Let’s Get A Metal Detector

Summer vacation at the beach, basking in the sun, the kids frolicking in the water…. Your mind’s at ease in this oh so pleasant environment. Sigh. What’s that guy doing? Oh yeah, he’s got a metal detector. Now that looks fun. Wonder if he finds lots of coins and jewelry. Surely he does. Those things have been around forever and…..look, he’s stopped to scoop up some sand.

Shake, shake, shake…. the sand falls out of the scoop and something’s rattling. Metal on metal. He got something! He’s quick too. What is that he’s wearing, a nail apron? Didn’t even see what he dropped in there. What do you think he heard through those big ‘ole headphones? Watching as he plucks object after object out of the sand you suddenly remember a tale of buried treasure told by your Granddaddy as he was helping build your first tree house. Hey! Now that’s a thought. He said it was buried on the Hamilton’s home place, that forever old house over on Clement Street. Now I bet Jim wouldn’t mind if I hunted there since we’re old fishing buddies and all. “Honey, let’s get a metal detector. Look how easy it is! I’m sure it’ll pay for itself in no time at all.”

………. So you think you’re ready to buy a metal detector. Upon entering the local detector shop you’re overwhelmed by the brand names, colors, styles,….and look at all the accessories. Whew! Which brand do I want? What accessories do I need? Look at these prices! Do I get a cheap one or go all out for the top end? What now? You realize maybe this is going to be a much bigger decision than you initially thought.

Choosing a metal detector should be approached in the same manner as with any other major electronics purchase. Do your homework! Talk with detectorists, surf the Internet for info, check your local library for books on the subject. An informed shopper is a happy shopper. Buying a detector can be an enjoyable experience or a nightmare. Get the wrong one and it will spend more time in the closet than “in the field”. You wouldn’t get a Corvette to go 4X4 ‘ing so get all your ducks in a row first. There are some key issues that are paramount in this decision making process and I ‘ll try to cover the main ones in this article. By no means should you rely solely on my opinion as this will be a quick course study.

First of all, you must decide what type of hunting you’re planning to do. There’s beach and shallow water, underwater, relic, gold nugget, and coinshooting. Jewelry is found by all machines. :)

There are detectors made specifically for each category and some that are multi-purpose. Generally, underwater machines are category specific and would not be good for land hunting. And conversely, you would NEVER completely submerse a coinshooting machine as most are not water tight. Beach and underwater machines are designed to deal with the high mineralization of the sandy beach area. Gold nugget machines are also in a class of their own. They’re designed for hunting small flecks of gold. And there are relic machines made primarily for hunting buttons, buckles, bullets, etc. on historical battle sites. Lower end coinshooting machines are made to, you got it, search mainly for coins, jewelry, caches of gold/silver/coins. If you want to search for coins, jewelry, caches of gold/silver/coins, relics, maybe a little nugget shooting, maybe the dry beach from time to time, a shallow fresh water swimming hole, this brings in the mid to higher end multi-purpose detector.

Most beginners consider a “coinshooting” or multi-purpose machine. The thrill of finding coins or maybe a Mason jar full of old coins/jewelry fuels their fire. Be wary of very low end machines like the ones for under a hundred dollars. Sure they’ll find metal but having the ability to discriminate between a piece of scrap iron and say a dime is a crucial issue. No one wants to spend all day digging bottlecaps, nails and junk. Discrimination and the ability to pinpoint (narrow the target down to a precise area) are must have features. You would do well to consider spending roughly $400 and up for a quality new detector. Top end detectors run well over a grand. And that’s just for the machine. Accessories will unload your wallet of another few hundred, easily. Don’t be afraid of considering a used detector, especially if it’s still under warranty. They generally sell for a tad over half of their value. A great bargain. Generally speaking, the more greenbacks you fork out, the better the detector gets. But isn’t that true with most things?!

Metal detectors have been around for almost 50 years. They’ve come a long way in giving the user more information to help decipher what’s in the ground. Most machines have knobs that allow the user to determine, through discrimination, if the object is “trash or treasure”. Cutting edge machines have an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen showing representative icons, graphs, and depth of the target. A gold ring and a soda can pulltab are hard to tell apart, no matter which detector you use. This still isn’t a perfect science. Desirable targets generally emit clear crisp tones through your headphones. The “perfect detector” has yet to be invented. Each will excel in some arenas and each has its pitfalls as well. Forewarned is forearmed.

Also must take into consideration where you live. Different parts of the country have different climates, humidity, and terrain. Soil conditions, i.e., mineralization, have a profound affect on all detectors. A detector I use here in Alabama may or may not have the same effectiveness to say someone living in Oregon. There’s also the issue of wet soil or dry soil. Some detectors like it wet, some like it dry.

Consider warranties. They’re very important to you the consumer. You’ll find them for 1 year, 2 years, 5 years and lifetime. Personally, I would go with 2 years or more. If the detector hasn’t broken in that amount of time chances are it won’t. Also look for transferable warranties. After a given amount of time you may decide to sell and move to another model/brand. You’ll have a much easier go at selling your machine with some kind of warranty still intact.

Service after the sale. As with any major electronics purchase, know where you stand. Ask around for first hand experiences. Generally, all major manufacturers give superb service.

Weight. You’ll be swinging this machine for hours on end. Arms tire. During your selection process try and pick one that has a hip or chest mountable control box. You’ll be thankful you did. Standard weights vary from roughly 2 to 5 pounds.

Depth. Here we enter one of the most hotly debated topics of our hobby. Every manufacturer claims to have the deepest seeking machine on the market. Coil size (the round thing you swing close to the ground) and user tweaking of machine controls for optimum performance play the biggest role in how deep a machine will see. Older coins generally reside between 4 and 6 inches on land. Any good detector will see that deep. Most will see 8 inches or more. Top end machines are known to find small targets at well over a foot. Quite recently I was told of a fairly new beach detector retrieving a penny at 2 feet with an 8 inch coil and the 10.5 coil going considerably deeper than that. Amazing! Supposedly with any higher end machine a man-hole cover can be found at roughly 4 feet and a car at between 10 and 20. Just so you’d know.

When browsing through your local detector shop you can perform a quick and easy test to see for yourself roughly how deep a machine will go. It’s called an air-test. Have the dealer turn the machine on and hold a coin out in front of the coil. See for yourself how far away you can wave the coin and still hear the machine beep. Coins generate a completely different signal when in the ground due to mineralization, how its laying, etc. but this test will give you a rough idea of how machines stack up against one another.

No matter which machine you choose, you must learn its idiosyncracies and way of telling you what’s in the ground. You’re the brain behind the machine. It’s not going to say, “Hey, there’s a 14k gold diamond broach laying on edge right beside two rusty nails at 6 inches”. With LOTS of practice at learning to decipher the difference in tones that are emitted for each and every target you encounter only then will you become one with your detector. That means digging EVERY beep at first to know what the machine is telling you. Practice makes perfect.

Concerning brand names…..some of the major ones are White’s, Fisher, Minelab, Garrett, Tesoro, Bounty Hunter, Troy, Teknetics and others. Detector owners are fiercely loyal and can give a thousand reasons why theirs is better than the next but then aren’t Ford and Chevy owners? Deciding on which manufacturer to choose is up to you. Do some research, ask some questions of happy and unhappy detector owners on Internet forums. After doing my own research, I purchased a White’s Spectrum XLT for its diversity, user customizable features and technological advances in design. It’s a high end machine that requires time and energy to truly appreciate its capabilities but for someone who’s serious about metal detecting/treasure hunting, I highly recommend it. And no, I don’t work for White’s Electronics, just a happy end user. :)

By Eddie Nichols