Decent $ on used Fisher F2 metal detector?

[UncleS2]

Last summer was interested in getting a gas grill & metal detector, got sidetracked. Recently bought the "nused" Weber Q for a gas grill- got that covered, the cast iron grate is great!

Metal detector- I have no experience at all. Inet research produces short list with strong rec's for a beginners machine. Of the Big Names, the Garrett Ace 250, Tesoro Compadre, & Fisher F2 all have strong supporters.

Looked on Cragslist, found only one thing reasonably close- but it might be a winner. Fisher F2 combo package, lightly used for 2 months, includes unit with standard 8" coil, plus smaller 4" coil, plus handheld pinpinter, plus headphones, wants $165.(says he paid $243 new) It'll cost ~$10 in gas for the round trip. This same pkg available now online, brand new, for $215.

If I could get it down to about $125 I'd buy it without thinking. Even asking price isn't that bad- it does all look brand new- BUT: warranty is not tranferable. So long as he has it, there's about 4 yrs 10 mos warranty left. If I have it, strictly trust to luck for nothing to go wrong.

Still, it seems to me that this might be a fairly cheap way to try this out- add a garden trowel & go! Rather than try to split hairs over which brand/machine may have some small advantage over another, I'd be perfectly willing to just try the Fisher F2- lotsa folks seem to like them, & the bang-for-buck factor is sure there.

Metal detector folks- what do you think? All help appreciated, TIA.

 

[UncleS2]

My mistake- the Fisher F2 combo sold online for $215 does *not* include headphones. So it's a little better deal than it seemed before.

 

[Chris142]

What are you looking for? Coins at the beach? Gold nuggets?

 

[Falken]

I would personally buy it new. If it is broken or not working properly it may be difficult to tell.

I was looking at Canadian Tire metal detectors and did a bit of research.

People have a lot of interesting stories to tell using them, and from what I gather the actually do pay themselves off very quickly if you live near a beach.

Maybe I'll start researching buying one as well, it sounds like a lot of fun now that my daughter is getting older and she can come along with me.

What one do you recommend UncleS2?

 

[UncleS2]

What do *I* recommend? I dunno, have no experience myself, thought I'd made that clear. Try a little inet research, you may come to different conclusions than me.

No saltwater beaches within ~250 miles. Several man-made lakes here though. Several sources that seem reliable claim that virtually all entry-level machines will give poor results at best on beaches, in wet sand & boggy conditions- something about frequencies & having a non-adjustable groundwazzit.

At least to start, will just see what I can find, whether coins, relics, whatever. Doubt ther'll be any natural gold around here- but suspect that iron ore(we got *lots* of it here!) is gonna cause plenty of problems in some areas.

Google "metal detector forums". That should keep anyone busy for a week or two!

 

[GreeCguy]

When I lived in North Alabama, we used one of these when we were restoring an old cemetery. It helped us find an lot of old unmarked graves as the metal detector would locate the nails in the coffins. We found about 20 unmarked graves this way. (And no, we didn't dig them up).

 

[Falken]

Wow, finds nails six feet under.

I am going to read more about this as nobody in and around Montreal does this as a hobby anymore.

When I was younger it was a bit of a rage in the Plattsburgh, NY area around campgrounds.

But this was well over 25 years ago... I am guessing the technology has really improved.

I read about a guy in the states recently that found a Civil War era silver engagement ring that had a name ingraved inside the band and he was able to return it to a relative. Really neat!

 

[GreeCguy]

Here's a link to the cemetery and some of the "unknown" graves we found.

The biggest stone in this graveyard belongs to "Abraham Ricks" who before the "War of Northern Aggression" owned a plantation of 10,000 acres in that area along with 300 slaves. Some of the graves throughout the cemetery had markers that had been broken off and lost over time, (the cemetery had suffered a great deal of vandalism over the years). Some markers were simply unreadable having been weathered away. Others had no marker at all but the metal detector would definitely pick up a rectangular pattern. The majority of these unmarked graves were located on a hill side below Abraham Ricks grave. We thought maybe these might be some of his slaves - hence the reason for no markers - but we were just guessing at that as we could find no records at all.


http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi...mp;GSln=unknown