Noob Questions ??

[Daverzz]

Hiya All.. new to this form well any form for that mater.. but needed some info in BH's MD's Anyway bought my very first detector last week.. looked around for awhile and decided id get a cheaper one to see if i could learn it or liked it. after checking budget. i ended up getting a First Texas Pilot. it said it was a 250.00 ish detector for only 124.00 *shrug* no idea what i was or am doing lol. anyway maybe i got to cheep of detector or i just don't know how to use one very well (or at all). but having so much trouble with this one.. i live in a old mining town of about 300 people in central Utah, cant seem to find anything even in yard but old iron etc and the detector really only seems to go maybe 4-5 inches (Dtech 725 coil) has no headphone jack or volume control *sigh*.. so anyway going to give this to kids and was thinking about another detector (with a few more gadgets) so once again started looking on Kellyco and using its compare chart ect.. this round was really considering getting the Titan 3000xd comes with a 10inch and a 4inch coil for about 400.00ish .. hard to find much info on this machine.. but after 4 days of searching the Internet for info.. found a few posts here and there saying i could probably get alot better machine for the 400.00 range? fisher F-4 recommended ect or the BH Land ranger or time ranger ? also found some things saying this is same machine as the Radio shack discovery3300 but that machine is like 100ish less (different decals) but after looking it only has a 90day warranty and a 8 inch coil and the 3000xd has a 5yr warranty and comes with 2 coils 10" and a 4" so that must be the cost difference id guess? well so as not to drive everyone crazy by the noob LOL.. i guess I'm asking if anyone has any info on the titan 3000xd ? I'm sure it would be alot better than the Pilot But should i be looking for something else within the 400.00 range? or will i do ok with this to learn how to MD..? has alot of good reviews on kellyco's site but not sure if its just hype.. the Garrett GTAx 550 and the Minelab Xtera50 also fall into this Price category.. anyway THANKS!! all in advance and any suggestions or info would be very helpful..

DAVER

 

[teleman2525]

most minelabs are good detectors your area sounds highly minarlized mine labs can handle that pretty good and also fisher makes good units ive got bh505 do well in my area of vermont but mite not do so good in utah ild personaly go mine lab or fisher and all detectors do have a learning curve like i said ive got abh 505 so im not pushing one company over another this is just a fair observation based on this fourm and reading many reviews im going to buy fisher f75 asp but still love my bh505 as its taugt me alot and imm still learning as are we all good luck

 

[7centsworth]

I have a bh sharpshooter II it does real well , I also have a minelab x-terra 50 which I mainly use. Both are good in there own way. Have you thought about a used detector , I bought my 50 used last year for about 350 dollars . I would check with some of the forum sponsors and see what kind of deals they may have. Sometimes they have specials or some good used ones and they would know if it was a good used one or not. Just my 7 cents worth though. Hope you find a good one . Once you learn a detector you will find the goodies.
Oh i almost forgot welcome to the forum and happy hunting.

 

[flash5153]

Since you have never detected b4 I think you should give the Pilot another chance.

I dont know much about the pilot so I just went and looked. Seen display and all info on it and the checked out the manual, all is there online.
Sure seems it should pick up a coin deeper than 4" wt a 10" coil but couldnt find any info that said anything about a max depth..
One thing I noticed is that is puts dimes ,quarters,silver ,50 cent and dollar coins all in one category and does not have seperate ID for each one. That is not good but I think it can be overcome. I think being new you should learn this machine first, its not bad from what I can see. It will give you more insight on getting another later.

Have you air tested it? If so how far away will it pick up a quarter?

Maybe you are just ready to get another detecter, if that is the case, don't let the amount spent dictate how good the machine is, there are so many out there it just doesnt seem to work that way. Bh are easy to use, pretty much turn on and go and do very well for the price. Some "high dollar" machines with all the bells and whistles are very good also but if you jump right into one ,chances are you will do terrible. Its takes alot of time to learn the machines, even for someone that has detected b4.
But ,My answer is about what machine I would recomend. I use the discovery 2200 ,cost about $200 . It does a great job, I have found some great things with it, very easy to use and dont take a long time to get used to it. I detect with friends using Garrett 1500 and the 2500. I am consitantly doing as well as them or better.So much that is not about the machine but who is the luckyest that day. Here's a link. http://www.metaldetectors.com/metal-detectors/coin---jewelry-detectors/bountyhunterdiscovery2200metaldetector.cfm

I don't work for BHer . LOL But I am sure you would be happy with the 2200.

 

[mwaynebennett]

I concur with flash 5153. I have a BH Elite 2200 which is the same machine as the Discovery 2200, but sold through Big 5 Sporting Goods stores. I paid about $140 and it is a super machine. I went to the local park last night, the one that a friend with 30 years of MD experience told me had been hit hard by the MD crowd. I did find some trash in the 1-3/4 hours I was hunting but I also found many coins that had been there for over 20 years. I have attached a photo. That is 31 coins out of 43 targets dug, a batting average of 720 my friend. Not too bad for a park that has been MD heavily over the years. I got the junk when I dug signals that the machine said were junk or nickels. That is why I found the nickels. Gold rings also fall into that same electromagnetic notch, so if you want gold, you have to dig pull tabs.

I don't know that the more expensive BH machines can do except for the non-moving pinpointing etc. But for the money, I can't see how the Discovery/Elite 2200 can be beaten.

BTW, I only dug the targets that were 5" deep or less. That was about 1/3 of the targets the Elite 2200 found. The soil is so rocky and dry in the park that I didn't want to make large craters so I ignored the deeper targets. I think I'll go back in the fall when the park is not used to so much and the soil is wetter and go for some of the deeper targets. They are more likely to be silver.

Mark
Elite 2200

 

[Daverzz]

Thanks all for the info so far.. its helping alot in my decision making for next machine.. Ill take the advice of flash 5153 and keep trying to learn the pilot for alittle while longer.. probably be a good machine to learn the basics on so when i get a better one ill know alittle more just not sure about the 7.25 in coil ? maybe i should get a bigger one *shrug* and having no headphone jack and no volume control kinda sucks LOL oh well little more learning needed

Also ya i did check and read alot on the discovery 2200 and even more on the 3300, both come with a 8" coil and the 3300 looks to be the exact same as the First Texas 3000xd <--- more expensive one but it comes with a 10" & 4" coil.. which I'm guessing is the 100.00 cost difference (not sure).. anyway ya all have given me much to think about so far. on a good learning machine. so ill keep researching some of the recommended ones and try to be more patient on the little pilot one

One last thing if the "Discovery 3300" and the "1st Texas 3000xd" and the "Fisher F4" All look the exact same (minus decals) and are all made my BH ? why so different in pricing ? is it just options=like coil size etc? or am i missing something ?

THANKS Again ALL!!! For the friendly answers & Comments & Advice... I will get the hang of this MDing I'm sure

DAVER

 

[flash5153]

I'm not sure if all 3 machines are made by BH. Maybe some one else can help wt that. But the 3300 seems like a great unit. I am acually thinking of getting one. Its seems alot like 2200 but with a few extra things ,like pin point and it breaks the target ID down a into a few more categories.

7.25 " coil on that pilot should still pick up a coin @ at least 5 " or even more. The air test are fairly accurate to what will happen in the field.(unless the ground is really dry). Let me say, that most of the coins found are 5" or less.

Good luck put some tape over the speaker if its too loud. lol

 

[7centsworth]

I think they are all made by the same company.

 

[mwaynebennett]

There is a brand new Discovery 3000 on ebay today, Sunday Aug 9th. The present "get it to your door" price is about $80 with three hours to go. The item number is 120456497837.

Mark
Elite 2200

 

[dig it DanO]

I have a couple of bounty hunters, a tekneics, and a minelab xterra 50. I have to lean toward the xterra 50 because of the many different coils that are available for this unit. With the xterras, you also have the ability to change frequency by changing coils. They offer a low frequency (3 KHz) a medium frequency (7.5 KHz) and a high frequency (18.75 KHz). This package gives me the versatility to hunt in a lot of different situations.

DanO

 

[GoGoGopher]

They are all made by First Texas Products, for each individual retail chain (Wal-Mart, Target, Dick's Sporting Goods, etc)...Each chain has the right to charge it's own price...Essentially the same machines with slight cosmetic changes (decals, molding, etc.)...A 3000 for under $100 is a steal!!!

HH,

 

[mwaynebennett]

Hey GGG and all. The ebay machine went for $129.53 delivered. That is a very good deal also.

Mark
Elite 2200