Among the outdoor activities, metal detection is a very professional activity. Since metal detection involves a lot of money, many hobbyists do not want to buy expensive metal detectors. Yet many metal detectors are available in the current market for beginners in an affordable price range if you are wondering how to choose a metal detector.
And considering that price and quality, how to buy a metal detector, today we are going to discuss. Of the thousands of metal detectors available in the market, which one is the most suitable for you?
Also, where you will do metal detection, what kind of metal is your primary target. These are also very important when buying a metal detector. But you have no reason to be disappointed; our expert team has created the content of this article in such a way that the whole thing becomes as easy as water for you.
Hopefully, after reading the Metal Detector Buying Guide on how to choose a metal detector you will definitely be able to purchase an excellent and good quality Metal Detector for yourself.
First of all, you should have an idea about some of the basic features of metal detectors and their functions.
How to choose a metal detector: things to consider
Basic Feature of Metal Detectors
Before buying a metal detector, you need to know what kind of features a metal detector has and which of them is most important to you. This brief feature overview will give you a basic idea of how a metal detector works and what kind of features it has.
Discrimination
A feature called discrimination is very important for a metal detector. With this feature, a metal detector can differentiate between different metals. In other words, with this feature, you can understand exactly what kind of metal is in front of the search coil of your Metal Hunter? Is that metal expensive or is it just ordinary junk like bottle caps or beverage cans?
To comprehend, this discrimination can save you a lot of time. You don’t have to dig out the object in front of the search coil unnecessarily. You will get all the information about the object without digging and if you need to dig or avoid and continue your metal hunting.
But especially when you are going to detect any metal of gold or relic type with the best metal detector for gold, it is better not to use this discrimination. You should dig out the metal to dispel any doubts. Because gold, no matter how small, is a very expensive thing.
Ground balance
First of all, do not know why ground balance is needed? This is because no matter where we go to detect metal, there is a small amount of metal in the soil. Most of the time there is an amount of iron in the ground, so the search coil can also give a signal to find the metal in the ground.
And so your metal detector will need a feature that can give you a signal to any metal object ignoring this iron. This is exactly where ground balance is needed. If you have a good quality ground balance in your metal detector then you can do metal hunting with great ease.
Several types of ground balances can be seen in a metal detector. First of all automatic ground balance! You do not have to change any settings with this ground balance. Best metal detectors for beginners have this feature.
Second, Preset Ground Balance: This ground balance provides separate presets for several types of ground. On that type of ground, you need to use a specific preset.
Thirdly, manual ground balance: In this method, you have to do manual ground balance on any type of ground according to your experience. Usually, those who have metal detectors from mid-level to professional level set their own ground balance. However, since beginners do not have much experience with different types of ground, this feature is not for them. But yes! Beginners can use this feature for learning.
Finally, Multiple Ground Balance: Metal detectors with this type of feature can have all the options of manual and preset or automatic ground balance. Hunters then use automatic or manual ground balances to suit their needs.
Target Identification
The target ID will display just below your VDI number. Suppose your machine has an ID number 18 for a nickel. So whenever this metal comes in front of the search coil of your machine, the number 18 will appear there.
And nickel if written just below it. Now you can understand how beautiful and smooth your metal hunting can be. Even if you are a beginner, you can easily see by looking at this ID number what kind of metal is in front of your search coil!
Selectable Tone Identification – When you use this machine on your own for a while, you will understand what really happened just by looking at the tone signal without looking at the screen!
There are also some pi metal detectors to detect metal using a single coil to receive and transmit, thought they are not quite amazing in regarding performance!
Search Modes
Some machine has a number of search modes that can make your metal hunting much easier. Let’s take a look at those search modes.
All Meter: Use this mode when you want to detect any type of metal.
Coins and Jewelry: This mode is much more user friendly, allowing you to easily detect any type of jewelry or coin type.
Beach: You can detect metal in any type of wet sand through this mode. You don’t have to be scared, especially with water. Because this machine is already waterproof.
Relic: This mode plays a very effective role in finding any type of Relic.
There is also a prospecting mood in the metal detector, through which you can detect gold in a very nice way. Even a complex task like Gold Prospecting can be done with these types of machines with great ease. There are also pinpoint moods and high trash moods that can make your metal detecting experience much more beautiful.
The most interesting thing is that you need to know when to use one of these modes. It is also a great experience to detect metal with a nice combination of these modes with other functions.
And if you are a beginner and have purchased any best metal detector, you can also do metal hunting through these modes if you want, without looking at other functions.
Frequency Control
It may be that some of you are hunting in an area together. And then your machine may give the wrong signal because of the frequency of other machines. Then with this feature, you can do metal hunting there very easily if you want.
You will have complete control over the frequency of the machine. You can change the frequency if you want to solve your work. You don’t even have to face any problems because of other people’s machines.
Depth Indicator
Many types of machines have been used by me and my expert team for a long time. The problem we have noticed in almost all the machines is that the metal cannot accurately display the information just below the ground.
As can be seen, the machine is actually saying that it is deeper or higher than the ground. Many have to deal with such a confusing situation during metal hunting.
However, I hope that the depth indicator of your machine will not put you in this kind of problem. Like many other features of a metal detector, this feature should have provided a lot of accurate information.
Salt-tracking
This feature of the machine is very nice and remarkable. This is what I have to say in today’s article. You can use this feature very well in any river or tidal water. Interference can handle the machine very nicely due to any kind of chatter, static or salt content.
Self-Adjusting Threshold (SAT)
This setting merely affects the All Metallic, Relic and Prospecting modes, so you’ll solitary realize it as a choice when you’re using this machine with one of those modes. It marks these modes needed gestures to spot metal aims, and it’s a bit complex to utilize, so check the guidebook for this one, also.
Voltage-Controlled Oscillator (VCO)
VCO this feature will make your machine’s beep pitch higher when the search coil of your machine moves much closer to the metal.
In other words, the closer the search coil gets to the metal, the higher the pitch will be. It’s a nice feature. This way you can easily understand exactly how close the metal is to your search coil.
Iron Grunt
Likewise, solitary works in the All Metal modes itemized overhead. The robust sound clatter allocated to strong iron indications merely makes it noticeable when an objective is an iron. This works precisely likewise to the Iron Audial, so if you like it on that engine, you’ll like it now.
How to Choose a Metal Detector for Gold, Relics or jewelry
Much depends on the type of metal you want to detect. Especially if you want to detect gold or gold prospect, then you have to buy a kind of metal detector. Again, if you want to detect relics or jewelry, then a different type of machine is suitable for you.
Even if you buy an all-purpose metal detector, it will be a great thing for you. You will find several of these types of metal detectors in the current market at affordable prices. In these cases, fisher f22 metal detector can be a great choice for you.
Whether you are a beginner level or a pro-level, an excellent quality gold detector for gold prospecting can be of great benefit to you.
Again if you want to find a very small type of gold nugget, you need to buy a metal detector that runs on very high frequencies. Low-frequency metal detectors cannot express such sensitivity to small metals.
BEST FOR– COINS, water, relic, beach i.e. treasure hunter!
There is the best metal detector called the White MX Sport, this metal detector has the potential to deliver outstanding performance in treasure hunting. This machine was first introduced in the market at the beginning of 2016; this detector attracted the attention of many at a very early stage.
Since then, the machine has never stopped, even as one of the best professional metal hunters in the current market, this metal hunter still has a place in the list of favorites.
Usually, those who have just set foot in this world called Metal Hunting, i.e. newbie, cannot afford to buy this White MX Sport. Rather those who are experienced go to buy this machine because they can fully understand the capabilities of this machine.
Another reason is the high price of this machine! No newbie would ever want to buy a machine at such a high price. Also, the operation of this machine is relatively complex. However, it may not be right to use only the word complex, should be said that it has many kinds of functions. You need to have a little bit of detailed knowledge as a Metal Hunter to use those functions and features.
Although it has been almost four years since this machine came on the market, it can be said that there are very few updated machines like this one in the current market. Its excellent design, structure, and all the feature-rich functions have taken this metal detector to a remarkable level.
Metal Detectors for the Beachor underwater
Imagine for a second you were transposed into the karmic-driven world of Earl. If you are going to detect metal in saltwater, you must find a metal detector that has the capacity to ignore high minerals.
But you don’t have to look much; there are the best saltwater metal detectors on the market today. A good quality company like Garrett metal detectors or Fisher Lab can make your metal detector purchase much easier.
Also if you go for metal detecting on the beach, you must make sure that your machine has good ground balance. Wet sand usually contains a lot more minerals, which we were saying a little while ago. Also on the beach, if you want to do metal hunting in shallow water to stay a little ahead of the others then you must make sure whether your metal detector is water-resistant or not!
There are some types of metal detectors that only have search coil waterproof; they are not very effective on the beach. These are quite useful in calm water. However, as the seawater is turbulent, at any time the sea waves can come and wet your metal hunter.
Garrett at Pro and Garrett at Gold are two metal detectors that have the capacity to hunt metal under ten feet of water. These metal detectors are quite effective on the beach. Note that not only the coils of these two metal detectors are waterproof but also the control box is waterproof.
But yes! You can’t dive underwater with these. If your purpose is metal detecting by diving underwater, then you must purchase the best underwater metal detector of good quality.
Consider depth when purchasing this type of metal detector. Depending on how deep you are going to dive under the water, you must purchase a metal detector with that capacity.
How to Choose a Metal Detector Based on Experience
If you have never done a metal detector before, there is no problem if you buy a beginner metal detector. Yes! It is true that you need to know many details about metal detecting, but you need to know them to be a professional.
As a beginner, you don’t need to know much to start metal detecting. A good company always has a manual with quality machines, which can help you a lot with the subject of metal detecting.
Beginner’s metal detectors are also designed so that you don’t have to take much time to get started. There is no need to understand a lot, just a few settings, understanding the buttons will make you ready for metal detecting.
In all these cases, the various automatic features of the metal detector can help you a lot. You do not need to be a master to fix everything manually, especially in the early stages.
Later on, when you become a beginner, you will learn a lot about the various features of a metal detector. As well as you will learn more about the practical use of those features, then you are ready to go to the next step.
Keep in mind, however, that you do not yet have the experience to do professional metal detection. For this, you will now need a good-quality mid-level metal detector. There is an excellent company called Garrett which has some excellent metal detectors in several products such as Garrett At Pro, Garrett ACE200, etc.
Fisher Labs also has a number of metal detectors that can help you grow and enrich your experience at mid-level.
Another thing you need to consider when you are ready to go to the professional level is the price of the product. A full-professional metal detector costs a lot more. And you should only buy an expensive metal detector if you are absolutely sure that you are doing metal detecting at a professional level.
Anyway, if you have any price problems, then there are lots of the best Chinese metal detectors available in the marketplace with an affordable price range!
Pick the best and reliable brand
The current metal detecting market is filled with thousands of metal detectors. And it is never possible to emphasize that all of these are good. And so we must choose the best of the good and bad metal detectors. But how do we know the best metal detector?
The simple answer is that with a good quality brand we can initially understand whether a metal detector is good or bad. Because we will never be able to verify the value of a metal detector with the features at all.
In fact, through the features, we can understand whether this metal detector can serve my purpose or not! This means that you do not need to purchase a diving metal detector when you are looking for a metal detector for gold hunting.
Again if you want to do metal hunting on the beach then your ground balance becomes a very important issue. And so you understand, in the initial stage, we will choose a company or brand whose brand value in the current market is very high.
To verify this we must see if the company has a long history with metal detection. For example, in the case of Fisher Lab, the company created the first metal detector in the history of the world.
But does that mean other companies or new companies are bad? Not at all. To verify this you must read consumer comments and customer ratings and reviews in various online shops.
If you are in the throes of buying the best product from the best company out of so many thousands of rating reviews, our website can help you a lot.
Because we have a team of professional metal hunters. We have put on this website some of the best metal detectors based on our personal experience as well as consumer experience by sorting the verification in the current market.
For your convenience, we have arranged these metal detectors by category. Such as a list of saltwater metal detectors, a list of underwater metal detectors etc. Also how a metal detector works and does a metal detector detect aluminum at all? Etc. has created various articles rich in all interesting information.
How do you know it’s time to upgrade your current metal detector?
It all depends on your own metal detecting. It happens that you may want to stay as a beginner.
You do not want to be frustrated if you cannot get the right pitch so invest in a good capo. Only at leisure as a hobby, you do metal detection on the beach and at the river bank.
Then maybe you can upgrade from beginner to mid-level. But if it so happens that you are not satisfied with your metal detector or you have heard of a new kind of feature and it seems interesting to you, then it may be time to upgrade your metal detector.
Also, if your current metal detector is too old to keep up with many modern metal detectors, then it’s time to upgrade your metal detector.
Again if your motives change. For example, you used to buy metal detectors for gold hunting but now you don’t like it anymore.
If you want to do metal detecting on the beach with friends, then you must upgrade the old detector and purchase the best quality beach detector.
FAQ
What is the best all-around metal detector on the market?
There are several all-rounder metal detectors on the market today. Although there is no metal detector suitable for all tasks at all. However, many find these metal detectors quite useful in serving a variety of purposes.
Among them, Fisher F22, Garrett AT Pro, Garrett ACE300 are some of them. You may have already heard about Fisher F22 in particular.
What is the best metal detector for a beginner?
If you are a beginner you can buy Fisher F22, Fisher F75, Garrett Ace 400. And as a beginner, if you want to buy an underwater meter detector, the Garrett 1140900 Pro-Pointer is one of the metal detectors.
Also if you want to buy the best kids detector for your child then, of course, you don’t have to spend lots of time knowing how to choose a metal detector! Bounty Hunter Junior is one of the best products you can buy for children.