fletcher1234565 Posted September 27, 2012 Report Share Posted September 27, 2012 Hi all. Looking into doing a bit of metal detecting. Can anyone point me in the right direction. Not really sure what to buy, but looking for a cheapish one thats good quality, also any other things i need , that i might have over looked. Cheers Fletcher1234565 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
39TDS Posted September 27, 2012 Report Share Posted September 27, 2012 Garret Ace 250. Not used one myself but it seems to be the starter machine of choice. A good machine for not too much money, resale value is very good too. Heard of a second hand one making £50 more than a new one on the bay recently. Wouldn't be a bad idea to get a deal to include a pro-pointer too, very helpful in actually locating your finds, not desperately needed but do help. I use a £10 mini spade from Toolstation and a nail pouch to stick stuff in as I find it (£5 from Toolstation). Not many good deals on second hand stuff lately as demand is very high due to various buried treasure progs on tv. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeonblasterian Posted September 27, 2012 Report Share Posted September 27, 2012 Have a Tesora Cibola and it has good ground penetration.You can set it to reject a lot of stuff and off you go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftycarper Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 If its beaches you wanna detect then go for a minelab detector, can't touch them on sand or wet sand most other machines will fail. in fact go for a minelab sovereign GT great all round machine but depends on your budget really. Goldmax power is another one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLuke Posted September 29, 2012 Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 My dad is big on metal detecting and swears by Minelab, has a couple, but they are not cheap. I will double check with him but I think a Laser Rapier or something along those lines is a good cheaper machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
39TDS Posted September 29, 2012 Report Share Posted September 29, 2012 Minelabs are indeed very good detectors, they are also too heavy and have an appalling recovery speed. Recovery speed refers to how soon after discriminating out iron they get back to looking for good stuff. On this score they are pretty terrible, can be a serious issue on trashy sites. I had an Explorer SE, awesome machine but the design is very out of balance and killed my arm in no time. (yesterday I unloaded a 15 ton wagon of straw by hand so I am no wimp) Teknetics T2 is a better bet IMO, but will cost circa £500 second hand. Battery life on them is phenomenal. Currently have a Goldmaxx Power myself. Only got it last week so not a great deal of experience with it yet. Seems pretty good and not so different from either of the above but no screen readout. Recognising the tones is easy enough so screen isn't essential. Non of these are beginner machines though, which the OP asked about. No reason you can't start off with one of these though, but you will have to realise you are jumping in at the deep end and there is a big learning curve involved. (and a big bill!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftycarper Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 (edited) Rapiers are a good cheap machine, good for small targets but restricted on depth. I currently use the the minelab etraq which is too expensive and complicated for a beginner I admit but the sovereign gt is basically a switch on and go machine which just needs ground balancing as I also have one along with a lobo supertraq. The great thing about the sovereign is you can remove the control box and mount it on a belt eliminating the heaviness. You can get the older version on eBay at a reasonable price the sovereign xs. The t2 is a great little machine, very fast recovery but a tad expensive new and not many around secondhand at the moment although a lot of people are moving onto the xp deus now. Swings and roundabouts really there are lots of options but I really like my minelabs, built to last and great on wet sand, small streams and land especially pasture Edited September 30, 2012 by craftycarper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craftycarper Posted September 30, 2012 Report Share Posted September 30, 2012 Ps. Don't worry about recovery speed too much with the etraq as I have the screen wide open with hardly any discrimination and work on tones. My son started into the hobby this year and bought a minelab safari as his first machine and has found some cracking stuff already roman, Viking, Saxon and plenty of hammered coins. As a rule of thumb I would say if you have your own land to detect on then choice of machine can be a slower machine, if your gonna do a lot of rallies or group digs then go for a T2 faster machine to cover larger areas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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