Hi - beginner looking for some tips

[Chris32]

Hi, thought I'd try to get a few tips from forum users as every other hobby I've undertaken it's always the forums that I get the most out of

I've been given 3 metal detectors from my Gran who used to be right into it

They are -

A Tesoro Silver Sabre Plus, a Garrett Deep Scan and a Coinmaster 5000. According to my Gran, they bought these in the mid to late 70's

I'm planning on taking the kids and their friends out this weekend to test them out

Being reasonably old, are they worth much? I'd hate to hand them to the kids and find out they are worth much if they broke them

I'm planning on burying a few things in the backyard to test the settings to see what works best and playing with the settings from there

Any pointers would be appreciated!

Chris

 

[Ramjet]

Hi Chris.
Welcome to PA. A great hobby to get into with the kids. When I have youngsters with my I plant a few coins in the sand or bark around the swings etc. That way you know they will find something and get interested.

I don't know about the older detectors because I haven't been in the hobby that long. Good brands and I have heard of them so.....
I'm sure the more experienced members will be along to help you out. You probably won't have to bury anything in the back yard if the house has any age to it. We all start in the back yard and it's amazing what can be found.

Good luck.

Cheers

Ramjet

 

[Chris32]

Yeah we are looking forward to it. I need to grab some batteries for one of them, but the other 2 seem to work well!

 

[Goldpick]

Hi Chris, firstly, welcome to the forum. These detectors may be worth something to the enthusiast as a collectable, probably more so from a sentimental perspective with previous owners. Though it would depend on condition and whether any accessories/original documentation are included, and of course what one is willing is to pay for such detectors on the day.

I have seen some good prices for such older detectors, whilst at other times they seem to go for next to nothing. Though I wouldn't let that discourage you from giving them a go.

The Tesoro would probably be the easiest, most modern and lightest of the three to use, is still highly regarded even today, and I suspect would still make quite a good coin detector. The other two, despite being good in their day, are really getting long in the tooth now. You do see the odd person asking over the forums for spares and electronics schematics to keep such detectors up and running, or to resurrect dead units, often with not too much success.

So purely up to you if you want to keep them for sentimental reasons, sell a couple of them as collectable units and use the proceeds to purchase a couple of more modern/user friendly detectors for the kids, or simply put them to good use.

I've listed a couple of instruction manuals below if you don't already have them, not 100% sure if the Whites/Garrett ones are for the exact same models. The last two are direct PDF downloads for the instruction manuals, so don't be alarmed if they start downloading when you click on the links.

Tesoro

http://www.tesoro.com/info/manuals/older/silversabreplus/silversabreplusmanual.html

Whites

https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&...X3XDxY&usg=AFQjCNGsYV6PN7W7W_V3Ys97xOKoXKPFUA

Garrett

https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&...TwFADc&usg=AFQjCNFw-gKAoQW2w9bQtODmYfQpGhjBiA

 

[Chris32]

Hi Chris, firstly, welcome to the forum. These detectors may be worth something to the enthusiast as a collectable, probably more so from a sentimental perspective with previous owners. Though it would depend on condition and whether any accessories/original documentation are included, and of course what one is willing is to pay for such detectors on the day.

I have seen some good prices for such older detectors, whilst at other times they seem to go for next to nothing. Though I wouldn't let that discourage you from giving them a go.

The Tesoro would probably be the easiest, most modern and lightest of the three to use, is still highly regarded even today, and I suspect would still make quite a good coin detector. The other two, despite being good in their day, are really getting long in the tooth now. You do see the odd person asking over the forums for spares and electronics schematics to keep such detectors up and running, or to resurrect dead units, often with not too much success.

So purely up to you if you want to keep them for sentimental reasons, sell a couple of them as collectable units and use the proceeds to purchase a couple of more modern/user friendly detectors for the kids, or simply put them to good use.

I've listed a couple of instruction manuals below if you don't already have them, not 100% sure if the Whites/Garrett ones are for the exact same models. The last two are direct PDF downloads for the instruction manuals, so don't be alarmed if they start downloading when you click on the links.

Awesome, thanks for that - I'll have a read through of them!

We had a enjoyable first outing, we only ended up taking the coin master as I was a bit lost in how to tune the Tesoro - hopefully the manual will assist me there.

Although we didn't find anything of value, we had a good time. Ended up finding lots of tent pegs (the area is a common camp ground) a few bottle tops and associated junk.

We'll look at tuning up the other 2 and then giving it another go - our tuning method was pretty basic as I just buried a $2 coin and adjusted the settings from there