Gas and Small Change

[lytle78]

OK folks,

You drive 20 miles round trip to detect a nearby park. You spend 4 hours finding 3 quarters, two dimes and 14 zinc pennies. About a buck.

Starting with a cold car, you use a gallon of gas at $4.

You're out 3 bucks and half a Saturday.

Your detector cost $350 and at this rate will take about 5 years to pay back.

Why do we do this?

I'm not trying to be a jerk, just asking folks to talk about what they get out of this hobby.

Keep in mind that that your $350 detector would cost about $23 to manufacture in China.

We need the following immediately.

Gas at $2

US coins in $1 and $5 denominations for our fellow citizens to lose in large numbers.

Detector manufacturers to sell quality machines at $150 - $200 (arguably we have that already).

My thoughts only - what are yours???

 

[JB(MS)]

There are 11 ballfields, two parks, two playgrounds and three schools within a mile of my home, and since gas is so high I've been hunting those instead of going out of town. In a llittle over three months I've found over $125 in clad and nickels, and while I didn't count the pennies the total number of them were more than all the other the other coins combined. Also got a couple dozen wheaties, 4 silver coins, 1 gold ring, 3 silver rings, a silver necklace with a silver cross and several junk rings, earings and other pieces of junk jewelry, and probably haven't used $10 worth of gas going detecting during that time. Besides not driving very far, the photos show another reason I haven't used much gas.

[attachment 96606 nutin.gif]

 

[Boris]

I look at it this way, a lot of people spend a lot of money on various hobbies, photography, skateboarding,vidio games,golf, bowling, no hobby is free but at least we get paid some.

 

[Beale]

I will be honest. I do not really hunt with a mind to "pay" for the hobby. I do it because I enjoy it. Once in a while the hobby gives us a nice bonus IE a ring, or necklace. It might even give us a very well saved old coin. Those are the nice little items we find. Heck my clad amount since 08/07 is right at $172.00. I try to stay local as possible. I just like the hunt, and fun involved, Beale.

 

[dobbie]

n/t

 

[jim tn]

I've not yet let the price of gas deter me from hunting sites within a 50 mile radius of my home base. I'm not a clad hunter by design, so I do have to drive a few miles to get to the sites that have the potential for silver. I look at md as fun, healthy, interesting, challenging and as a hobby and if I should find enough goodies to help offset some of the hobby expense, that is just an added bonus. HH jim tn

 

[JMorgan]

My detector - $800
The cartridge box plate I found - $1500
The answer - Hunt for relics!!

I know it's not as easy as that... but if your in it for the money your best bet is to hunt for relics if you live anywhere near where something CW happended, or old coins (old houses, old parks, old schools or church's etc) depending on where you are. There's good stuff out there no matter where you live nobody will ever get it all you just have to research and take the time to get permission and keep swinging as much as possible.

 

[cassiekarimom]

My detector cost $60.00 and I bike everywhere so any clad I find is profit.

 

[Elton]

If you are in it for the money........GOOD LUCK !!!

 

[GRAY GHOST]

hi, i enjoy detecting for the sport of it. it's the chase, the hunt, and the physical and mental excercise we all get from our hunts that keeps me coming back. the finds almost become secondary to me. i know that with every find i make, regardless of what it may be, it was because of my own research, patience and persistence. jmorgan has a very good point about relichunting. i don't sell what i find, but will probably leave them all to my family one day.

so, the tesoro cibola i bought back in february has already paid for itself three times. i can easily remember about 12 years ago that you could buy a nice cs beltplate for around 400 bucks. today, you'd better have 10 times that amount! on the other hand, from about the same time period, you could buy nice walking liberty halves for 3 bucks. now, they're 10 bucks apiece for the common low grades!

i like to hunt for everything but clad. clad is bad for me. give me an old homesite or camp or battlefield any day of the week. gas prices don't affect me either way...it is what it is. i mean, how many hobbies do you know of that pay you back in this many ways? none. hh,

 

[lilmax25]

photography - your camera will cost a lot more if you actually want to be a photographer

skateboarding - takes a lot of time to practice and your skateboard costs a bunch if you want to make it good

video games - console is anywhere from 250-350 plus new video games are 50 dollars, kids get addicted to these things and no offense dont go outside and get obese

golf - ive never really played but i heard that clubs cost a lot and to go at a private place costs a bunch more!

bowling - ball costs 50-150 depending on how you want it shoes cost 15-30 and this is if you want your own stuff I bowl on a leauge and its only like 9 dollars a week but it will soon pay off when i go to wichita state and go on a scholarship for bowling and maybe bowl with norm duke

metal detecting - detectors cost from 60-1500 or more if you want a probe/pinpointer, but you must remember that if your looking for money and go out maybe 3-4 times a week that you can almost pay off half or more of your detector.


NOT TO MENTION- alll of the names i mentioned does take gas but metal detecting. metal detecting all it takes is batteries and your detector and a nice little park where theres gold!

What i get out of this hobby is being alone. Sometimes i just cant take it with all of the political and goverment stuff. When this happens, which is quite often ( with the presidential elections coming up) i just go to a park with my detector and hunt.

When your in for the money ( which i cant say i havent been when i first started, i saw all of your guys money and i was like dang this could be my job) anyway when your in it for the money you will most likely get dissapointed and quit.

Sorry for long and yes i did use boris list of hobbies

 

[twalton]

(A) I spent $350 for a deer gun, $200 for a tree stand, $250 for "special scent free" camo clothes, took a day off from work and lost $150 in wages all in order to maybe take a trophy buck deer.
(B) I spent $400 for a turkey shotgun, $150 for a turkey blind, $150 for special camo clothes, about $200 for decoys and turkey calls and lost $150 in wages all in order to maybe shoot a trophy tom turkey.
(C) I spent $2000 for a nice used john boat and 25hp motor, $200 for a trolling motor, $200 for a depth finder and untold $$$ for fishing equipment all in order to maybe catch a trophy fish.
Now, common sense says I could go to the grocery store and buy a nice steak for $10, a frozen turkey for $18 and some fish sticks for .99, but where's the fun in that? If you try to cost/value a hobby it will always be a negative number. The real value comes from the enjoyment of the outdoors and the time spent with family and friends doing something together. Even MDing alone is good for stress relief. Not trying to preach a gospel, this is just how I look at things.

HH, twalton

 

[Tseeker]

I just got my second detector. A Tesoro V. I did it after nearly 4 years of saving my money and comparing brands, models, features, prices and endless opinions and reviews on the forums and dealer websites. I probably spent more than I should have at this time, but it was only about half of what I intended to spend originally. I am glad that I got it anyway. Mind you, it is not something that I would expect any of my friends to understand, but I feel that in the long run-the very long run- I will not only get my money's worth out of it but will have a great time doing it, and that makes it worth it, at least for me.

 

[Boris]

n/t

 

[Boris]

Sorry I hit the wrong button but I did want to say the biggest consideration for me is being outside, I work outside all day every day and spend as much time outside as I can winter and summer but hey that's just me.

 

[lytle78]

OK everyboy agrees - it's a great hobby and good for your physical and mental health - also it's not very expensive compared to other hobbies.

What about upping the "Take"?

When will we get the $1, $2 and $5 coins we need in order to make the parks and beaches the "piggybanks" that they ought to be? It's not like a dollar buys much anymore - why mess with all those expensive to produce, short lived and hard to lose (and undetectable) bills???

Come on U.S. Treasury - take pity on the sight impaired and us metal detector users - give us the "big bucks" coins.

Workers of the workd unite! - You have nothing to lose but your change! (apologies to the Communist Manifesto)

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[jim tn]

n/t

 

[RandyNorthridgeca]

At least for me it's not about the money. I just love the hobby and if I find something good along the way so be it. It's always been fun for me to pull something old out of the ground or find a nice piece of jewelry at the beach. It's also a great stress buster. I don't care how stressed out I am, all I have to do is get out with my detector, slip on the headphones and just listen for the tones. All that stress just melts away.

Some people play golf, tennis, etc..... I just love to detect.

HH randy