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Metal Detectors????

Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 10:11 am
by wvjohn
kids want to buy one to find buried treasure at the beach...anybody know anything about them???

TIA

Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 7:04 pm
by Shadow250
they detect metal. and you get better range with a better quality detecter. my neighbor found a 1500 diamond ring with one about 8 inches down. i borrowed it and found an old fish hook some nuts and bolts and a penny, 1986. thats all the info i got. hope it helps

Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 8:51 pm
by ZYFER
as Shadow250 said, pretty much all they do, nothing harmful to kids or anything unless they smack each other with it...

Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 5:10 pm
by wvjohn
thanks gang

Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 5:31 pm
by eGoCeNTRoNiX
I've always wanted one and think it would be a blast, but I'm the kind of person that after I found my first piece of "treasure" I'd be out there day after day lol..

eGo

Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 10:32 pm
by Pugsley
Sadly... many people end up that way. But most of them stay in shape due to the activity involved in scanning... but then you look like a weirdo on the beach. So they have the ups and downs. Its not anything too complicated. with some time and a bit of research you can build your own. all it is is a loop of wires and some electronics.

Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 11:10 am
by canton_kid
They are either great, best thing you ever bought, or the biggest waste of money you ever spent.

Some of the really cheap ones won't find much more than old pull tabs from old style soda cans or a nickle in the grass above ground.
Some of the more expensive ones will find a gold nugget in the AZ desert fairly deep, if it's there. Some even under water.

There are models in between in the wide price range, better brands and worse ones.

Kids are strange, they may really get into it and have lots of fun with one rather they find good stuff or not, or they may find a $100 treasure and never look at it again, loose it in a closet somewhere. The metal detector I mean lost, not the treasure.

Scooby had a decent one around here somewhere, I think the new wore off it in about a week or so, I haven't seen it since. I geuss she still has it somewhere.

If you think the kids will use it for awhile get a decent one for them. Or if you want to use it too :)
$20 ones used to be basically junk (radio shack YUK), getting into the range of $50-$100 was alot better quality. Able to filter out some junk like tin foil and maybe bottle caps. The ones with the meters and dials to adjust for ground conditions are nice too. Something about diffent types of soils and moisture etc.. that can cause false alarms or let you pass right over good stuff.
Do a bit of reading up like some online site for treasure seekers or gold prospecting about them. It'll give you alot better idea what to look for and ways to judge the quality of them.