$600-700 versus $1000-1500 price points

[topcatskin]

Greetings. My apologies up front if this is the wrong place to post for advice. I am residing in Southern California with easy access to ocean but also have desire to go out in the desert and mountains for gold nuggets, etc. Like many i am limited to a single purchase, no matter how much i spend (due to spousal constraints!) Therefore, i want an all-round detector as i do not envision getting the opportunity to purchase another detector over the next five years unless I bring in some strong results. IN the $600-700 range I am looking at Minelab 705 gold with the ability to add an additional waterproof low-freq coil (for beach, silver, & jewelry use) or a Garret AT Pro with additional coil for gold (if necessary?) VERSUS Minelab ETRAC, Whites Spectrum V3i, or Excalibur ($1000-1500).

To be clear i don't envision myself snorkeling/diving with detector (so i don't feel like i need waterproof), however, i do live on an island and will have more opportunities to walk beach/surf. I just dream of walking in mountains, desert hikes, old homesteads, etc., and do not want pigeon-holed into a "great" beach machine but a lackluster coin / gold hunter.

Therefore, i want to know 1) if the price point differential is worth the expenditure and 2) which detector would be recommended at each price point. Thanks for all the advice in an advance.

[WildDigger]

If you are not going under water look at the Sovereign GT also. Great deep machine.

[Cfmct]

Do some research on the Garrett Infinium... will work both places for you.

[Crumble]

As Craig said, the Infinium will do Wet sand/water and gold nuggets, but you dont want to use it for coin shooting (no discrimination). May want to look into something like the Whites V3i, kind of a jack of all trades machine, can coin shoot, nugget hunt (22.5 khz mode), and hunt wet sand in multifrequency mode. But as with most jack of all trades, it's probably master of none, a dedicated beach hunting machine will perform better, same with a dedicated nugget hunting machine. It's expensive though, like $1500.

I love my Infinium, but I have a separate machine for coin shooting.

[Hotrod Tom]

I heard the Sand Shark can do everything and then some!!!!
If I could just remember where I heard that.

[zeemang]

Don't rule out eh possibility of getting a 1000 dollar machine for 700 bucks...used....

[Joves]

While I dont have one people who do swear by the AT Pro. I have the Etrac but I strictly coin shoot on the dry land so it works for me. It is not waterproof at all, except for the coil, so you do not want to get its head anywhere near the water.

[Terry Soloman]

Originally Posted by Hotrod Tom

I heard the Sand Shark can do everything and then some!!!!
If I could just remember where I heard that.

Well, it will do as well or better than the Garrett Infinium at half the price but,
this person is looking for one machine, when they need two. I would start with one or the other. If you want a machine that will actually find gold nuggets for under $1,000.00 you are looking at three VLF machines - Tesoro Lobo Super Traq; Fisher Goldbug; Whites GMT.

If you want a Beach machine, you need either BBS (Minelab Sov or Excal), or pulse induction like Whites Dual Field or Tesoro Sand Shark.

Good Luck!

[greginwv]

ever looked at the whites mxt it has a prospecting mode, a relic mode, and a coin and jewelry mode as well as you can set the ground balance to salt for the beach. new they run $799 ithink but you can find them used for around $500 its a great all around detector and kind of like having three detectors in one. And the 14Khz is hot onj low conductors(GOLD&nickles)

[Dark Chameleon]

I have the AT PRo and its good but did you think of the AT Gold?, its like the pro but supposed to be beetr at gold hunting, is still good to 10 feet in water for river searching, have heard its not bad in salt water, not the best but if your not doing it all the time then check out some videos on youtube.

It is about $700 so could be in your zone and but if you only have $700 and you need a propointer os pointer you will have to take into account your other tools, kellyco has some things that helpm out as do other companies but take that into account, i spent $700 on the machine and it added upto $1000 so dont forget the accessories.

I love the AT Pro and its STD and Pro modes make it easy for beginners and more advanced, yes the more expensive detectors are going to be better in ways but if your on a budget and that (just incase you dont get into it) problem.

Good thing being you get a quality MD and its going to be worth most of its cost if you need to sell later and upgrade...im seeing second hand dete3ctors going for 75% of their former cost

[topcatskin]

Thanks for all the input. I will take a look at whites mxt pro. I appreciate opinions on the detectors i referenced and on other potential bill-fillers, however, is the differential ($700 to 1500) objectively worthwhile? For instance, with the white's v3i, do i get a machine with clearly more capability: deeper detection, accuracy than the minelab? I have not been able to find comparison test between these detectors. Thanks.

[Smooth23]

I went from a mid range machine to an etrac, the ability of this machine to decipher between zinc and copper, as well as between quarters and rusty soda caps made it worth the price.

[Dark Chameleon]

Originally Posted by topcatskin

Thanks for all the input. I will take a look at whites mxt pro. I appreciate opinions on the detectors i referenced and on other potential bill-fillers, however, is the differential ($700 to 1500) objectively worthwhile? For instance, with the white's v3i, do i get a machine with clearly more capability: deeper detection, accuracy than the minelab? I have not been able to find comparison test between these detectors. Thanks.

Goto the shop and look the weight because it can be too much for some people, the mxt i think doesnt have the ability to take the box and hip mount it, i checked on out before i got the AT and the weight difference was major....but it seems most of my club use the mxts, maybe cos a worker at the local whites store is a member

[GetDiggin]

Originally Posted by Dark Chameleon

Goto the shop and look the weight because it can be too much for some people, the mxt i think doesnt have the ability to take the box and hip mount it, i checked on out before i got the AT and the weight difference was major....but it seems most of my club use the mxts, maybe cos a worker at the local whites store is a member

IMO this advice should ALWAYS be the FIRST advice to give to a BRAND NEW deterorist! each person is going to like different detectors, goto the dealer and test drive some! and talk, ask and question!

[Briman05]

I like my x-terra 705 it has some features that a AT Pro doesnt have and is very light however you cant detect in wet saltwater sand. The etrac from what I hear is awesome at silver but is heavy like the white v3i. The excal can discriminate so that is probably the best water unit out there but I wouldn't suggest it for land.

[PeterKennett]

The V3i offers a few things that makes it stand out:

1. It is like having three detectors in one. It send out three separate frequencies and analyzes them SEPARATELY, which allows you to see how the target reacts to these three different signals. You get a 2.5 kHz (perfect for Silver). A 7.5 Khz (great for relics) and a very high 22.5 Khz - which is awesome for gold. As an option you can have the machine analyze the two hardest hitting frequencies and conduct a correlation analysis of them. You can also graph the response of these three frequencies on a variety of graphs. All with one swipe of the coil.

2. You can choose to work in only one frequency, such as the 22.5 and go prospecting. With all the power going to only one frequency, you probe even deeper.

3. The machine uses a variety of different electronic filters to reduce the effect of EMI and ground minerals. However, you can adjust these filters in a way no other machine allows. You can choose from 8 different ground filtering levels from 5 Hz Band through 12.5 Hz to suit the ground minerals and your search coil sweep preferences. This means you can customize the machine's filters for a specific swing speed, soil condition, or EMI. Additionally it has special salt-substraction filters to work in salt water, a wet salt beach, or heavily fertilized lawn.

4. There are 200 different signal processing speeds to choose from matching sweep speed and search conditions. This allows you to customize the speed at which the V3i recovers after seeing trash, allowing you toy again customize the machine to way you search, rather than you having to adjust to the machine. It also allows you to go slow and deep, or very fast for shallow items, all while catching targets near trash better.

There are many other adjustable controls, more than any other detector on the market. That is good and bad. The good is obvious, but the bad is that beginners should stick with the built-in programs until they get more experience and learn what you are adjusting. It's easy to make poor adjustments and thus loose sensitivity. But once you understand what you are adjusting, and the effect that adjustment will have, you can work in any detecting environment (except underwater. Only the coil is waterproof).

The V3i also has many coil options, and the internal software adjusts to match the new coil shape and size.

It's a wonderful machine.

[PeterKennett]

PS: I paid for my V3i in just 2 months of beach searches. You can see some of my finds here:

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=110606

Peter

[topcatskin]

thanks all for your input...i have decided on a minelab 705 or a v3i...however, not getting quotes for the minelab since they are out of stock...so request PM quotes on whites v3i. (I know some companies provide law enforcement/military discounts. I am active duty us navy.) thanks.

[DW0378]

Try contacting some of the sponsers here on the forums. They offer some amazing deals.