What are good brands of Metal Detectors in the $700 Range

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Jim Hatt

Re: What are good brands of Metal Detectors in the $700 Range

Post by Jim Hatt »

Don has some fantastic photography equipment, and he knows how to use it as well. There could be several feet of overburden in the very bottom of the canyon unless a large volume of water flows through it to keep it cleaned out. Never know until you check.

Good luck with your metal detector, djui recommends the model you seem to be attracted to, and there's nothing better than a recommendation from someone that has one.

Jim
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Re: What are good brands of Metal Detectors in the $700 Range

Post by ElPaso2008 »

Jim Hatt wrote:There could be several feet of overburden in the very bottom of the canyon unless a large volume of water flows through it to keep it cleaned out.
Is "overburden" a prospecting term? I'm not sure what it means.
Jim Hatt

Re: What are good brands of Metal Detectors in the $700 Range

Post by Jim Hatt »

It is "Something that has to be removed to get down to what you are interested in".

In this case, it is just loose material that has washed down and collected in the area that would be covering the bedrock. It could also be used to describe material covering a vein at the bottom of a shaft.

Jim
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Re: What are good brands of Metal Detectors in the $700 Range

Post by djui5 »

El Paso,
If you ever wanna go 4wheelin out here let me know. Looks like you got 33's on that thing? I see a Warn winch.
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Re: What are good brands of Metal Detectors in the $700 Range

Post by ElPaso2008 »

Jim Hatt wrote:It is "Something that has to be removed to get down to what you are interested in".

In this case, it is just loose material that has washed down and collected in the area that would be covering the bedrock. It could also be used to describe material covering a vein at the bottom of a shaft.

Jim
Thanks. Overburden is a good term for it then...
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Re: What are good brands of Metal Detectors in the $700 Range

Post by ElPaso2008 »

djui5 wrote:El Paso,
If you ever wanna go 4wheelin out here let me know. Looks like you got 33's on that thing? I see a Warn winch.
Write me at webmaster@rcm-enterprises.com when you get time.
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Re: What are good brands of Metal Detectors in the $700 Range

Post by oroblanco »

HOLA amigos,

This topic is a bit 'old' so I would imagine that the person seeking advice on a good detector has already done some panning etc and likely purchased a detector for hunting relics etc. However as other readers probably will visit this thread looking for similar advice, here is my own recommendation.

First, I agree 100% with Jim Hatt, get a gold pan and see if there IS any gold before buying a detector; also, I agree 100% that for the purposes of hunting RELICS, almost any detector will do because you will be hunting in "all metal" mode, as many relics are made of iron or steel so you won't want to be discriminating, or be working much in highly mineralized (ie black sands) soils. A used detector is usually pretty reasonably priced, and of course try it out before you buy it.

Now for my recommendation - if you want a good all-around metal detector, that is pretty close to the $700 price mark (depending on which dealer or seller you get it from) get a Tesoro Lobo Supertraq. They have automatic ground balance so you don't have to fool around with tuning it, which can be a major pain in the neck and tough for a newbie to get the hang of, and those many detectors which have manual ground balance are ALL slightly different, even within the same model as to exactly how to adjust it "just right" for the soil conditions. The Tesoro Lobo has three settings - one for normal soils, one for alkali soils, and one for highly mineralized conditions like black sands; when you first turn it on, you raise and lower the head (coil) to the ground a few times and if the sound changes then switch to a different auto-balance; start with "normal" then "alkali" and last "black sands". That is all the tuning you do.

These detectors are designed for gold nuggets and they will pick out the tiny pin-head type of nuggets, and you will find many more of this size than you will ever find of the fist size. Those big nuggets they always show in the sales ads to sell you a detector are so big that almost any detector would have worked to find THOSE - even a toy, but to find those tiny pinhead nuggets it takes a good gold detector like the Tesoro Lobo.

Even though they are designed for gold nuggets, they also work GREAT on coins, jewelry etc; you will be amazed at how well it works, and the discrimination is simplicity itself - just turn it up while you wave the objects you want to tune OUT (pull tabs for instance) and 'presto' it will go silent when you have the discrimination level you desire. To tune out iron nails, wire and similar, try a setting of 3 or 4, for pull tabs usually have to go higher, try 7 or 8.

To hunt relics, just set it on "all metal" and go - and dig up every 'hit' (sound) you get, most of what you find will be junk, but you won't miss things either. Those detectors that supposedly "tell you what is in the ground before you dig" are wrong up to 50% of the time, and I have personally gone over ground that others have just swept with their gee-whiz detectors and color LCD displays, and found silver coins that their detectors said were "bottle caps".

Tesoro Lobos come with a lifetime warranty, and their service is pretty good (yes I have managed to break my own a couple of times, it happens) though their machines are fairly rugged.

I don't get any kind of 'kickback' for promoting Tesoro Lobo detectors, and have tried quite a few different makes and models over the years including those touted as "top of the line" like Minelabs, which are far too complicated for a neophyte to master in my opinion. I like to spend my detecting time out DETECTING, not fooling with the danged machine just trying to get it to work, and the Tesoro is (virtually) a "turn-it-on-and-go" detector.

I am sure there are plenty of folks who will disagree with me, but this is my own opinion and recommendation - don't go buying a detector that requires you to learn a whole new set of skills just to use it properly, and DO buy one that comes with a lifetime guarantee. In my book, the Tesoro Lobo Supertraq beats them all around. One more thing too - Tesoros are made in the good old USA!

Read more on Tesoro Lobo
http://www.tesoro.com/product/detectors/lobost/

Here is the Lobo owners manual at the Tesoro company website
http://www.tesoro.com/info/manuals/current/lobost/

Some owners reviews,
http://metaldetectorreviews.net/detecto ... rtraq.html

Good luck and good hunting amigos, I hope you find the treasures that you seek.
Roy ~ Oroblanco
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Re: What are good brands of Metal Detectors in the $700 Range

Post by RockyFrisco »

I'm very pleased with my Whites Spectrum XLT detector. I just checked eBay and found some for sale under $700 there. A few hours spent hunting pre-buried targets will make you proficient if not an expert. I have a lot of confidence in mine. If it's there, I will find it. The temperature went to 59 today, so I hunted a neighbor's back yard. Among the usual junk and modern coins, I found a nice silver 1942 Quarter.
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Re: What are good brands of Metal Detectors in the $700 Range

Post by oroblanco »

RockyFrisco wrote
I found a nice silver 1942 Quarter
Congrats amigo! :mrgreen: That would have made my day! I would rather have one good silver than a handful of the clad crap we use for coins today. I sure look forward to the ground thawing out here, which ought to be right around July.... :roll:
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Re: What are good brands of Metal Detectors in the $700 Range

Post by gollum »

Just in case, my 2cents worth:

One of the big things to research is Customer Service from your metal detector company. Fisher has had a LOT of problems in that regard. I would research that more in depth. When it comes to customer service I have found that White's is about the best, and Minelab a near second.

As for me, I am a Minelab guy. I have a heavily modified SD2000 Gold Machine, an Excalibur 1000 water machine, and an X-Terra 70. I LOVER THE XTERRA70! It is very light weight, easy to use, and all you have to do is change between coils for different types of detecting. I use it and a pan for exploring new areas. If I find anything of mineral interest, I bring in the big gun SD2000. In the right ground with the right coil, I can get almost three feet deep (larger nuggets).

MINELAB X-Terra 70/705 gets my vote!

I do have a Fisher Gemini Two-Box Detector, but that is a very specific type of detecting. Something the size of a car at twenty feet, or a garbage can at eight feet. It can also find voids underground.

Best-Mike
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