Easy Money

[Hexhead]

Hi Guy and Girls

I'm interested in getting into detecting or what ever jargon you use. Upon looking at the price of detectors and clutching my heart I had some thoughts and here they are.

1. Can one expect to recoup some of your investment on a detector over a reasonable amount of time lets say a couple of years going out one or two times a week. (please discount the mother load) I realize there are thousands of variables where you hunt what you hunt, luck etc. But what are people in general recouping for their investment. Does a person have to devote a great deal of time to realize any payback or should one enter this as hobby and hope for the best. Perhaps I just answered my own question.

2. I don't want to spend over 250 or so to start out can one expect to enter on this level.

3. What is the resell aspects of detectors (if one buys a name brand)

Thanks Bill

 

[James N.D.]

You can easily pay for the detector just by digging the new coins at schools,parks, or what have you. I have found in one year before close to $500.00 just in the clad coins. If you buy a detector for $250.00, you must take care of the condition of the machine to be able to get anyone to buy it if you decide to sell it later on. The fun of detecting is just going out and swinging the detector and digging targets. You just never know what you are going to find in the ground and sometimes it can be very rewarding. If you plan on buying a detector to make some kind of huge profit, you are sadly mistaken unless you get lucky and find a rare coin or some other valuable item. Detecting is also a very relaxing hobby and that is 1 of the reasons I enjoy it so much. Also, it depends how long you own the detector due to newer and more improved detectors coming out every year. This will also affect the value of a used detector. The main thing about this great hobby is that you meet new people, have a lot of fun and is a very relaxing hobby to have. It is just like fishing, you never know if you are going to catch a big one or what the quantity is going to be. Sometimes you get luck and sometimes you don't. I hope this helps you out and if you buy a detector, Good Luck with it and hope to see you post some finds. HH.

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

Do it as a hobby that you like.

If you want to make some money you will do much better collecting aluminum cans than detecting. Or any minimum wage job for that matter.

As James has said you can make enough in clad to pay back for the detector, but you'll probably average making a $1.50 an hour or so. I try NOT to dig clad and still end up with $100 or so every year. I've found alot of older coins but most of them are only worth $10-15.

Many folks have wildly unreasonable expectations about what they will find and what it is worth. Open up a coin book or go on Ebay and see what coins sell for.

Thank God my detector has rechargable batteries. Cause if it didn't I sure it would be going in the hole every time I detected. But I still would cause I enjoy finding old stuff.

Chris

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

...regarding LAND hunting, but there is another side to it and that's beach hunting, which I shift over to 100% in the summer.

And this summer I will scoop hundreds of dollars of clad off the beaches and easily a thousand (or few) in gold and diamonds. And yes, I AM in it for the fun. But digging valuable stuff is fun too, as are old silver coins, Civil War bullets, buttons, and the like. I haven't sold too much of the latter, though I did sell a button for $95 to a collector. I've sold plenty of my beach booty though and I'm wearing a 14K ring with 9 diamonds in it, a 34 gram 18K gold chain and pendant, and a nice Relic watch right now as I type, all from the beach. And my wife has a $2200 diamond ring she wears, just to name a FEW things. So if somebody WERE in it for the money, the money IS there.

I retired my wedding band with the diamond ring shown here...with my wifes' blessing.
[attachment 24735 rings08082003.jpg]

She wears this one:
[attachment 24736 22diamondring.jpg]

Which was made with the diamonds from this one I found that was missing two stones:
[attachment 24737 24dring.jpg]

This is my watch:
[attachment 24738 relicSmall.jpg]

And the 22" 18K gold chain and charm, about $1500+, easy:
[attachment 24739 731cSmall.jpg]

The wife wears this 14K ring with 7 sapphires, happens to be her birthstone too!
[attachment 24740 sapphireSmall.jpg]

So there IS money and to be made out there with a detector. But I you look at time spent vs. return, I would have to agree that in the end you better be in it for the fun FIRST, because we can and do get skunked from time to time.

 

[therick]

n/t

 

[Ocean7]

well I don't think it falls under easy money 101 but you can recoup quite a bit if you stick to it and find good places to hunt. Some guys go for volume and find quite a bit of clad at parks, playgrounds, and the beach.

Others go for the harder to find stuff that's much older. Either way if you don't enjoy this and just want to just make money - I'd head elsewhere with your time and money.

sure you can enter at $250.00. I'd look at Garrett's Ace 250. resale is fairly good on name brands.

who knows you might even find one of these...

 

[Eddie in Poulsbo]

I started with the Predator III which I got from Kellyco and did very well with it. It was under $300 and a very good detector for the money. I got detectorist of the year two years in a row with it in our club and then I took a big leap and bought an Explorer XS and that year I won detectorist of the year again for the third year in a row. I wouldn't be concerned with how much you will find or what your old machine might be worth when you want to sell it. The main point is to buy something not too expensive and just get out there and enjoy this wonderful hobby. Welcome to the forum and I hope you get a detector and start enjoying this great hobby like the rest of us. HH.

Eddie

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

Hey Mike,

Nope, forgot beach/water hunting. Finding that jewelry makes all the difference. Plus a easier to dig clad in sand.

I think the best way to make MDing pay off is to first develop a really expensive bad hobby, say crack and high class call girls, and then switch over to metal detecting. Then spending $20 bucks on gas and five hours to dig a few zincs will seem like an astute decision.

Chris

 

[Maxwedge]

Buy an Ace 250. I got my son one and he really enjoys it. It's very simple to operate and has many features that more expensive detectors have. If you can squeeze in a sniper coil for trashy areas, it is well worth the money. Don't forget to cover your holes you dig and try to make it look as if you haven't been there, so we don't get banned from parks and public property.
Mark

 

[Eddie in Poulsbo]

I agree with you 100% James. I have found enough clad alone to pay for my first detector and with my Explorer XS, I found that ladies diamond ring that appraised at $1,100.00 which almost paid for my Explorer. It's not so much at what you find or how valuable the find might be, it's just the fun of getting out and enjoying this great hobby........

Eddie

 

[Rick(ND)]

Do you have the patience to detect, can you go out all day and dig pull tabs and a couple of new pennies and get up the next day and do this again and feel good at the end of the second day? If you can you will do well in detecting and enjoy your time doing this. Now you know you have the patience to detect and can do real well.
I probably talk many local out of detecting when i show them the trash I dig and ask them if they want to dig this all day in search of a good coin. As soon as someone ask if they will find enough to pay for the detector, I tell them only if you have the patience and a lot of luck, the first target could pay for the detector and some, but maybe a year later you will have enough to pay for part of the detector. The first thing is the detector will not find much sitting in a closet, it has to be used in the right area too to find good coins or jewelry.
Now if you just plain enjoy the outdoors, have a hobby you get some great exercise, meet some of the greatest people and picking up a little change at with the chance of finding something great then metal detecting is the hobby you want. Many people are detecting, some find very little, some find alot of great stuff too,but they are all happy with what they are finding.
Now on detectors they are only as good as the person using them, so the most expensive one will not find more if the person don't know how to use it, so to begin with you want a simple to use detector and if you enjoy the hobby you may want o get a better one later. With some detectors like the Garrett Ace 250 they can be bought for around $200 and if you don't like the hobby after a month or so you may still get around $160-$170 with no problem. Some other detectors you may spend over $1000 and after a few weeks you don't like it you may only get $800 for it, so as you see start out with a simple to use detector and if you don't like it you are not out a lot. If you like it than you can sell it and get a better detector if you want.
Also another thing to consider when getting a detector is to get one of the major brands, not some toy or China made detector or you will regret the hobby right away as some of these don't go any deeper than 2 inches.
Detecting takes time and patience,but what other hobby give you all the benefits this hobby does and something you can do anywhere or anytime with the fringe benefit of it paying you a little or alot.You can find a piece of history every time out with it. The feeling you get when you return a class ring to a happy owner they never thought they would ever see is something no money can match.
It is fun and rewarding if you have the patience to go out and use it and have fun.

Good luck and if you take the plunge and get a detector I am hoping you will be posting some great finds.

Rick

 

[Joe G]

I think people get the wrong impression when they see finds like that... they think they're going to buy a magic wand and bingo, hey, another diamond ring! (like the TV commercials) They don't know how many junk targets you have to dig, the work, the effort, research, the practice, etc... to start finding goodies like yours (outstanding rings by the way, drool, drool)

I think I'm like just about everyone one else... I just love this hobby. If I didn't have to work for a living, I'd be out there every day. Sometimes you do well, sometimes not but each time there's always the thrill that today might be the day for some real bling If it's not my day, I still win because I enjoy going out, walking on the beach or in a park.

Just IMHO...

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

...couldn't agree more. As I said, just showing the OTHER side of the "coin". Certainly CAN (and DO) get skunked. I've gone out to a site or sites more than once and come back with a penny and and old rusty washer. Not a great day but you have to take the good with the bad. It's always a mixed bag. Sometimes you get squat.

And sometimes you get this:
[attachment 24761 seatedquarter.jpg]

 

[halfdollar]

Its a Hobby, Just like Hunting, Fishing, Whatever you chose to do. I have lot's of Gun's and many, many Fishing Rod's and such and never once thought about getting my money out of any of my equipment.
It's a hobby. Any Hobbie cost's to get into to it. There is alway's lower cost item's for anyone not to sure if they will like what they are getting into. The list is endless. Like Rick said the Garrett Ace 250 is a great unit to start with, You can always move up to bigger and better later. just remember it's a HOBBIE, Just like any other Hobbie you decide to do. can't alway's think about breaking even or making money at it, Think about all the Fun. fresh Air, 110% Relaxing, Great people to meet like Rick said and many more.

 

[Rick(ND)]

Some do quite well in new coins, so do quite well in older coins and silver and a few like we see pick up a 1916D merc dime valued into the thousand dollar range or a relic worth thousands of dollars, or even find a nice ring at the beach too worth thousands of dollars. It can happen and I bet none of these people got into this hobby to make money, but to enjoy this hobby and the excitement we feel with every find we get.Then there are those that pick up less than $40 a year in new coins, but you know what? they have fun too and enjoy this hobby too.
Some of the things I have heard over the years from people interested in detecting are funny to us that have detected. One was a guy called me about getting a detector and wanted to know if he could find enough gold coins in a month to pay for his detector he wanted to buy. I told him I have been looking for 33 years and still looking for my first one. It can happen I am sure,but the possibility is very slim it can be done. Another wanted a detector like he seen on TV and just dig gold rings and no trash, if there was a detector like that I know I would have hundreds sold as there is no such detector. All detector takes time to learn and use and if you want to gold you have to dig trash.
Some do well with detecting like James-ND along with one of his hunting buddies Dale as I have seen what they gets, been detecting with them and one of the reasons they do so good is they do research in the winter so they can do this well, plus they know their Explorers well.
It is just a hobby, one you will learn a lot about history with the finds you get, the great people we meet, the exercise we get, the fun we have when several get together for some competition, or even the fun we have when we had a tough day at work and just want to get away and relax as metal detecting is relaxing. There is one last benefit of Metal detecting and that is the finds we get whether is is some spending money, some older collectible coins, some nice jewelry or a relic from the past. It is all about having a good time and doing a hobby that don't cost a lot and have a possibility of paying for itself many times over.

Have fun and enjoy is why most of us detect( Keeps some out of the bars too which we know is a expensive hobby)

Rick

 

[Rick(ND)]

n/t