Re: Good beginner metal detector

[MantecaRay]

What kind of areas do you plan to hunt?It makes a difference in detector choices.-Ray

[zman]

the one that got me started was a bounty hunter/with the taget i.d. don`t remember the model but it was the top of the line back then. had a blast, and it was acurrate too, short of that i would suggest a fisher 1225, its as deep as any,but doesn`t have any frills, same with the whites units in that price range,tesoro makes a great unit too,but they oporate at a higher frequency and can be unstable in iron rich soils..........hope this helps.........jeff

[gerber]

I'll be the first to admit that my knowledge of the universe of detectors is limited. However, I faced the same dilemma recently in buying a detector for my son for Christmas--find a decent, fairly easy-to-use detector that gets good depth and costs less than $300. I poked around online researching this and finally settled on a Bounty Hunter Land Star, which I got on eBay for about $230. While this unit is not quite as intuitively easy as my own White's MXT, nor quite as super-sensitive, I'm pretty impressed with what this Bounty Hunter can do for the price I paid. And the depth is truly impressive--when I've used it a couple times, it regularly targets items at 8" and deeper, and I've successfully dug coins at 8". Anyway, this one might be worth a look as you consider your options.

HH,

Dan

[Finderskeepers]

There are many $300 detectors that offer good preformance, most of which will , when properly adjusted and in the hands of a skilled operator out preform top of the line detectors,mis-adjusted in the hands of the unskilled operators.

[TinSM]

Finderskeepers said:

There are many $300 detectors that offer good preformance, most of which will , when properly adjusted and in the hands of a skilled operator out preform top of the line detectors,mis-adjusted in the hands of the unskilled operators.

Well said, Finders. I know that had I purchased a top-of-line unit that I would have operated it incompetently at first, and perhaps for some time thereafter.