Hi all, my name is Jimmy Pearce a newbie to this site but not to prospecting & metal detecting, if I may I can shed a little light on the subject, here are a few things to remember when buying a metal detector 1.buy a detector that can be used for your area, check around, the mineraization in your area most likely will be different from what you see others claim when espousing the features of their machine/brand.2. What are you looking to find? relics, coins, gold nuggets, depending on the what? is going to determine which unit or units you can accomplish your goal.3. read,read,read your manual, practice, practice,practice, have more patience than you ever thought you had.4. don't believe all the hype about brands, you can go to a dealer and they will test or show you what the basics are and do some comparisons for you on each brand they sell. 5. An experienced detector operator will find more with a bad detector than a novice will with the most expensive detector, the rule of thumb is 90% operator 10% detector (of course there is beginners luck). 6. a coin,relic detector is usually not the best choice for hunting/finding natural gold and the reverse is also true if using a gold detector.7. cheap is as cheap does, usually anything under 150.00 is not gonna satisfy you if youre serious, but 4,500. is waaaay to much imho unless your have advanced to the professional level and can consistantly find a cpl of thousand worth of whatever your'e searching for each month.8.vlf are good allround detectors, most have waterproff search coils but not control boxes. pi are better overall but have a steeper learning curve but again check on the waterproofness of coils and electronics box. There are a million opinions on this subject so take them all with a grain of salt and do some research, I have been metaldetecting, prospecting since 1980, I have 200 acres of leased gold mining claims in Alaska and I hunt the beaches here in n.c in the winter (the best time) can't even remember all the diff. types detectors I have had/used but here is my current list for what it's worth- coin hunting Nautilus dmc2 by tyndall electronics,fisher 212-x, garrett 250, use the same for relic hunting. For gold nuggets I have a whites MXT w/all the diff search coils(best overall machine I have ever used) and a Garrett Infinium PI whic is water proof totally to 200 ft deep, this is the deepest seeking unit I have ever used and the best for high mineralization in gold country. Good luck and don't buy the first detector you run across unless you know for sure it will do what you expect.
