[size=medium]Okay, here's my situation. I am looking for a good inexpensive metal detector that would be good for gold both fresh and salt water, afterall, gold is where the money's at! Also if the detector will hit on gold easily silver shoudn't be a problem. Many companies claim their's are the best, the deepest etc. It is difficult to decide. After reading many posts on different forums I am still not sure which way to go. Minelab seems to have the best recovery but they are pretty pricey. I just talked to a Garrett dealer and he made a good honest point. Most coins etc. are found within a 4" depth and the Ace 250 will do approx. 9" so what are you really paying for if you consider a DFX at 1000.00 vs. a 200.00 Ace 250?, a graph that is going to show you what you will most likely dig anyway? Or a GTI 2500 etc. I see many people use the Ace 250 some as primary, some as secondary. It seems most gold would be found on the beach, low tide, with maybe more in the water. Is there a good detector that will work both fresh water streams and the salt water? I see each company seems to have a different detector for each application. The Ace 250 seems to have good reports even among other brand users and should be okay for multi-purpose but what detector will serve best for the gold fresh and salt water? Should it be waterproof? I appreciate any help! [/size]