how many years have been detecting now. and what was your first detector?

[dan b]

Started in 1989 with a cheapo Radio shack machine. First real machine was a Garrett Freedom. The one with the dual discriminators. What a great machine that was.

 

[Hobo lobo]

Over 50 yrs ago, 1962, Detecron, 2nd was a Whites Gold Master,.

 

[Dang]

1 month Garrett Ace 150 ( shoulda went with the 250) lol

Welcome to the hobby nesdore! Those Garrett aces rock! matter of fact I traded my muskee for a ace 250. A coin magnet and my favorite ring find has been with the ace 250so far.

 

[Dang]

I forgot to mention a detector I had when I was a fifteen yr old 1975 . A gremlin. Yellow and one off on switch. Real simpe to use. And back then silver was just Oder the turf. Good ol days.

 

[BensJamming]

February 2014 and the AT Pro is my first machine. Can tell I wont be giving up this hobby anytime soon too! Our 11 year old just got his first machine from Gramps 2 weeks ago, its a Barska Sharpshooter Edition.

 

[Phillip_in_NM]

2001 Big Bud Pro (garage sale purchase).

1st real detector - Garrett GTI 2500. Found almost double what I paid for it in the first year!

 

[Fire Fighter 43]

1975 and my first was a kit detector that operated with a transistor radio. I purchased it at a rummage sale for a couple of dollars. It was great for locating large chunks of iron . Shortly after that my grandmother helped me purchase a Whites beachcomber and
That was all she wrote, I was hooked for life.

 

[azsh07]

27 years seriously...first real detector was the original Tesoro Eldorado metal box machine. Bought it brand new from a dealer in Lancaster Ca.....man I thought that machine was the bomb.

Could say 35 years and a Bounty Hunter BFO that my gramma gave me thatw as hers...but...I used it a few times in '75 and then quit until the Eldorado.

 

[fowlercharles]

I stared with a Garrett BFO "Sidewinder," in July 69 on my 32nd. birthday. Just before Camille crushed us. Been hard at it ever since. Y'all do your research, get some "diggin Buddies", have fun, and dig while you are able. Old men are not so able, so with the diggin Buddies there is always the hope of another dig. Friends and Fun are the real "Goodies" of detecting!! HH Charlie

 

[Dang]

I stared with a Garrett BFO "Sidewinder," in July 69 on my 32nd. birthday. Just before Camille crushed us. Been hard at it ever since. Y'all do your research, get some "diggin Buddies", have fun, and dig while you are able. Old men are not so able, so with the diggin Buddies there is always the hope of another dig. Friends and Fun are the real "Goodies" of detecting!! HH Charlie

Words of wisdom. Thank you Charles.

 

[Neil]

mid to late 80s and it was a whites classic III I think it was called. I know the salesperson told me to buy it or the Silver Sabre II by Tesoro, that was the next one I bought

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Over 50 yrs ago, 1962, Detecron, 2nd was a Whites Gold Master,.

Hey hobo, how deep would that Detecron get a coin to ? Eg.: depth on a penny or dime ? And what type sites were you detecting in those days, and what was an average day's haul ?

 

[Digging Fool]

I started in 1978 with a Sears(whites) model. It was a version of the 6000 model, if I remember correctly. Found a lot of stuff with that machine.

 

[hatpin]

1980. It as a garrett Fortune Hunter. VLF - TR. It was a good machine. I could reverse discriminate with it . In other wods find a deep coin in VLF switch to Disc , tune it in and ID those deep old coins.

 

[cosmic]

70's Fisher 555D

 

[clondike clad]

For over 45 years my first metal detector was a Relco or was it a Jetco....SOOOOOO looooong ago.
I know it was a BFO and blue and ran on one 9v Oh it had one knob

 

[Overvoltage]

I started detecting 24 years ago. My newlywed wife at the time was working and I happened to be off duty (Air Force 1986 - 2006). As you know idol hands are the devil's workshop. I was out and about and noticed a local metal detector shop/store. I went in and came out about an hour later with a $400 used Garrett GTA ultra 500. Wife hit the ceiling:veryangry: as we did not have a lot of money back then. Believe it or not, I found a 1/4 ct Diamond ring with it that weekend. Wife apologized and still has the ring. If you notice my signature, I still have the GTA500. It has been back to Garrett once because the display quit working. They upgraded the internals to the GTAx500 no charge. My 10 year old daughter still uses it when she goes detecting with me.

 

[Prep1957]

1968 built my first detector from Heath-kit,found a lot of large silver with that detector.Garrett Ground Hog was first really good detector silver every where.

 

[LandRunSeeker]

Started in 2013 with a Tesoro Cibola. Already added a Garrett ATP in 2014. Having a lot of fun! Can't wait to see what I find this year.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

prep-1957, Interesting that you would recall a lot of "large" silver with that. I'm assuming you mean quarters and halves, versus dimes, for example, right? So too is my recollection of my first machine: the White 66TR. I too seemed to find my share of silver washingtons then in the mid 1970s. And even though I'd wracked up perhaps a dozen silver washingtons, had YET to find a mercury dime (although I recall finding silver roosies and some wheaties). Now, looking back, I realize it's because:

Those old machines were handicapped on depth, of course. So for example, 4" on a dime was perhaps max. However, naturally, the quarters being bigger signals, you could add a few more inches to that. And since we weren't using headphones, and probably weren't super-carefully looking for whispers, then .... it just stands to reasons that the # of quarters would be commensurately out-of-synch-more, than with the # of smaller targets (dimes).

So on that old Heath-kit, do tell: What was the depth on a dime? A quarter? etc.. What type places were you hunting then, and what was an average day's count of silver back then ?