Gwc, wife has the 400 and outfinds me on more than one occasion. It is a great hobby, but, more parks and schools are getting shut down due to slob diggers though. People show up with a spade and dig a foot deep hole for a three in. deep penny and leave a mess behind. Don't take long for someone to complain.

I pretty much just hunt farm fields anymore, you don't find as much but it is older and I find a lot of cw era buttons, tokens and other weird things you won't find on grass. I'm in the process of thinning my herd down but it's hard to find one do it all machine. Anyways, good luck to you guys, the good stuff is only one hole away.

I've had a Minelab Excalibur for about 15 years. It works in water or on dry land. I mostly detect in the water. I've found V nickels, Barber dimes, Indian Head pennies, Liberty quarters, etc. I've found many rings and other jewelry. My best find was a man's 14K gold bracelet. I sold it for scrap to a jeweler and got $400 for it.

Where I live, people lived on the land dating back to the 1850s. I've found many horseshoes, metal buttons, and some things I can't identify.

At the rate of 5 pennies how long will it take to pay for the machine?

It's kind of like buying a hunting rifle what is the pay back on that unless you shoot pile of fur. The first water machine I had I bought used and paid for it fairly quickly finding items doing dive jobs. The Excalibur machine I have now cost way more than that first machine. I've only ever sold a few wheat pennies that I've found. Got a box full of all the other items gathered the last 30 years. I don't keep track but I think my new machine was paid for like the last. Not by sale of my recreational finds because I've never sold any, but using it on dive job finds..

Mac

I keep saying I'm going to get one and just haven't pulled the trigger. Funny how so many people in here are alike in other ways too. I too am one of the people that can feel the history of old things in my bones when I see it and really enjoy it. People not like us just see old junk.

When I was a kid I took my gma on a hike back the lane, through the field, through the woods, down a dry creek bed, and under the bridge where we cooled off in the shade probably a mile or two.

Anyway, she lost her wedding ring following my lil 10 yr old butt around. It'd be cool to retrace and find it now thirty years later.

about as long as it would take you to pay for all your fishing crap by selling the fish you catch. Or the next day when he finds a diamond ring.

If you're in it to make money, it probably will never happen. It's like that hunting rifle will probably never pay for itself, but it's hard to put a price on the enjoyment it will bring.

think of them,not only as a toy,but as a tool as well.my first was paid for 100 times over.

Iv moved on to pro status now,I'm up to about $1.10 in change.Honestly I don't care if I pay it off in finds,but it would be nice.Kinda like all the time guys put into trapping fur.They do it because they enjoy it,but Iv found I make a lot more money working my regular job than my time invested in trapping.But I enjoy trapping.I also just bought my daughter a metal detector,so that's our thing we enjoy doing together now.

I just shipped my machine back to Minelab for service yesterday, so that sucks. The 1.07 in change I found before the thing quit working didn't even come close to paying the shipping. I'm hoping it's just a broken wire in the headed phones. Almost tore into it myself. But I really need it to be water proof so I can use it diving. Hopefully it won't cost me to much? I'm at the camper for the weekend so brought the Ace 250 in case I can't stand to not play.
If you've ever have had any modified number 2 coyote traps plowed under you'll be glad you have even a basic machine. I lost several good 1 1/2s fox set ups to the plow back in the late 1970. Save over half dozen coyote traps since I've had my first machine think in 1988. Have recovered couple hand guns for law enforcement using a detector too.


Mac

What kind of headphones do you use?Of heard they can get broken wires.I just got a pair of Gray ghost originals yesterday.Gonna try them out tomorrow.

My head phones are married to the machine on the Excalibur making them submersible, think they are Koss. Most people consider them kinda low ball part of the machine and change them out. There are some after market modes for the Excal and I think gray ghost is one of them, but I think they can't go underwater. The service center will call when they get my machine. I'm going to ask about the mode for using different head phones. But I don't think they do it or you think it would be an option when a person first buys the machine.

There are a lot of machines/most that you can run the coils in the water. As long as you don't get control box wet your good. Their also making a lot of machines now that can go in water to 10ft. I use my Excal a lot in swimming holes just in water to my chin, but I actually dive with it too. So on occasion I need a machine that can go deeper than the 10ft. Same with my pin pointer I bought one can go deeper than 10ft, just in case need to, and I have.

Mac

Iv heard good stuff about the Excalibur.My headphones arent waterproof but the gray ghost amphibians are.I plan to get the at pro or max later on for more underwater hunting.Like you said,I can only go up to my control box and supposedly not good on wet salt sand either.I use a garret carrot pinpointer,supposed to be good down to 10'.Doubt ill need to go that deep with it tho.

When the snow drifts here I use a detector to find the sets that are drifted over very handy!

Reading about your finds reminds me of the BBC program called The Detectorists. Two guys spend their time looking for lost or buried treasurer in England. Often times they don’t dig deep enough when they detect something and only find pulltabs. Great program worth finding on public television. My wife and I thoroughly enjoy it when it’s on

I bought a Whites prizm years ago and the darn thing quit after 2 years. Was so disgusted...never sent it in for repair. Would love to back into it....just want better quality for the price

I just found that show recently.I started out not to crazy about it but it grew on me.Ended up really liking it but think Iv watched all the episodes.

i'm gonna poke around later after the rain stops i believe.

Look up The Hoover Boys on youtube. They put out a new video every Wednesday. They are somewhere on the east coast and they find a lot of colonial and civil war relics. Plus its fun to watch a group of friends having fun and busting each others chops along the way.

I watch there videos every week.They live about an hour from me.A couple of my friends detect with them and have been on there show.The French gold coin that Brad found and broke with his shovel was found near me too.They're a nice group of guys.