How To Get Started?

[Jeff McClendon]

The Whites Matrix M6 is a great detector. Even though it is well balanced it still weighs in at over 4 lbs. You can lessen the weight with some of the after market battery packs and smaller coils but 8 AAs really add some weight. On the other hand, two of my best friends (very fit women in the late 60s) detect with Whites Spectra V3is and claim that they are not bothered by the weight. They also have never used any other detectors!

Jeff

[jinmon]

This may be an unusual recommendation for people getting into metal detecting, but. 

I know there’s some question about how long a tetanus booster lasts and whether you really need one, but it’s awfully easy to get scratched or poked by a rusty piece of metal you’ve just dug up. ? 

I got a Garrett Ace 250 as a general purpose machine to kick around with with my dad when hecame to visit me, as he’s always liked metal detecting. It’s a great general purpose machine that you can pick up used for about $150. Headphones aren’t great but if you’re both working with the same detector and sharing digging duties you might prefer not using the headphones so you can both hear the sound of the target. But I will say I very quickly found what else I wanted to do that it couldn’t do (nuggets and saltwater beaches). It’s still so great for parks and general hunting, very light and inexpensive so I can’t say I regret the purchase, but I am planning to buy another detector soon. Still - it’s a great first detector I think! ?

I can’t disagree with getting a good digging tool for parks - a serrated edge helps a lot if you’re cutting in a grassy area. I also like having a plastic scoop spoon thing for trying to find whatever I’ve just dug up in sandy or dirty areas - scooping the dirt out and running it over the coil to see if the target is in the scoop can help find a small piece of metal in a big hole of dirt! ?

[BeachHunter]

If you don’t know if you’ll stick with it or not. Buy one detector and both of you use it and see if you like MDing. Maybe a lower cost one.

If you KNOW you going to enjoy the sport/hobby, after awhile of use and stay with it, then I would invest in a couple of “above mid-range” detectors.

My choice would then be two Minelab Equinox 600s or one Minelab Equinox 800 and one 600.

You mentioned you had a creek that flows by your property. That’s where the 800 with its gold detecting capabilities (think gold nuggets) would come into play.

The Minelab Equinox detectors are waterproof to 10’ and they are quite capable detectors.

Let me state that I’m the guy that would buy a Martin acoustic guitar as my first guitar and not buy cheap. Lol!

Best of luck to you both!

BeachHunter

[kac]

I had a bounty hunter going back to the early/mid 90's. Not a bad machine but lacked features back then. I would suggest a machine you can use for general purpose such as the Garrett AT Pro. It wiil do great on relics, fresh water wading, excellent for coin shooting in parks and can handle salt but will take some practice with ground balancing.

The AT Pro is really well built. I had purchased an aftermarket LiPo battery pack around $80 or so that gives me well over 40 hours run time with no fade in performance. I also picked up the Nel Big coil for it which is a really nice coil that goes incredibly deep it tends to be way too heavy to swing all day. I use the Nel big on the dunes and can hear beer cans 3'+ down in dry sand, hear typical pocket change at more than a foot. The big coil actually does really good in the wet sand, less chattery than the dry but drags way too much to be in the surf with.