Cheap metal detectors

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Ford Fairlane said:
@Wolfau pardon my noobiness but what do you mean by "tots".. I know ill kick myself when you tell me lol

As goldpick has described.

These playgrounds are all over Australia. Some are in
small Grassland reserves, others are next door to
schools, Others Are in large parks with grassed areas
And others are only a couple suburban blocks with
Tot lot in middle.

To do these parks properly you need a deep seeking detector
With at least 20khz.

I use the G2 due to its awesome iron separation, punches
Fairly deep depending on the coil and its sensitive enough
For thin gold items like an earing or thin chain.

This may change just waiting to see what the new Tesoro
Or the new G2 is like when released later this year.

If the park is old i use my serial 1021 tom d tuned cz3d
which is designed to find Deep old coins due to its
multifrequency and ability not To loose depth in
discrimination mode. The beauty with The cz3d it will
give you a broken chirp thats just noticeable On deep
coins. The cz3d found me a nice deep buried penny and
A couple of lawn mower broken 1c bits at around 7".

The first 2" to 5" is bark then you have the dirt ground which
Is at times has metal bits all over.

The aim is to pick the $1 or $2 coins burried deep in that
Dirt. 80% of the time the coins sit on the soil under the
bark. In one spot i picked out $20 within a 1 metre area.

They take between 1.5 hours to about 2 hours to clean
Up properly.

You need to get there early say at about 7am and do
these Early while people are not there.

I have been hassled before by people who simply don't
mind there Own Business. It generally starts with the
kid getting smart Then the old man jumping in.

The most expensive item I found was a mans wedding
band that was a couple of inches under the bark which
was a recent drop.
 
Whites MXT pro with a D2 coil
Has 3 search modes coin jewelry, relic & prospecting gold.
Simple to use also has salt switch for the beach
$1400 new or eBay for $700-$1000
 
Hi everyone!
My boyfriend and I have recently started gem fossicking (we are new to the hobby but are already addicted) and he now wants to try his luck finding gold, coins and the like with a metal detector. His birthday is coming up and i was wondering if i would be able to get anything half decent in the $200-$300 range..? I've seen them for sale for thousands but also saw some cheaper ones on ebay, I just dont know whether or not they'd be useless..I know NOTHING about them at all, so if anyone had any info/advice for me that'd be great..! What sort of detector should I get for a first time prospector (something reliable) and what price range am I looking at..?!
Thanks:)
 
For that price range I'd say a X-terra 305, brand new $400 second maybe $250
They are a Top maker Minelab and good for coins and beach hunting :D
 
Gold is one thing coins and relics are another although it is possible to find gold with one
A simple detector is probably best and pick a good brand minelab garret tesoro fischer $350 will buy him an entry level detector and you know he is worth the extra 100 dollars :D
Have a look on ebay and narrow it down to say 3 then ask again, second hand may be the way to get a better one
 
Buy a Tesoro Lobo 2nd hand from the USA via ebay.

Use shipito if they won't deliver to Aus. Shipito provides a us address it gets delivered there

then you get an email where you organise it to be shipped here.

Add a small 6" coil and it will zap zap those small nuggets. Will also find coins.

Best nugget and coin machine for $350.
 
Danmuss said:
For that price range I'd say a X-terra 305, brand new $400 second maybe $250
They are a Top maker Minelab and good for coins and beach hunting :D
2nd that! Not much about under $300 that has proven its self overall.
 
Zuke_Lynzy said:
Danmuss said:
For that price range I'd say a X-terra 305, brand new $400 second maybe $250
They are a Top maker Minelab and good for coins and beach hunting :D
2nd that! Not much about under $300 that has proven its self overall.

You might be surprised what gets sold on ebay usa and at what
Price.
 
Yes your right' some great deals can be had on the bay and I buy and sell a lot of stuff on eBay myself but buying your first detector is worrying enough without purchasing it online and overseas, unfortunately not a lot of options with a first buyers budget being under $500, unless you settle with a Aldi or jay car machine to get started which do show great results.
And on a $300 budget you could get one each.
 
Yes but what happens when you hit the goldfields?

How well will these cheaper units perform compared to
The tesoro lobo? I saw a couple passed in not sold with
Asking price or bidding start price at around $250.

Each to their own though.
 
I am a little surprised by the recommendations.

Gold in it's natural form is pretty difficult to find generally speaking. Even to read the threads on this forum - the nuggets that are large enough for a cheap detector to find are far and few between.

I am interested in your comments - but if I was given an Aldi or and Xterra (we had a 705) and told to go out into known gold bearing areas - I would bet the rent that I would not find any gold.

Is it possible? Sure it is. Is it possible to win the Lotto? Sure it is - very few people do it but you never know.

I just would not want a newbie keen to get into the hobby to go out and buy a cheap detector only to find bullet cases and pull tabs. I would think that it would be better advice to say that detecting gold is the hardest to find target in the hobby and going out with a cheap detector will have as much luck as buying an easy pic in Saturday's lotto draw - possible yes - probable no. Put it this way - would any of the advice givers want to go to the Golden Triangle metal detecting (at your expense) with an Xterra 305?

For me - most hobbies - from metal detecting to photography to airbrushing to fishing - well you name it - most of them require an investment of around $1000 or so to be "suited up" adequately. And with gold detecting a good argument could be raised that the investment will be more.

If I posed the question - "I would like to go Marlin fishing - we have a boat but I only have $100 for a fishing rod - what are your recommendations?" I think I would rather hear the "you need a good game fishing rod/reel at $500+" than " I hear Kmart has a sale on Shimano beach fishing rods/reels for $100". Can they catch a marlin? It's not impossible BUT I wouldn't hold my breath.

Before I would recommend something for the OP - I would ask the question "how successful you are hoping to be" or "what frequency are you going to be detecting" before suggesting cheapo detectors that probably won't cut the mustard. I just would not want to see a newbie losing interest due to sub standard equipment for the task at hand. ;)

I am interested in your thoughts because this question is asked over and over and I would think that a informative sticky might be a better place for them to start.
 
Hi everyone new to the game and found this metal detector in the shed just wondering if anyone knows if it's worth usingit doesn't have a brand on it. or is it only gonna find tin cans? Thanks

1397448703_image.jpg

1397448703_image.jpg
1397448737_image.jpg
 
No worries thanks as I said just found it In the shed if it's no good just gunna buy a alright detector recommend any for around 250-300 mark? As I won't be using it daily
 
As it's the only thing ATM I'm pretty sure I will haha just gunna find somewhere around to use it. Is this the same kinda style?

Oops I can't post links haha is a
 
Paulmarr said:
I am a little surprised by the recommendations.

Gold in it's natural form is pretty difficult to find generally speaking. Even to read the threads on this forum - the nuggets that are large enough for a cheap detector to find are far and few between.

I am interested in your comments - but if I was given an Aldi or and Xterra (we had a 705) and told to go out into known gold bearing areas - I would bet the rent that I would not find any gold.

Is it possible? Sure it is. Is it possible to win the Lotto? Sure it is - very few people do it but you never know.

I just would not want a newbie keen to get into the hobby to go out and buy a cheap detector only to find bullet cases and pull tabs. I would think that it would be better advice to say that detecting gold is the hardest to find target in the hobby and going out with a cheap detector will have as much luck as buying an easy pic in Saturday's lotto draw - possible yes - probable no. Put it this way - would any of the advice givers want to go to the Golden Triangle metal detecting (at your expense) with an Xterra 305?

For me - most hobbies - from metal detecting to photography to airbrushing to fishing - well you name it - most of them require an investment of around $1000 or so to be "suited up" adequately. And with gold detecting a good argument could be raised that the investment will be more.

If I posed the question - "I would like to go Marlin fishing - we have a boat but I only have $100 for a fishing rod - what are your recommendations?" I think I would rather hear the "you need a good game fishing rod/reel at $500+" than " I hear Kmart has a sale on Shimano beach fishing rods/reels for $100". Can they catch a marlin? It's not impossible BUT I wouldn't hold my breath.

Before I would recommend something for the OP - I would ask the question "how successful you are hoping to be" or "what frequency are you going to be detecting" before suggesting cheapo detectors that probably won't cut the mustard. I just would not want to see a newbie losing interest due to sub standard equipment for the task at hand. ;)

I am interested in your thoughts because this question is asked over and over and I would think that a informative sticky might be a better place for them to start.

;) My suggestion is from real life experience. I owned a Tesoro Dingo which is the same platform as the Tesoro Lobo but the Lobo is auto ground balancing.

I had a 6" DD elipitical coil on mine. I was in hot ground in Maryborough in Vic near the Airport. The DD coil stables the Tesoro. It would zap zap .15 gram nuggets.

The key with using a machine like the Tesoro is in gold bearing ground where its shallow. The aim of such a detector is to find the small bits sitting on the ground or are buried an inch or so under the ground. For the money you can buy a 2nd hand Tesoro Lobo it is good value.

The question though is how many of these small bits are still around to find since the Minelab detectors can pick these up.
 
I use the lobo as well and it will find gold and its not bothered by the mineralisation of the GT but we all know a minelab is the only way to find gold but are you going to find 4500 worth of gold and if your a newbie are you going to be able to use a minelab 4500 to its potential
As we all know most people come to detecting to find their gold nuggets but very few are successful and you will not find enough gold with a lobe to buy a 4500 best start cheap and see if you like the hobby first as some dont last long swinging the coil
I know of a lot of people who have minelab 5000 and still have yet to find gold and i think you will see them come back on the market soon
 

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