Where do I start?

Hi everyone,

I am a very newbie to metal detecting. I did a little bit about 20 years ago- I found a lot of ring pulls from soft drink cans.

Anyway I am looking at getting a very basic detector. Funds are really tight (in fact I am selling a couple of things to be able to purchase one). Unfortunately I have had a couple of bad experiences to start with. Firstly I did what everyone tells you to do- I spoke to an 'expert'. As I am on the Sunshine Coast, & there is no sellers here, I called the closest metal detector shop. I told them my situation- but stepping back it took me 2-3 weeks to get a reply from them- I left messages & emailed but no reply. Anyway their advice- buy a Minelab GPX 5000 @ $6500+. I was told if I am going to learn I had to learn with the best machine available. I reminded him of what we had just spoken about with my budget & his reply was to go away & save for it & come back when I have money to spend. Needless to say when I do have that kind of money to spend I will not be going there.

Then there was an advertisement on gumtree- someone had a 2nd hand bounty hunter tracker iv that they wanted to swap for something useful. Anyway a few months ago I won a lucky door prize; a collectible $400 bottle of great grandfather limited edition Penfold's port so I offered this & a bottle of Bundy rum someone gave me for my birthday (they didn't realise I can't stand rum). He was happy I was happy- I drove to Brisbane to meet at the designated time/place- after an hour of waiting & many phone calls I realised he wasn't showing. I emailed him when I got home & the reply was that he changed his mind- nice of him to tell me. I lost interest for awhile after that.

Anyway I am back looking around- I obviously want to get something as cheap as possible- seems you can get BH tracker iv's for $160-$200 delivered off ebay. I noticed Walmart in the US sell them for $60-$90.

So as I am just looking at getting it to play with for 12 months (we do a bit of camping) & do a bit of bonding with my young fella is this my best option?

We all want to have the best machine available but as someone said on another topic on this site- the best machine is the one you can afford. I understand I am only going to find coins, cans & washers but for someone like me with budgetry constraints what does everyone recommend?

Hi Scott

i live in the sunshine coast and like yourself havnt done any detecting for quite some time just before xmas got myself a bounty hunter tracker IV believe its one of the best cheaper models to get into detecting and hope to get something better in the future but this one is still adequate and does a good job , i got mine off ebay but just make sure you do research on the sellers fisrt ,
you got a contact if you wanto know more about it and discuss detecting around here
regards
Stewart.

Hi Stewart, thanks for your reply. I was convinced I was going to buy the bounty hunter tracker iv off a mob in Sydney through ebay- great price etc. Then I had an impulse buy- I called the local electronics store in Caloundra- they had the X Terra range. I was all set to buy the 305. I went down to get it but they had sold it by the time I got there. They ended up selling me the 505 for not much more than the 305. Anyway still wondering about the bounty hunter. As it turns out a mate of mine interstate bought an sd 2200 from someone here local through ebay. I picked it up for him this week & will be using it till he gets here- maybe a few weeks, who knows. Anyway it was very generous of him.

Where on the Coast are you? I was thinking about going to the beach but I don't think the tourists would appreciate me buzzing their handbags.

Hi Scott

i just looked up the 505 looks like its a more costly model would be interested to see the differance as i want to get a better one and give this to my son ill read up on it after this reply i was suprised they sell them in coloundra, be good to get together and check them both out ,
i live in buderim im like yourself a bit self consious of detecting around the sunbathers apparently your supposed to kick sand in there faces first so they cant see what your doing, or go late afternoon or early morning so far i have done a few parks and stuff and have a few good ideas of places i want to check, and go to the beech soon and test it out, been a bit busy over xmas,

I have tried the parks but every time I go there, families show up. I think once school is back & particularly once winter sets in it will be easier. The 505 was $650- I ended up getting it for $495.

The secret is to go late evenings it is a bit limited around here you got to lan and see whats around ,once you get familiar and used to doing the the beaches it will be better first spend some time testing on the beach with some coins,