[undermound]

Hi everyone.

I am new to this hobby or should I say almost new. I have joined the group but dont have a detector....yet. This might seem odd but I thought I would ask around a little before investing in a detector. I live in Cape Town and intend hunting beaches as well as some further inland areas around town. This being said I had my eyes on a Garrett 250 sport pack, and although it is a lot of money ( for me ) I feel that investing too little might create more frustration than rewards and the cheap detector would end up being a wall decoration in my garage. The treasure seeker 6 is less than half the price but ??
Is this a good choice machine for my intentions - beach and rural hunting and easy enough for a total newcomer to manage? The coils are waterproof right? Secondly is it legal to hunt historical places that are open to the public? Obviously I dont intend digging holes all over the lawns of the Castle or Company Gardens, but those more obscure historical places that might be out and about in the mountains around town?

Any advice hugely appreciated

[Grondgeralder]

Did a quick snoop on the web. The coil is waterproof but it's not a recommended detector for salt water. It should do fine in DRY beach sand though.

It's a tough one. Perhaps buy one detector for the one type of terrain and then the other later or buy something that can handle both.  There are some PI buffs onboard.

If I lived in the Cape I'd be sure to invest in a good beach machine or a machine that can handle all terrains but the beaches is not all there is to the cape. I'd probably go insane trying to make up my mind. Good luck and welcome to the forums. For inland discrimination is a good idea and the ace would do fine. There are tons more trash and iron and iron minneral inland.

[Darrenjay]

I have the ace 250 and its a great and easy to use machine. It works amazing on dry beach sand i find, but does false a bit on wet sand. Invest what you can on a good machine, you wont regret it

[Louis Kriedemann]

I have recently met and spoken to a number of people on the beaches with Ace 250's and they are pretty happy with their machines. As Darrenjay says, in the wet they do false a bit but turning down the sensitivity will help for this albeit you will lose a bit of depth. Do shop around first. I have seen sportpacks advertised for almost 5 grand and others for almost half that.

Where or when ever you would like to hunt private property/land, get permission from the owner/landlord/authority first

[DoubleDB]

Honestly, with all the research I've done, the Garrett ACE250 is probably the best all round beginner machine. It's not complicated to use, has a water proof coil (coil'S if you go with the sports pack plus the extra goodies) and has enough ability to get you finding stuff straight out the box. The downside is that it's simplicity shoots it in the foot in certain conditions and although it works well enough on a dry beach, it's not so hot in the wet and it's fixed ground balance can frustrate users from time to time. But certainly not a bad option to begin with.

I decided to start out on the Minelab X-Terra 705, was a bit of a stretch for me in terms of cost, but I'm one of those that would take the knock and buy the better machine from the word go, rather than complain down the road that I should have. The 705 has all the abilities I could possibly want as a beginner, just download the manual and you'll get the picture. The ACE250 was R4950 and the Minelab X-Terra 305 is also on special at R4950 - so for me, to stretch another R4000 to have top of the adventure range was worth the wait and the money by getting the 705.

Now the X-Terra 305 is the smallest in the range and is in the same price bracket as the ACE250 sports pack, but doesn't come with all the goodies. However, the 305 HAS manual ground balance which really changes the game. Also, by changing between at least three available stock coils (excluding coiltek products which also work), you change the frequency of the coil, giving you great flexibility in the targets you are after, another game changer. It has 2 customizable pre-set discrimination patterns + All Metal mode as well. It lets you select the quietest channels, threshold volume and the amount of tones you want to hear to help you identify targets.

If you put on the 6" 18.75Khz coil (About R1650.00) on an X-Terra 305, you have the very best beginner detector out there in my humble opinion. I used my Wife's 305 with the 6" coil for a while and didn't want to give it back - lol. Super light too.

So in my opinion, the ACE250 Sports Pack or the X-Terra 305 are your choices. But honestly, I feel that the 305 is technologically - the better machine.

DDB

[Grondgeralder]

I got myself the eurotek pro for R3500 from metal detectors 4 africa.

I don't think they have stock anymore but you could find out. It does not have bells and whistles but it's got enough for you to work around most trash objects once you get to know it.
It's doing awesome for me this far and I don't even have the DD coil on it.

Still looking btw.. so if anyone knows where I can get one locally let me know. Otherwise I'll get a SEF coil from kellyco.

[undermound]

Thanks for the help, time and effort put into all the replies so far. I am looking more and more forward to getting going with whatever choice I might make.

[Allen]

Hi,

I have just gone through the same process.......

Settled on the Garret Euro Ace (ACE 350) It is the same price as the ACE 250 Sports Pack.(Doculam)
Couriered down from Durban on Friday so will take delivery tomorrow morning !

Looking forward to my new toy and will give feedback after a few digs.

[Peter Callahan]

Hello all..What do you know..I'm in the same boat as undermound and oldsalty..hehe...looks like we have quite a few newbies here...I should get my Ace 250 this week and then off I go..cant wait...cya

[Darrenjay]

Doculam are very good, ordered a few things from there. Best of luck with your new machine

[bottletopking]

Ducolam are good. The Ace 250 is a great machine from what I have experienced so far. The dry sand it does not miss a thing and the pinpoint function is great! Buy yourself a plastic spade to help you out.... Wet sand needs some setting up to be able to avoid the machine giving constant alerts. But take the time to experiment with it in the wet and you will find the settings that work for wet sand. The sportspack is great because of the extra coil bag and earphones. Good luck and welcome! I think the most important thing is go out there and swing that coil....

[James Kraft]

Morning Hunters

I had a look at the Ace 250 and the Xterra 305 as entry level machines. At the end of the day I opted for the Xterra 305. It is light weight and as stated earlier comes with manual ground balancing. Still working out the detection signals but is quite simplistic in use. I would recommend the 305 for someone who does not want to spend an arm and a leg. Have not gone for a different coil as yet but seriously considder it for future application.

[Peter Callahan]

You guys are now really making me confused!!!!

[Andrew]

Due to a tight finances I got a Treasure Seeker Pro (6)
I got it about a year or so ago.
It has all the bells and whistles like setting descrimination and has a display
showing depth, what it could be (Bottlecap, screw, etc).
I have found a lot of trash like nails, screws, bottle caps, wire and the that damn square blue foils (Escpecially at Blouberg Beach)
I am sitting on R96 in change with a few old SA coins from the 1960.
The deepest item I have found was about 10cm deep and was a spent 9mm cartidge.
But I agree, it sucks in wet beach sand due to a lot of false readings, but You get used to the noises it makes.
So I think for a cheap machine it holds its own.
Its a good starter detector.

[Skipper]

There is a Minelab Quatro for sale on the site, these are good machines, its not a bad price for a beginner and is a lot more advanced than the cheaper entry level units.