Treasure Hunter / Metal Detector

[grannyoldr]

Hello,

 

Does anyone else use a Treasure Hunter on their benchmarking trips, and what type do you use? We are seriously considering getting one - we want one that does the job but isn't going to cost us a whole lot of money. Right now I'm searching and only coming up with metal detectors from anywhere from $80 to over $3000.

 

Thanks-

 

Rachel

[+Black Dog Trackers]

grannyoldr -

 

If you put "metal detector" in the search function at the top of the the Benchmark Hunting Forum's page and select "any data", you will find a lot of interesting articles about using metal detectors for benchmark hunting.

 

I'm no expert at metal detectors, but I do know that there is a huge range of prices and features. Discrimination features are geared toward finding silver and gold. There is apparently no good discrimination feature for Brass and Bronze that isn't also going to react to Aluminum. (Aluminum is the bane of metal detecting.)

 

I strongly suggest buying a cheapie version for benchmark hunting. You need as a minimum the adjustment for ground electrical effect (whatever the metal detector lingo is) and a headphone socket so that the entire neighborhood isn't alarmed by the noises the thing makes.

[a/r/sf/ret]

At present I use a Whites MXT, with headphones and a probe. I must agree with BDT however, mine is high priced. Stick with something less expensive. Check out Kellyco. They offer a wide range of all models on the market and the best deals around if you really are serious.

[mloser]

I just got a real cheapie Saturday-- a National Geographic metal detector from Ebay. It is a kid's detector and obviously is less sensitive than the hobbyist ones. However, it is so small I can easily put it in my backpack, which is key for me, because I don't want to trapse around holding a huge detector. I got it for $25 plus shipping.

If it is successful I will let

you all know.

[+ddnutzy]

I use a White's Classic 3 metal detector that is kind of expensive. Without it I wouldn't have found quite a few of the more interesting bm's I've found. Bounty Hunter has a nice one for a little over a hundred dollars that has a discriminating feature that is handy. If you turn it up it does get rid of most of the trash signals. I've found bm's as far down as 18 inches with with my Whites and I think that the Bounty Hunter might be almost as good.

[+maconart]

I picked up a hand-held "Ranger" Wand on ebay like what Security uses for about $35.00. I have tossed it in my benchmarking bag along with the foldup shovels, stiff brush, etc. It has come in handy on a few occasions. But if you need to cover a wide area it can be a pain to bend over that long while checking. I have found marks under gravel, dirt, and grass to about 6 inches deep. It is nice to have along.

[Bill93]

My detector is a middle model of the Radio Shack line that I picked up at a garage sale. It is very adequate for finding a disk under a few inches of dirt, and easy on batteries. I use the old batteries that no longer operate the GPS and it just goes and goes.

 

Whatever you get make sure the audio has some variable characteristic like pitch or volume as you sweep past an object, not just a two-state tone-no tone indication. There is a lot to be learned from more subtle changes in the signal.

 

The main reason for headphones is so you can hear the detector clearly when it is windy or near traffic.

[+dzrtgrls]

We searched for our first benchmark last weekend on the way to visit with family. The recent rains had caused the weeds and bushes to grow larger than usual so the ground was not visible. I came up with the whacky idea to come back with our metal detectors (White’s DFX & MXT) to find it. Now I find out that this is common. Good to know. We’re looking forward to swinging the detectors soon in search for our first benchmark.

 

Dzrtgrls

[+bicknell]

I asked over on the GoMetalDetecting.com forum, and also at metaldetecting.com (a store). I described what we're looking for (benchmark disks, often set in concrete, and sometimes metal rods), that we were "new" to metal detecting so we wanted something easy to use, and that having it display the estimated depth of the object was a useful feature. Both recomended several models, but the one in commong was the Garrett ACE 250. Here's a link to the product on metaldetector.com.

 

Streets around $200, displays depth of the object, and for what we want I'm told it should be pretty much plug and play. Compared to finding coins and the like I gather a benchmark disk isn't considered much of a challenge to the metal detector crowd. This is the cheapest one that shows depth, you can go down to around $99 for a simple one with the right settings if you don't care about depth. I'm told this one should be able to find benchmarks up to 15-18" deep in most soil conditions.

 

Not sure if that's the model we're going to get or not, but it sure does get rave reviews everywhere, seems it's a new model that brought a number of higher end features into a lower price point.