New Member, New to the Hobby

[King Richard]

Happy to have found the forum. Have read a lot of posts and enjoy the exchanges and valuable information that is shared.
I am still deciding on my first MD.
Being from Socal, it looks like beaches and public parks and play grounds will be the main target areas.
I find it awesome as to the finds of those in the east and south.
Amazing.

[del]

Hello Richard , welcome to American Detectorist (not to be confused with cheap imitations that are out there lol lol) and welcome to the hobby. your area is very exclusive for some great finds , a lot of the more scarce S mintmarked silver is out your way and there seems to me a lot more gold coins and the fraction gold is recovered there. theres early Spanish towns and missions that were started way before the gold rush came to be and then you have great beaches too. i do envy a lot of the finds that come from out your way Richard , i hope to see you find and post some soon .

Dan

[aloldstuff]

Welcome from western MA. Hope you decide on which detector to purchase. There is a lot of information out there on detectors to digest. Have you a favorite in mind? Looking forward to your future posts.

[Full Metal Digger]

KR,

Welcome to the hobby and the forum. Not sure which detector would be best for the type of hunting you want to do. Ghost towns to your east and ring-filled beaches to your west. Lots of opportunities! Best wishes and HH, Dave.

[Fire Fighter 43]

Welcome to the forum and hobby from SE. You have no shortage of beaches in SoCal I would think a good beach machine would serve you well. good Luck and Happy Hunting

[Epi-hunter]

Welcome to the forum! Any ideas which detector you are leaning towards?

[OxShoeDrew]

Welcome and good luck with your choice

[Lowjiber]

Welcome to you new obsession and the forum from southern Nevada.

I used to live in Los Gatos mountains...between Santa Cruz and San Jose.

[King Richard]

Thank you for the warm welcome!
I have been reviewing several MD's.

Tesoro Compadre gets great reviews.
The BH platinum looks okay.Others have some appeal.
The F2 has a lot of positive reviews and great references from users, but also gets some bad comments.

Would be nice to test drive them.Just don't know where they have them to test in So Cal.
.
I am considering to look at and try some off craigslist. But they don't usually have ones I would consider.
I'll most likely just buy one and see what works for me.
I wish I had started this hobby before retirement, when I had more $$.Now I must budget everything.

What are the advantages to having different sizes?
There is a nice offer to mail order the F2 with 3 diffferent heads.

The Tesoro shows great confidence with the lifetime guarantee, but what if you don't like the way it works, forever?

Also, those I like do not show up for sale as a used unit, so people must like them.

I share too many thoughts at once...
Thanks again.

[Lowjiber]

I have been reviewing several MD's.

Tesoro Compadre gets great reviews.
The BH platinum looks okay.Others have some appeal.
The F2 has a lot of positive reviews and great references from users, but also gets some bad comments.

What are the advantages to having different sizes?
There is a nice offer to mail order the F2 with 3 different heads.

Here are a couple of comments. Not endorsements, mind you, just comments.

Bounty Hunters are built by First Texas Products, LLC. Fisher is owned by FTP as well. (Just a tidbit of info. )

Many Tesoro owners are so loyal that they won't own anything else. However, it is very hard to find a brick-and-mortar dealer.

You'll find that just about everyone has at least two coils for their detector...one that's about 9 in diameter and another around 4. The small coils are terrific for hunting areas that are cluttered with targets. They allow you to focus on better targets hidden amongst (amongst lol ) the junk. An example is around picnic tables. They are also excellent around tree roots that have risen above the ground over time.

The standard sized coil, if there is one, is around nine inches. It is a general purpose weapon that will serve you well, especially if you only have one coil.

I have an F2 that I often carry in the Jeep for impromptu hunts. I have two coils for it, but keep the four inch coil on it most of the time.

F2's are tough. I stuck (by accident) a Lesche through the face plate of mine about three years ago. 8/ It keeps on ticking...your results may vary.

I don't think you can go wrong with a Tesoro or Fisher. Bounty hunter detectors are hit-and-miss IMHO. I have a buddy who is very successful with his old BH, but I think their quality is suspect at times recently. Again, I might be wrong.

[CODY]

Welcome from Mississippi Richard. Welcome to AD. Will be looking forward to your finds and post. HH

[King Richard]

Thanks again.
I see the ACE 250 , How do you like it, Lowjiber?

[Epi-hunter]

Don't know if you have seen this yet, but you might want to take a look at this article on the ACE250 and F2 (John/Lowjiber wrote it):

http://www.americandetectorist.com/a...F2review.shtml

[milco]

Welcome from Wisconsin!

[Lowjiber]

Thanks again.
I see the ACE 250 , How do you like it, Lowjiber?

I like the Ace 250 a lot. I've been training a newbie in the black art of metal detecting...sticking close by as he used my MXT without headphones (so I could hear). I've been using my wife's first detector, and Ace 250 with a Sunray probe attached. I wanted to use the 250 because it's much lighter than most of my other machines and the probe helps me a lot when helping him exactly locate and flip a coin. (The MXT has a probe too, but I haven't let him use it yet. >8) ) Besides, I'm not trying to out hunt him. I'm trying to teach him good technique.

One reason that I prefer the F2 is that it uses a pseudo-VDI scale. I say pseudo because it's not exactly like the White's machines, but close enough. I'm so used to the VDI scale (I hunt the MXT in Alt-Relic mode 100% of the time.) that it's just become second nature to me.

The Ace display is smaller and harder for these old eyes to see rapidly. lol

The Ace is vastly more popular than the F2. I attribute that to the fact that there are many more retail outlets (brick-and-mortar) that carry the Aces. Fisher has never marketed very well...IMHO.

BTW: I mentioned my probe on the Ace. If you'll go to the American Detectorist webpage, you'll see an article about how to get the most out of your probe. The picture in the article is me with the Ace using the Sunray YF-1 probe. Once you've learned to use a probe, you'll not leave home without one. I have three White's machines (M6, MXT, and V3i)...all equipped with a Sunray probe.

As another indication of my love of the Sunray probes, when the Visions hit the market a few years ago I bought one of the first ones available to the public (Ser #016). When Jimmy Sierra was telling me about the new White's machine, I told him I'd take one unless it wouldn't accept a Sunray.

Another BTW: Putting a $250'ish probe on a $200 detector is a bit strange...I'll agree.

I'll shut up. (I don't have any financial ties with Sunray. lol

[King Richard]

Again I want to say thanks to everyone for such great information.
I was out today and I find myself evaluating every area we drive by that has potential for MD,ing.
I'll read some more posts, really enjoy the info.
Thanks again

[Epi-hunter]

I was out today and I find myself evaluating every area we drive by that has potential for MD,ing.

That's when you know you are officially addicted.

[King Richard]

\I think you are right.

[jkress]

Welcome from Iowa King Richard.
As you are finding... there is lots of great info and people on this site.

I see the ACE 250 , How do you like it, Lowjiber?

I started the hobby with an Ace 250. This machine put many nice keepers in my pocket.
Including 72 silver coins.

I was out today and I find myself evaluating every area we drive by that has potential for MD,ing.

That's when you know you are officially addicted.

Welcome to the club. Subconsciously we are always looking for potential hunting grounds. thumbsup01