New to the forums

[NoSetDestination (Greg)]

Greetings people. I am new here and still looking around but so far, from what I can see, I can learn a lot. Firstly an introduction, My name is Greg Keegan aged 50 and relatively new to metal detecting. I have had an interest in it for many years but it wasn't until a friend bought me a cheap Chinese detector that I got started in searching. That broke and recently, the same friend bought both himself and I a Garrett Ace 250. I was looking at getting the Garrett AT Pro as a general purpose detector, and when i can afford too, will still get one of these. I know the Minelab's are fantastic for gold detecting but till I find a few bits I can turn over, rings etc, the budget just doesn't allow for such luxuries.
I am on a No set destination, hence the user name, road trip around Australia, fossicking and detecting as I go. I came to Warrnambool for Christmas as the first leg of the trip from up near Byron Bay, to spend time with family with the intention of heading west at the beginning of February, but I tore a ligament in my shoulder and elbow so am now in recovery mode and kind of restricted in the continuation of the trip till I have healed. Subsequently, I am now looking around the area for detecting opportunities. At the moment I am shooting beaches and local parks with some success though nothing of any real value. I would really like to go out and do some gold detecting and that is the reason I joined this forum, to find other detectorists and people with information on where there are places that I can go to detect with at least the chance of finding some of the yellow stuff even with the limited capabilities of the Ace 250.
I would like to go for a few days detecting around Ballarat and surrounding areas and would appreciate any information or maps on areas that I can both camp and detect for anything of interest as well as gold. Is this forum only about gold detecting or does it also cover beach and other public places, detecting, and the kinds of finds that these places produce. Also can anyone give me any information on the Garrett Ace 250's preferably people familiar with and who have used it. I have noticed that the Elim button isn't that effective against aluminium as I tried dropping this out recently and ended up with only 2 bars at the top of the scale that were supposed to show everything but aluminium and ferrous metals yet I still managed to find a pull tab as it sounded loud and clear. I have been shooting in coin mode and are starting to get used to the sounds. Any suggestions or tips to help me use this machine better?
I am also in the market for a good pin pointer and would like some feed back on what people suggest as I don't want to waist money on something that isn't water proof and doesn't last. I want something that i can use no matter what detector it is backing up. I just know that they can save me a lot of digging as the pin pointer on the 250 is ok but still not great.
That will do for now as I am starting to ramble and some of this should probably be posted elsewhere in the forums. I look forward to getting to know you.
Happy hunting people and may the gods of prosperity shine brightly on your day and lead you to that big nugget.
Greg.

[CostasDee]

Gooday NoSetDestination and to the forum.

I can't help you with the vlf detectors myself, but I can say th I use a Garrett PinPointer and it is very tough. Since buying mine though, Minelab have released their PinPointer and tests done by a member of the forum, comparing the 2, found that the Minelab one was more sensitive to objects and at a slightly bigger distance. Generally speaking though, they don't pinpoint from a lot of distance and I know that if I've dug a hole and use my pinpointer and it makes the noise, I'm generally within a cm or 2 from the target. Great for not sticking your pick through your new object. A friend had bought a cheap $20 one, but now doesn't carry it anymore because it sort of useless....
Anyway good luck out there...

[NoSetDestination (Greg)]

thanks for the welcome CostasDee. I'll keep reading through the topics and learn what I can. I figure that a VLF mean very low frequency but am not certian or know a lot about the different types of detecting. I think that one type pings a single beam or wave that bounces off targets but isn't that good for discriminating so you dig everything, and the other pings multiple waves and is better for discriminating. Please correct me if I'm wrong as I am still new to all this even if I do read a fair bit on the this subject. My guess is there is nothing like getting out there and swinging the detector and listening to the different sounds it makes on different targets, that will give me the best education I can get.

[CostasDee]

Greg, there are 2 types of metal detecting machines, VLF and PI. VLF's have much better discrimination capabilities, but they are generally not very deep seeking and are quite noisey in mineralided ground. PIs though generally are deeper seeking, can be made fairly quiet on mineralised ground but have pretty hopeless discrimination. Depending on what type of detecting you want to concentrate on, to what type of detector you should head towards. Generally VLFs are better for coin & relic and PIs are for gold.

The search button at the top can be your friend and many a topics have been discussed here in the past and by reading them, you should get a better understanding of what's best for you... Any unanswered questions that you may have can be asked, and I'm sure members will help.