HELP! - Detector advice :wave:

[Egmonster]

Hi everyone. Brand new to the forums. I used to detect with a POS radio shack machine many years ago , it was total crap! and I loved it! I had kind of forgotten about it for years and then recently I have decided to get back into it.

There are a bewildering array of choices in detectors.

I want to detect for everything! Though I realize with one machine that is too ambitious.

I have narrowed down the choices to:

Minelab X-Terra 705
Minelab Etrac
Garrett AT Pro - (It rains here a lot and I like the waterproofness idea)

I think it wil be a Minelab. I was going to get a 705 because I could do a bit of light prospecting with it as well as look around in old fields and such.

But reading makes me think that no one machine does it all.

So I want to start with a machine that will give me maximum versatility.

With the Etrac I read it was the coin king. But what about everything else? I was going to buy the 705 to go gold nugget hunting but maybe a dedicated gold machine would be a better idea?

But what about gold rings, or an old brass buckle off of a horse halter? Or a steel hammer head? Will it pick up everything well? I understand FBS is no good at small gold nuggets. What about everything else?

I live in BC Canada. I want to look in school fields. Old hiking trails. I know of a few old homestead locations that few others know about. Beaches??

Is the Etrec good for stuff besides the deep high conductive coins that it is known as king for?

Also, I am an electrical engineer and I am unafraid of complex technology. Actually I quite enjoy it.

Any comments would be helpful.
Thank you!
Michael

 

[NebTrac]

The E-Trac will find the gold rings and your Relics. My understanding is the "small" gold (I'm assuming the little gold earings and small gold chains) does not get picked up well on the E-Trac. If you have iron discriminated out, I don't believe it will hit on your "steel" hammerhead either.

It will "kill" on brass and silver items. An example is the denim jean rivets. It will pick them up very loud. A 3 inch deep jean rivet will sound like a 6 inch deep copper coin. Same thing goes for little .22 short brass casings. So it should be real good in the Relic "realm".

NebTrac

 

[Egmonster]

Hey cool! Thanks for the comeback. Sounding more like Etrac could be the one for me.

Just reading the manual now.



OH! What about our silly modern Canadian coins? I hear they are mostly steel coated by copper and nickel.

 

[banditicey]

The shame of the US government treasury for issuing the HORRIBLE ZINCOLNS COINS

And the Shame of the Canadian Treasury for issuing the HORRIBLE STEEL COATED WITH NICKEL AND COPPER COINS

Oh Boy, You will certainly find those since I find those on this side of the border, a mere 20 minutes away from your border( not British Columbia but Hamilton)

Those loonies and toonies are still worth getting

Good Luck and HH