Any metal detector guys here?

My son and I would like to get into metal detecting, a little as a hobby. I'm for anything that will get him out of the house. A friend at work has done it for years and uses a "White's" brand detector. He suggests ~$400 to get a good one. Any of you guys into this? Got any brand or model suggestions?

I have a White and really like it....paid $20 for it at a garage sale.

I use a Garret GTA 350 and a GTA 550 and like them. I hear good things about the White also. If you are buying new, a $ 400 unit would be a good start.

Have used a Garrett AT 4 in salt and fresh water. I messed it up by getting it caught in the door of my P/U. Now have a Garrett AT PRO. Just about to smart for me to run. If you're planning on finding the mother lode, don't, have fun and enjoy the sport.

The first detector I bought was a Garrett Ace 250 , simple to use and very economical . It is far from a toy and I have found some really interesting and valuable things with it . The drawback with any new hobby like this is that the novelty can wear off very quickly . It is probably better to start off with a modest machine and invest in the ' Flasher ' ones when you are sure it isn't a passing fancy.

My brother has one. So far he has found only rusty nails, half a pair of pliers, and a key hole saw.

You might want to check out Kellyco at http://www.kellycodetectors.com/
I bought a Whites DFX andreally like it. I also have a Whites Coinmaster 5900Di that I've had for years and no problems.
You could also check on eBay to see what it has as last resort.

All I find are spoons! I must be looking where young kids used to play?

(quoted from post at 03:55:44 05/29/15) All I find are spoons! I must be looking where young kids used to play?

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Hopefully you are right , unfortunately spoons are used by Heroin addicts to mix their drug before injecting , you do find a few around parks and recreation fields .
This is what I found on my very first outing with a Garrett Ace 250.


My best find to date is this Gentleman's signet ring.

I;ve been metal detecting since 1980.

If you really think your going to stay with detecting buy the best you can afford. I been out with people that brought a lesser machine, lesser machine can discourage the crap out of detecting as you will be digging a lot of scrap. The better machines have quite a large learning curve, keep that in mind when buying.
I'm always looking for another detecting buddy. I'm in north west Indiana 30mi from Chicago.

I would dig silver spoons all day if I could

The cheap ones will drive you nuts. You need one that tells old barbed wire from gold. I'm just the labor anyhow ,my wife waves the thing around and I dig.You can find some cool stuff .

Well, I tried out several "cheap" metal detectors. One of them (forgot which) seemed to work fairly well. The most of them were just not very useful. They ALL will detect the presence of MOST metals, BUT........the reason for "better" and more expensive detectors is the discrimination ability of them.
In ANY case, it takes some getting used to the machine to begin to tell whether the beep is something that you want to dig up or just pass by.
I personally have a White's. After the 3 or so cheaper ones that I had, the White's works better than the whole lot of them.
The most frustrating thing you will find is the incredible amount of trash you will find. Pop top tabs show up as nickels on most detectors. And, there are millions of them buried everywhere. The longer you use the machine, the easier it will get to tell the trash from treasure.

Good luck!

Have a Garrett AT Pro also. Tough machine to learn on. If it beeps there is something there. Have found bbs at 8 inches deep. Go to treasurenet.com. there is a section for every brand, and one for newbs with questions. Also a bunch of dealers to shop for best price. Garrett or Whites either one you can't go wrong. Both are good machines. The bigger the coil on the end usually means more depth. Also a pinpointer is a great help. I started with a cheap pp from Harbor Freight for about $15. Now have a waterproof Garrett.

I just recently got a new mine lab detector, suppose to be one of the best, trying to get the hang of it. Slow going for this old timer.
I have a Whites XLT for 15yrs. still a lot I don't know about it.
What I'm trying to say it can take awhile to get to use a machine up to it's capability.

redtom,

I would call the retailers in your area to see who has a tutorial on the products they sell. (or the manufacturer for the retailer in your area they can be hard to find.)
I and my son have Garrett's for 30 years, he won't take the time to learn it, says it's broken.

Some good replies here. I'd stay away from the really cheap ones, such as most anything "Bounty Hunter". I haven't used one but the Garrett Ace 350 gets good reviews for a lower priced entry-level detector.

I've been detecting since about 1988. Started with a new Garrett GTA 1000, it worked really good but the screen quit working after several years. Then I bought a used Troy Shadow(no longer produced) off of ebay and had great luck with it. Still have it but a couple years back I bought a used Tesoro Tejon off of ebay and it works great too, detects really deep. I've been thinking of adding another, just for the heck of it, and if I do it'll either be a used Whites or one of the brand-new Noktas or Makros.

The main thing is to start out with something good(as mentioned, look at treasurenet.com for reviews). Then go out and hunt. On all brands, there's a learning curve, and you WILL dig up a lot of junk. But at first, dig every signal. With most detectors, you'll eventually learn from the sound of it whether you're over a good target or a piece of rusty wire, etc....but it takes time. Don't forget too, that just because you're not finding coins doesn't mean the detector's no good or you're doing it wrong. In order to find coins, there has to BE some there in the fist place....we have lots of old homestead sites on our ranch, but it's very rare to find a coin. Most people back then simply didn't have much money to lose in the first place. Just dont give up.

Good luck and don't forget to fill in your holes!

Also, to keep this kind of tractor/tool-related, my brother lost a toolbox off of a tractor when he was baling big round bales. He knew roughly where he thought it was. The 3rd bale I checked with my detector gave off a big signal, and sure enough, unrolled it and there was the tool box, a bit wrinkled, but still had all the tools in it.

I've found more than a few tools with one as well .

One of the things you will have to learn is research. You will want to spend time finding the location of old school playgrounds, old parks, old fairground sites. Old abandon houses sometimes yield good results. If you live in areas where there were civil war battles or skirmishes, or sites of old forts. Remember to find the owners of the property you hunt want to on and get permission to hunt.
google treasure hunting and get information on magazine publishers and local clubs to join.
good hunting.

I have a whites MX5, it works great.

I bought a Bounty Hunter Big Bud Pro over 20 years ago. I was never really satisfied with it. My one friend came over with his White detector one time and we went hunting and he found items in areas that I had already gone over and mine didn't detect anything.

I gave $600 for my bounty hunter and I think the salesman just wanted to get it out of his inventory. I still have it but haven't used it in years.

Mine looks just like this but a different color and it has 4 knobs on the front instead of three. Maybe mine is still worth something.