Little help from the experts please

My 11 year old daughter is showing some interest in the hobby so I'm tthinking about getting her her own starter machine for for Christmas. I'm looking for your thoughts on an inexpensive, lightweight machine preferably with multi tones and not difficult to learn. Maybe along the lines of a Garrett Ace 200? Thanks in advance for all the help!

Seth

'Not claiming to be an expert but the 'Teknetics Digitek' proved to be a fabulous test experience a few years back!
It has a shorter than usual lower rod. Some 'Pro's', bought it in numbers and fitted a standard lower rod and used it in very nail trash areas because it has fantastic 'see through/unmasking capability!

If the budget stretches higher then look no further than the same stable, 'Teknetics Eurotek'
A fantastic machine that just amazed me!

My Field Tests might be on the 'Teknetics' website ( my Eurotek report is there )'

Teknetics Delta is a good little machine to start out on. And it has the features you want.

Tesoro compadre. Set the disc and dig all repeatable tones. They find lots of treasure and make the hobby fun for kids. They also work really well in tot lots where other machines struggle.

Sent you a PM...

Charles

No expert but Ill throw in a thought...

Find a F44..

She can grow with it for awhile..Customizable ..

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/2017 12:26AM by Keith Southern.

Amazing how much treasure can be found with “good enough” Detectors. Us enthusiasts often lose sight of the fact that TODAY anybody can buy a highly useful metal detector for less than $200 and a truly excellent one for less than $400.

Rick Kempf
Gold Canyon AZ- where there is no gold

I'm currently looking into your suggestions and doing some studying. The Teknetics Digitec is available factory direct with a coupon for $129. The F44 "new" is a more than We can afford this year unless a little luck comes my way. The one thing that I wonder is, if the lower priced Teknetics are built better and perform better than the cheap store model Bounty hunter. A few friends wanted to try detecting with me so they bought Hobby Lobby shelf model BH. Well , needless to say, they never went detecting again. The things were junk.

I started detecting in 2010 with an Ace 250 which I used for four years and found enough clad to by my Racer. Last year I found a lightly used Delta 4000 for $75 for my 9 year old son which he loves. None of us liked the over the counter Bounty Hunter.

If your daughter doesn't mind a beep & dig machine a Tesoro Compadre is wonderful little detector.

"I did not get the feeling of a cheaply built low cost volume store seller from the 'Digitec!'
It's actually a delight to use! Admittedly, it's a bit light due to the short length and smaller coil but, for a younger person it's ideal.
The ONLY thing to watch out for is the coil plug: it's got those tiny pins that might bend? But, if it's kept assembled the whole time, that shouldn't be a problem.

Here's some of the the Park use from the Field Test report:
"If you have young children who show an interest in metal detecting then the first place to test it out might be a park?
This is where the Digitek really comes alive and is quite "zippy" in its performance.
The park I tested in was stable running at full sensitivity (10) but to make things a bit easier I reduced that to 7
I increased Discrimination to eliminate iron and foil. Scanning across the wet grass I was surprised by how quiet it ran. I was expecting an overload of signals. That didn't happen: it was quite sophisticated in its operation. Signals did come, not in every sweep but sometimes a couple did. It was easy to pin point those and digging from 4" to 6" brought up several modern coins, keys, a door hinge and other items. No iron of foil broke through my discrimination but aluminium pull tabs did. That I didn't mind as I was chasing 'mid conductor's' and that was how the first ring that I found in ages turned up! A medium tone showing "5c" with a Target ID of 36 located a stained ring from 4" in the tough knotted grass. Ten minutes later I had a second piece of jewelry, a watch face from 5" in the "Zn" category and a Target ID of 54. Etc etc.

Conclusion

The 'Digitek' didn't receive the full 10 points due to the cheap coil plug being the type that can get damaged easily.
I didn't like the way the hand grip rotated on the handle. Otherwise, it scored very well.
The ergonomics and handling are very good and it's a sure footed machine and easily goes to where it's pointed.
Performance is really up there with machines costing three times as much and was a revelation to this tester!
It will turn in a very decent performance for your son or daughter accompanying you on a day out or it could be a very effective back up if your own detector went down on a hunt.
This is a 'big' small detector, looks well and really great to use and offers a depth of classiness seldom seen in this class. (End)

Copyright: Des Dunne 2015