New member question, old vs new

[mcdpoor]

I have been out of the hunt for a few years.. I am wanting to return.. I still have my Garrett GTA 500. I am way out of date , how much better are the newer models and last what recommendations do you have for an updated model without spending alot of money...Thanks

 

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[John-Edmonton]

Do you have the ULTRA model or the GTAx 500?

 

[mcdpoor]

Do you have the ULTRA model or the GTAx 500?

It was one of the first made about 15 years ago. I thought it was just a GTA 500

 

[gleaner1]

Unless yer hell bent for leather, you might think twice about a new machine. If you are coinshootin' you got a great detector. Take a look at coil options if you want to go real deep or fight the trash.

Just today I found a clad dime, 56 roosy and a 1916 wheat with my old freedom2 (1984), my first machine and my first hunt this year, ground still pretty frozen. I dug (2) .22 cases also, they sounded a bit iffy. My gut is not to assume the GTA is really that far behind the new machines. I am now looking for a new machine but I always wonder exactly what advantage I'll have over the good older machines.

 

[mcdpoor]

Thanks, My old GTA 500 always did me well.. I also had a whites XLT that was fine but for the money the GTA would find as much change and jewerly... Have they ever developed a detector that can get rid of pull tabs and still find jewerly and nickels...That was my big problem I must have picked up hundreds of pull tabs from our local parks...but that was the only way to find the good stuff...I'd have a pocket full of pulltabs at the end of the hunt..

 

[gleaner1]

I don't have a lot of experience with a bunch of different detectors, but very few machines I know of can really ignore the pull tabs and other alum crap and get more jewelry. Just the nature of the metals.

If you have a top end machine with the latest target ID and you know it well, you might find a bit more gold jewelry. There are newer machines that I have read about that lock onto nickels very well, but nickels are uniform and have predictable signatures.

Classifying gold vs alum vs lead is still a tough row to hoe. The high end machines with a wide-spread target ID will do it but dig deep into wallet and prepare to go slow. And you will still dig plenty of pull-tabs on the way.

 

[George (MN)]

The only new Garrett is their pinpointer. If you want a new Garrett that goes really deep, you may have to wait awhile as they are tied up with govt contracts & such.

Looking back on the history of Garrett, they gone many years without a single new model, & some years they had several new models. I guess it's just whenever inspiration comes along?

If you would consider another brand there are new choices, from Fisher, Teknetics, White's & Minelab. In the economy range, Gold Century (made in China) has some new models.

I use a Fisher F70, very deep for $649 new (bought mine used). Many like it, some prefer something else.

Your GTA 500 would go deeper with a larger coil, a 10" Hothead for the GTAs or a Garrrett 12" Crossfire coil. HH, George (MN)

 

[sniffer]

if your old one treated you right, I'd keep using it. Finding things hasn't changed, dig all repeatable tones

good luck

Sniffer

 

[brokenarrow]

if your old one treated you right, I'd keep using it. Finding things hasn't changed, dig all repeatable tones

good luck

Sniffer

I agree......if it aint broke dont fix it.
good hunting

 

[Adrian SS]

Last weekend I took my old Fiisher 555D out for a nostalgic bit of detecting and I have to admit that using the All Metal mode and an 8 inch Co Planer coil got me just as many good targets as what I would have expected from my zillion dollar newbies and at pretty much just as deep.
One silver two shilling piece came out from close on 12 inches in river gravel and it was a strong signal. The only problem with this machine is that it has lots of knobs and needs constant attention to the ground balance; But on the other hand you have to go slow with this machine which means that weak deep signals are raerly missed. Also this detector will reverse discriminate any signal that the All Metal mode responds to, to the depth of the target.. Aah The Good Old Days.
I wouldn't trade my newbies in on an oldie though.

Jackinthebox

 

[mcdpoor]

Thank you all for the great feedback...I took my old GTA 500 out and did okay..I don't really see any major updates from my metal detector. In fact I saw were they have a Investigator 500 that looks just like my old GTA 500.. Garrett sales it as a police CSI machine... Has anyone else had one of these and do you know if it is the same machine I have...I would like a larger and a smaller coil but don't know if there may be a clearance or a great price for them somewhere..If anyone knows or has some laying around please contact me. New coils would probably cost more than buying a new detector that would include the coils like the ACE 250 does...

 

[sniffer]

check on craigs list or with Kellyco