Hey Nugget, yes I'm certainly an advocate of "not just recommending the GPX 5000" which in my opinion is way out of price range for hobby detecting unless ur cashed up. Prob hard enuff to justify to the wife a 2k spend on "my toys"..her words. On the flip side I would hate to see a newbie who wants a reasonable chance on gold, buy a relic detector. Lots of sellers say their machine finds gold, yet on further research you find out that they are close to useless as a primary detector, and only used for more specific pinpointing etc ...the machine that stays in the car so to speak.
I think Jace has got his message loud and clear now to sit back and do some more digging before splurging on the first machine that twinkles. The SD seems to be one of the top contenders for " a good crack" for its price, and reports that it can outperform the Rolls Royce of detectors in some situations, haven't heard many other machines that get such praise and is therefore still my top pick for a suggested detector purchase to a new but keen gold prospector. It appears in some circumstances can be found at the price point of $1100 give or take.
The reason why I mentioned the ATX is for those that are umming and aaring because they dont want to purchase second hand....wait and see the verdict which should come in the next few months. While about $2.8 to $4k is more than double the $1100 limit set by Jace, how many people out there originally want to buy a car for say 10k, but then fall in love with a car twice that price and end up buying it because they really did want a new model with warranty etc.
Where there's a will theres a way, with the right circumstances. My detector was $1700 and is now worth about $150. I'm sure I could have made a wiser choice (as a gold hunter) if I had read this forum 5 years ago. If I was a relic hunter id still be very happy.
Peter
