Metal detectors - what do you use?

[fv1609]

What currently available metal detectors do people use? I have recently upgraded & regret my choice so I need to think again, so would appreciate opinions & experiences of others.

 

I’m not into battlefields. I just do my garden which is full of annoying bits of aluminium foil & my own fields which have bad clay chemistry with lots of little rusty bits of iron. But my main interest is beaches & estuaries. The value of what is found is not especially important. It is the excitment of grovelling in the muck to find even just one penny!

 

I started detecting in 1958 with a Mine Detector No.3. I had to buy the head from a surplus dealer & then identified the amplifier in a scrap yard. The 3 valves were missing & some wires cut, but as a 12-year old I felt pleased I had got it going myself.

 

I have built 2 machines. One was my own design & another was a kit. I also played around with a phase-locked loop design to try to get iron discrimination. But 25 years ago I bought a C-Scope VLF 1000 this was top of the range at the time. It has served me well but needed to be retuned a lot. I was impressed with someone I met on the beach using a Garrett Ace 150. I assumed technology had really moved on & purchased the next model up the 250.

 

It is a well made machine but to my mind has several draw backs.

 

Motion detection -I didn’t know what it was until I started using it. But it will only ping as you move it over an object. If you hold it there is no sound. Once it has pinged it is stuck for 5 seconds displaying the type of metal & the sensor is inactive during this period. Then when it has recovered you can swing over the object again. The ping is just a preset contact noise irrespective of the size of the find

 

There is a pin-point button, which allows a bar graph to show how to centre down on the object & the sound level varies as you focus down on the position. I like this feature, more how my old machine behaved. Trouble is that iron discrimination goes & you are then susceptible to all metals.

 

The Garrett has a system to select types of metal from iron up to silver & annoying metal types can be notched out to your requirements. Although if you take foil, pull tabs etc you will miss rings & most current coinage. But it seems any machine discrimination will behave like this no matter how fancy the presentation of the selecting system. My C-Scope had knobs rather than the buttons.

 

Discriminating against iron is pretty effective. The problem where it is large or rusty as you move any detector away from the centre of the iron, the perimeter of the iron area can present a signal suggestive of a “good” metal.

 

On the C-Scope you tune it just below the point where it starts to ring as you approach an object this increases in volume. Pinpointing with the moving coil meter is immediate with the needle going up. Set with iron discrimination, iron will cause the meter to deflect down & the slight background ping goes quiet.

 

Moving away from a large or rusty iron bit just at the perimeter of effect there is a simulation of a good metal kick up & pings just like a coin. But having just witnessed a low meter reading I can quickly identify what’s going on or easily scan back.

 

Trouble with the Garrett is that the ping is a predetermined sound irrespective of the size of the object. Assessment is slowed down because its operation is suspended for 5 seconds whilst it displays what metal it thinks it is. It might indicate a good metal by being on the perimeter of a large or rusty bit of iron. If I press the pin point button I can find the centre of the metal, but pressing this looses my discrimination.

 

I find the new machine encourages more rapid swinging of the detector head to get a motion ping & discrimination is slowed down by this 5 second delay on each contact.

 

Although technology has come on, it seems only to be the presentation of information that has changed. I much preferred the non-motion detecting where I could judge more accurately & quickly what my lies below.

 

So I’m looking for a current model that is non-motion detecting, has an easy to read meter or bar graph & can be set with variable iron discrimination. Any ideas please?

 

I've tried looking on various detecting sites, these have a lot of manufacturers hype & it is very difficult to make comparisons within a brand let alone different makes where similar features are often dressed up in different ways.

Edited May 2, 2009 by fv1609

[Mark]

What sort of price do these things fetch Clive, often thought of doing something like this for years.

[Jack]

I used have one years ago and had some great fun with it and it is something that I would like to pick up again one day when I have time.....

 

In the office I have a British army metal detector dated 1978!!!

[Bodge Deep]

I used to have a 44 dated british one in its crate with all its accessories and bits but could never the the thing to work ;(

[fv1609]

That's amazing. I just asked the mods to delete my posting as I thought it was perhaps a bit whingey & clearly of no interest to anyone else. Then you three appear!

 

My depression has been lifted as I have just returned from the coast with some jewelery & some cash. It was a case of trying to learn new techniques, the book suggests at least 100 hours is needed & dig up everything you find to learn what things sound like.

 

Well I did 2 hours & am sufficiently experienced to learn the sound of something large but deep versus small & near the surface, some partial digging can help with that assessment.

 

To start off choose something that has adjustable discrimination against iron. Something not too heavy - a box of tricks costing £2K (oh yes!) is no good if you have to give up with an aching arm after 10 minutes. Variable sensitivity, if it is too sensitive you can get awful conductivity in wet mud/sand.

 

Something that can use headphones. If you have a speaker people will follow you around, with headphones there is no interest for the public. Headphones cut out the sound of wind & sea, allowing subtle changes in tone, keep your ears warm, keeps your hat from blowing off & reduces the chances of silly questions. Your batteries will last longer too as powering a speaker against all the background noise is waste of power.

 

A good place to pick one up is a carboot sale. As many people think you can wave it around & you will find a crock of gold & they get bored with it.

 

From new you aren't going to get much of a machine below £50. It is a law of diminishing returns but above £150-200 I think you are just buying bells & whistles for the same basic detection principle.

 

Having a fancy heavy machine is fine for a crime scene or you are in collaboration with an archaeologist. But beaches which are my favourites are so vast, you can afford to move around with a less than perfect machine.

 

I choose beaches as there is no hastle about getting permission with contracts from owner, estates etc. I like the seaside & sand is so much easier to dig than compacted earth & stones, unless I suppose you work with a farmer after a field has been ploughed up.

 

PS The problem with mine detectors is that they are robust, therefore heavy. Of course they are designed to find iron etc! So you will be in difficulties looking for coins where the is iron around.

 

But you can get too clever with selectable filters, if you block out pull tabs you will miss 20p pieces & most rings!

Edited May 2, 2009 by fv1609

[Jack]

So come Clive - what did you find????

[Bodge Deep]

yes do tell...

[Mark]

And where ?

[fv1609]

Ok then but the jewelry is an ear ring & the cash of coins was just two 1p pieces. Not enough to cover the £1.60 parking charge!

 

Sorry if you're disappointed! But the coins were difficult to find. They were several feet apart, about 6 inches down & near ferro-concrete with the surface contaminated with bottle tops & pull rings.

 

The satisfaction in finding them is more than the monetary value! And it got me away from the computer & the Shorland's problem with the bleeding brakes (and I mean that most sincerely!)

 

The thing with "R" was from last week in Devon. At first I was very excited as I found that in 6 inches of mud on the D-Day training beaches in the estuary. What is that? is it oldish or just a modern car key fob thing?

 

Last weeks haul in coins was just below £5. Often the coins won't be accepted in shops, but the heavier denominations end up in parking meters that have no such difficulties.

 

[Mark]

I like it, just the excitement of MAYBE finding something

[fv1609]

I like it, just the excitement of MAYBE finding something

 

Yes it gives you hope, like the lottery or something. The trouble is people's perceptions of other people's activities. I understand that US troops are demoralised when they return home as the first question they get asked is how many people did they kill? When they say none the questioner glazes over & loses interest.

 

Not quite the same but with metal detecting people ask many Roman/gold coins/boxes of treasure have I found? When you tell them you spent 15 minutes identifying & unearthing an old 3d bit that had been lying for 30 + years near an ice cream hut built on ferro-concrete surrounded by heavily contaminated ground with a salt content with silver paper, pull tabs, bottle tops etc that has been missed by other enthusiasts repeatedly, they are not at all impressed!

 

When I used to do a lot of microwave radio. People would ask if I could speak to USA or Australia, when I said I was not interested in that sort of thing they thought it was extraoardinary. When 35 years ago for a while I held the longest distance record in Europe on the old 21Gc/s band ie a wavelength of 1.5cm using just a few microwatts they were impressed. When I said it was 7.25 miles they blanked over pretty quick.

 

But its all do to with personal satisfaction. When someone asks me about my MVs they are disappointed that I don't have a Sherman tank, which seems to be the publics expectation of a MV. Strange. If I had a mil bicycle that I restored it would give me more satisfaction than if I was given a Sherman tank that someone else had restored, well I think!

[abn deuce]

its all in the chase , searching never quite sure what you ll find , be it valuable or some odd trinket ...a lot like hitting the lottery never know what you will find . Thanks for sharing .

[fv1609]

What you find is fun, but I'm always left wondering what I have I missed?

 

I would love to see an in depth search done with a ground geophysics, CSI team etc. So in a few days I will go back over what I did today, by chance I may fill in gaps of my scanning. But I have a larger search coil which goes deeper & by definition covers a wider sweep, but of course it is heavier so I may have to go down to the normal head.

 

My Mine Detector No.3 had two heads a very large one with a rear boom & counterweight, the a small head for zooming in, now all that was heavy - especially for a 12-year old.

 

My heart sinks if I see another detector at work especially if it is a patch I wanted to do. I tend to either follow behind & pretend to find things that have been missed (& often they are) or go to a bad bit of beach & pretend to find things to draw their fire to free up the good patch! Sometimes I think where would a detector decide not to go? Then choose that area as it the chances of it being "done over" much are limited & may be better finds. But in reality the beach is a big place.

 

BTW I think I have only found 2 gold coins on the beach. So I can't be much good!

[Rick W]

I have 2 detectors, the first one was a Tesoro Laser many years ago. Its Ok, lightweight, fairly ok discrimination, but doesnt do well on ares with a high amount of slag. Being near a railway town some of the fields are covered in the stuff. The second I bought a few years ago, primarily because I was helping out with a detector survey of a roman marching station and I needed something better. That was a Minelab Explorer, I think version 2 is out now. Its not a cheap bit of kit, but I did get it as part of a deal with a bundle of kit which included 3 different search heads. It had the standard fitted 8"head, a deep seeking 12" head and a smaller 5" head. I almost always use the larger head for fields and the range goes down to approx 12" depending on the object. The small head is specifically for beaches, shallow water etc, I havent had chance to use that yet. Its got a digital display and a booklet the size of a bible. But speaking to our main man who helps us with detecting he just said to forget the book, turn sensitivity up a couple of notches and the discrim down a couple of notches. Bingo. The display also gives you an idea of the ferrous content, what the object is likely to be, ring pull, ring etc. It also gives you a depth for the object as well. As I said not a cheap bit of kit, but I wouldnt use anything else.

For the record one day alone out of one field we had 360 Roman coins, a handful of brooches and a gold Celtic stater.

[Jack]

For the record one day alone out of one field we had 360 Roman coins, a handful of brooches and a gold Celtic stater.

 

 

Wow Rick - what part of the country was that? When we lived near Cirencester my chum was always finding Roman coins but never that amount! The best find I have seen him find was a bronze age spear head - it was near enough as sharpe as the day it was made. The museum said that it looked like it was lost the first time it was thrown - I wonder what it was thrown at.

[fv1609]

Rick that is impressive. I would love to have a go with a Minelab Explorer although 'having a go' is probably no good. I'm sure you would agree it is the skill & experience of the operator with that particular machine that counts.

 

I see its about £1,200. The idea of using multiple frequencies seems very sensible & amazing to do it with 30 frequencies. I was intending to design & construct a machine using no more than 3 frequencies. What frequencies to use was going to depend on how various test frequencies responded with various objects & ground conditions.

 

Originally a metal detector or in the early days a "pipe finder" required a GPO licence as it was radio frequency transmitting apparatus. This responsibility then passed to the Home Office. I actually submitted the outline proposal to do multifrequency experiments & then to construct a machine. Detectors had to be of an approved design to be licensed.

 

I can't find the proposal but here is the reply.

 

 

I wasted a lot of time messing around with various set ups then gave up & bought a machine.

[Mark]

At least you tried Clive

[Rick W]

Wow Rick - what part of the country was that? When we lived near Cirencester my chum was always finding Roman coins but never that amount! The best find I have seen him find was a bronze age spear head - it was near enough as sharpe as the day it was made. The museum said that it looked like it was lost the first time it was thrown - I wonder what it was thrown at.

 

Its a roman marching town/posting station called Bannaventa, on the site which is now called Whilton Lodge a couple of miles north of Weedon, the A5/Watling Street cuts through it. Ive been looking at the samian pottery to see if we can identify it as an invasion fortress, if I can it will be a bit of a coup. We had one Claudian coin out of the whole lot, you only get Claudian coins on invasion sites. Added to that I have one piece of pottery out of 600 which also points to an invasion site. We need a lot more evidence than that though. The roman villa I work on lies a mile south of Weedon just off the A5, it was a metal detectorist who found that. We have been working on there for 10 odd years, last year this year before it gets covered back over again.

www.whitehallvilla.co.uk

[79x100]

Your reference to the early permits takes me back. I had a Pipe Finder licence for 'The Everyday Electronics Pipefinder' - built from plans published by them. It was all assembled around a glued plywood sandwich and mounted on a wooden broom handle ! I seem to remember the components costing about £5.

 

Truth to tell, it didn't function very well and was pretty well limited to finding cast iron manhole covers that I already knew were there.

[Jack]

Its a roman marching town/posting station called Bannaventa, on the site which is now called Whilton Lodge a couple of miles north of Weedon, the A5/Watling Street cuts through it. Ive been looking at the samian pottery to see if we can identify it as an invasion fortress, if I can it will be a bit of a coup. We had one Claudian coin out of the whole lot, you only get Claudian coins on invasion sites. Added to that I have one piece of pottery out of 600 which also points to an invasion site. We need a lot more evidence than that though. The roman villa I work on lies a mile south of Weedon just off the A5, it was a metal detectorist who found that. We have been working on there for 10 odd years, last year this year before it gets covered back over again.

www.whitehallvilla.co.uk

 

I knew a builder whilst we were farming near Cirencester who would very often un cover mosic floors whilst building extensions - he would say nothing, dig through and put the foundations and concrete in...................:sweat:

[Rick W]

Nnnooooooo!

[fv1609]

Better finds than the last time I went out with my detector.

 

Found this all in less than a minute.

 

9 coins - £3.22 in value

2 glass bits - value probably nil

 

[eddy8men]

glad you raised the post again clive as i have been toying with the idea of buying a modern mine detector from ebay for around a £100. i am looking to find large ferrous objects such as vehicle/aircraft engines, would it be able to detect something large at say 2m down ?

 

eddy

[fv1609]

glad you raised the post again clive as i have been toying with the idea of buying a modern mine detector from ebay for around a £100. i am looking to find large ferrous objects such as vehicle/aircraft engines, would it be able to detect something large at say 2m down ?

 

eddy

 

Probably not! You would need something like this:

 

http://www.imaginglocators.com/zond_index.html

 

I found that recent hoard with the most basic equipment!

[gritineye]

That's amazing. I just asked the mods to delete my posting as I thought it was perhaps a bit whingey & clearly of no interest to anyone else.

 

Well I think its all very interesting Clive, never been interested or thought of getting one before, but now I'm getting the bug, I will be checking them out at boot fairs now, usually see a couple.

 

Are terrier sized headphones available to save me all that digging?..........