Thoughts on a detector.

[416wbymag]

My brother and I used to hunt and fish together most every weekend until he had a bad spill in JUMP school and injured his neck and back. After 3 weeks of temporary amnesia, He couldn't function as well as before so that left him medicated on the couch quite often.

He started getting into metal detecting pretty heavy and ended up with 6 or 7 with his go to being a Minelab. I picked up a Whites (I believe a V3?) and started piddling with it so we had some common ground again, never got as good as he was. Even got to meet Crow Terminator and shuffle through a couple of his fields with him. we could only go an hour or so and have to rest, but he loved it. Well... he passed early 2019 due to problems in his back and in my opinion the fog his meds left him in.... I sold everything he and I both had.

Long story longer, I am wanting to pick up a new machine and piddle some, hoping to feel closer to him again. Can you guys recommend one? I am sure someone has made a better one than my White in the past 5 years. no real budget, but the more idiot proof (with higher capabilities available) the better.

 

[Rebels20]

Nokta Simplex. Affordable and very easy to use. The Nokta Legend is the higher end model, but is a little more complicated. So for ease and pretty dependable I recommend the Simplex by Nokta.

 

[Carlos]

Sorry to hear about your brother my friend.
Let us know which one you go with.

We picked up an Ace Garrett 250 awhile back. It seemed like a great model for the beginner- idk if it would suit your needs or not.

 

[Crow Terminator]

Hey man, long time no see!!

You know me...I've had every detector model made since the 90s. Here's my little run down on current models FWIW.

1. Minelab Manticore. The number one machine by a long shot. It's very deep and yet easy to use. I've not saw anything quite like it. It gets the #1 spot in my book.

2. Xp Deus 2. It's complicated but light as a feather and completely wireless. When you do learn it though...it's a very nice machine. It's still not quite as good as the Manticore but still a fun machine to use.

3. Minelab Equinox 800 or 900. The Equinox is a series...each higher number gives you more features. There's a 600, 700, 800, and 900. I would only look at the 800 and 900. The Equinox is on par with the Deus 2 in depth and performance. I've had several of them...they are one of my favorite machines to hunt with...BUT...don't submerge them especially the 600 and 800. They claim to be waterproof but have had a bad time with leaking units. This has been fixed with the new Manticore design though...and thus they updated the Equinox units to that overall pod with the 700 and 900 series.

4. Nokta Legend. Nokta is a copycat company. They go after whomever is leading the pack and try to clone their machines. In this case...it's Minelab. The Legend is their version of the Equinox by Minelab. Some people love them...I'm not a big fan...but it does get close in performance to a Equinox.

Now...next month Garrett is releasing a whole new series called the Vortex. It looks very interesting. It will be their stab at staying competitive with the other machines on the market. Nobody knows how it will be in the actual field but from the limited videos and such on it...it's promising. And priced right too. There are 3 models of it...and what is neat about them is...if you buy the low end one and decided you should have got the one with more features...you just pay the difference in cost and download the firmware and BAM...no more having to sell a machine to upgrade. I will definitely have one to play around with.