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Post by Russ Koon on May 14, 2011 9:32:01 GMT -5
My old and extremely cheap and basic metal detector finally bit the dust.
Thinking about replacing it with one a little more capable, but still low priced. Not really into making it a whole new hobby, just would like to get something for occasional use that's more capable than the old one was. It was a kid's very basic one, but did find lost arrows in the grass very well when I was using aluminums, and would still find carbons if I centered it up on the point end and it wasn't buried, just hidden by grass. In other words, it wasn't as powerful as any REAL metal detector, but was still just barely useful for my purposes.
Checking around on the net, found the White models at around $150 at WalMart.com to be likely looking prospects and the reviews looked pretty good for all except their most basic cheaper model.
Any experiences or anyone with a used one in that level of capability they'd like to sell?
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Post by kevin1 on May 14, 2011 14:16:47 GMT -5
The Bounty Hunter brand makes two serviceable models in the $49-99 range, I have the $99 one that I mostly use for recovering spent brass in my backyard. I've had it for about ten years, and it's still going strong, bought it at Wally World. It's simple to ground balance, and it's discriminator circuitry weeds out most of the trash other than aluminum. Sensitivity is good, penetration is rated to 10" under normal conditions.
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Post by whiteoak on May 14, 2011 16:29:02 GMT -5
I have a Tesoro detector . It is an older one I bought used on Ebay. It works fine. I'm not sure what it's capable of doing for sure.
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Post by Russ Koon on May 14, 2011 21:03:29 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies, guys.
Kevin, ggod catch! I had somehow skipped over the Bounty Hunter brand, and not checked them out. Turns out they seemed to have just the one for my needs, according to the specs and the reviews I could find. The Handy Man model seems to be just a step above my previous one in power and very simple and low cost. I also like the telescoping shaft, should be handier to tote. About the only thing it doesn't have that I might want would be a headphone jack, as sometimes the internal speaker on my old one wasn't loud enough to overcome much background noise, but I doubt that will interfere much with most of my uses.
Looks to have about three fourths of the detecting power for just about half the money of their next one up the ladder.
And it's made in the USA!
I went ahead and ordered it. At $63, I don't think I'd find a better buy.
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Post by kevin1 on May 15, 2011 13:49:12 GMT -5
You're welcome Russ, though I find it odd that yours doesn't have a jack, the Treasure Hunter model I have has one. No matter, the onboard speaker is plenty loud enough for me too. Happy hunting!
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Post by Russ Koon on May 18, 2011 18:10:43 GMT -5
The detector came today. Very satisfied so far. Definitely much more sensitive than my old one was, and extremely simple to operate.
It's definitely a basic model, not one that would be even a beginner level one for someone who wants to get started on the hobby, but it should be just the ticket for my uses, finding lost arrows in the short grass, and occasionally something metal that I've dropped.
I checked it out on finding my arrows immediately. Easily picked up on the point of my carbons, even when I jabbed one into the dirt so the point was buried an inch or better, and I was waving the detector two or three inches above ground level.
Turns out the headphones would have been totally unneeded. This unit has a much louder beeper than my old one, and it would take some pretty extreme background noise to keep it from being noticed.
For $63, with free shipping, I'm happy as a clam.
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