It Isnt Easy...

[Smudge]

It Isn't Easy...

I guess I ought to consider myself lucky. I have local metal detector shop that carries most of the well known brands of detector, with samples on the shelf for people to play around with.

I went there this morning and literally spent three hours looking around and using some in the test garden, and I left the store empty handed.

It's not that I'm indecisive. I'm willing to shell out some serious cash ($1,000+) IF I think the machine is worth it.

I am not going to name any names. I refuse to trash any brand, especially when I have no real experience with them. That's not what I'm after here. It's just that in exploring this and other forums, when you read posts by people using these top of the line machines, and you compare it to people using mid-range detectors ($500-$800), it turns out they complain about the same things.

Even with all those bells and whistles, they're still digging a ton of trash like can slaw, pull tabs, and bottle caps. They dig them because they don't want to pass up gold. But heck, folks using the mid-range detectors complain about the same thing.

The thing for me is, if I'm going to shell out over $1,000 for a top of the line detector, it had better give me a lot more for my money than a $500 detector will.

But in reviewing these posts, I don't know, it just doesn't seem to be happening for a lot of users. Is it lack of experience? Sure they post some great finds. But so does everyone else. Sure, I know, luck and swinging your detector over the right spot is the majority of the battle.

I'm going to wrap this up, I swear, but here's my issue. Right now I swing the humble Tesoro Compadre. I played with other detectors but liked this one because it was simple to use, ran great for gold at 12" kHz, used a 5.75" coil which is perfect for the trashy areas I like to hunt.

But still, I'd like an edge in my hunts and thought about upgrading. I'm looking at all these detectors and asking myself "do I need a TID screen?" No, it'd be nice, but if I get a solid signal, I'm digging it no matter what the screen says. "Do I want a depth meter?" Nope, they're notoriously inaccurate. "Do I want a bigger coil?" Not typically.

So folks, please straighten me out. I feel like I'm missing the big picture here. These companies wouldn't be offering these high end machines if they weren't a cut above the rest. But if the big machine can't tell the difference between a pull tab and gold ring or a bottle cap and quarter any better than a mid-range machine, what's the point?

Thanks for reading all this. I'd really like to know what you folks think. Gonna go put an ice pack on my head now.

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

Let me put it this way....

2 people have to drive back and forth to work, all city driving, obeying traffic laws etc. Standard stuff we all do. One guy drives a Toyota, one guy drives a Porche.

End result? They both get to where they're going but one guy paid 1/4 the price.

One guy eats a McDonalds Double Cheese Burger, one guy eats grilled sirloin steak.... They both get full....

End result, man that sirloin sure tasted good...Oh and the guy eating the Big Mac dies of a heat attack 20 years earlier.....

 

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[Keppy]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

Let me put it this way....

2 people have to drive back and forth to work, all city driving, obeying traffic laws etc. Standard stuff we all do. One guy drives a Toyota, one guy drives a Porche.

End result? They both get to where they're going but one guy paid 1/4 the price.

One guy eats a McDonalds Double Cheese Burger, one guy eats grilled sirloin steak.... They both get full....

End result, man that sirloin sure tasted good...Oh and the guy eating the Big Mac dies of a heat attack 20 years earlier.....

TH ... Why do you make me do this sirloin is no good for you either..........But look Don Gorske .. Just ate his 25000th Big Mack...2 a day for 17 years.......

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

Let me put it this way....

2 people have to drive back and forth to work, all city driving, obeying traffic laws etc. Standard stuff we all do. One guy drives a Toyota, one guy drives a Porche.

End result? They both get to where they're going but one guy paid 1/4 the price.

One guy eats a McDonalds Double Cheese Burger, one guy eats grilled sirloin steak.... They both get full....

End result, man that sirloin sure tasted good...Oh and the guy eating the Big Mac dies of a heat attack 20 years earlier.....

TH ... Why do you make me do this sirloin is no good for you either..........But look Don Gorske .. Just ate his 25000th Big Mack...2 a day for 17 years.......

I probably haven't eaten more than 6 fast food burgers in the last 10 years..... I do eat at Subways on occasion though....... Do eat lean beef now and then, eat a lot of fish, usually broiled, baked or fried Filipino style and chicken. Lot of veggies and fruits now..............

Since 1/1 2010 I have lost 40 pounds and feel great, this past December I gave up most sugars by choice, I haven't had a single soda, piece of cake, pie, cake, donut or piece of candy, and to be honest it hasn't been that hard. I make a lot of smoothies at home with skim milk, whey protein, fruit, and ice cubes in a blender.... When I have a craving for chocolate I make a chocolate protein shake....

 

[Keppy]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

Let me put it this way....

2 people have to drive back and forth to work, all city driving, obeying traffic laws etc. Standard stuff we all do. One guy drives a Toyota, one guy drives a Porche.

End result? They both get to where they're going but one guy paid 1/4 the price.

One guy eats a McDonalds Double Cheese Burger, one guy eats grilled sirloin steak.... They both get full....

End result, man that sirloin sure tasted good...Oh and the guy eating the Big Mac dies of a heat attack 20 years earlier.....

TH ... Why do you make me do this sirloin is no good for you either..........But look Don Gorske .. Just ate his 25000th Big Mack...2 a day for 17 years.......

I probably haven't eaten more than 6 fast food burgers in the last 10 years..... I do eat at Subways on occasion though....... Do eat lean beef now and then, eat a lot of fish, usually broiled, baked or fried Filipino style and chicken. Lot of veggies and fruits now..............

Since 1/1 2010 I have lost 40 pounds and feel great, this past December I gave up most sugars by choice, I haven't had a single soda, piece of cake, pie, cake, donut or piece of candy, and to be honest it hasn't been that hard. I make a lot of smoothies at home with skim milk, whey protein, fruit, and ice cubes in a blender.... When I have a craving for chocolate I make a chocolate protein shake....

That's great ..That is how i should be eating.....I think i will start a little work out thing and try to eat better....... I hope it works out as good for me as it has for you........... Keep up that healthy liveing.......HH Even though i am 6 years older than you i know i can still do my work out.........

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

That's great ..That is how i should be eating.....I think i will start a little work out thing and try to eat better....... I hope it works out as good for me as it has for you........... Keep up that healthy liveing.......HH Even though i am 6 years older than you i know i can still do my work out.........

Keppy, never too late to start.. The good thing is I am not on a diet, I eat, I just watch what I eat is all....Wife and I still go out and eat, we have a couple places where we go to eat all the snow crabs, oysters, frog legs and shrimp we can eat..... I make sure I go to the gym a mininum of 4 times a week, doing 45 min of cardio and 45 mins of strength training....Been doing this with out skipping a beat since 1/1/2011.......And it shows......

 

[Keppy]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

That's great ..That is how i should be eating.....I think i will start a little work out thing and try to eat better....... I hope it works out as good for me as it has for you........... Keep up that healthy liveing.......HH Even though i am 6 years older than you i know i can still do my work out.........

Keppy, never too late to start.. The good thing is I am not on a diet, I eat, I just watch what I eat is all....Wife and I still go out and eat, we have a couple places where we go to eat all the snow crabs, oysters, frog legs and shrimp we can eat..... I make sure I go to the gym a mininum of 4 times a week, doing 45 min of cardio and 45 mins of strength training....Been doing this with out skipping a beat since 1/1/2011.......And it shows......

TH... That is the right way to do it....... I did it untill about 4 years ago.. both carido & strength... Now you got me back in the mind set and pumped up i will start back this week.......I had my physical this week and the Dr. said to me .. You know you should start working out again there is no reason for you not to work out ... He said at my age i need to so i can keep up my strength and so i will not lose muscle........... Is that a omen first the Dr. then you bringing it up..... I do need strength to keep swinging that detector...Or i might have to give up that Minelab Elite...... The one thing i will never do is use one of them Swingy things....... I always had to do things myself I don't need any help.to swing that detector. I would put the detector up before i would wear one of those things....

 

[dirty digger dude]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

High end machines offer more features. But in the end you'll have to use a detector that suits your needs. You can use one with just needle swinging across a dial and one tone or full color LCD screen that give you depth, size, target composition and twenty different tones. I recommend a mid range detector.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

TH... That is the right way to do it....... I did it untill about 4 years ago.. both carido & strength... Now you got me back in the mind set and pumped up i will start back this week.......I had my physical this week and the Dr. said to me .. You know you should start working out again there is no reason for you not to work out ... He said at my age i need to so i can keep up my strength and so i will not lose muscle........... Is that a omen first the Dr. then you bringing it up..... I do need strength to keep swinging that detector...Or i might have to give up that Minelab Elite...... The one thing i will never do is use one of them Swingy things....... I always had to do things myself I don't need any help.to swing that detector. I would put the detector up before i would wear one of those things....

I had my first full physical in 10 years this past December, when he was giving me my results I kept waiting for the hammer to fall but it never did, he told me I needed to lose 10-15 pounds, and my blood sugar was 115 and that if I started cutting down on my sugar now, I wouldn't have to worry about diabeties. I decided it would be easier to cut the sugar out as much as possible than cut it down. I went back for another test last month and since December it has dropped 11 points to 104, I want to get it down to under 90, but may take another 6 months..... Funny thing is it hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be and I don't miss it as much as you would think....I use to drink couple sodas every day, and usually couple frozen mini snicker bars at night while watching TV..... I look at it like cigarettes, if I don't have the first one I want want the second one.......

The one thing i will never do is use one of them Swingy things....... I always had to do things myself I don't need any help.to swing that detector. I would put the detector up before i would wear one of those things....

OUCH.....LOL, I use one all the time in the water, makes it easier as I can let go of my detector while working with scoop if needed.....Haven't been using it with the Safari, but I do use it with the Sovereign GT when I have the 15x18 inch Butterfly coil on it when hunting land...

 

[Dirty Money]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

To give you an idea of what a high end (I think my DFX still rates "high end") machine offers offers, here are two hunts:

Hunt 1) Had very limited time. Grabbed machine, got to nearby 100yr. old park, loaded favorite program, ground balanced, and started swinging. Forty minutes later, rains come in and I'm done for the day. Take for the day: 2 penneys, 2 wheats, 1 nickle, 2 dimes, 1 merc and 4-5 pull tabs. Very low junk to good ratio. I was in a hurry, knew it was going to rain, and only dug solid hits. And, yes, the merc was a surprise.

Hunt 2) Same park. Beautiful day, and nothing but time on my hands. Results after 2 hours of swinging: 2 penneys, 3 nickles, 1 dime, 2 quarters, 1 toy car, 4 broken ball point pens, 1 big ol' chunk of plate iron, more pulltabs than i drink beer in a month, bunch of pencil ends (w/ erasers), and a couple of broken wine bottles with the caps intact. The ol' boys must not have realized they dropped them.

The differences: 1) luck! Getting that many good solid hits that fast is extremely rare. Doubt if anyone will ever convince me otherwise. 2) Purpose. On the first hunt, I skipped untold numbers of iffy signals. Only dug very solid hits. The deepest couldn't have been more than 5 inches. 3) Curiosity. "I wonder what the hell is giving that reading. Might be something good like a ring." Or, more often than not "I wonder what the hell is giving that reading. " On hunt 2, I knew I was digging junk & lots of it. But someone has to clean the parks. And, besides, my wife got a new car.

So, what do you really get with that high end swinger? Bells and whistles and tons of differentiation. And, in the end, that is what you are paying the tall dollar for. The rest of the goodies are nice, but the ability of the up end machines to tell the difference, good from bad, when properly used is worth the extra in my humble and biased opinion.

HH & dig lots of good stuff.

 

[CrazySlasher]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

Let me put it this way....

2 people have to drive back and forth to work, all city driving, obeying traffic laws etc. Standard stuff we all do. One guy drives a Toyota, one guy drives a Porche.

End result? They both get to where they're going but one guy paid 1/4 the price.

Hmm. Poor analogy. The fact is a higher end machine like the E-Trac or the V3i will, assuming the user knows how to properly use their machine, out-perform a lower end to mid model detector 99% of the time. I'm not just saying that because I've own one, but because I've done head-to-head comparisons with enough machines to know this to be fact. Don't get me wrong, if there's a silver quarter at 3 inches, yes, both machines will pick them up. Any machine will. But come to some of my spots that have been hunted over and over for the past 15 years with an Ace 250 and tell me you don't want to wrap your machine around a tree by the end of the day.

 

[mrwilburino]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

It all depends on what you are hunting for. If you are looking for gold jewelry then the high buck machines probably won't give you much advantage (if any) over the lower priced detectors. If you are looking for older coins, then some of the features (A.K.A. "bells & whistles") found on the higher priced unites can offer some advantages; especially in well-hunted areas where the only good targets left may be deep, and co-located with trash. Different targets require different hunting styles and different detectors.

 

[gleaner1]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

OMFG! People are realizing that there are no more finds to be found. Expensive tector not withstanding. The old days in the woods still haunt me.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

It all depends on what you are hunting for. If you are looking for gold jewelry then the high buck machines probably won't give you much advantage (if any) over the lower priced detectors. If you are looking for older coins, then some of the features (A.K.A. "bells & whistles") found on the higher priced unites can offer some advantages; especially in well-hunted areas where the only good targets left may be deep, and co-located with trash. Different targets require different hunting styles and different detectors.

Not true, Minelabs ability to null on iron, to give a signal when a good target is sitting beside a piece of iron, the "silent search" feature of the Sov GT, the 17 frequencies from 1.5 kHz to 25.5 kHz of BBS, and 28 frequencies from 1.5 kHz to 100 kHz of FBS all give you an advantage over the lower priced detectors when hunting for gold jewelry....

 

[ThTx]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

All I know for certain is that I have used $1,000.00 + machines, $200.00 machines and everywhere in between. The best for the money for me has been the AT Pro. Before people get on soapboxes and flame me, I said "for me".

 

[CrazySlasher]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

"bells and whistles
pl n
1. additional features or accessories which are nonessential but very attractive my car has all the latest bells and whistles
2. (Economics, Accounting & Finance / Banking & Finance) additions, such as options or warranties, made to a financial product to increase its market appeal"

Some people here may call them "bells and whistles," I call it added functionality that gives me a better detecting experience.

 

[bazinga]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

Let me put it this way....

2 people have to drive back and forth to work, all city driving, obeying traffic laws etc. Standard stuff we all do. One guy drives a Toyota, one guy drives a Porche.

End result? They both get to where they're going but one guy paid 1/4 the price.

Hmm. Poor analogy. The fact is a higher end machine like the E-Trac or the V3i will, assuming the user knows how to properly use their machine, out-perform a lower end to mid model detector 99% of the time. I'm not just saying that because I've own one, but because I've done head-to-head comparisons with enough machines to know this to be fact. Don't get me wrong, if there's a silver quarter at 3 inches, yes, both machines will pick them up. Any machine will. But come to some of my spots that have been hunted over and over for the past 15 years with an Ace 250 and tell me you don't want to wrap your machine around a tree by the end of the day.

THIS

There is a reason I have several 10+ silver days already THIS YEAR from very obvious public locations and why I EXPECT to find 5 silver per day.

 

[kai_gold]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

Not true, Minelabs ability to null on iron, to give a signal when a good target is sitting beside a piece of iron, the "silent search" feature of the Sov GT, the 17 frequencies from 1.5 kHz to 25.5 kHz of BBS, and 28 frequencies from 1.5 kHz to 100 kHz of FBS all give you an advantage over the lower priced detectors when hunting for gold jewelry....

Also not completely true. Having used the minelabs and mxt, g2, and other mid range metal detectors, the minelabs suffer on smaller gold items compared to some of the lower priced metal detectors available. And considering that there are more small gold jewelry items than larger pieces, sensitivity to small gold can potentially turn up more gold pieces. Ones that the minelabs won't even see. But, the minelabs handle minerals and saltwater really well and the id provide a lot of useful information.

The problem is there are too many variables such as location and personal preferences to give these black and white answers. That's why it is helpful to have more than one metal detector when possible, though not critical to having fun and finding some good items. Just stay away from the utlra cheap chinese imports and go with one of the major brands.

 

[CrazySlasher]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

Not true, Minelabs ability to null on iron, to give a signal when a good target is sitting beside a piece of iron, the "silent search" feature of the Sov GT, the 17 frequencies from 1.5 kHz to 25.5 kHz of BBS, and 28 frequencies from 1.5 kHz to 100 kHz of FBS all give you an advantage over the lower priced detectors when hunting for gold jewelry....

Also not completely true. Having used the minelabs and mxt, g2, and other mid range metal detectors, the minelabs suffer on smaller gold items compared to some of the lower priced metal detectors available. And considering that there are more small gold jewelry items than larger pieces, sensitivity to small gold can potentially turn up more gold pieces. Ones that the minelabs won't even see. But, the minelabs handle minerals and saltwater really well and the id provide a lot of useful information.

The problem is there are too many variables such as location and personal preferences to give these black and white answers. That's why it is helpful to have more than one metal detector when possible, though not critical to having fun and finding some good items. Just stay away from the utlra cheap chinese imports and go with one of the major brands.

I would have agreed with that about 6 months ago but after a bit of tweeking and learning my machine better, the E-Trac seems to pick up small gold on par with most machines.

 

[kai_gold]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

Haven't used an etrac so I can't comment there but I have used explorers and sovereigns. For rings they do alright. Smaller odd shaped pendants and chains they often don't make a peep but can be picked up with an mxt or g2 if shallow. However, these are designed with prospecting in mind. But then a person may prefer to go for bigger gold and avoid the small bits of foil in which case an explorer or etrac is a great choice.

I have also hunted nail infested locations that created a near continuous null on the explorer but that the g2 could handle. Fortunately, I don't have to pick between the two. If I could only use one, it would be the g2 for its light weight, fast recovery, and sensitivity. If there was a way to get a minelab with its features set with an additional setting similar to a g2 and at the weight of a g2, then I would be thrilled. But I will have to keep dreaming.

On the etrac, have you had much success with the smaller gold items like chains?

 

[CrazySlasher]

Re: It Isn't Easy...

Haven't used an etrac so I can't comment there but I have used explorers and sovereigns. For rings they do alright. Smaller odd shaped pendants and chains they often don't make a peep but can be picked up with an mxt or g2 if shallow. However, these are designed with prospecting in mind. But then a person may prefer to go for bigger gold and avoid the small bits of foil in which case an explorer or etrac is a great choice.

I have also hunted nail infested locations that created a near continuous null on the explorer but that the g2 could handle. Fortunately, I don't have to pick between the two. If I could only use one, it would be the g2 for its light weight, fast recovery, and sensitivity. If there was a way to get a minelab with its features set with an additional setting similar to a g2 and at the weight of a g2, then I would be thrilled. But I will have to keep dreaming.

On the etrac, have you had much success with the smaller gold items like chains?

Well, too be totally honest, the places I hunt are usually spots where you're not going to find a lot of jewelery . With that said, I have had good luck in the past with small gold, including chains.