Alrighty guys, Im new to detecting....

[MattSimcox]

My mother in law wanted a metal detector for Christmas so I told my father in law that I would buy it for him. He gave me $200 so I researched them and ended up getting one that I would like to use because I will be the one that uses it the most.

I went with the Bounty Hunter Land Star. Cabelas had it on sale for 199 plus 20 off. I got it in and had to try it out. Found 3 old pennies and a washer in my front yard.

If I just want to go out and find gold jewelry at the lake and parks, what do I set this thing on?

 

[Hogbear]

I'm not familiar with that detector, but most gold jewelrey I've found has read down in the foil through nickel range or up into the lower pulltab range, but all has been below copper pennies on the meter. Probably just have to deal with digging up a lot of foil and pulltabs if you're after all the gold you can possibly get. Every large man's ring I've found or tested has read like a nickel, but chains and small rings/pendants can be all over the place.

Large silver will read like dimes and higher but small silver and chains can be anywhere in the pulltab/screwcap/junk range.

Short answer is just dig everything above iron on the meter.

 

[MattSimcox]

OK, thanks. Anyone ever do good at lakes?

 

[Crow Terminator]

I don't guess you did that bad on a 1st machine for someone; it'll find stuff but for $200 there are only a couple of really decent machines out there. Those Garrett Ace machines are pretty hot rascals for that price range. Or a Minelab X-Terra series.

Anyway you were asking about lakes and jewelry. If you are talking about beach areas...then no. I've not personally done much good. Mainly because there is a dude around here that lives at the lake that watches when they start dropping the water and is out there every day they drop it more. He don't leave much behind. But picnic areas and camping grounds are a different story. A man can rack up on some coins and if you can tolerate digging lots of foil and tabs, you can get some jewelry too.

Please note though...if detecting on TVA land, you MUST have a permit to do so and you are limited to beach areas, campgrounds, and boat ramps. You can find an application online at their website. It's free but you got to have it. There are also some rules; no holes deeper than 6", etc.

 

[MattSimcox]

I saw the app for TVA, I gonna go ahead and fill that out. Also the detector was $350 and I got it on sale. Seems to be an ok one.

 

[Crow Terminator]

I've had quite a road trip with detectors over the years. I started with a cheaper one then upgraded and have been upgrading every since. There ain't been many that I ain't owned over the last 14 years or so. The most I ever paid for one was $1,250 and I just sold it earlier this week to put towards my most expensive one yet. It's a fun hobby but its hard to find really good sites to hunt anymore; I Civil War relic hunt mostly so the sites don't exactly get refilled every so often like a playground or park.

 

[Nhill]

Not to get off topic, but what is your next detector Crow?

 

[Crow Terminator]

Minelab GPX 4500.

Got it Monday and have only had a chance to play with it in the yard.