Big Boys Hobbies

Canuck Newb About To Buy First MD

S

Scort

New Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2015
Messages
5
Location
Georgian Bluffs, Ontario
Will be buying my first MD soon. After much reading and research, I am almost certain it will be a Compadre 8 inch. I like the simplicity, the price and the lifetime warranty. Already have too many video screens in my life LOL, so the audio only will be fine. I'll learn the language. I figure I can get well fitted out for under $500.00.

Would love to hear from other Compadre users ....

My second choice would be the F2.

The options around here are mostly: farmland, parks, sports fields, beaches.
I guess I'll be mostly digging coins, jewelry, farm bits and artifacts. A few early native pieces would be a bonus (trade axes etc)
If I go north, I might also have access to old hunting and mining camps.

I'm in the Owen Sound area (Bruce Peninsula) of Ontario and would be great to join up with anyone nearby for hunting, advice and camaraderie. Any clubs nearby ?
Also, would anyone have a handle on the mineralization in this area ?

Thanks for the add folks :) Looking forward to seeing and posting finds. Cheers !
 
Hello from Kansas City,MO. Either the Tesoro or the Fisher would be a great first derector. The F2 does have a display but also has 4 tones and a lot of subtle variations within those 4 tones. Just my 2 cents from being an F2 owner. Either unit would be great.
 
Welcome aboard!

I really like my 8" Compadré. Had it a bit over a year and I never feel like I'm missing anything. Sometimes I wish I had the smaller coil (tot-lots only) but when swinging in a field glad to have the 8. It took awhile to get used to it after using a Bounty Hunter for almost a year. I got frustrated at a really iron rich park on like my first or second outing with it. But that park would be a pita with any detector.

It likes rusty iron, but I hunt with only a tiny bit of descrimination, set at the "r" in iron.

I've picked up 5 gold rings with my Compadré :). And have used it in knee deep mineralized (black sand) fresh water without issue.

I hunt tot-lots, parks, fields, lakes shores up to knee deep. Love that it uses only 1 9v. It's very light, but putting a coil cover on the 8" coil really makes a huge addition in weight, but feel it is worth it.

I bought an inline volume control because with some earbuds (I only use my right earbud, iPhone earbuds are really loud), it was way loud.

I like that it is made in Arizona, and has a lifetime warranty.

Anyway, fun little machine at a great price (try a sponsor on this site!)

Welcome again, and happy hunting.
 
Welcome from Quebec. I"m also a super new newbie and waiting on my first MD from the mail. I have no clue whats a good MD or not but when I joined and asked I got a good percent of the members suggesting the F2 because it has 4 tones and a lot of subtle variations within those 4 tones and its simplicity to use, like musicnut1986's had said above.

HH
 
can't say much about the Tesoro because i never had one - but i hear that are great detectors.

With that being said - I say go with the F2

It is an affordable, easy to learn, fun detector to use.
It takes no time at all to learn how to use it, and once you get used to the VDI
and tones you will find more and more treasures.

You can use it to find relics, jewelry, coins. And let me tell you it is a coin killer. It will find you as much as some high end detectors. I have found coins to about 7-8"deep and some bigger things much deeper.

With 3 different stock coils available (4" 8" and 10") at a very reasonable price you will be able to detect anything.

All in all it is a very reliable, affordable and fun detector to use.
 
Well, I am in the process of salting my PayPal account for the upcoming purchase. Would like to be as well outfitted as I can in one go. In the meantime, I continue to read and research. I had, more or less, decided on either the Compadre or the F2, but I'm really starting to like what I've been reading and watching about the Silver uMax. It's a bit more money and I'm wondering if there would be that much of an improvement over the Compadre 8, for example. Interchangeable coils obviously a big plus. Any uMax folks care to share ? Cheers !
 
I have a Tesoro Tejon (don't know about the other Tesoros though) and have had it for years. Never clicked with the thing and never use it. I took it out and dusted it off recently to see if I could learn to like it, but nope. Just not right for me. It's a fine machine and actually probably a much "better" machine than my F2. It was certainly more expensive... but that doesn't make me like it any better. My husband likes it better than I do but even he uses his Ace 250 a lot more than the Tesoro.

On the other hand I've had my trusty and cheap little F2 for about a year and a half now and definitely do click with it. It's so easy and light to use, no having to guess if it's ground balanced or if my knobs are tuned right since it has no ground balance or knobs, (I'm definitely not good at running the knobby Tesoro) and I really like the display and tones.

IMO it just boils down to what machine appeals to you as they are very, very different styles of machines.
 
Hello and welcome from Lafayette Indiana! Boiler-Up!!!

I wish I could lend some advice on your choice of equipment, but I have no experiance with any of the above. I'm sure you will have a great time with whatever you choose, you seem like the kind of person that does your homework before you take the plunge. Good luck and I can't wait to see your first post of finds!
 
I can't speak to the performance of the silver, but I do have both the Compadre and F2. Both have their plusses and minuses. As I see it, the benefits of each are:

Compadre
Less cost
Lifetime warranty
Spot on discrimination
More rugged
Only one 9v battery

F2
Interchangeable coils
Adjustable sensitivity
Pinpoint
Notch, if you use it (I don't)
Tid display??

For a first machine, I would go with the Compadre. Tid on the F2 is jumpy on some ground and may cause more harm than good as you tend to rely on it too much as a new detectorist. You may end up passing over good targets and never know it. Without a display, you will learn to listen for the good signals and not trying to get a repeatable tid in order to decide if you are going to dig or walk. The Compadre is a blast to use, as long as you don't take it apart and try tweaking the settings (ask me how I know!).

However, I would suggest a third machine, the Teknetics Eurotek Pro. It is my favorite intro level machine from all that I have used. In my soil, it is much more consistent in tid than the F2 and deeper than both the F2 and Compadre. I have dug relatively deep targets with it and have been impressed with its accuracy.

You may want to try out a few different machines before you buy if that is an option. Whatever you end up getting, take the time to fully learn it and don't get frustrated. To fully learn a new machine, it will take a long time. Good luck!!
 
Hi Scort,

Welcome to the forum ! I have had the F2 and now use the Compadre 8.
Both are great machines for the price point. I found the F2 high tones
spoil you and made me more of a cherry picker. Also the VDI on the F2
made me over think a lot of targets and I would pass on them but that is just
me. Once I got the Compadre 8 I started to dig more and pass less on targets
which is what I wanted. I don't think the umax is worth the price point unless
you have EMI issues in your area and need a sens control knob.
 
Welcome from Quebec.
I got an F2 and finding lots of clad.
On short lunch hunts I average 3-5 bucks easy.
Yes here in Canada,the clad count really adds up faster,with our 1 and 2
Dollar coins.
 
Coppertop said:
Welcome from Quebec.
I got an F2 and finding lots of clad.
On short lunch hunts I average 3-5 bucks easy.
Yes here in Canada,the clad count really adds up faster,with our 1 and 2
Dollar coins.
Click to expand...

I was starting to think I was the only guy from Quebec on here.
 
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