Gary's Metal Detecting Forum
Gary's Detecting forum => General detecting talk => Topic started by: JCB on November 05, 2015, 09:50 pm
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Hi does anyone know which would be the best model for me to get for around £200
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DeepTech vista mini is £275
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Ok thanks I'll check It out, do you know If this will be better than Garratt ace 250?
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The ACE 250 is the most popular starter machine on the planet,one needs to step back and think why is this so,well its reliable,its got that all important screen that 'detectorists' want,albeit they are not essential but its what folks want,they also have access to a very wide selection of after market coils.Also one very important thing is that when the detectorist want to sell the ACE250 to either upgrade or find out that detecting is not for them then they hold a very good 2nd hand price.
No other machine comes close to the sales of the Garrett Ace 250,i am not saying they are perfect as no one machine is,but for the person who is just starting out and at the sub £200 mark its a bargain.
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Thanks they do look good reliable machines and easy to use, I'm deciding either that one or someone also mentioned the teknetic eurotek pro which I found one for £250 free delivery with an 11" DD coil which also sounds like a good one and more up to date.
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DeepTech vista mini would be my choice without question m8 !
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And also the DeepTech vista mini looks alright too, there are too many choices but I think I'm getting there.
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Ok thanks I will do some more research later and have a look on ytube too.
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Vista Mini gets my approval as well.
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And also the DeepTech vista mini looks alright too, there are too many choices but I think I'm getting there.
http://www.garysdetecting.co.uk/deeptech_mini.htm
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Thanks for the help, I've seen the Vista Mini for around £275 so far.
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Thanks for the help, I've seen the Vista Mini for around £275 so far.
http://www.detecting101.co.uk/metal-detectors-for-sale/
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what part of herts are you in ,big county ? best regards nigel
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I live right near St Albans but moving to Cambridge soon.
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your just 30 miles away .your welcome to come and have a look at my machines and i will explain whatever i can to you .and show how theres so little difference in performance between them all . if you want depth you add a bigger coil ,but then you loose sensitivity to small targets and correct ground balance becomes important .
i,n the case of budget machines the ground balance is fixed so putting a big coil on where the ground setting is incorrect doesnt give much gain in performance.on other fields where its about right you can hit 8-9"on larger coins.
Often you will only have pasture available most of year due to crops ,and thats assuming any farmers say yes to you .the window is usually quite narrow . So i would think in terms of a deepseeker ,that can go over ground previously done .
i would not touch a machine with fixed ground balance ,needs auto tracking ground balance or manually adjustable .
when set correctly your machine is super sensitive.
on most sites it wont matter but on the sites that fixed gb doesnt suit ,thats where you manual gb machines will show they are in a different league to ace250/eurotek.
the vista mini does have a ground grab balance circuit .
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Yeah thanks mate I do like the sound of that Vista Mini
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I'd take a serious look at the c scope cs3mxi as well which can be purchased for slightly less than the deeptech.
This is a fantastic little detector which is simple to use but has great performance.It also runs at a higher frequency(17khz) than the deeptech which makes it slightly more sensitive to tiny silver coins like hammered farthings.There's also plenty of depth(you can do a simple mod to get a bit more),it's as light as a feather and c scopes customer service is second to none.
Don't worry about the lack of a ground balance feature either,this machine is set for our soil conditions and can be used anywhere without problems.There are some decent coil choices for the machine too making it very versatile.
These are often considered as starter machines but in reality they perform brilliantly,they don't need loads of bells and whistles,half of which are useless,to get the job done.......SIMPLY brilliant.
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I'd take a serious look at the c scope cs3mxi as well which can be purchased for slightly less than the deeptech.
This is a fantastic little detector which is simple to use but has great performance.It also runs at a higher frequency(17khz) than the deeptech which makes it slightly more sensitive to tiny silver coins like hammered farthings.There's also plenty of depth(you can do a simple mod to get a bit more),it's as light as a feather and c scopes customer service is second to none.
Don't worry about the lack of a ground balance feature either,this machine is set for our soil conditions and can be used anywhere without problems.There are some decent coil choices for the machine too making it very versatile.
These are often considered as starter machines but in reality they perform brilliantly,they don't need loads of bells and whistles,half of which are useless,to get the job done.......SIMPLY brilliant.
love that statement that its set for any british soil .sadly all soil in uk is not the same . it actually varys quite considerably . And i welcome any machine with fixed ground balance to hit my four test coins in my garden . had two garretts here ,ace 250 and at pro . both did crap job .
i stand by what i said about ground balance ,75% of sites it wont matter ,but the other 25% you will be wishing you could balance your machine and cancel out the bad ground effects that will be masking your target just like iron does.
a perfect example of auto tracking ground balance doing a great job was my test of gc-1023,1022/1016 v/s omega 8000 and gf2
little auto balance machines worked brill in my iron/mineral infested garden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R65BDT_wb0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwErPhV8aMk
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Mini Maxx runs on 18 Khz, Vista Mini runs on 9Khz
Ive tested them all and so far no entry level machine has beaten the Mini on performance, however I can appreciate some people like to look at a screen and have buttons to press, others want to search wet sand.
We were all in your position once, to be perfectly honest I would say dont spend to much time dwelling over a first machine because you will soon be hooked on the hobby and wanting to upgrade within 6 months no matter what you buy.
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I'd take a serious look at the c scope cs3mxi as well which can be purchased for slightly less than the deeptech.
This is a fantastic little detector which is simple to use but has great performance.It also runs at a higher frequency(17khz) than the deeptech which makes it slightly more sensitive to tiny silver coins like hammered farthings.There's also plenty of depth(you can do a simple mod to get a bit more),it's as light as a feather and c scopes customer service is second to none.
Don't worry about the lack of a ground balance feature either,this machine is set for our soil conditions and can be used anywhere without problems.There are some decent coil choices for the machine too making it very versatile.
These are often considered as starter machines but in reality they perform brilliantly,they don't need loads of bells and whistles,half of which are useless,to get the job done.......SIMPLY brilliant.
love that statement that its set for any british soil .sadly all soil in uk is not the same . it actually varys quite considerably . And i welcome any machine with fixed ground balance to hit my four test coins in my garden . had two garretts here ,ace 250 and at pro . both did crap job .
i stand by what i said about ground balance ,75% of sites it wont matter ,but the other 25% you will be wishing you could balance your machine and cancel out the bad ground effects that will be masking your target just like iron does.
a perfect example of auto tracking ground balance doing a great job was my test of gc-1023,1022/1016 v/s omega 8000 and gf2
little auto balance machines worked brill in my iron/mineral infested garden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R65BDT_wb0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwErPhV8aMk
I don't remember saying it was set for "any British soil conditions",i said it is set for "our soil conditions" and it WILL give great performance in most situations.Yes there are certain soil conditions that can be quite harsh and will give any machine a problem but in most cases the 3mxi performs great.
I've used the "3" in a lot of different ground conditions and never had any issues with it's fixed ground balance.Likewise,a friend of mine has a lot of success with his fixed ground balanced laser trident in many different soil conditions.
Have you ever tested a 3mx by the way?
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Fixed ground balance is fine, in fact I prefer it.
There are.lots.of myths and sales terminology to make it sound more important than it is, such as Auto Ground Balance..no its not auto it's fixed. In most cases, at least entry level machines.
Fixed ground balance or pre-set levels are set at the factory against ferrite which is probably the worst ground you will ever encounter. So you can take your machine pretty.much anywhere in the inland UK without problems.
Can't say I totally agree with Nigel about needing to have a ground balance machine to obtain the best performance in the UK.
I always run my Deus at 90 and it works fine.
Now ancient prehistoric circuitry like the Arado, Nexus, Garrett Groundhog etc will require an accurate ground balanced because they can not compensate for soil conditions like modern coils and circuity.
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so its all been one big lie :D
we dont need to ground balance machines to get max sensitivity lads . ;D
and you read it here first.
and yes my cheapy entry level chinese machine is auto tracking ground balance ,and the proof of that is it finds small objects at good depths on all sites including wet sand .
but theres no denying the ground grabbing vista mini would be better built and find more.
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Ground balance isn't necessarily required by someone who's starting out, my advice would to stick to the initial budget you had in mind and take it from there, any reputable UK based dealer that supplies a warranty can give you lots of advice regarding entry level machines, for you own peace of mind don't be tempted to buy or import any chinese clones or take advice from the fan boys that are involved.
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Y'd rather advice to avoid starting with entry level detectors, few months later you'll sell it and loose some money. If you are sure this hobby (metal detecting) is yours, choose pre top/ top metal detector.
or
Buy gf2 (Chinese clone of T2) without coil and buy aftermarket coil. You'll migrate to pre top/top detectors some time later and existing gf2 with aftermarket coil will be back up or quest detector
PS.
Thnks to guys who prefer detectors with fixed GB, fields still produce finds ;).
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Ok thanks everyone for the advise
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I think you have had good advice, we will be looking forward to your report with a new machine, it will help other newbies in your situation.
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I'm really surprised no one has mentioned the Technetics Eurotek Pro , it's a fantastic machine that is light years ahead of the Ace 250 :)
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I'm really surprised no one has mentioned the Technetics Eurotek Pro , it's a fantastic machine that is light years ahead of the Ace 250 :)
what machines are you using now phil?
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Still using the Goldfinder but i'm saving up for the Goldenmask 5 with 12" Fighter coil :)