Before I even had a detector in mind I'd seen a friends Garrett EuroAce (aka Ace350 in the USA) and a his XP Deus both great machines and they gave me an idea of what to expect from the entry and high end of the market.
I found the XP Deus was somewhat out of my price range, I could probably stretch to one 2nd hand but it was a bit much commitment for a hobby I wasn't even sure I would enjoy beyond the 1st year, the EuroAce a fantastic budget machine wasn't alone in it's place in the market so I watched several Youtube videos, read reviews and even magazines I then weighed up the pro's and con's accepted many of the videos and reviews were heavily loaded by reviewers bigging up the machines due to sponsorship or other favours in kind by the manufacturers or distributors.
This is a big problem for any newcomer to any hobby, read certain angling magazines and you'd be forgiven for thinking if you don't own the latest greatest offerings by certain manufacturers you won't ever catch a fish the same is true in metal detecting.
After a few weeks of serious OCD learning about the different technologies involved in metal detectors such as VLF, PI, FBS & BBS and the differences in coil types concentric, DD and elliptical DD etc I eventually came to a conclusion as to what detector I would order.
I opted for a Teknetics Eurotek Pro with the 11DD coil. it took a couple of days for the package to arrive from Unearthed UK ltd who kindly also provided me with a neoprene control box cover free of charge.
Naturally it took me all of 30 seconds to slash the packaging open and start pulling out all the bits.
1st impressions it looks quite basic, I'd already watched every Youtube video I could find regarding this detector as well as having read every article and review I could find (not too many admittedly) so I had a pretty good idea how everything works give or take before opening the box. the one thing I did get momentarily stuck on was assembly, but after a few knotted brows and chin rubs it all went together swimmingly..
And in case you're wondering no I didn't consult the manual, it was thrown back into the box as I scrambled to remove all the important bits, men don't need manuals we rely on our primeval technical sense of 'LEGO TAUGHT ME EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ASSEMBLING STUFF!!'
Having assembled my detector and confirmed all the wiring in my home is in fact made of metal, and that much of the floorboards are indeed held in place with bits of metal and generally waving a metal detector around indoors is a sure fire way of making lots of beeping noises, or in the case of the Eurotek Pro lots of duck quacking noises.
Once I'd finished dicking about I was reliably informed I'd need some other stuff to go detecting..
1) Coil Cover, apparently this is really important to protect the expensive and quite fragile coil on the metal detector, if it's so essential why wasn't one fitted as standard!? apparently some metal detectors do have them fitted as standard, but not this machine, well new one ordered from Unearthed UK ltd after I phoned them and they confirmed exactly which cover I'd need.
2) Spade / Digging implement, not sure why I hadn't thought of this as it's so mind numbingly bloody obvious, fortunately my friend Mr Miyagi had a neat folding spade I was welcome to have.
3) Finds Bag, apparently a carrier bag doesn't cut it, so off into town after scouring around various shops I found a suitable olive green handbag which fit the bill perfectly, once the signs of womanly handbagness were removed it looked the part.
4) Pinpointer, now this Mr Miyagi told me cost him around £40, yes well apparently that was in some crazy feckin' sale because they are closer to £90!! for a Garret Pro Pointer! this I have to admit kicked my plug in a little, but,, in for a penny in for a pound so I ordered one from Detecnicks
The coil cover arrived the next day and the pro pointer arrived the day after so hopefully NOW I'm all set to find treasure and riches beyond my wildest dreams!
It is important to never take any ONE person or reviewers word for how good a metal detector is or what equipment you must have my biggest asset was having mild OCD when it comes to reading up on things and a friend who had been detecting for years to point out what sometimes were mind numbingly obvious but easily overlooked when focusing so heavily on which metal detector!
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