New to MDing, What detector is right for me?

[TheBigFundamental]

Greetings all,

I am having trouble settling on my first MD investment, I am planning on making my purchase in about 2 weeks.

I am fairly certain that I won't be quitting the hobby any time soon once I get started so I am not afraid to make a reasonable investment (~300) to get a durable, quality, user friendly machine.

Thank you for any advice.

[del]

first welcome to the forum and to the hobby . :grin:

secondly what kind of detecting will you be doing most ( beach hunting , coin shooting in parks and schools , maybe relic hunting and the areas you will be visiting ) being a little more specific will help us in giving you the best advice in the right detector . all have their strengths and weaknesses , pros and cons .

Dan

[Epi-hunter]

Greetings all,

I am having trouble settling on my first MD investment, I am planning on making my purchase in about 2 weeks.

I am fairly certain that I won't be quitting the hobby any time soon once I get started so I am not afraid to make a reasonable investment (~300) to get a durable, quality, user friendly machine.

Thank you for any advice.

Hi and welcome :)

It depends on a number of factors... most importantly, what type of detecting are you going to do?

I read from your other post that you became interested in this hobby because of your coin collection, so I'm going to assume here that this is your main goal (finding older coins) rather than relic or beach hunting for example.

I have not used the ACE 350 (you indicated an interest in this detector in your intro post) but my first MD was the ACE 250. I used it a few months and ended up upgrading mainly because of two reasons: 1) the inability to ground balance the machine to compensate for highly mineralized soil; and (related reason) 2) poor depth and target ID accuracy (because I had to turn the sensitivity down very low to avoid falsing in my highly mineralized soil). However, for general coinshooting the ACE 250 was great, and a lot of fun.

The ACE 350 has a DD coil (versus a concentric coil on the 250) so it should be better in mineralized soil and salt water sand with better target separation, although a bit more challenging in terms of pinpointing. I have also heard that it is more of a relic machine than the 250 because they added more differentiation among the iron signals. In doing that they also collapsed a couple of the target ID categories for coins that the 250 had, so some people say that the target ID is a bit less accurate among coins. However the DD coil should get more depth and more accurate target ID overall at greater depths than the ACE 250 had. Also they added a higher frequency (theoretically should be better for smaller high conductive targets) and a volume control (something the ACE 250 definitely needed).

In any event, in that price range what you are going to get is an entry-level detector. If you are going to detect primarily old homestead sites or other areas that have not been previously hit by other detectorists, then the entry-level detectors should be able to find most coins unless they are very very deep or masked by iron (the latter is often the case at old homestead sites). The target ID may not be perfect but if you dig the deep signals you should find the coins. Limitations of the ACE 350 in my opinion are the inability to ground balance, no threshold audio, and only three audio tone ID... still, these are limitations that you will find true to most detectors in that price range.

Your limitation with an entry-level detector (in my opinion) is if you wish to detect in old parks or other areas that have been heavily detected by others previously. Many of the old coins in these areas have already been found. The ones that remain are harder to come by, as they are often mixed among trash, masked by iron, on edge, or very deep.... in which case, a higher-end detector is for the most part going to be a requirement to find and dig most of these coins.

So if you plan primarily on hitting public areas that have been heavily detected, in an effort to find old coins, I believe you will be better served to save up and buy a higher-end machine, even a used one. If your interest is in general coinshooting (not necessarily old coins) or if you will primarily be detecting in areas that have never before been detected, where there is not a lot of iron or other trash, then an entry-level machine might work fine for you in those situations.

Hope this helps.

[tanacat]

I started with a used White's Prism IV, it was $200 originally $400, hunted with it mostly in city parks for about 6 months. Found lots of clad, but no silver coins with it. Not sure if it had to do with depth or just wasn't hunting right areas. I did find an 1833 Large Cent at an old homestead. It sparked my passion for detecting and I quickly upgraded to a used White's XLT ($600 orig $900) and found many silver coins, jewelry and relics.

I often hunted with a friend who had a White's V3 and I was impressed by the analyzing modes and fancy color screen lol Plus he seemed to never dig trash (he's a coin shooter) and when he dug, it was usually an old coin. So this last summer I invested in a White's V3i (newest model- $1800 included wireless headphones) and am very happy with it, yet still have a lot to learn. I've found many old silver and copper coins as well as interesting relics.

There are many good brands out there from what I hear and see on this fine forum. I mainly chose White's because my hunting friend/guru is dedicated to them and suggested that I try 'em out... :grin:

Anyway, welcome to the club! Hope you choose one you're happy with and we get to see your finds soon.

[rsarge1]

welcome to the club!

everybody has thier own preferences as to what machine is right for them if you can go to a dealer and try out the different machines that is the best way, I recently got back into this great hoby and when I was deciding I went for the biggest and best I could afford because I wanted to be able to grow into the machine until something better came along and I had mastered it. if you can't see one up close there are some excellant videos on the web you can watch to get an idea. I settled for the v-3 now v-3i and in one year it has paid for half of itself with gold silver and clad I have found but there are other machines also that can do the same. it all boils down to the nut behind the wheel and how good you learn to use the machine. hope this helps and happy hunting.

sarge

[TheBigFundamental]

Thanks for the advice, everyone, and keep it coming!

My main interest is coinshooting until I get a little more proficient with the machine. Although I would like to get a versitile MD so that I can easily get into older coin finds and relics.

I will mostly be in parks (just sent off for my permit!) and yards to start out with and I am joining a club here in San Antonio that goes on some out of town hunts.

I want to get started so I can't go TOO expensive but I want something that will keep me interested and that will stay functional for the forseeable future.

Thank you all for your welcoming words and for your advice.
TBF

[russellt]

i have always use whites machine becuase the guy that turned me on to this insanity used whites. i have a v3I and ,,detecting for about 6 years. i started with a prizm 2, the prizm line is a great place to start and they are readily available in your price range . the coin master is a good machine :yes:

[Epi-hunter]

If you look hard you can find a used White's MXT in the $400's. There are many experienced detectorists who refuse to use anything else. Something else to read about.

[DaleGM]

hello big fundarmental I'm running only Whites machines so I really cant tell you alot on all the other choices there, as for Whites I think a M 6 or MXT pro would be a good investment for an all around weapon that will hit coins hard and deep and the coils will swap with the DFX and V3i (v nulled) if you want to get into the digital machines later on, both of these machines are easy to use and are true turn and go detectors with the MXT an edge over the M6 as it does very well for small gold, do some homework just as you put up this post for info. and look at your local metal detector dealer or attend a club meeting before you choose, you have already found the best forum for all around support in this area and on your way to a fun and profitable hobby..........