Big Boys Hobbies

New forum member from Mesa Arizona

J

jothand

New Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2014
Messages
7
Hi All!

I've been fascinated with the metal detecting hobby for quite a long time just never took the plunge and bought myself an MD, unless you count the old radio shack one I had years ago. My father in law just gave me his barely used Ace 250 and so far I'm loving it. I read the manual front to back, watched a few youtube videos on it then took it down to the park to get myself familiarized with it. The Ace kept hitting on coins 6+ inches deep but unfortunately the only digging tool I had with me was a small plastic handheld gardening shovel. This little shovel just wasn't good enough to dig down more then an inch or two in the hard Arizona desert ground. It was kind of funny, after about an hour I was starting to get a little discouraged and I said to myself "dang, I'd be happy just to find a freaking penny right now!" Sure enough, within 5 minutes I hit on a penny less then an inch under the surface. It's only a 2001 penny but I'll be damned if it ain't the awesomest penny I've ever held in my possession! :lol:

Needless to say, I'm feeling the fever guys. I think I'll be hanging around this forum a lot as I see I have lots to learn. I've already read quite a few of the posts on this forum, seems we got some serious pros here.
 
Welcome to the forum from frosty Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. That penny is just the start, all it takes to get the bug. Take the time to learn that machine well as it already sounds like you are. Good luck and happy hunting!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Mesa is too renovated for old coins!

jothand said:
Hi All!

I've been fascinated with the metal detecting hobby for quite a long time just never took the plunge and bought myself an MD, unless you count the old radio shack one I had years ago. My father in law just gave me his barely used Ace 250 and so far I'm loving it. I read the manual front to back, watched a few youtube videos on it then took it down to the park to get myself familiarized with it. [/QUOTE)
Click to expand...
 
If you can get out of the metro area, you'd probably get better results in parks and schoolyards. Phoenix had a 1876 park, Chipotle said here or nowhere. Saw a early Phoenix map about WWI destroying park and making new one half a mile away. This is common in most rapidly growing cities in the south.

Some of the suburbs are 100+ years old but many parks means many park & rec depts have huge budgets so renovations are frequent. If you want to know the oldest suburbs or oldest towns outside of metro, I could probably help.

I used to own many Ace 250 units, none would give an accurate ID beyond 4" on dime.
Shortly after I bought Garrett AT Pro, I got dime 7" deep with perfect ID on every pass.

Also, my ground is mostly just moderately mineralized, so an Ace 250 might not even get 4" on a dime if you have high ground mineralization. An AT Pro might cost you $350 used. There are better detectors than the AT Pro, if you can spend up to $500 used or $649 new. But as long as you can be satisfied with the Ace 250, keep trying!

Another detector to consider is the Bounty Hunter Land Ranger PRO, I've seen then as low as $140 used on detecting forums. Also, tekneticst2.com has most models on sale. BH LR Pro there is Teknetics Liberator for $219, 5 year warranty to original owner. It's the lowest priced model with manual ground balance, so goes deeper in bad ground. It also has high disc programs with no ground balance required.

Teknetics Eurotek Pro as Tek Minuteman, $199 5 year warranty to orig buyer with 8" concentric (round coil). It has display that blinks iron, so you get fooled less. Very few controls, so not much thinking required.

The Teknetics Digitek last I looked was $129, has variable volume, variable discrimination, variable sensitivity, notches, and non-motion pinpoint. You must specify
20" lower rod (default) or request 26.5" lower rod if 5'5" tall +). Maximum depth on coins is about 7.5" on dime or 8.5" on quarter. 5 year warranty to orig. buyer. Made in El Paso, TX by First Texas, that also makes Bounty Hunter and Fisher.

Just for when you tire of Ace 250, don't mean I order you to buy now. Best wishes.
 
Last edited:
Dan_Turner589 said:
Welcome to the forum from frosty Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. That penny is just the start, all it takes to get the bug. Take the time to learn that machine well as it already sounds like you are. Good luck and happy hunting!
Click to expand...

Thanks Dan! "Frosty Pittsburgh", I feel for you man. I recently moved here from frosty northwest Indiana. Now I'm warm and toasty here in the AZ desert.
 
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