Questions about MDs

[stewartlittle]

OK,so I have asked a ton of them and still got more.
First off,I tried my 5000D GEB yesterday that I have only used a few times years ago.I hated it,could get any depth with it,but this guy I let borrow it said he could pull stuff 7''- 8'' deep.Maybe MDing aint for me.

I am now thinking if these machines,

X Terra 50
Garrett 1350 or 1500
Whites M-6 or MTX ( havent priced those yet)
Tersoro Vaquero or Tejon

When I first started looking,$250 was my budget,now its up towards $450-$550.I think the 1500 is higher also.

But I am THINKING HARD on the X Terra 50.Now on the M-6.

I know what silent search is,but which is better,espcially for a newbe?

 

[metaltectinria]

Pulling "stuff" at 7-8" can be done with any machine. He might have been pulling beer cans, LOL. I hear the vaquero is a nice machine. I dont know much about the others.

 

[tabdog]

Hi Stewart,

You should forget about the X Terra 50 and the Garrett 1350 or 1500. That's my openion. Check this out. Gary has no ax to grind.
http://www.garysdetecting.co.uk/field_testsnew.htm

The Laser Trident is very semilar to the Vaquaro.The V actually offers more than the Laser. The V has a VCO all metal search mode accessed by a toggel switch. The Laser doesn't

The Whites M-6 should be about $560, and the MXT should be about $640. The Tersoro Vaquero & Tejon and Whites M-6 & MXT are good choices.

My choice of these 4 detectors would be the Vaquero. The V is the lightest and an excellent performer. At $420 it is the best deal.

Best Whishes,

 

[willy]

You gotta take all those field tests with a grain of salt.. preferably a shaker. A lot depends on the ground where you're hunting and personal preferences. Up where I live, side by side tests on buried objects showed that there was precious little difference between brands of metal detectors re. depth. As long as it could GB, it got deep enough. What DOES make a difference is how the detector operates and what features it has that I want. Sure, I could get a simple detector and do the beep-dig thing, and I could also get a tattoo of Pierre Elliot Trudeau on my butt.. ain't gonna happen. If you can get to try out a number of different detectors, you could figure out what works for you; why buy and sell constantly? As an example of bad design/operation vs good, check out the Fisher Coinstrike and compare it to the XTerra 70 (or 50). The Coinstrike has a TERRIBLE user interface, is confusing to use, pushbuttons that are difficult to work, and a disc./notch system which is poor at best. Compare that to the XTerras: easy to use, great disc./notch system and user interface, nice 'n easy to use pushbuttons. Now, to read the literature and listen to the fans hype both detectors, you wouldn't be able to tell much about how they are in the field. On the other hand, picking up a.. Coinstrike and swinging it for a bit wil convey a feeling of DEEP DEEP HATRED for that gawdawful detector (sez Willy and if somebody don't like that.. TOUGH!).
Another thing you have to take into account is what you plan to do in the future; Saltwater beach hunting, prospecting, lawn? That will also have a bearing on what detector would be most appropriate. Up where I am, a ground tracking detector works the best, so that's what I use. I also prospect, coin/ring/relic hunt and that also narrows down the field of appropriate detectors. In other words, some of the top of the line detectors (Explorer, DFX, GTI 2500) would be real dogs. Go figure; and here there are people that would claim that an Explorer SE (or a DFX, or..) can't be beat and all that kife. Yup, for what they're doing, maybe so.
Anyway, all I really gotta say is be very skeptical of various claims and use the search function on this forum and others. ...Willy.

 

[tabdog]

n/t

 

[tab-nabit]

If you have a dealer with driving reasonable driving distance, some have a variety of machines and work with the customers.
Another option is if a club is in your area. A variety of experience, machines, and types of hunts and events to consider.

 

[willy]

..I'd be one happy camper. Unfortunately, I'm just another piece of furniture to her.. albeit noisy. ..Willy.

 

[tabdog]

Some people make fun of us peep-n-diggers. That's fine as long as they keep leaving me lots of jewelery to find. If what you want to do is find coins then a display will help, but it's not everything.

This hunt in a playground lasted 40 minutes. Here is every target I retrieved including trash. 128 coins in 40 minutes. And some jewelery.

This hunt in a play ground doesn't show all the trash but I retrieved over 140 coins in a few hours.

I don't hunt for coins. I just find them while I'm looking for artifacts and jewelery. TIDs are not much help for what I want.

I got back into metal detecting 5 months ago after a 24 year layoff. Only 3 months ago I got the knowledge and the detector to find jewelry with.

This is most of the jewelery I found in 3 months. I have found more sense I took this photo.

I'm proud to be a beep-n-digger,

 

[tabdog]

Something noboby has suggested is the Garrett Ace 250. It's concidered my many to be the best metal detector for the money that the market can produce. There are plenty of satisfied customers to contest to that. At under $220, that's hard to beat.

Cheers,

 

[stewartlittle]

Thanks for all suggestions and input.
I accually thought of getting a (peep-n-digger) Vaquero,but I will be doing alittle bit of everything.Coin,relic,jewlery,but no prospecting.
Every one has their say for different MDs.Called a couple of places and they recomend the X Terra 50.I just got back from a Whites dealer to look at some,he didnt have any together so I couldnt test it out or hold.But he did give a DVD to take home to watch of the MXT.

The main consern about the MXT is it wieghs 4.3 pounds,thats why I wanted to hold,to see how heavy it feels.The XTerra is 2.9 pounds.
I did call a Minelab dearer in North GA. and he said the XTerra is great in this soil.

The Whites dealer is the closest one,all the others are about an hours drive.

 

[zeekeys]

Hi Stewart
If you look around the different forums you will see almost everyone finding stuff with cheap and expensive detectors and the one that they are using is the best one the universe has produced. You will also notice that lots of the people have 2 or more detectors. If you are starting over again in detecting, like me. I think you would be better off picking up a LIGHT,easy to use, inexpensive detector. Just to see if detecting is for you or not??? Why have a $400 or more detector in the closet not being used. Oh, sure you can sell it but you will not get the money you paid for it.
Since it is winter watch the forums for the detectors your interested in. Go back on the forums to last summer or the summer before and read how that detectors you are interested in are performing. I did not do that and it cost me lots of money (3) detectors and on the fourth I did what I am telling you. By the way I now have 2 detectors because I will not get much for my second detector. I now have the detector that works for the kind of hunting I do. Hope this will help. Thanks for reading....Z

 

[IndianaSmith]

You said your buddy made the claim......ask him to go out with you & show you how he did it......

Smitty

 

[Ron from Michigan]

I have used both the Xterra 50 and 1500.Any CZ will work much better than these two units.The Sovereign is heavy but with a straight shaft can be used by most hunters.My choice would be a used Sovereign.

 

[John(H)]

Just my opinion, you can get either of these for $200.00 or less on ebat................................... If you are not sure about this hobby then, if I was you, I wouldn't spend more than $200.00 for the next detector! Both of these are great detectors and still in hot demand! If for some reason, you decide to forego this hobby, you could probably resell either of these detectors for at least close to what you paid!