metal detector questions

[chilingoober]

hello, newbie here, actually writing for my husband and myself. we have been watching the prospecting shows for a few months, and are very interested in that and metal detecting.


we'd like advice on how to pick a metal detector. we don't want a cheapie that will have to be replaced anytime soon. but can't afford the $1000 ones yet. maybe something around $600? we would like to hunt gold with it, eventually. that would entail trips to the mountains, no gold here. around here, the history is ranching and oil boom towns 1920's and 30's on up. we live near where an old boom town was (no structures, but we know where the site is), and an old school foundation. (1920's-40 or 50's).

can you tell us what we could expect to find, and what would be the best detector for this and a future trip for gold? we don't know what to look for in a detector. and i don't know what questions to even ask. if someone could just point us in the right direction, we would appreciate it. want the best we can afford, that does the most.
thank you
shanna

Welcome to the best detecting forum on the net.


Since you live near those oil boom old towns, there should be bunches of older coins and a good likelihood there may be gold coins. I think the Whites XLT would be a good one. The Ace 250 is much cheaper, about $200.00 or so. It is a very good machine for what you seem to be in the market for. Either one will do the job rather well.

As for a gold machine I haven't any idea as what to recommend. I am positive that you will get many more very good suggestions that will help you in your decision making.

It is more than most of us can hope for to be able to be in the area with so much history and with the super possibility of unearthing real old coins.
I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide on.

BTW what state are you in?

[chilingoober]

thanks.
we live in texas, the panhandle area. i don't know anything about coins. so more to learn there. we have already found a few old bottles, but don't know how to find their worth.
shanna

[TonyinCT]

Welcome to the forums.
Gold hunting and coin hunting are two entirely different things. To be successful in gold hunting you'll need a detector that can find 24 K gold. This is different than gold jewelry that has impurities in it.
It will take a bit mor ethan 600 to get a detector that can do both reasonably well. I would suggest the Whites MXT. It's based on their gold hunting detector but has a coin mode also. Give me a call and we can discuss it further.

[warsawdaddy]

Hey,welcome to the forum.The Tesoro LoboSuprtrac would be my choice.It's lightweight,goes deep and can find the coins and the nuggets and best of all,it has a life-time warranty.

[John's Detectors]

Hi Shanna and glad to meet you. Minelab has a new model on the market called the X-TERRA 70 which has a prospecting mode included with the coin/jewelry mode. It is worth the extra expense to obtain this new Minelab. Call me to get the info you need to get into this new model. Nice meeting you and God Bless.

John Tomlinson, CET
John's Detectors
Best in the West !

[chilingoober]

thanks to everyone that responded. we are looking at the brands suggested, and comparing them. i think we will have to come down to around $200 - 300 for one, so we are looking at the ace 250.

is it necessary to have headphones? and the extra coils, are they worth getting? we live in rattlesnake territory, and leery of the headphones, can you still hear your surroundings well? i have never been around a metal detector (as you can probably tell).

if you recommended only 1 or 2 books which are the best ones? i would like to have something with the most info to have on hand, since i can't always get on here to look stuff up when i need to.

there is still a lot of terminology we don't know, so as it comes up, i'd like to ask. so far, my husband has been reading about coins on here. what does "clad" mean? we also found an 1890 indian head penny a while back (just in with some change) that has a nick on it. what would it be worth?

does anyone make a living doing the prospecting or metal detecting? we will be looking at doing this during retirement, and would like to know how to make an extra income if possible. i'm a weaver and am making shawls and such to sell, i can also make woven straps. would anyone in this hobby have a need for some type of woven items? (bags, hats, scarves, straps, sashes.....) just looking for another angle for my weaving business.

thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.....
s

[warsawdaddy]

Hey,
I won't get into the md suggestions,but I will say something about the headphones that several may disagree with me on.I don't use them!I'm 70yr and like you,I like to know what is going on around me.I bought a 11.00 amplified speaker from Radio Shack,uses a 9v batt.It's the size of a cig pkg and it goes in my shirt pocket.Since it's mono and most mds are stereo,I got a 1.75 adapter also.The speaker has a volume control and I can hear those headphone 'whisper' tones loud and clear and I'm not uncomfortable when it's real hot.Go to RS and ask them to put a batt in one and try it on one of their mds in the store.The spkr # 277-1008C.Goodluck.

[chilingoober]

thanks, warsawdaddy. we will look into this. i'm always watchful, but i use my ears more than my eyes when hiking anyway and was wondering how to get around that. we may still get the headphones, but this gives me something else to try.
s

[bigjohn]

i'm getting the stinger by killer bee or the rattler. only one head phone. ya can hear out of the other ear. we have snakes out here. usally ya se em. but when ya diggin and one is 2 foot from ya and 5 foot long. and they say it wont kill ya. whats a heart attack. i also carry 24/7 when i get off work i just put on another sidearm with snake shot. but i live on a 50 acre farm. check out t.c. metal detectors. tony will set ya up.