Comments on Harbor freight metal detectors

[Midden-marauder]

I've done surprisingly good using nothing more than a minelab pro find 40, I prefer it for deep field searches because it's light, compact and i carry a lot of foraging/salvaging tools so weight and space are a concern. That being said I've been making some finds on our 3/4 acre lot that suggest the presence of older materials than the age of the house itself and I see that having a little deeper reach might be appropriate specifically for the purpose of thorough searching of our property. I'm not looking to dish out more than $200 honestly, I care little for discrimination as I'm going to dig every single beep regardless. I've checked out the machine they have at harbor freight and the price point is attractive but I'd like some opinions on it if any can be had. Comments on depth and general quality? Bear in mind that a full sized machine will find limited use in my hands, most places we go make humping in a big piece of kit unwieldy. This tool is for the yard. Thoughts? Criticisms? Praise?

 

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[pepperj]

I've done surprisingly good using nothing more than a minelab pro find 40, I prefer it for deep field searches because it's light, compact and i carry a lot of foraging/salvaging tools so weight and space are a concern. That being said I've been making some finds on our 3/4 acre lot that suggest the presence of older materials than the age of the house itself and I see that having a little deeper reach might be appropriate specifically for the purpose of thorough searching of our property. I'm not looking to dish out more than $200 honestly, I care little for discrimination as I'm going to dig every single beep regardless. I've checked out the machine they have at harbor freight and the price point is attractive but I'd like some opinions on it if any can be had. Comments on depth and general quality? Bear in mind that a full sized machine will find limited use in my hands, most places we go make humping in a big piece of kit unwieldy. This tool is for the yard. Thoughts? Criticisms? Praise?

There has been other threads on the HF detectors.

Is the Harbor Freight 9 Function Metal Detector a good beginner detector?

I am getting started with metal detecting and treasure hunting and I am on a tight budget after recently paying for surgery, rehab, and an all terrain wheelchair. I was looking at beginning level metal detectors online and found out that Harbor Freight makes a metal detector for about 60...

www.treasurenet.com

Personally I probably take the $200 add a little and buy a gently used higher end machine in the For Sale section of the forum.

 

[Midden-marauder]

There has been other threads on the HF detectors.

Is the Harbor Freight 9 Function Metal Detector a good beginner detector?

I am getting started with metal detecting and treasure hunting and I am on a tight budget after recently paying for surgery, rehab, and an all terrain wheelchair. I was looking at beginning level metal detectors online and found out that Harbor Freight makes a metal detector for about 60...

www.treasurenet.com

Personally I probably take the $200 add a little and buy a gently used higher end machine in the For Sale section of the forum.

Yeah, I'm still learning to navigate these forums and I appreciate the link to the thread. I'm still looking around at various entry level units. It's just convenient because I live about a 5 minute walk from harbor freight and tools I've picked up there over the years have served me pretty well. Thanks!

 

[robertk]

I have not used any metal detectors from Harbor Freight, so I can't answer specifically. But I have used plenty of other items from Harbor Freight, and I don't think that would be the first place I'd look for a metal detector. For $200 or less I would think you could find a pretty good used detector from one of the major manufacturers. There are good deals on the forums here all the time. You could even try Craigslist or something if nothing here strikes your fancy. (For example, I just checked Craigslist in my area and saw four in your price range -- one Bounty Hunter, two Garrett, and one Fisher.)

 

[pepperj]

Yeah, I'm still learning to navigate these forums and I appreciate the link to the thread. I'm still looking around at various entry level units. It's just convenient because I live about a 5 minute walk from harbor freight and tools I've picked up there over the years have served me pretty well. Thanks!

I can't comment on if they are a good/useless detector.
Probably run circles around the machines I bought in 70s though.
Even the first family Whites cost more than your budget and that was in the late 60's.

But like every thing as in the tech world-gets better at a better price.

 

[pepperj]

I have not used any metal detectors from Harbor Freight, so I can't answer specifically. But I have used plenty of other items from Harbor Freight, and I don't think that would be the first place I'd look for a metal detector. For $200 or less I would think you could find a pretty good used detector from one of the major manufacturers. There are good deals on the forums here all the time. You could even try Craigslist or something if nothing here strikes your fancy. (For example, I just checked Craigslist in my area and saw four in your price range -- one Bounty Hunter, two Garrett, and one Fisher.)

That's what I was saying also, buy used but the quality of detector-plus the knowledge base that has been amassed behind a brand name alone is worth it.

I think the reading the sections on the different machines, the issues, the positive views is warranted.

Brands

Brand specific discussions.

www.treasurenet.com

I have an early model Minelab Explorer that I'd unload for $200-It would run circles around a HF's detector no problem and it's 15yrs old at least.

 

[Midden-marauder]

Thanks for the replies folks! I think I got the answers I was looking for. I'm gonna keep browsing options for a bit, metal detecting isn't the main hustle for me and my partner so entry level is all I require for this project.

 

[pepperj]

Thanks for the replies folks! I think I got the answers I was looking for. I'm gonna keep browsing options for a bit, metal detecting isn't the main hustle for me and my partner so entry level is all I require for this project.

Say what! Not your main hustle?
Therapy is an option for this. 🤣

Good that your weighing the options.

 

[Midden-marauder]

Say what! Not your main hustle?
Therapy is an option for this. 🤣

Good that your weighing the options.

Well the "main hustle" is literally foraging, scavenging and wildcrafting with a liberal dash of urbX style recon. The vast bulk of the best stuff we've found isn't even metallic in nature, rare stones, glass objects, skulls, living things, dead things, vintage or modern trinkets and a broad array of neat goodies as well as medicinal/edible plants. The highest value treasure we've turned up was actually organic in nature. I do occasionally have use for a detector in specific places, waste areas, dumping grounds and certain ruined structures in particular. Lotta good stuff right on ground level but you can fish out some good stuff from below ground as well. In terms of a metal detector I needed something easy in, easy out, quick on the draw to do searches of smaller areas and then move on to the next which is why I pulled for a high end pinpointer. Fits right on my utility belt which is a space and time saver. It hasn't failed me to be sure, I have turned up some keepers with it and my share of trash, it's very good at sniffing out objects the size of a pocket knife or bigger which is great for my purposes. The reason I'm wanting a regular machine is for the specific purpose of deep searching our property for meaningful pieces of history there. it wouldn't be something that would be convenient or even desirable on our expeditions, it would remain at home gathering dust. It's all about keeping things compact and easy to use in the places we go to but our property is another matter, that's what I need it for. It's not to say it would never get used anywhere else but it would be fairly rare.
So yeah, long story short, I just need a decent rig to comb the property a bit more finely and efficiently lol. I don't know if top of the line is needed at this time. If we end up gold prospecting then we'll be looking at higher end units

 

[Midden-marauder]

Ok guys, I went and paid $145-ish for the HF Gordon High Precision Metal detector. I need to really learn this machine before I can make official comments on how well it performs but here's what it boasts:
It isn't analog unlike the other one HF sells for $65 for a start, it does have a VDI scale, it can discriminate, it's comfortable to hold, has a depth meter, a reasonably accurate pinpoint mode and it does seem to get some pretty good depth on tiny targets. First time I brought it out I had discrimination off, sensitivity all the way up and in AM mode. I found so much ferrous trash of itty bitty size at an average of 3-4 inches it was incredible. I did find a steel BB at about 5 inches as well as the water inlet at about 12" so it does work. I'm gonna play with the discriminator next to see what it does, how well it works. The yard is virgin, I'm the first to hunt here and there's more potential targets than you can shake a stick at....or a pinpointer.
After I've done some further experimenting with it I'll give my official review/opinion. As of now it seems to work great but there's more to discover about it so we'll see

 

[Midden-marauder]

So here's my official review and opinion on the Gordon High Precision Metal Detector:
It does what it's supposed to do pretty well or so it seems. The coil is concentric, about 9.5" so it gets good depth at high sensitivity, I find larger objects at 12", namely the rusty old utilities that are going to require replacing so that was actually something worth discovering. At lower sensitivity it detects shallower of course and the VDI appears to be pretty consistent, it reliably picks out different types of metal at the lower settings. At high settings it iron falses consistently on deep, rusty iron, so much so that I can reliably recognize deep iron when I find it, from what I've read this is not an uncommon thing across many machines so it's whatever. VDI scale is 1-100 with mid range tones representing the bulk of coinage pretty solidly, trash will give various VDIs depending on size and composition but generally it picks out good targets fairly well. It's pinpointer function is fairly accurate to within a couple inches, often spot on, on deeper targets you need to raise the coil a bit to get a good pinpoint is what I've observed. The property I'm experimenting on is riddled with iron but after doing some shallow clearing things have improved a bit. I still have a lot of ground to cover so I have plenty of time to get better at using it.
My general view? I'm glad I didn't invest in a more expensive unit, I find myself unearthing a lot of meaningless garbage giving good tones, aluminum, plumbing pieces and less describables that have similar conductivity into coins. I've experimented with the settings on it quite a bit and I'd say it's not bad honestly but it may not be the right fit for me. I'm not giving up on it just yet by any means but compared to using just a pinpointer it's kind of a pain. The best finds I've made have actually been with just the pinpointer and I think there's a few reasons why.
The minelab pro find 40 is an artifact/relic hound, using it I dig up a LOT less minor trash and I find big, far more interesting objects, ones I can date and even restore. Likewise I can get it into narrow and overgrown spots or close to metal fences without having problems. With the pinpointer alone I typically dig holes not deeper than 4" on solid targets which is nice and digging less on trash saves time. I guess the trade off is just that, you don't get the depth on small targets but the truth is that most of these small targets aren't worth digging on to begin with or at least not by my estimation. Yeah, there might be a coin 5" down but stopping to deep excavate every few feet is pretty tedious regardless of target ID and it is time consuming. I'm generally more interested in larger objects and relics, coins are semi interesting but not really what I'm after to begin with. Getting a copper signal on a bb buried 5"+ down is a royal pain for me to be excavating and certainly impractical in any field exploration. Size, mobility and capacity for discretion matter a lot to me too especially the way I gear up. I like to be able to just pull it off my belt and spot check an area with high probability of holding cool stuff. Humping in a full sized detector, setting it up and then going over an area is a big investment of time especially when I can locate relics faster using just my eyes, spade and pinpointer. It's a lot honestly. I do better without the big boy lol. Less time on small trash targets and more time on large objects I can do something with. So I guess my conclusion based on my experience thus far is that the Gordon is a decent detector at the entry level, it does what one would expect it to do and the sensitivity is pretty good all around, VDI is generally reliable and it's other little features are cool. I'm not disappointed but I don't think it'll ever leave the property, it's just not the right tool for the places I'm looking in or the way i search. We tend to hit dump sites where there's tons of metal in the ground, stopping to dig 4-5" every good signal will result in a large bag of trash items and the degree of masking would be off the charts. If I'm detecting I need a small coil, a real small coil so I can lock onto just one target in a sea of trash, the pinpointer can navigate the spaces where the bigger coil would be having kittens and for me that's actually the optimal choice. The Gordon was worth the money, it's really not a bad machine, just not right for me. I do like harbor freight products overall and this detector is no exception honestly. I'll just keep fooling with it for amusement, who knows, maybe it'll find something of value around the property that the pinpointer missed!