Testing two entry level metal detectors from
Joan Allen
Joan allen metal detectors entry level machine page
01959 571 255

garys metal detecting reviews and information
If you are new to metal detecting choosing a machine is very difficult, we were all in your shoes once, there is advice from every corner and you don't know which way to turn !
The first thing to consider is your budget, spending between £100 - £150 will buy you a functional machine, and between £200 - £250 will buy you a more advanced machine, we have compared two in those price ranges.
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Fisher F2 Digital display
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Fisher F2 Digital display £210

4 tone target ID
Multi target notch facility
Sensitivity Adjustment
Pinpoint button
6.5mm Jack plug for headphones
Use on dry sand and in land
Large on screen numerical display
On-Screen Continuous Depth Readout
On-Screen Battery Indicator
Crisp Sharp audio tones and fast recovery speed
Multiple coil sizes available as accessory items
Switch on and go detector
8.5 inch Concentric coil standard
Stem locking collars
Takes 2 x 9V PP3 batteries
7.8 Khz
RRP £210.00

Fisher f2 from garys detecting

The Fisher F2 was very easy to use, target rejection was easy with a clear on screen display telling you what targets were rejected and what targets were accepted.

I found the sound between iron and foil to be very close in tone, it was much easier to reject iron by eliminating the first block so the only the three remaining tones heard were non ferrous, iron rejection is very precise on the Fisher F2.
Large targets sang out with a sweet high tone, ring pulls and small coins gave a mellow mid tone.

The pressure pad controls only required a gentle touch to operate, there was no need to be heavy handed with the function pads.

Fisher f2 target identification

You may have noticed a feature called "notch"
Again this is quite often found on more expensive machines, it allows the operator to reject certain targets from different conductivity ranges, for example you may wish to notch out or "reject" foil and bottle caps if searching a littered park, this will leave other targets above and below the notch range as accepted.
 Conventional discrimination ranges operate on a sliding scale from iron to big silver, so if for example you wanted to reject bottle caps, everything below that range such as small silver, gold, ring pulls, foil etc would also be eliminated, so the notch is quite a valuable feature.

Tip : When buying headphone make sure they have a volume control as the F2 has no on board adjustment

What to look for when buying your first machine
As you have probably gathered metal detectors all do basically the same job...They detect metal ! However one very important thing you should consider is the way they reject unwanted targets, crazy as it may sound but it's not all about depth, precise discrimination is one of the many things you will learn as you make your fascinating journey through the hobby.
Joan Allen stock a wide range of entry level machines I have picked two top sellers for this particular feature.

what is the best beginners metal detector

So basically, lower end machines will detect all metals but may not be so precise at identifying small non ferrous targets near to iron, although great fun for coin shooting and starting out in the hobby don't expect state of the art performance for little money.

entry level metal detectors from joan allen

Tone ID : Both machines have tone identification, which allows the user to identify different target ranges by the machines audio tones, the amount of tones depends on the machine, this feature is normally found on the more expensive machines.
A well built machine with a good solid professional feel, the numeric display

How would I sum up these two machines ?
The Coinshooter pro
Is an entry level machine for those who are on a very tight budget, perhaps just looking for a few sunny days coin shooting in the park or on the beach, it's functions work well, build quality is very impressive for the price, iron rejection is adequate but not perfect.

Fisher F2
A well built machine with a good solid professional feel, the numeric display combined with sharp audio tone is clear and precise, I would feel confident using this machine on farmland, club digs and coinshooting on the beach. The notch facility is a very nice addition which will be a bonus when coin shooting in littered parks..

coinshooting on the beach

The Joan Allen Coinshooter Pro
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The Joan Allen coinshooter Pro £125.00

4 tone target ID
Discrimination function
Sensitivity Adjustment
Pinpoint button
3.5mm Jack plug for headphones
Use on dry sand and in land
Analogue dial indicator
Switch on and go detector
8-inch Concentric coil standard
Takes 2 x 9V PP3 batteries
Stem locking collars
7.5 kHz
RRP £125.00

entry level metal detector image

The coinshooter Pro was very easy to set up, it had a very nice audio tone and was lightweight to use, the on-screen needle display serves no real purpose except for helping pin pointing the exact location of the target.
Setting the discrimination range is quite crucial, if the control was set to far it would reject small coins, so a fine adjustment is required.

On the control panel there is a 3 way switch, left for Disc which silently eliminated most iron, only giving a tone when a non ferrous target was detected.....Middle position was All Metal, here you have no discrimination and all metal "ferrous and non ferrous" are detected...Right is Tone Id where iron gives a low tone and wanted targets give a high tone.

I preferred to use the Coinshooter Pro in the Tone setting.
Tip : For junior detectorists, the lower stem can be cut to size.

coin shooter pro For junior detectorists, the lower stem can be cut to size

Both search coils are concentric, the coinshooter Pro has a slightly larger diameter of 9.5", the F2 has an 8.5" coil.

search coils are concentric

All people new to the hobby should watch this video, it shows the correct way to respect the land and retrieve targets with the minimal of disturbance.


Watch the metal detecting for beginners video >>>>>


 




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Fisher F2 video