Beginners Buying Guide

Brand Choice

The most reliable brands, according to the pro`s, are (in no particular order) Minelab, Garrett, Fisher, White`s, Tesoro and Bounty Hunter. Stick with these 6 brand names and you'll own a detector that will probably outlive you. Certain brands are more sophisticated and have a steeper learning curve. Others are the portrait of simplicity and are ready to go right out of the case. Either way, they're all quality detectors. In any case, avoid purchasing a detector from a company not specifically in the business of selling metal detectors. I've seen off-brand machines being sold dirt cheap in catalogs from outfits selling everything from Army surplus to fishing equipment. These folks might know a thing or two regarding fishing lures and canteens, but they know bupkus about metal detecting. You'll also pay more for the unit than it's probably worth. There are also persons on the Web with sideline businesses of selling detectors out of their homes. Purchasing from them is probably no riskier than buying from a commercial store with a Web site, while they're usually authorized agents of the major brand manufacturers. Still, ask for references from other detectorists who have dealt with these individuals, since the Web/Internet has become the scammers new best friend.

 

For anyone serious about hunting coins and relics, a brand new entry-level detector starts at $250. Price is probably going to be a huge consideration for a you, but it shouldn't be your only consideration. That's because there's another factor of the price you pay: Value. You may think you're getting a deal with a $100 detector. However, an off-brand $100 machine will do a fairly poor job of helping you find valuable coins and relics when compared to a name-brand machines which costs at least $150 more. In the end, you'll have wasted $100 on something that will just sit in your closet, leading you to become a broken, defeated, miserable person. To fill the gap, you will take up golf, a hobby even more expensive and frustrating.

On the other side of the coin, purchasing a more expensive, high-quality detector doesn't automatically guarantee you'll find more items than someone with a less expensive, high-quality machine. In practice, it's the skill of the person using the detector (and his ability to listen to what his detector is telling him) that's the ultimate measure of performance. (Which, incidentally, is why there are a few veterans who can find stuff with a homemade machine rigged up from a transistor radio and a wire-wrapped coffee can lid. Seriously.) There are legions of detectorists who have learned their $250 detectors so well they can walk behind beginners with $600 machines and find scads of stuff the $600 guys missed. The stock advice from any veteran detectorist is always: "Buy the best detector you can afford." This is not completely true. More precise advice would be: "Get the best detector you can afford which will work for the type of searching you plan on doing." Settle for anything less -- for any reason whatsoever -- and you'll soon be digging out 50 times the amount you thought you saved to some range pro to fix that nasty push slice of yours.

 

There are two sorts of metal detectors: manual and automatic. This means they suppress fake signals from ferrous oxide (otherwise known as iron) in the ground either automatically or manually. This is called ground balancing. Some machines come from the factory with the ground balance set to a pre-set level. Others allow you to do it yourself to adjust for different conditions, depending on how much iron shows up naturally in the ground. If you're going to seek for coins and relics on land or beaches, in parks and around old home sites, an automatic is fine. If you plan to hunt for coins and relics or prospect for gold nuggets in mountainous areas (where there is a lot of naturally occurring ferrous oxide), you would need a machinewith a manual ground balance feature. There are also detectors designed specifically for those who plan to dive, gold prospect or search wet sand locations of salt water beaches, or beaches with black sand.

General purpose detectors aren't completely submersible (you can submerge the coil for hunting in very shallow water, but not the control box containing the electronics). On salt water beaches, the interaction of salt in the water do wet sand conductive. In other words, the wet sand will obtain the conductive properties of metal without being naturally metallic. This will cause your machine to "detect" objects that don't exist. Some individuals say this phenomenon of nature confuses a metal detector. But truly, it doesn't. The detector is simply doing what it's made to do, which is to detect items with conductive properties. Like any other electronic unit, metal detectors are blind. Conductive is conductive. Luckily, as a total package they're not truly blind, since they're also created to detect varying degrees of conductivity. For instance, the pull tab of an aluminum beer can is less conductive than a quarter, but it's more conductive than a little gold ring. This is where discrimination circuitry, the most important feature of any metal detector comes into play. Discrimination lets you reject metallic trash like pull tabs, screw-off bottle caps and iron nails when you're seeking for coins. Some detectors do this using different tones. Others use a notch system, which relies on either a simple dial or more sophisticated computerized program to accept or reject objects within a numeric conductivity range.

 

Bells And Whistles

The less money you invest, the fewer bells and whistles you get. The more expensive machines use LCD target identification and depth meters. For all I know, someone probably creates a $50,000 detector that'll tell you what year a coin was minted. Like anything else electronic, target ID isn't foolproof, even on the most expensive machines. There are hordes of guys with $600 detectors getting screwed by trash being "misread" as a coin. That's because target ID only tells you what an target most probably is, not what it definately is. While most target ID meters are accurate only to about 5 to 6 inches, their depth readings are mostly accurate. Do you absolutely need a machine with these two conveniences? Nope ... no more than anyone without hand protese absolutely needs a camera with an automatic film winder. These niceties will come in handy, though, to someone who's a casual detectorist without the time or inclination to learn to detect by tone alone. However, as anyone who's ever bought a gallon of milk from 7-Eleven knows, convenience always costs alot more. Once you manage your style of metal detecting (and find out whether you really do need an LCD meter), you can always upgrade.

 

This is important. Multi-purpose detectors range in weight from 2 to 4 pounds. Get the lightest model you can find for the money you plan to use. Swinging a heavier machine takes its toll on your arms, especially if you're at it for a few hours. In fact, they all take a toll on your arms. The lighter units will just wear you out more slowly.

 

New Or Used?

Good news here is most serious detectorists take exceptionally good care of their machines. They also upgrade to better ones sooner. That said, the probability of getting horned on a used metal detector is statistically slimmer than for buying a used car. Personally, I`d prefer a new machine for one reason alone: You really have to beat the bushes to find someone with a used detector for sale when you want to purchase one. Especially someone with the exact brand and model you seek. Additionally, some manufacturer's warranties aren't transferable from one owner to the next. If you have a few weeks to scan the newspaper classifieds and online news groups (or even your neighborhood pawn shops), fine. For the time you'd spend doing this (instead of just buying something new and getting out and detecting in a matter of days), you'd end up saving in the long run purchasing new.

 

Whose Penetrate Deepest?

The real answer to this $50,000 question is: Nobody's. I'm certain there are a bunch of people who will disagree, but that's mostly personal brand loyalty or manufacturer's propaganda doing the talking. There are just too many variables mixed in metal detecting for any one brand or model to claim to be The Undisputed Depth King. The five major brands all do a excellent job of finding objects in the 5- to 7-inch range. This is where you'll locate just about everything. If you're going to be invest all your time on the beach, your finds will be even shallower (between 1-3 inches). Metal Detectors in the $250+ range can indeed find targets in the 1.5- to 2-foot range. However, stuff that deep (or deeper) is just a pain in the ass to deal with, and usually more hazzle than it's worth. At that point, you're an archaeologist, not a casual detectorist. Truth is, digging that deep with a hand spade is very time consuming. I recently spent the better part of 30 minutes at a beach digging up what turned out to be an aluminum beer can just past the 2.5-foot level. Since then, I've ended up at the opinion I don't have the time or inclination to dig to China if the mark is still in the hole once I reach the 16-inch mark.

 

Analysis Paralysis

Finally, find out what kind of detecting you want to do, how much you can comfortably use, and which model from which manufacturer will do the best work for you. Then go out and actually purchase the damn thing. You're investing in a metal detector, not a life insurance policy. If you only have $300 to put in, don't waste your time looking at a manufacturer's higher-line models. You can't afford it. And spending more than you can afford on a credit card or looting the family nest egg will just piss off your better half. In the other hand, don't waste your time looking at a manufacturer's cheaper models. If you have $300 to throw around, you're obviously someone who intends on investing some serious time and effort towards getting good at finding coins and relics in the most trying of conditions. A cheaper metal detector will hinder you more than it'll help. One last word: If you purchase a detector from the 6 major manufacturers, don't worry about whether you'll be kicking yourself later -- especially over the price you paid. If you buy from a Web-based store, know that just about everyone charges the same (plus or minus $5) for the same detector model. Most of all, avoid the temptation to pull your hair and wail mournfully to Buddah should some smart prick mention he bought his detector (or a "better" one) for a lot less than you did. People lie like rugs.