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- Thread starter Donut
- Start date
Mick in Dubbo
New member
Yeah. When I had the Xterra 30, I found around $1100 with it.
Mick Evans.
Mick Evans.
Thisoldgoldchaser
New member
Well, I hope I dont cause you to read too much...but my first trip out with my 705 I found a medium size gold wedding band, 18k dated 1947. Found just the other day a broach or or something like it that I thought was costume jewelry but actually has real gems, topaz to be exact, value, I dont know. Add to that some other unique finds and I guess I have come close to paying for it. So whats your point? Some folks find more than others, some have better luck at their locations. Others just dont get out so much.
My finds haven't even begun to pay for my XT-70, but that didn't stop me from going out and buying a new Safari. Now have a really great backup detector and one which my friends and relatives can use which will be the equal of mine. It's not the cost of the sport that matters, but how much enjoyment you and others are getting from it.
Thisoldgoldchaser
New member
<quote> So whats your point?
I just thought it would be nice read for everyone.<unquote>
Sorry, didnt mean to be snippy. It has been one of those days here for me. A day from he**. Wont go into it....
Actually, it is good for newbies or for those who havent found much yet to hear about the finds that others make. Hopefully they can learn the hows and whys. However, just hearing about the total of finds in dollar signs isnt going to help them learn how to make those finds. Yes, there is luck involved, but there is also research, observation and perseverance. And the biggest thing of all is learning your detector. And that takes many hours of using it. 10 hours is a minimum. It takes many more hours than that to really learn any detector well and to know its quirks and all. And that is a detector that you like. One that doesnt "fit" you can cause you to waste alot of time.
One suggestion I can make for anyone starting out is to start with a detector that doesnt have all the "bells and whistles". Something like an ACE 250 or an Xterra 305 or 505 are good starting detectors for beginners. First, they are easy to learn and use and are good detectors with a large following which makes it easy to find someone to help you or to get advice. Finding a local club or group to go out with is also a big plus. You learn how to hunt. How to find areas to hunt and also can get help in learning your detector. I say you here, but mean a beginner. Once you have a good 50 hours at least and more using that first detector, then it can be a good time to think about one of the more advanced but not before. I had an ETrac...and it was more than I could use or liked. Just didnt "fit" me. My 705 is a perfect fit. And it looks like my AT pro is going to be a good fit also. And with my Excal II and Surf PI Pro, and I will have a detector for any situation.
My first detector almost 30 years ago was a Garrett Groundhog and it is still in my family. I gave it to my brother a couple of years ago. He uses it still and is quite happy with it.
I didnt get a different one after I got the Garrett for a good many years, got a Garrett Master Hunter and ended up getting one of each of the Master Hunter line until they ended the line, though the GTI 2500 is basically a continuation just under a new name, until I got a Minelab Sovereign XS. Loved that one and when I got my Excaliber it was like coming home. They are pretty much the same detectors other than layout and the excal being a water detector. I did own several Whites detectors but have to say that my favorites have usually been either a Garrett or a Minelab. Its been a long time and a long search to come down a "set" of detectors that I plan to keep. They suit me and though they might not be "top of the line", I am happy with them. Just waiting for my excal to get back from being repaired. Only thing I wish is that their repair service was faster.
So, was this long winded enough? <grin>
I just thought it would be nice read for everyone.<unquote>
Sorry, didnt mean to be snippy. It has been one of those days here for me. A day from he**. Wont go into it....
Actually, it is good for newbies or for those who havent found much yet to hear about the finds that others make. Hopefully they can learn the hows and whys. However, just hearing about the total of finds in dollar signs isnt going to help them learn how to make those finds. Yes, there is luck involved, but there is also research, observation and perseverance. And the biggest thing of all is learning your detector. And that takes many hours of using it. 10 hours is a minimum. It takes many more hours than that to really learn any detector well and to know its quirks and all. And that is a detector that you like. One that doesnt "fit" you can cause you to waste alot of time.
One suggestion I can make for anyone starting out is to start with a detector that doesnt have all the "bells and whistles". Something like an ACE 250 or an Xterra 305 or 505 are good starting detectors for beginners. First, they are easy to learn and use and are good detectors with a large following which makes it easy to find someone to help you or to get advice. Finding a local club or group to go out with is also a big plus. You learn how to hunt. How to find areas to hunt and also can get help in learning your detector. I say you here, but mean a beginner. Once you have a good 50 hours at least and more using that first detector, then it can be a good time to think about one of the more advanced but not before. I had an ETrac...and it was more than I could use or liked. Just didnt "fit" me. My 705 is a perfect fit. And it looks like my AT pro is going to be a good fit also. And with my Excal II and Surf PI Pro, and I will have a detector for any situation.
My first detector almost 30 years ago was a Garrett Groundhog and it is still in my family. I gave it to my brother a couple of years ago. He uses it still and is quite happy with it.
I didnt get a different one after I got the Garrett for a good many years, got a Garrett Master Hunter and ended up getting one of each of the Master Hunter line until they ended the line, though the GTI 2500 is basically a continuation just under a new name, until I got a Minelab Sovereign XS. Loved that one and when I got my Excaliber it was like coming home. They are pretty much the same detectors other than layout and the excal being a water detector. I did own several Whites detectors but have to say that my favorites have usually been either a Garrett or a Minelab. Its been a long time and a long search to come down a "set" of detectors that I plan to keep. They suit me and though they might not be "top of the line", I am happy with them. Just waiting for my excal to get back from being repaired. Only thing I wish is that their repair service was faster.
So, was this long winded enough? <grin>
Yes
Many times over
On coins with my Xterra I average $500 per month
Lucky enough to have had a few $100+ days
jewellery (gold only) $1100 worth cashed in at scrap value - found in 18mths of hunting
(currently building up another stockpile) ...I keep the nicer rings and things as I dont want to sell them
Silver just keeps piling up - but what to do with it ?
Currently out of action for 2 months so this years average will be lower
Love my Xterra70
T59
Many times over
On coins with my Xterra I average $500 per month
Lucky enough to have had a few $100+ days
jewellery (gold only) $1100 worth cashed in at scrap value - found in 18mths of hunting
(currently building up another stockpile) ...I keep the nicer rings and things as I dont want to sell them
Silver just keeps piling up - but what to do with it ?
Currently out of action for 2 months so this years average will be lower
Love my Xterra70
T59
Some of you guys must really be lucky. I live in the least populated county in my state which also has the highest unemployment rate and when people don't have much, they don't have much to lose. Have only ever had one ten dollar day, though I have a friend who averages that much daily, but its a full time job with him and just an enjoyable hobby with me.
Thisoldgoldchaser
New member
Mtnmn said:
Yea, luck has something to do with it, but its also more than that. Its research, persistence and more research. You say that your area people dont have much so they dont lose much but you are incorrect. Regardless of where you are there are likely a hundred years or more of people losing things. You have to look in areas where people gathered since anytime people gather things WILL be lost. Find an old swimming hole. Even if folks were poor, they still had rings..a few coins and other valuables. Older coins are worth more than their face value. Jewelry back then was at least 14kt and higher I believe. Gold is at an all time high. Same with silver. You find that swimming hole or old picnic area or old school yard. Even in your state of high unemployment there are vacation areas where people go or went on vacation or just to party and have fun. So you go there with your detector. Do the research to find out where those areas were 50 or 100 years ago. It is fallacious thinking that you have to depend on the folks living now losing stuff for you to find valuable stuff. You have 100 or more years of folks losing stuff.
Research old newspapers, old books, old magazines. Talk to old timers in the area. Old bottles are worth money too. Old china. The things you can find in old dump sites. Friend of mine I was detecting with at an old homestead farm, looked in the cellar and found an old glass top mason jar. In almost new condition from what I remember. That is worth good money. I found some old glassware and a couple old bottles. By keeping my eyes open. I know of a spot in Colorado, if I had access to it, where I KNOW hundreds of old glass telephone and power insulators are buried. I also know a dumpsite where alot of old bottles were buried. On the same property. One of these days I hopefully will be able to get permission to dig those two spots, and if not, my sons will know the location. Time will only make them more valuable.
Its attitude, research, persistence. Dont believe for an instant that someone has to lose something today or just yesterday for you to find it tomorrow.
Good luck and happy detecting
I should have not used the word lucky, fortunate would have been much more appropriate. I have did everything you said and much more... If it's not there, its not there or else it is below the range of my detector or far more likely being masked by too much old iron or unwanted trash. In my area there were also 30 to 40 yrs. worth the detectorists who were ahead of me hitting many the same areas that I have hit and they did every bit as much research and exploring for new sites that I have done. I made it sound as though I'm only a weekend clad hunter hunter, but nothing could be further from the truth as my best find this year is a 1826 large cent. I just happen to enjoy doing all aspects of our great sport, rather than only limiting myself to just old coins and relics. Gold panning and bottle collecting are among my many other hobbies, imagine it is the same with you...
Thisoldgoldchaser
New member
Mtnmn said:
Sorry for thinking you were a newbie. Yea, you dont limit yourself to just one area or type of hunting. Bottle hunting is a great part of this hobby as well. A very enjoyable part.
Have you looked into <no pun intended> old outhouse sites? Digging into one doesnt make one the happiest until you start finding more than the expected. After 40 years or more its just dirt...hmmm....cant get away from the puns...<grin> and whatever may have fallen in <more> been dropped. <sigh> One old outhouse dig can be a moneymaker.
I know that the years of prior detectorists can and have hit spots hard. But there are always new spots to be found. Yea, the prior detectorists have done their research, but they havent found all the spots.
I said most of what I did in my other post simply to encourage. You sounded discouraged and I cant say that folks cant get that way if they go a while and not being able to find much of anything. Cant say it hasnt been that way with me sometimes. But then I find another aspect of the hobby that I can concentrate on, or find a spot that hasnt been cleaned out. Or I get "lucky"...and its ok to use that word.....heck, alot of the great finds are just that...combined with the other...parts..
Keep on looking...it will turn around. That large cent is a nice find.
One find I made while not the most valuable was certainly the most thought provoking..at least for me. Was hunting an old campsite on a creek that ran across my old farm. Got a solid tone. Dug it up and it was a musket ball..and had been bitten...while I was looking at it, glanced down in the hole and right where the ball had been there was an arrowhead. Now, if a find like that doesnt get your imagination working, nothing will.
I have imagined all kinds of scenes of what may have gone on for those two items to be together..or could have been just drops...but..ya just dont know. Of all my finds over the years..that has been the one that really made me think. Got my imagination working.digger1980
New member
I've had my x505 for about a little over a month now and it has already paid for itself just in clad! 
.....
then again, I was lucky enough to have only paid $260 for it
"It's great to have a hobby that pays for its self!" HH
.....then again, I was lucky enough to have only paid $260 for it
"It's great to have a hobby that pays for its self!" HH
Flintstone
Well-known member
I have a Xterra 50 and about ready to give it away. I can,t get it to do what i want. I got it cheep because it had a broken coil ear, but that was fixed with two plastic washers. I will let it go for 200.00. I have 5 detectors and just don,t give this one a chance i think. Flintstone
SeniorSeeker
Active member
Two seasons ago, I found enough to pay for my X-terra 70. Last season I did well with my Minelab Safari. This season I've purchased a new X-terra 505 and hope to do as well with it as I did with the other machines.
Had my 705 now for 18 months and it paid for itself inside 6 months,mostly with coins as i am the only detectorist
around here I pretty well have the run of the beaches and local parks,generally I count on $10 a day somedays its
more.I am now looking for a sovereign or similar as the 705 is not so good in the salt water,but it makes up for that
in parks etc.My biggest problem is I have to work not enough hours in the day to do both......
around here I pretty well have the run of the beaches and local parks,generally I count on $10 a day somedays its
more.I am now looking for a sovereign or similar as the 705 is not so good in the salt water,but it makes up for that
in parks etc.My biggest problem is I have to work not enough hours in the day to do both......
