My dues are all paid up at the "Beep and dig club"

[can_slaw]

I see alot of "prejudice" on here about the lower end mid grade machines like mine, and it has really started to sour me. It shouldn't I know, but it has. We all have our own opinions, and healthy dialogue is great. But i am sick and tired of everything resorting to either being a real detectorist, or owning a toy. For some, an "extra couple hundred" is out of the question. I personally stick with my machine for two reasons; it works for what I need, and I have a young family to support on a single income. Not complaining, so please do not take it as such. I have plenty to eat, my home is beautiful. My kids are all clothed, and my we can afford my wife to stay home and pursue her dreams. But like a lot of people here, budget is key. I would love to have the extra money to start with the "best". But quite frankly, I have learned to LOVE what I have. It finds stuff, good stuff. It beeps. I dig it if I like the number displayed on the screen. It has Iron discrimination, and I can adjust what makes the tones. I admit, I love the tones the others make, and would probably find a MILLION more "things" with a better machine. But let's face it, I am just happy to have a capable machine, on excellent permissions. Blessings abound for me, and i am perfectly happy with less than the best. Hopefully others will be to if they choose to make the leap and not spend the entire months mortgage payment on a machine.

 

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[Kansas_Jayhawk]

When I first started someone who is well experienced strongly suggested that I dig everything I heard that the machine found. I started with a Minelab Musky - and I did. I bought a Tesoro micro Silvermax (I think) for my kids - very easy to use. Both beep and dig. I got rid of the Minelab for a Fishers F75. Nice machine and still getting used to the bells and whistles. I've become complacent relying on the screen ... started thinking about what I might be overlooking. I'm going back to digging everything.

I know that most good detectorists can out detect me using an inexpensive machine and me using a high-end machine. The more I realize it - the person swinging the detector is much more important than the detector. The detector can help improve but still takes a person who knows what they are doing.

Yes there are a lot of arrogant guys in his hobby ... have run across more than one. I shoot a lot and that hobby is the same way. Folks who buy the high end stuff and trying to make others feel like what they have doesn't measure up. Funny think is, went to the rage the other day and this guy with a "sub standard" inexpensive rifle and a $50 scope was hitting hanging targets at 500 yards - was pretty impressive.

 

[BigWaveDave]

Thought you were gonna wax poetic about becoming a Charter Member...carry on.

 

[relic nut]

A machine is only as good as the man swinging it. All the money in the world won't buy success.
I started with a very low end machine and was very successful with it. Still have it. I have upgraded twice since I started, but only because for me that is part of enjoying the hobby. Has it made me better? Who knows? That's not why I did it. If you are finding the things you want and are enjoying this hobby than who cares what the "Jones" think?
Good luck!!

 

[Johnny Cache Hunter]

Don't let them get you down [FONT=&quot]can_slaw[/FONT]

. ​

It doesn't matter what detector your using as long as you're enjoying yourself, I mean after all, isn't that the point.
It's not exclusive to MDing, I think it's actually quite pervasive in today's society.
If you have a nice car, the next guy has to tell you how much better his car is, how much faster it can go, how much nicer his leather seats are, it's endless.
It could be Metal Detectors, Cars, Boats, Houses, Coins, hell even trophy spouses.
There will always be someone trying to put someone else down, sometimes subtly, just to make themselves feel better, or more important.
Just keep an I don't care attitude, and keep swinging your coil.

 

[can_slaw]

Thought you were gonna wax poetic about becoming a Charter Member...carry on.

I've thought about it, but what I have for sale is a better fit for Ebay. Not much treasure related stuff for sale here.

 

[Loco-Digger]

Everyone has a right to their personal opinion as to what they think about other machines and manufacturers. If the machine you swing fits the purpose, and makes you happy then all is good, who cares what others think. What I want in a machine is probably different than what you and others want, it's called personal preference. Why are you taking things so personal? The Mods here do a great job of policing the posts and do not allow personal attacks. I did not start with the best machine. I bought a new low end machine off of Ebay back in 2000. I didn't know what I wanted and bought what was in my price range. I knew nothing about the hobby and after I put the machine together I asked the wife to put some coins in the yard as I sat in the garage. I cranked up every dial and went out looking for them and did not locate a single one. The detector went up in the rafters of the shed and there it sat for 4 years. I found Tnet during the winter of 2013 and searched threads mining the info that interested me and I also found a good setting for my cheap machine. In May I took it out and man the bug bit me hard. I dug every evening after work and every hour I could on the weekends since I am an empty nester. My TC 1023 helped me learn a lot about the hobby. Personally I wanted more depth than the 8" coil I had and there were no other coil options for my machine so I decided to upgrade. I wanted a machine with a VDI so I could see target ID numbers and coil options. I also wanted the ability to notch and to have a depth meter. Again these are personal preferences. I am very frugal and keep my eyes pealed to craigslist and other sites looking for great deals. My persistence has paid off on numeral occasions when I ran across deals where I bought machines for pennies on the dollar and many at half price. I only spend about 5 to 10 minutes a day looking for deals. My first machine could have hit on many of my keeper finds since they were only 5 to 7 inches deep. Over the past 4 seasons I have dug close to $1500 in face value of coins. I deposited those funds every winter into my hobby account so I can buy hobby related accessories, coils and other machines. This hobby has funded itself and I am one of those lucky ones who is in the black since I dug more than I spent.

Anyone who has many hours of experience with and knows their machine very well, will do better than any green horn with a top of the line machine and that's a fact. Life is a journey, enjoy it and don't get wrapped up or offended by other's opinions. You know the old saying right? Opinions are like A-Holes, everyone has one.

 

[can_slaw]

I am honestly already so tired of seeing people told "buy what you can afford" and "learning the machine is #1" on their intro statements, and then we're lumped into two categories, "real detectorists if you spend a months wages" or the "beep and dig club if you don't". Well, to be perfectly honest, I like the beep and dig club. The members are alot friendlier.

 

[can_slaw]

Everyone has a right to their personal opinion as to what they think about other machines and manufacturers. If the machine you swing fits the purpose, and makes you happy then all is good, who cares what others think. What I want in a machine is probably different than what you and others want, it's called personal preference. Why are you taking things so personal? The Mods here do a great job of policing the posts and do not allow personal attacks. I did not start with the best machine. I bought a new low end machine off of Ebay back in 2000. I didn't know what I wanted and bought what was in my price range. I knew nothing about the hobby and after I put the machine together I asked the wife to put some coins in the yard as I sat in the garage. I cranked up every dial and went out looking for them and did not locate a single one. The detector went up in the rafters of the shed and there it sat for 4 years. I found Tnet during the winter of 2013 and searched threads mining the info that interested me and I also found a good setting for my cheap machine. In May I took it out and man the bug bit me hard. I dug every evening after work and every hour I could on the weekends since I am an empty nester. My TC 1023 helped me learn a lot about the hobby. Personally I wanted more depth than the 8" coil I had and there were no other coil options for my machine so I decided to upgrade. I wanted a machine with a VDI so I could see target ID numbers and coil options. I also wanted the ability to notch and to have a depth meter. Again these are personal preferences. I am very frugal and keep my eyes pealed to craigslist and other sites looking for great deals. My persistence has paid off on numeral occasions when I ran across deals where I bought machines for pennies on the dollar and many at half price. I only spend about 5 to 10 minutes a day looking for deals. My first machine could have hit on many of my keeper finds since they were only 5 to 7 inches deep. Over the past 4 seasons I have dug close to $1500 in face value of coins. I deposited those funds every winter into my hobby account so I can buy hobby related accessories, coils and other machines. This hobby has funded itself and I am one of those lucky ones who is in the black since I dug more than I spent.

Anyone who has many hours of experience with and knows their machine very well, will do better than any green horn with a top of the line machine and that's a fact. Life is a journey, enjoy it and don't get wrapped up or offended by other's opinions. You know the old saying right? Opinions are like A-Holes, everyone has one.

Nobody called me out by name. Like you said, the mods are good at their jobs. But, I see ALOT of posts, not just on things I have posted on, touting people to clearly spend WAY above the stated budget for this doo-dad or that gee-gaw and then referring they are part of the beep and dig club if they don't. I don't think that anyone is intentionally being a bully, but its definitely a good old boys club and if you don't own the right machine you are not taken seriously. I have 100's of geo-referencing hours in this winter gathering up the info I need to get the best permissions possible and my Ace and I are going to get as much as we can from them.

 

[GA_Boy]

The only reason I went from my Fisher 1265X to an LRP was that I went from Relic hunting for the last 30 years in the woods mostly to Coin hunting in Parks now due to my age. Any detector is fine if the owner knows its capabilities. This is a fun hobby to me and I hunt for pleasure and exercise, not to increase my net worth.
Marvin
PS, I re-purpose items into digging tools, etc rather than buying new, or at least buy something that I can use in the place of regular detecting stuff.

 

[Loco-Digger]

Here is another personal preference. I have learned my machine and prefer to dig good targets over trash. I give the credit to the target ID's I see on my VDI and the tones I hear. Sure I may have passed up on a good target every now and then due to it's highly varying target ID, but I value my time and rather have a higher good target to trash ratio for each hunt unless I am trying to clean up the trash that might be masking the good deeper targets at an old site. I see nothing wrong with the beep and dig crowd, they are not hurting me by digging everything and might find a gold necklace if they are hunting an area I previously gridded. No harm, no foul. To each their own. I am 58 and the older I get, the less I am concerned about the opinions of a stranger.

I never get tired of reading others opinions, and never take them personally most of the newer hobbyist only have experience on their machine and love to promote them to others since they can only talk about what you know. if they enjoy it they promote it. It's only human nature.

I sincerely hope you find internal peace and chill a little and that you dig a bucket list item on your next outing.

 

[can_slaw]

The only reason I went from my Fisher 1265X to an LRP was that I went from Relic hunting for the last 30 years in the woods mostly to Coin hunting in Parks now due to my age. Any detector is fine if the owner knows its capabilities. This is a fun hobby to me and I hunt for pleasure and exercise, not to increase my net worth.
Marvin
PS, I re-purpose items into digging tools, etc rather than buying new, or at least buy something that I can use in the place of regular detecting stuff.

I hope I didn't come off poorly, and now I am afraid I may have. Upgrading for your preference or even starting at the top was never my issue. Heck, I would have probably loved to. But the reality of things is I couldn't. But that does not play at all into the love of things. I love this hobby. The bug bit hard. It has also bit so many other owners of similar machines. My digging is now back to 5 to days a week on my hour lunch, and at least 2-3 hours on the weekend. Unless the kids are in sports. Then the wife is not as forgiving.

 

[Rookster]

Let's just all take a deep breath here. The national average for a keepable target is 6" or less. You don't have to have a lot of the machines advertised here on the forum and on Youtube.

 

[smokeythecat]

Don't let things get you down. My go to machine for over 30 years was and is a beep and go machine. It cost $329 new. It doesn't even ground balance and the best coin I got with it was a gold coin supposed to be worth about $5k, I still have the coin. I have three machines now, the beep and go, the beep, ground balance and go and the computer on a stick.

I alternate between them. Each finds stuff. Nice stuff. And I concur my best finds have been 6" or less underground. The computer on a stick is good for not digging aluminum bits at the beach, and it does well, the beep, ground balance and go machine goes deepest of all. Depth isn't everything.

Just remember in essence, what we are essentially dealing with here is a hobby and our toys. The my machine is better than yours is incorrect, to put it politely. Just have fun. Sometimes I have purchased a more expensive machine, and all but twice over the years they have gone right back on the market as they did not live up to expectations, or I didn't like it, or the kids needed something else. After all I do not NEED a metal detector.

Enjoy the hobby! Forget the rest!

 

[can_slaw]

Let's just all take a deep breath here. The national average for a keepable target is 6" or less. You don't have to have a lot of the machines advertised here on the forum and on Youtube.

This is the best dialogue I have had on here since my introdiction in November. Every single person has made excellent points to their beliefs, even if we are the beep and dig crowd. Even that was productive though. Because he's right in a sense. I am new enough in my passion to still enjoy all of my targets. Even the pull tabs and such. The item is still less important to me than the experience of finding it. Hopefully more can remember what youthful exuberance feels like.

 

[can_slaw]

Don't let things get you down. My go to machine for over 30 years was and is a beep and go machine. It cost $329 new. It doesn't even ground balance and the best coin I got with it was a gold coin supposed to be worth about $5k, I still have the coin. I have three machines now, the beep and go, the beep, ground balance and go and the computer on a stick.

I alternate between them. Each finds stuff. Nice stuff. And I concur my best finds have been 6" or less underground. The computer on a stick is good for not digging aluminum bits at the beach, and it does well, the beep, ground balance and go machine goes deepest of all. Depth isn't everything.

Just remember in essence, what we are essentially dealing with here is a hobby and our toys. The my machine is better than yours is incorrect, to put it politely. Just have fun. Sometimes I have purchased a more expensive machine, and all but twice over the years they have gone right back on the market as they did not live up to expectations, or I didn't like it, or the kids needed something else. After all I do not NEED a metal detector.

Enjoy the hobby! Forget the rest!

Well said smokey.

 

[smokeythecat]

I liked your one post about a pull tab. I dug a bright gold one and a bright blue one last year and I still have them.! I also dug a black titanium wedding ring, it's not worth squat but it's just a personal favorite I dug last fall at the beach. It was not at that one spot the day before, I dug two days in a row. I love the chase. I have been successful, but I suppose I'm in the beep and go club. My computer on a stick is smarter than I am and I can't do the math with the blasted thing, so I set it on "idiot" mode, and tear off detecting. When some folks talk in the "high math" category, well, I would not make a very good mathematician. Last 8 days I got more than I have gotten in some years. The reason is I took most of last week off and detected as much as possible. I have good sites and drove 1,300 miles! In a BIG circle. You just have to put in the time (between cat naps) to get the goodies. The metal detecting equation is time spent in the field = results. Of course the stuff has to be in the ground to begin with!

 

[Rookster]

Just always remember it's a hobby and this forum is where people come to get ideas, settings for their machines and tell stories. It's not near as important as family.lots of luck to you .

 

[can_slaw]

I lol'd at a gold one just this week or last on here. I honestly now have one on my "bucket list". If I am gonna dig pull tabs, then darn it they better at least be gold! Good on you for having such a positive attitude smokey.

 

[wingmaster]

Most parks around my area the silver left is all 10"+, so if you detect there for silver you need a detector that will get you at least that deep. The ace series detectors aren't bad at all but most of the cheap bounty hunters I would have just saved up for a good used one, I can say if I started with a cheap bounty hunter I wouldn't still be detecting today. Even with top of the line detectors a lot of first time users buy one go out a few times only digging junk because they haven't learned it well and set it in the closet thinking it's about impossible to dig good stuff. HH