Best Metal Detector for the Beginner
Hi everybody, this week I’m here to talk to you about buying your very first metal detector, this is a question I am asked often and there isn’t a straightforward answer, the new hobbyist always wants to know what is the best metal detector for the beginner or which machine should I buy?
What are you Detecting For?
The next question is what are you detecting for? If you’re looking for gold nuggets, you’re going to have to get a specialised metal detector that runs at a higher frequency if you’re looking for Artifacts and Relics or if you’re looking for Coins and Jewellry. These are things that you need to think about when you’re purchasing your first detector because different frequencies give you better depths for different sized targets and better responses to different types of metals.
EDGE-TEC
The next machine that I want to talk about is the EDGE-TEC you can see that this machine has a screen on it that gives you information, now, this type of screen gives you icons that represent different types of targets in the ground. It takes a little bit longer to learn how to use a machine like this but not that much longer, it does give you more information than the Lander XD50, I guess if you are a new hobbyist more information can be a good thing. This detector is priced at £149.
REFLEX G6
Now let’s look at the REFLEX G6 which gives you more information on the screen with the VDI numbers, these numbers represent what the target may be in the ground and can help you decide on when to dig, the numbers run from 0 up to 100. For example, if a target reads at around 0 this represents iron and so it is probably a rusty nail or horseshoe, and you probably don’t want to dig this type of object. A higher number, say 70, represents a good target as Silver is within this range, a number around 25 also indicates a good target as gold falls within this scale (see diagram). The Reflex G6 is priced at £199.99
TARGET ID EXAMPLE CHART
| Coin | Target ID |
| Merovingian Triens (gold, France) | 21 |
| Celtic Potin (copper+lead) | 27 |
| Russian Scale Peter I, 1705, Silver, 0.25 gr. | 34 – 36 |
| US Nickel | 34 – 36 |
| Roman Nummus (bronze) | 40 |
| 2 Euro Coin | 43 -47 |
| British 20p | 45 – 46 |
| USSR, 5 kopeek, 1961, Bronze, D 25 mm | 46 |
| Bulgarian 1 lev | 47 – 49 |
| 1 Euro Coin | 48 -56 |
| Medieval double sol coin (France) | 50 |
| British £1 | 57 – 62 |
| US Dime | 64 -66 |
| Polish Zloty (Pre-WWII) 2zl (1933 silver) | 75 – 76 |
| US Quarter | 74 – 77 |
| US Silver Dollar | 90 – 92 |
| Russian, 1 ruble Nikolay II,1896, Silver, D 34 mm | 97 – 98 |
Where will you Metal Detect?
Well, there are several metal detectors to choose from and we’re going to be looking at several machines, one of the main questions you want to ask yourself as you’re breaking into the hobby is where am I going to be metal detecting? Are you going to be metal detecting on a saltwater beach, are you going to be detecting on a freshwater beach, out in the woods, farm fields, where are you going to be detecting and why is that important? It is important because some metal detectors don’t work on wet saltwater beaches, they just can’t handle the high mineralisation and conductivity of the wet saltwater sand or the salt water itself. Other machines aren’t waterproof and really aren’t meant to be used in the water, while their coils may be waterproof if you get the Control Box wet you’ve ruined your metal detector, so there’s different questions to be asked.
LANDER XD50
Let’s look at some of the best metal detectors for you to think about buying as a brand-new hobbyist. The first one that you want to look at is called the LANDER XD50 it is basically a turn on and go metal detector, very simple to operate very light and it has a two year warranty. Priced at £99.99 it is an affordable detector with surprisingly good performance in this price range. No learning curve at all you turn it on, you start detecting, you can discriminate which means that you if you don’t want to hear iron targets you can tune it out so that you don’t hear ferrous objects, then, if you don’t want to hear Aluminium, bottle tops or pull tabs you turn the discrimination up a bit more so you only hear non-ferrous targets making it very easy to use and also very affordable at just under a £100.
EDGE-TEC PRO
The next machine we want to look at is the EDGE-TEC PRO one of our popular beginners metal detectors, again it gives you a lot of information on the screen the controls are very easy to use there’s almost no learning curve with these three machines. The Edge-Tec Pro has a good quality search coil which covers a large area when sweeping the ground. It can detect in all ground conditions including salty wet beach sand. All these different machines that we’ve looked at so far you can expect to get about 8 to 9 inches of detection depth on most small targets.
EDGE-POWER
The last machine that I want to look at is the EDGE-POWER now this machine is more expensive and more advanced, however it is a great machine for the beginner metal detectorist as it is easy to use. The default settings are set so you can turn it on and start detecting. It is a fast metal detector, deep searching and gives you more programming capabilities. You can get started straight away so that even if you’re new you can start finding treasure with it right away. Once you are familiar with the controls it has the capability to ‘Notch’ out those unwanted targets such as ring-pull tabs and bottle tops which can be important when detecting in areas such as beaches and parks. It gives you the ability to program your own custom programs so that you can discriminate out certain materials and keep others. This detector is priced at £227.00
All these machines are great for the beginner metal detectorist and machines that you should seek out and learn more about. So that’s it for best metal detector for beginners, these are the ones I recommend and think you should check out. Thank you for reading this article and please check back next week for more tutorials and blog posts. For information about metal detecting code of practice please visit https://detectorists.org.uk/ – Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like more information on any of the above machines. Tim – 07398 532 708 tim@uk-metal-detectors.co.uk