or relic trip (farm in No. VA) once per year.

I am not limiting myself to these options (I like a lot of the First Texas products at $200-$600 range) but mainly trying to figure out how much to spend. As a newbie, would you spend $300, $600 or $1000?

Click to expand...

I have a used Minelab 705 with a gold pack coil and NEL sharpshooter 7.5khz coil. If you are thinking about the AT Pro you should look at the 705 can do everything that the at pro can do but with better performance. Only thing that the At Pro has that the 705 doesn't is the fact that it has a waterproof housing which since it is single frequency you wont be diving or in the salty surf with it.

My first machine was a Minelab Sovereign GT which was discontinued six months after I made the purchase. . Paid what a new NOX 800 costs. I have not had to "Upgrade" to a higher priced machine as some folks will do In fact I used it today for a few hours. Dug $7.25 in clad, a bunch of copper pennies and one sterling silver ring. If you think that you will stick with detecting go with a better machine.

Plenty of used AT Pros out there. Plenty of optional coils for it too if you want beach, park, woods. Etc. personally I wouldn't spend $1000 on a first machine. Some people don't spend as much time doing it as they thought they would. When you buy used, if you don't like it, you can sell it and not lose anything.

Million dollar question. If you go too cheap and the results suck, you will hate the hobby. But you may not like the hobby anyway so you might lose there.

A used ATPRO should be able to be had for 350-450. And be something you can have success with and be effective for some time.
The good news is if you have an interest in the hobby and don't think you will get rich doing it , then chances are you will enjoy being here

How do I say this? Ok,things are changing with metal detectors so fast in the last two years it’s insane..What was top of line yesterday is no longer all the rave today.
All these machines find metal.Some May be a inch or 2 deeper,Some a little faster,some a little better at discriminatoron...In the end it’s splitting hairs between most machines in the same price point unless your trying to take this hobbie to a professional level on a budget.
Some see things one way,some of us another..No one can tell you what is right for you,these machines are like chics,and only your personal preference matters.
So,what does that mean? Maybe you want a Backlight,maybe not..Maybe you want the best visual ID,or maybe you want a waterproof machine to hose down in the tub cause you’ll never go in the lake anyway.
Look what options you’d like the most,no machine has them all.There is no waterproof,best Visual ID,best depth,Best ergonomics,best interface,best blah blah blah..it’s just not out yet,but who knows in 2 years it might be.
Until then get what YOU like,cause it’s gonna be you out there by yourself and not competing with anyone.When your out there swinging whatever you decide your gonna be much happier cause it’ll be what you want and not a recommendation.

Welcome to the forum and to an amazing hobby.

I would go with a waterproof machine most definitely. Given your budget and stated plans, I'd go with the AT Pro (although I love my Nox, I still love my AT Pro as well), and get the 5X8 coil, and a nice pinpointer. With the Pro you'll find just about anything that the Nox can find, and the main difference would be salt water hunting for most people. After you get addicted, you can upgrade to the Nox in a year or two, or whatever the next "primo" machine is at that time.

Want to detect salt sand/water need a multi frequency machine...

DooDahMan said:

I've done a lot of research here, read a couple of books and watched 100s of videos. I don't feel any closer to making a decision on my first detector. I mainly plan to hunt a river bottom area at my camp that gets flooded a couple of times per year. The area may not hold anything but cans and bottle caps so it may get boring quickly. I would spend some hours coin hunting in local parks and yards and maybe a beach (family vacation) or relic trip (farm in No. VA) once per year.

I'm torn between buying a basic model or something a little more advanced. The advice seems to be split between buy what you can afford and get a starter machine and really learn it. Just for the detector, the most I want to spend is $1000. I've watched a lot of the videos and read most of the owner's manual for the Nox 800. It seems like a fine detector with lots of good reviews. I also watched the owner's manual videos for the AT Pro and many of the user videos. The detector seems like a good fit too with mainly good reviews. I looked at the Ace 250 which got a high percentage of votes in the "What's a good detector for a beginner?" poll on this site. One recently popped up locally for $150 on Craigslist which is an attractive price point. Would the Nox give me 6 times more enjoyment than the Ace?

I am not limiting myself to these options (I like a lot of the First Texas products at $200-$600 range) but mainly trying to figure out how much to spend. As a newbie, would you spend $300, $600 or $1000?

Click to expand...

Only you can answer your own question here.
You know your budget.
If you have indeed researched you should know the strengths and weaknesses of the different models.
User friendly I consider a big item to consider for beginner.

Good luck whatever you decide.

Hi
tnsharpshooter said it really well. User friendly is really important for a beginner. To me, user friendly means: 1. a detector that is comfortable to swing (3lbs or less), 2. easy to setup, 3. gives you accurate information down to about 5" deep in most soil conditions and 4. presents a challenge but is fun to use.

Depending on where you live some detectors don't do well with #3. They sort of tell you what you are supposed to be digging with on screen information like target descriptions in words or flashing bins that are 50% accurate at best. Target ID numbers and the audio responses are better indicators of what you are digging. So finding a detector that treats you like a grown-up or not relying on that other information is a good idea. Some of these same detectors will not go deep either unless your soil has very low mineralization. These are mostly the beginner to low mid-level detectors.

Here are a few suggestions that do well with all four categories.

0ne that has a limited amount of features but works great for most beginners is the Teknetics Minuteman which is the same as the Eurotek Pro. It gives you all the info you need to get started and costs less than $150. It covers #s 1. 2.and 3. really well. It works well in most soil conditions, has good audio responses on targets and gives you solid target ID numbers and depth readings. Its only drawback is #4 since it might not challenge you for a long time. Some people also really like the Fisher F22 and F44. I have not been one of them so far (due to really bad soil conditions where I live) but you can try one out at most big box stores like Cabelas.

The AT Pro is a great detector for lots of people. Some have complained about its weight distribution, the audio, and the small display. Same complaints about the Ace series. They are proven detectors though and work well in most soil conditions.

The Minelab X-Terra 505 and 705 are great detectors too that don't overwhelm you with useless information. They have completely different tones than the Garretts. Some people don't like the audio. They are also proven to work very well and they have very good ground balancing features for tough soil conditions. Good deals are out there on used 505s and 705s.

If you are really considering a new ATPro you could also think about the Equinox 600 and used Makro Racer or Kruzer series detectors.

thanks,
Jeff

Dont spend more than $600, dont spend less than $150.
For a beginner spending more would bring buyers remorse. Spending too little will leave you disappointed.

I swing a deus and will speak highly of it in any thread. That being said, you can have a bunch of fun and find great things with an AT Pro. The Pro is quite capable, waterproof and rugged. This is a want vs need situation, the AT Pro is more than all you need. Reading some things about higher detectors may make you want one but the benefits are not worth the extra bucks if it will blow your budget to buy one.

Thanks for all the replies. Very helpful and has me leaning towards the middle of my budget.

Big Treble - I'm a little disappointed to read I won't be getting rich. I don't know why but I've always loved finding stuff even if it doesn't have value.

woodbutcher/pryan67 - the waterproof option is where I change my mind a lot. I go from "must have" to "useless" about every hour. On my last truck purchase, a slide down rear window made the short "must have" list. I probably use that window 1% of the time so I'll probably make the wrong decision on waterproof.

jmaclen - nice summary. Comfort and weight is on my list. I'm relying on comments about balance as well. I wish I could use them all for a few hours to see what works best for me.

I'll reply here with my decision. Again, thanks for all the replies.

I started with a Garrett GTAX 550 and liked it but quickly out grew it and wanted a new upgraded detector. I was between the AT Pro because of the past garrett machine and the xterra 705. I decided even though I would be hunting the beach more often than in land the 705 was the better option for me because despite it not being waterproof I didn't need it because I wasnt wading out into the water. Plus being on a beach and have the gold pack coil definitely gave me the better chance of find gold. Plus the 705 had alot more features that the AT Pro didnt have that ended up being really useful.

The only thing I dont like is that the At Pro doesnt have a true noise cancel it just shifts the frequency so you dont get interference from other detectors where the 705 has the noise cancel to get ride of EMF and other detectors around the same frequency.

woodbutcher said:

..... No one can tell you what is right for you,..... ..... get what YOU like,cause it’s gonna be you out there by yourself and not competing with anyone. When your out there swinging whatever you decide your gonna be much happier cause it’ll be what you want and not a recommendation.

Click to expand...

Yup.
My go to detector is the 705. I have more expensive units and I can buy any detector out there. I really ENJOY USING the 705, I DON'T FEEL under gunned and will NEVER sale it. I know a guy who will ony use Tesoros after trying others. I hope you find what works for you.

I'm new to this also and my #1 issue is waterproofness. The last thing I wanted to do is spend ANY money on a rig only to have it get ruined in the rain or slide into a puddle or something else related to water.

I'll probably go with the nox 800 but like I said, I'm new to all this so my mind may get changed again...

Since you mentioned river bottom , if you will ever hunt it when there is water that should narrow it down to just waterproof detectors. You can get a cheaper detector but it probably wont be waterproof.......accidentally drop it in the water once ( its easy to do ) and its finished , you might as well throw it away. If the river bed is always going to be dry then you don't have anything to worry about but if there will ever be water then its an obvious choice. As far as I know the most affordable and reliable waterproof detector is the Garrett AT pro. Its also not that hard to use.

You can also waterproof a none waterproof detector someone was just selling a waterproofed explorer.