UK METAL DETECTING

greybeard · Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 10 Location: United Kingdom Ketn

Hi all,,,, am a total novice to detecting,,, but was watching the time team program and was wondering what was the machine that the younger guy was using Question

It looked to be quite light from what I could see,,,, he was throwing it around as though it was a feather,,,,and looked to be a small search coil Question

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I live in Kent,,, and am looking to get involved with this hobby,,, and initial thoughts are to perhaps to use a detector on the beach,,, with forays inland if I can get permission.

Any and all information would be gratefully received,,, budget is around 300, give or take a little.

Can make just about everything else Rolling Eyes

, an inveterate fiddler Very Happy

john · Joined: 07 Jan 2008 Posts: 74 Location: york

new to detecting myself having looked at loads of detectors in magazines i think it could have been a c scope

greybeard · Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 10 Location: United Kingdom Ketn

Hi John,,,Done the magazines bit,,, also spent hours on the internet, looking at write ups , test reports, etc, etc, the end result more confused than ever,,

Perhaps some kind soul will take pity,, with a suggestion for something that will be fair for beach, and field, without breaking the bank Rolling Eyes

smalleygardens · Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 36

Hello John I would say to you , get a secound hand machine
I have bought two since I have been detecting. A minelab explorer xs
and a fisher 1236 x2 both these are reportedly good for both beach and inland allthough the minelab is heavy I haven't done beaches yet but both work well inland .... Its very hard to reccomend anything in this hobby as someone else will say what they use is best ..... remember the
most inmportant requirement in making finds whether its a ringpull or a Roman broach is that you have to go over it with your machine (whatever that may be) in the first place.... keep looking at the magazines and listen to advice, you will eventualy swing (forgive the pun) for something ..... and then that when the fun starts... you have to learn your machine, through trial and error and thats going out there detecting ... Join a club if you can....my choice
is a simple and easy set up machine the 1236 x2 is such and works for me .... but then I am no Expert ... happy hunting and the best of luck Mark.

gordon · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 19

I believe that one of the detectors used was a Laser and the other a Tesoro.
A couple of years ago there was a series of six semi-documentaries about spectacular metal detecting finds and five of the six treasures were found with either Laser or Tesoro models.
Although some people reject these models out of hand they do regularly come up with the 'goodies', unlike a lot of over hyped models which fail miserably when taken out of the showroom.

gordon

UK Brian · Joined: 08 May 2007 Posts: 431 Location: Wales

The Fisher 1236X2 has really dropped in price since Bounty Hunter took the company over and their distributer is at Biggin Hill so not far away.
£299 now so just under your budget. This is supposed to just include batteries but I would push for a set of headphones or similar. They can only say no.
Most single frequency machines are not to good on the wet beach but the Fisher is better than most.

One thing to watch with Joan Allen is that you get what you want. I keep hearing from people who have gone in for one model and ended up with something totally different that often doesn't suit them or their area.

the wigan muskateer · Joined: 12 Oct 2007 Posts: 126 Location: lancashire/ wigan/

Jamie · Joined: 07 Nov 2007 Posts: 64 Location: Kent

smalleygardens · Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 36

yeh I was going to put that in with my last message
gloryhunt but couldn't remember their name ...
he came to our club to tell us about his buisness. and a free search on his land cant sniff at that....
I will also agree with the message about joan allen I got something very different to what I went in for check out ebay for detectors the 1236 x2
can be bought for less than in the shops and I also saw one from America that was far less than your budget and that was brand new
with phones and they would send to the uk ..but ofcalse you will have to wait... regards Mark.

greybeard · Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 10 Location: United Kingdom Ketn

Thank you all for taking the time to post your interest and advice, will be out this weekend to have a look at some machines, fingers crossed might even get one Rolling Eyes

Bill.