What should I get?

Hi Gary, welcome to THunting.com.

     With all due respect and NOT trying to make light of your question,  that's about like asking "What is the best vehicle---Ford, Chevy, Nissan, Peterbilt, Puegot, Chriscraft and should I buy from a dealer or somewhere else?"    
     If you use the search function at the top right corner and search the entire forum for "Best Detector" you'll find some of the previous thoughts on the subject.   The ones that talk about WHAT to consider when choosing a detector and where to buy it are probably more valuable than the ones that talk about specific detector (unless they talk about specific features of the detector).
     Here is a sampling of some of the discussion (and yes, I have tried to cherry-pick a bit):

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     If you are looking for an "entry level" general purpose detector that will pay for itself and that you can grow with seriously consider:

a) look at the Tesoro Compadre or the Tesoro Silver micro Max
b) the Garret Ace 250 or Ace 350  (or the AT Pro if the budget can stretch that far and you will be doing a lot hunting around water)
c) the Fisher F2 or F4 (or the Teknetics  Delta 400 or Teknetics Gamma 600 made by the same company)
d) the White's Coinmaster Pro.

     Which of those you choose would pretty much get down to personal preference (which feels the most comfortable and (in the case of the Tesoro) whether you feel the need for a fancy graphics readout).

BA


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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,34989.msg212425.html#msg212425

Welcome from New Mexico !

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,34989.msg212443.html#msg212443

Great question, and welcome! B.A.s list is the best of the best entry machines going! just got the ace 250 and loving it! I started with an old Garrett master hunter ads III. Well under a hundred bucks! I have a soft spot in my head for the Garrett brand (new to the sport myself). What I am trying to say is, there are some old reliable machines out there for a budget minded person. read through the forum, especially the metal detecting/by brands section. Think about the kind of hunting you want to do. You will soon discover there is a machine designed just for your kind of hunting

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,34989.msg212524.html#msg212524

Gday Mate,
 Greetings from orstralia, It's a real dinky di bonza bewdy little family we have here, whatever you buy, DONT buy it from Radio Shack, I'm a Garrett Guy myself, one machine is about 25y/o and the other is improved for 1990. dont need to spend hugh money to try it out, do not buy from Radio Shack did i say that already. Minelab have some great entry level machine's and you only have to sell one kid to get one not the whole family lol.
 Ask questions, look around here. and if you don't go overboard spending, your first machine will pay for itself. Mine have ( they were both free but )
Happy Hunting
Keep on
 
Gozzo

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,34989.msg212550.html#msg212550

Dig it, you know you WANT to.