Beginner on a budget. Advice please!

I had a Tesoro Bandito Umax a few years ago. Very good machine. Well made, easy to use. It found metal. Not a lot of bells and whistles, but a great machine to start out with. You can't beat Tesoro's rep for after sales support. A great company to deal with should you have to.
 
I would recommend for $200-$300 Fisher F22 $229 new & can be used while raining; Teknetics Minuteman $199 with coupon code from authorized dealer. If it detects iron, iron flashes on screen so you don't get fooled. Both have big numerical ID.

Teknetics Digitek $129 but sale may end 11/30 and you may need to get a 26" lower rod if you are over 5' 6". Marketed as a kids detector, but detects coins to 9" with volume control, sensitivity control, discrimination control, and notches. Has a big numerical ID.

Many say the Bounty Hinter Land Ranger PRO is the best under $300. Multiple search modes, like high trash rejection is turn on and go; lower discrimination programs have ability to ground balance. It's also marketed as a Teknetics for $299 with coupon code.

Teknetics Gamma 6000 & Bounty Hunter Platinum would be great buys for under $200 used. Perhaps you could get a Garrett AT Pro used for $300-$350.

The Ace 250s I had could not ID a dime beyond 4". But almost right away with the AT Pro I got a beep that read dime on every pass. It was a dime at 7" in a park that gets detected maybe 100 days a year and that dime may have sat there for 30 years. Soil was dry, very hard, and moderately mineralized. Get the best you can afford.

Some user satisfaction ratings & what different detectors cost new can be found at the website http://metaldetectorreviews.net/ Hope this helps. Best wishes, George
 
The Ace is so versatile, I don't think there's a hard choice here- and I use both. I've had mine about 10 years and since I got the 4" sniper coil, there's no way I'll let it go. Sure, the Compadre's a great machine, but trashy areas can be testing. You can lower or raise the sensitivity, have notch in trashy areas, or be in all metal with just the touch of a button. And the best part of the 300 over the 200 is RELICS mode and the ability to program your choice of modes to your liking. No depth monster, but I don't like digging deeper than 6" anyway- not that that is it's depth limit.
 
All good advice but here is a different thought.

Myself having started before there was such thing as a pinpointer or Leeche digger and such, all my recoveries were done with a plain old flathead screw driver. I would spend all I could afford on the best detector I can get. At $300 you might even get a good used Garrett AT Pro at todays market. It is a buyers market right now.

I'm just saying I wouldn't scrimp on the detector just to get a few luxuries like a digger or pinpointer. Put it where it counts.

Just my 2 cents.
 
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