Best Tip I've heard in 49 years of metal detecting.

[Texas Jay]

Probably the best metal detecting tip I've heard in my 49 years of hunting came from the late Charles Garrett when he said that you need to put 100 hours on your detector before you can really understand its capabilities. Truer words have never been spoken. Too many people, who are just starting out in this amazing hobby, allow others to talk trash about their "beginner detectors" and take their unwise advise to move up to a "deeper, better, or more expensive" metal detector before they've used the one they have for even 10 hours or less. I bought a Garrett Ace 250 several years ago but only this year decided to give it a real workout and learn what it could do. So I've let my more expensive detectors collect dust for the past few months and have used the 250 exclusively. Yesterday, I logged my 105th hour on that little detector and it has performed amazingly well. I regularly hunt with guys who use detectors that cost at least 3 times and as much as 10 times the cost of my Ace 250 and I usually come out with the best finds of the day. Let the other guys sit around at the coffee shop, bragging about their expensive detectors, while you get out in the field with yours and make some truly remarkable discoveries. Above all, have fun!
~Texas Jay

Central Texas Treasure Club

 

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[TORRERO]

Terry, my detecting buddy uses a Minelab Equinox 800 and I'm not impressed with it and I don't think he is either. He usually finds more modern coins than I do on each hunt but I almost always make the best finds of the day with the Ace 250. I've noticed lately that his 800 spends most of its time in the car and he uses his XP Deus that he's had for a lot longer.
~Texas Jay

🤣 Sounds like me and my hunting partner, he has a Minelab 800, I have the DEUS I and II and in High Iron areas like old home sites(DEUS II) I tend to find double or triple the old coins he does, we also do a LOT of cross checking signals, and a lot of the wheats I can get he can't, not sure if there is a setting he could do to change that but clearly I know my machine better, and can tell a coin from a scrap piece of metal ... Also I can tell immediately if a target is LARGE with a good number OR small coin size target with a good number, (he generally can't tell the difference because he hunts by numbers mostly... )

 

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[TORRERO]

Thanks for the tip, Pa-dirt. I already have a DD coin with the 250 but I really don't have the need to go any deeper. I stay plenty busy digging with the standard coil. I also have a brand new Ace 350 which has the bigger coil on it. I won it last year at a club's open competition hunt but haven't even taken it out into the field yet. I didn't really figure out how to separate the iron or pull tab signals from coin signals on the 250 until I had about 90 hours on it. When I do begin using the Ace 350, I will give it the same 100-hour workout that I've given the smaller one.
~Texas Jay

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I'm with you on that depth thing, I only need great depth in an open plowed field or beach with a shovel, but it soon becomes a pain in the ass to dig pull tabs (or a slab of lead) at 15 inches hoping for a gold ring ...

 

[TORRERO]

I think the 800 has a big learning curve and that's under stating things. I've hunted with a Tesoro Tiger Shark for years and have had the 800 for 3-4 months now and I am still trying to get my head wrapped around it sometimes. On the beach, it's pretty simple to operate, but when I get around an old home site that has a lot of junk in the ground I am having trouble working through the yards. The detector is really sensitive and the ID jumps around too much for me to get a good idea of what's down there at times. I always had a really good idea whether it was going to be a coin or junk when I dug with the Tesoro, so I am thinking that I may be better off using that on the two old home sites that I am working for now until I have more time to spend figuring the Minelab out on places that aren't so trashy. With the Minelab, you need that 100 hrs per mode IMO.

sounds like my hunting partner with his 800

 

[TORRERO]

Metal detecting is maybe 10% gear and 90% luck. Guy with a cheap machine has good luck one day and finds more and better stuff than guy on the same field the same day with a top end machine. Next day the opposite is true. I have hunted hundreds of hours with the same friends when we all had the same machines, and always one or the other will find more and/or better stuff on any given day. LUCK. I have seen this many times. No matter what machine one uses one still has to pass the coil over a good target. Most coins and jewelry in parks and yards will only be in the top 6" if the ground has never been landscaped or silted over by flooding. I think the hype for great depth is overrated unless one hunts landscaped or silted over areas, deep woods spots will have deeper items due to larger build up from fallen sticks and leaves than parks and lawns. Folks who use a lot of discrimination pass over a lot of goodies, no doubt about it. As I say over and over again, the only true target ID is when it is in your hand, and "he who digs the most holes finds the most goodies".

Nobody can say with certainty that one machine is better than another UNLESS they cross check signals with the other machine and the other machine doesn't get that signal, my years of experience tells me that most finds could have been found with ANY machine if that person had walked over the target... The ONLY way to know would be a side by side comparison, and you would have to determine that you WOULD HAVE dug that target if you had walked over it...
Obviously some targets will be out of range for some machines but you can not KNOW that unless you have a side by side comparison of targets... So clearly on some targets the ACE 250 might do better than the Minelab 800 ...

 

[pepperj]

Nobody can say with certainty that one machine is better than another UNLESS they cross check signals with the other machine and the other machine doesn't get that signal, my years of experience tells me that most finds could have been found with ANY machine if that person had walked over the target... The ONLY way to know would be a side by side comparison, and you would have to determine that you WOULD HAVE dug that target if you had walked over it...
Obviously some targets will be out of range for some machines but you can not KNOW that unless you have a side by side comparison of targets... So clearly on some targets the ACE 250 might do better than the Minelab 800 ...

Side by side comparisons is the only way and that goes for this testing BS where simulated what ifs are placed by each other and then it's the best unmasking program know out there.

I had a Minelab SE and another guy had the ACE 250 and we met up for a hunt in a large park in Toronto.
I would get a signal that I would be pretty confident was a copper @ X inches down.
Good sounding and then he'd try.
He might get a slight squeak and he said he'd never dig that one.
I dug up the copper @ 10"
We repeated this many times over the hours spent-and the next day he bought a SE detector.

 

[TerryC]

Probably the best metal detecting tip I've heard in my 49 years of hunting came from the late Charles Garrett when he said that you need to put 100 hours on your detector before you can really understand its capabilities. Truer words have never been spoken. Too many people, who are just starting out in this amazing hobby, allow others to talk trash about their "beginner detectors" and take their unwise advise to move up to a "deeper, better, or more expensive" metal detector before they've used the one they have for even 10 hours or less. I bought a Garrett Ace 250 several years ago but only this year decided to give it a real workout and learn what it could do. So I've let my more expensive detectors collect dust for the past few months and have used the 250 exclusively. Yesterday, I logged my 105th hour on that little detector and it has performed amazingly well. I regularly hunt with guys who use detectors that cost at least 3 times and as much as 10 times the cost of my Ace 250 and I usually come out with the best finds of the day. Let the other guys sit around at the coffee shop, bragging about their expensive detectors, while you get out in the field with yours and make some truly remarkable discoveries. Above all, have fun!
~Texas Jay

Central Texas Treasure Club

An Ace 250 works better in the hands of someone that KNOWS THE MACHINE than an 800 in the hands of someone who won't put the time on the machine. ╦╦ç

 

[TerryC]

PEPPERJ, PEPPERJ I recently bought a CTX 3030 from someone, sans charger and wireless headphones. I have not yet used it. I will when back in AZ. Tell me what you think of it.... good points and bad points. ╦╦ç

 

[sprailroad]

I never knock anyone's detector, If they are interested in the hobby, and enjoying it, to me it means that we are both enjoying the "Hunt". If the detector is an "Entry level" or a "Top of the line", you still need to sweep that coil over that one square inch of planet earth where that target is sitting there hidden, just waiting for you.

 

[pepperj]

PEPPERJ, PEPPERJ I recently bought a CTX 3030 from someone, sans charger and wireless headphones. I have not yet used it. I will when back in AZ. Tell me what you think of it.... good points and bad points. ╦╦ç

I guess it all depends on what you are looking for Terry.
It's been so many years since I even have used it I wouldn't be of any real good assistance.
Though for the 4 yrs of steady use I would put it in the top tier of machines.
Great depth and pretty good separation (have to go slow in heavy iron)
Found a lot of great stuff with it though.

Heavy

 

[TerryC]

I guess it all depends on what you are looking for Terry.
It's been so many years since I even have used it I wouldn't be of any real good assistance.
Though for the 4 yrs of steady use I would put it in the top tier of machines.
Great depth and pretty good separation (have to go slow in heavy iron)
Found a lot of great stuff with it though.

Heavy

Thank you for the response! I have not yet lit it up. I've heard good things about it and have high expectations. Tnx again. Terry

 

[TerryC]

Got back in AZ yesterday mid day. Very much enjoyed reuniting with friends and family, especially my dear friend Roger Turner, DEEPSEEKER ADS. Keep on truckin, there, Hillbilly!!!!
Will get back to sweeping the deserts and SW as soon as I settle down. ALWAYS looking for serious partners.... male or female.....old salts or newbies! I have room to put up one/two/three. ╦╦ç

 

[lisamerlot]

Got back in AZ yesterday mid day. Very much enjoyed reuniting with friends and family, especially my dear friend Roger Turner, DEEPSEEKER ADS. Keep on truckin, there, Hillbilly!!!!
Will get back to sweeping the deserts and SW as soon as I settle down. ALWAYS looking for serious partners.... male or female.....old salts or newbies! I have room to put up one/two/three. ╦╦ç

I am thinking about getting a second hand Garrett Axiom but they are really expensive even pre-loved. Are they are a good detector and worth the expense?

Lisa

 

[TerryC]

I am thinking about getting a second hand Garrett Axiom but they are really expensive even pre-loved. Are they are a good detector and worth the expense?

Lisa

Good morning, Lisa. I don't know the Axiom. You may ask around here and get some info from others. As you can see by my profile, I have several others. But the Axiom, I cannot help on that one. Sorry. WELCOME to Treasurenet! ╦╦ç