@connorbush I love the show Diggers! Do you watch that? One problem is there are so many restrictions of where you can use metal detectors without permission - public and private.
@connorbush omg, if you are interested it's great. I have brought it up before that it interests me, but my wife just gives me that look like "you are so lame".
@mfladd my fiance said the same. The bounty hunter Gold Digger on Amazon is cheap. Everything I've read says it should be perfect. I live near a beach. I think I'll get into it next weekend.
@mfladd when i was a kid we used to do it on the beach once a year on vacation. Never found anything of value though. Technology was way low tech back then. Not like today with those fancy smancy contraptions....
@connorbush I bought the Bounty Hunter Fast Tracker. I haven't been able to use it because I have to find an adapter for my headset. I can't wait to use it. I live on 4 1/2 acres and have access to another 10. Doubt I'll find anything but at least I'll be outside not sitting on the couch waiting for season 6 of TWD.
@mehbee in California? I'll have to come check it out! Look up old maps and historic events in your area, you never know. And I drove the not in the couch thing!
@mfladd@connorbush Ha! I'm pretty sure I gave my husband the same look. (I remember thinking it could be awesome when I was a kid. But I've become too practical to justify spending money on it now.) On behalf of the women in your lives who just aren't getting it, I appologize for our failure to join you in your enthusiasm.
@connorbush No I am actually one of those dreaded East Coaster. I love in Georgia. I will do that, see what might have gone down in my area in the past.
I've always wanted to go out and spend some hard earned cash on a metal detector and comb the beaches (I live in a land locked state) searching for hidden treasure. Sadly there are just too many holes in my plan.
I suspect most people who buy those never find enough stuff to even recoup the cost of the detector, much less get filthy rich. But it does look like fun and at least it gets people out-of-doors and moving around, which puts it above most other hobbies at least.
Neil Hannon even wrote a song about it, Eric the Gardener:
I have been interested for years but I suspect illinois is one of the worst possible places to try, unless you have access to private land to search. State lands, parks, forest preserves, municipal, parks (even 'natural' ones that aren't just glorified lawns), all verboten. The LDMA and GPA don't even have any spots in this sad sad state.
But I still want one and I still want to go detecting ;) It'll just have to wait until we retire and move to a free state.
@jimmyd103 I love geocaching, but have trouble finding people to go with me. I've been dragging my wife along but she's not really into it. Went to a geocaching event but the only people there were 10-40 years older than me (I'm 39), and we didn't really get along...
@DaveInSoCal I agree. In northeastern PA, there is a wide age range of people attending events (30-65). However, most people I cache with are 5-15 years older than me (I'm 35).
I got into metal detecting about a year ago. Well, it was probably less but since I was pretty obsessed it feels like at least a year. I had one as a kid, etc. and went out and spent $100 to get a $150 used one on Craigslist. They hold their value well so it's often tough to find good deals on used ones. I upgraded to a Garrett AT Pro a few months back. It's a decent detector, though considering I spent $450 on it, I have come to terms with the fact that I am not likely to recoup the money spent on it. I think it was worth the upgrade because it took no time at all to learn the cheap machine and in a week I was frustrated with its inability to discern different types of metal, recover quickly from a sweep, etc. So it is fun to have a machine with room to grow (still learning the signals and techniques).
But it is hugely fun and relaxing to calmly sweep it, especially across unfamiliar territory - you never know what you will find. An hour goes by in the blink of an eye. It is a bit like having a super power. X-ray vision for underground, except it doesn't work very well. "Well, this might be tin foil, or it might be a gold ring. Probably foil."
Good spots are hard to come across because they are often either "fished out," in which case you are pitting your detector against someone else's more expensive one, or they are hard to access. Once in a while you find a good new spot, but most of the time you are finding garbage and recently lost coins and trinkets.
Kids love to crowd around and see what I'm doing. I just say I'm "hunting for treasures," but really most of what I find is garbage. Even the "treasures" aren't really worth anything. But it's still fun. Expect to find mostly garbage and be excited that you're using something like a super power and you'll do all right. Check out Nugget Noggin and Deep Digger Dan on YouTube.
@a13z I like deep digger dan videos. Well the three I just watched today. I'm mostly looking for it to make hiking more fun ava walking along the ocean. I'm into the zen aspect of it. I rather enjoy monotony. Thanks for the insider view point.
@a13z I also have the AT Pro. It's a great detector for the price range. And once you start hunting the right areas, you'll have enough to pay for the detector just in coins. My AT Pro is actually my 3rd detector. Had a Garrett Ace 250 and a Bounty Hunter before that. I've paid for all 3 with my findings. Mostly coins (clad) but also some gold rings and such. I keep all of the silver I find, especially older silver coins. I mainly only detect during colder seasons cause I can't stand being out in the heat for long. I like to detect around old schools (especially football fields and playgrounds), old churches, and sometimes city parks. I need to start hunting some private lands to get into some cool old coins.... but I just don't ever feel like bothering people on their property.
Now I will disclose my invention on which I will retire. I'm trusting that none of you will steal this idea: combination metal detector/weed whacker. Perfect, right?
A smartphone uses an instrument called a magnetometer to sense the Earth's magnetic field. It's quite sensitive to the presence of certain metals, even at a distance.
(A conventional metal detector actually generates its own electromagnetic field and works with more types of metal.)
So congrats, you're only an app download away from weirding out fellow beachgoers!
@connorbush have fun, man! A detector like that will be great in park grass to find coins. Your first time out, drop a few different coins, a ring of your own, a bottle cap, and some gum wrapper foil to see what the different targets sound like. Sweep them at different heights above the ground, too. Bring an old Philips head screw driver to use as a probe so you don't dig up turf unnecessarily. You can often probe into the dirt and inch or two around where you think a target is and pop it out without having to dig at all. Keep us posted of how it goes!
@a13z Thanks! Will do. I will also look into a proper sod blade so as that I can fill the holes each time. I live near a lake and with the extreme droughts here in California, the water has gone down over 30 feet. I bet I can find some neat treasures!
@connorbush - I lived next to Lexington Dam in the Santa Cruz mountains for many years. When they built the dam, they flooded some towns, so when the water goes down you can see roads and foundations. I dug up many old bottles and things down there.
There are also some boulders in which the Ohlone Indians created mortars, presumably to grind acorns and other seeds. Have fun with your detector, let us know what you find!
@duodec Will do. In the UK there is a 'government-esq' council that one can join. It provides membership and insurance to metal detectorists. The USA is so far behind, priorities am-eye-right?!
@connorbush Dunno. I figure ill annoy just makes it hard to do anything unless the machine gets its take. A detector in the park finding a coin or valuable, nobody gets taxed, or their cut, or mordida... so they make it illegal, or at least difficult.
If they could I don't doubt they'd regulate or tax private land detecting (with owner approval) too.
A family friend is building a new house about 4 blocks up from the ocean. They dug down 10 ft below the lot on which their house sits (probably too deep). I found a dozen REALLY old and rusty nails, a couple of what appear to be scrap-dripping piles from welding or melted metal in a pile (half dollar size).
The best part though is that I found a name/addressed pressed into a piece of metal. This was in the deepest corner of the lot. The address was that of a man named William Harman in Pasadena. We have city records on the property for decades--this would have been over 100 years ago. We were, after all, about 12 feet below the current foundation.
The Harman surname is a seasoned and historically rich name. This metal tag appeared to be the one seen on a chest, beer stein, and or commemorative plate. No idea what it is though.
Sounds dumb. There's metal everywhere. Its not like it's hard to find.
Wait. Come back to me. I can do better.
I found Metal in a club:
@DaveInSoCal hehe.
@connorbush I love the show Diggers! Do you watch that? One problem is there are so many restrictions of where you can use metal detectors without permission - public and private.
@mfladd havenot seen that show I'll look into it
@connorbush omg, if you are interested it's great. I have brought it up before that it interests me, but my wife just gives me that look like "you are so lame".
@mfladd my fiance said the same. The bounty hunter Gold Digger on Amazon is cheap. Everything I've read says it should be perfect. I live near a beach. I think I'll get into it next weekend.
@connorbush I bought one from woot. I used the excuse it was for the kids (cheaper model also). Still haven't used it yet. Here is the one I bought:
http://www.woot.com/offers/bounty-hunter-snooper-ii-metal-detector
@mfladd looks cool! Let's go find some neat treasures
@connorbush let me know what happens. Here is an online link to the diggers shows:
http://watchseries-online.ch/?s=diggers&search=
@mfladd when i was a kid we used to do it on the beach once a year on vacation. Never found anything of value though. Technology was way low tech back then. Not like today with those fancy smancy contraptions....
@DaveInSoCal
@connorbush I bought the Bounty Hunter Fast Tracker. I haven't been able to use it because I have to find an adapter for my headset. I can't wait to use it. I live on 4 1/2 acres and have access to another 10. Doubt I'll find anything but at least I'll be outside not sitting on the couch waiting for season 6 of TWD.
@mehbee in California? I'll have to come check it out! Look up old maps and historic events in your area, you never know. And I drove the not in the couch thing!
@mehbee @connorbush I say we all dust off our detector purchases and report back our probably lame findings. Could be fun.
@mehbee you should also watch the show Diggers:
http://watchseries-online.ch/?s=diggers&search=
@mfladd I need to receive mine first!
@connorbush no rush. I have had my Phantom 2 Drone grounded for months - I am soooo lame.
@mfladd @connorbush Ha! I'm pretty sure I gave my husband the same look. (I remember thinking it could be awesome when I was a kid. But I've become too practical to justify spending money on it now.) On behalf of the women in your lives who just aren't getting it, I appologize for our failure to join you in your enthusiasm.
@connorbush No I am actually one of those dreaded East Coaster. I love in Georgia. I will do that, see what might have gone down in my area in the past.
@mfladd That sounds like fun. I say any findings are fun, even if they aren't worth anything. I'll give that show a try.
@connorbush I have to get a headset that fits or an adapter for the headset I have already.
I've always wanted to go out and spend some hard earned cash on a metal detector and comb the beaches (I live in a land locked state) searching for hidden treasure. Sadly there are just too many holes in my plan.
@Bogie comb previously significant land site. Look for loot/cache spills. Old army posts etc.
I suspect most people who buy those never find enough stuff to even recoup the cost of the detector, much less get filthy rich. But it does look like fun and at least it gets people out-of-doors and moving around, which puts it above most other hobbies at least.
Neil Hannon even wrote a song about it, Eric the Gardener:
Paging @ABitterWoman?
Here's an entertaining article about the world's worst hobby:
@trisk solid article. Moderately misleading title..but fun read.
I have a Fisher f2 that I hardly ever use. I am a member of a local area metal detecting club, but I never attend.
I have been interested for years but I suspect illinois is one of the worst possible places to try, unless you have access to private land to search. State lands, parks, forest preserves, municipal, parks (even 'natural' ones that aren't just glorified lawns), all verboten. The LDMA and GPA don't even have any spots in this sad sad state.
But I still want one and I still want to go detecting ;) It'll just have to wait until we retire and move to a free state.
What about go caching? At least you are guaranteed to find something at the end of your adventure.
@jimmyd103 Geocaching? I do that too. Going tomorrow with a few folks if I feel up to it. :)
@juststephen that's the one. Stupid autocorrect! Never tried gocaching or geocaching but it looks fun.
@jimmyd103 @juststephen I have been geocaching for over two years now, with 1,200 finds. Lots of caching to do near the Poconos.
@jimmyd103 I love geocaching, but have trouble finding people to go with me. I've been dragging my wife along but she's not really into it. Went to a geocaching event but the only people there were 10-40 years older than me (I'm 39), and we didn't really get along...
@DaveInSoCal Ouch.
@jimmyd103 I know, right? I can't believe I'm already 39.
@DaveInSoCal I'm happy I can still remember 39.... it was a few years ago. :)
Enjoy it! After I turned 40 it all went down hill.
@DaveInSoCal I agree. In northeastern PA, there is a wide age range of people attending events (30-65). However, most people I cache with are 5-15 years older than me (I'm 35).
@connorbush http://www.woot.com/plus/pyle-metal-detectors-night-vision-optics?ref=cnt_wp_28
@jimmyd103 Pyle stuff is meh at best...
@duodec or a pile.
@jimmyd103 frightening bad reviews on Amazon
@jimmyd103 thank you for the heads up though I did consider them and look into it.
@duodec sorry. I didn't mean to recommend complete shit. I just thought it was more than a coincidence that it was peg at woot.
I agree Pile is junk.
@connorbush apologies for wasting your time. Thank God these peeps kept me in check.
@jimmyd103 :-) not a waste. I do like tat their coils are completely submersible. I almost pulled the trigger!
I got into metal detecting about a year ago. Well, it was probably less but since I was pretty obsessed it feels like at least a year. I had one as a kid, etc. and went out and spent $100 to get a $150 used one on Craigslist. They hold their value well so it's often tough to find good deals on used ones. I upgraded to a Garrett AT Pro a few months back. It's a decent detector, though considering I spent $450 on it, I have come to terms with the fact that I am not likely to recoup the money spent on it. I think it was worth the upgrade because it took no time at all to learn the cheap machine and in a week I was frustrated with its inability to discern different types of metal, recover quickly from a sweep, etc. So it is fun to have a machine with room to grow (still learning the signals and techniques).
But it is hugely fun and relaxing to calmly sweep it, especially across unfamiliar territory - you never know what you will find. An hour goes by in the blink of an eye. It is a bit like having a super power. X-ray vision for underground, except it doesn't work very well. "Well, this might be tin foil, or it might be a gold ring. Probably foil."
Good spots are hard to come across because they are often either "fished out," in which case you are pitting your detector against someone else's more expensive one, or they are hard to access. Once in a while you find a good new spot, but most of the time you are finding garbage and recently lost coins and trinkets.
Kids love to crowd around and see what I'm doing. I just say I'm "hunting for treasures," but really most of what I find is garbage. Even the "treasures" aren't really worth anything. But it's still fun. Expect to find mostly garbage and be excited that you're using something like a super power and you'll do all right. Check out Nugget Noggin and Deep Digger Dan on YouTube.
@a13z I like deep digger dan videos. Well the three I just watched today. I'm mostly looking for it to make hiking more fun ava walking along the ocean. I'm into the zen aspect of it. I rather enjoy monotony. Thanks for the insider view point.
@a13z I also have the AT Pro. It's a great detector for the price range. And once you start hunting the right areas, you'll have enough to pay for the detector just in coins. My AT Pro is actually my 3rd detector. Had a Garrett Ace 250 and a Bounty Hunter before that. I've paid for all 3 with my findings. Mostly coins (clad) but also some gold rings and such. I keep all of the silver I find, especially older silver coins. I mainly only detect during colder seasons cause I can't stand being out in the heat for long. I like to detect around old schools (especially football fields and playgrounds), old churches, and sometimes city parks. I need to start hunting some private lands to get into some cool old coins.... but I just don't ever feel like bothering people on their property.
I JUST bought a metal detector so I'm interested in seeing the responses.
My metal detector is with me all of the time. I'm the inspector over the mine.
You could be lucky like these folks who found $11 million of gold coins on their property. Probably not, though.
Now I will disclose my invention on which I will retire. I'm trusting that none of you will steal this idea: combination metal detector/weed whacker. Perfect, right?
Many of you already own a metal detector... your phone.
https://ting.com/blog/til-there-are-metal-detector-smartphone-apps-and-they-actually-work/
A smartphone uses an instrument called a magnetometer to sense the Earth's magnetic field. It's quite sensitive to the presence of certain metals, even at a distance.
(A conventional metal detector actually generates its own electromagnetic field and works with more types of metal.)
So congrats, you're only an app download away from weirding out fellow beachgoers!
@mehbee @mfladd
Real Men of Genius: Mr Beach Metal Detector Guy
Bit the bullet!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002J1LNO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00
@connorbush have fun, man! A detector like that will be great in park grass to find coins. Your first time out, drop a few different coins, a ring of your own, a bottle cap, and some gum wrapper foil to see what the different targets sound like. Sweep them at different heights above the ground, too. Bring an old Philips head screw driver to use as a probe so you don't dig up turf unnecessarily. You can often probe into the dirt and inch or two around where you think a target is and pop it out without having to dig at all. Keep us posted of how it goes!
@a13z Thanks! Will do. I will also look into a proper sod blade so as that I can fill the holes each time. I live near a lake and with the extreme droughts here in California, the water has gone down over 30 feet. I bet I can find some neat treasures!
@connorbush You'll probably find all the Bud cans my parents sank in Lake Berryessa in the 70s.
@SSteve hopefully! Melt it down for scrap :-)
@connorbush - I lived next to Lexington Dam in the Santa Cruz mountains for many years. When they built the dam, they flooded some towns, so when the water goes down you can see roads and foundations. I dug up many old bottles and things down there.
There are also some boulders in which the Ohlone Indians created mortars, presumably to grind acorns and other seeds.
Have fun with your detector, let us know what you find!
Just ordered 500 metal detectorist business cards. Helps with getting permission to access private land. Farms etc.
@connorbush Let us know how well it works.
@duodec Will do. In the UK there is a 'government-esq' council that one can join. It provides membership and insurance to metal detectorists. The USA is so far behind, priorities am-eye-right?!
@connorbush Dunno. I figure ill annoy just makes it hard to do anything unless the machine gets its take. A detector in the park finding a coin or valuable, nobody gets taxed, or their cut, or mordida... so they make it illegal, or at least difficult.
If they could I don't doubt they'd regulate or tax private land detecting (with owner approval) too.
Here's a great site that will whet your appetite!
http://www.treasurenet.com/index.php
Warning: reading of others successes may be addictive!!
First time out in Hermosa Beach...
A family friend is building a new house about 4 blocks up from the ocean. They dug down 10 ft below the lot on which their house sits (probably too deep). I found a dozen REALLY old and rusty nails, a couple of what appear to be scrap-dripping piles from welding or melted metal in a pile (half dollar size).
The best part though is that I found a name/addressed pressed into a piece of metal. This was in the deepest corner of the lot. The address was that of a man named William Harman in Pasadena. We have city records on the property for decades--this would have been over 100 years ago. We were, after all, about 12 feet below the current foundation.
The Harman surname is a seasoned and historically rich name. This metal tag appeared to be the one seen on a chest, beer stein, and or commemorative plate. No idea what it is though.
@connorbush pics please of your find.
@mfladd sadly. I suck and did not take pics. I will see if my fiance's nephew did. He went with us.