New to the forum...ghost towns?

[johnj45586]

Just a comment on power. The circuitry and coil are what makes a MD work. I use the ACE 250 and regularly find dimes at 24 inches (measured). The ACE 250 uses 4 AA batteries.
I had a MD from Big 5 for one day. It used 3 9 V batteries and couldn't find a dime at 2 inches!
Coil dimensions and geometry are extremely important - and somewhat specific to the kind of hunting you are doing. For instance, my ACE 250 is fantastic in dirt and dry sand looking for jewelry and coins (or meteorites). It is useless in surf sand and in the water. It would not be useful for finding gold nuggets (of the size most likely to be found).
It comes with a standard 9 x 6 inch coil that has great depth (24 inch dimes!). But when the area is strewn with rusty nails or close to some metal structure the 9 x 6 coil becomes saturated - you have to switch to a 4.5 inch sniper coil for fine resolution detecting.
By the way, finding dimes at 24 inches isn't really that great of a thing. The ACE 250 will find aluminum cans or round pieces of aluminum at 24 inches too. Since I dig everything I detect, I really hope there aren't too many 24 inch targets out there. The display only goes to 8+ inches, so you only know the target is at 24 inches when you get down 18 inches and the indication is 6 more inches to go!
Just a tip: if you are digging in dirt you otta look into a hand held pinpointer.

[Steve in PR]

Hi, CoyoteJim and welcome to TQ! Glad that you found more than nails and I suspect you will be finding more soon. Keep us posted!

[MinelabMan]

Hi CoyoteJim and welcome to TQ. As you already found out there's alot of helpful and friendly people here!

Good luck with your new hobby !

[anne]

:christmaswreath: Hello and Welcome to this Fantastic Forum
:christmaswreath: You will not be disappointed that you joined
:christmaswreath: Good luck on your hunting:christmaswindow: