Hidden History LTD

[avakad]

Ok guys, i want to pick your brains here, Im currently looking at buying my first metal detector, ive been aching to get into the hobby for ages and am about to take the plunge. ive been thinking about getting a cheapish one to start but after hours and hours of reading and research i have some questions

1. If i buy a cheap one.....lets say a garrett euro ace or ace 250 am i going to suffer on the beach? all that ive read has said that wet sand is an issue for these machines, i plan on using it on the beach a lot.

2. If I buy a cheaper model is it likely that i'll want to upgrade relatively soon as i get more and more into detecting, if so i may as well buy a more expensive machine first as last.

3. Has anyone dealt with hidden history ltd? if im going to buy a more expensive machine im looking at a Deus maybe.  these seem to be the cheapest!

Cheers in advance

Chris

[handyman [Alan}]

Try approaching the more established players such as regtons, leisure promotions, deteknics, to see if they will price match.

[hotmill]

I've bought a few things from Hidden History, no problems.

[Radnor Bandit (Ian)]

All depends how well you are at understanding new tech.  As the more advanced machines have a lot of settings that may only make sense if you have a bit of experience to start with.
Saying that if you do go for a upper end machine I'm sure that the guys on here will help you with it.

[Chef Geoff]

I wouldn't get too worried about the seeming complexities of certain machines as metal detecting even at it's most advanced isn't rocket science and all machines are pretty easy to understand.....OK well maybe not the DFX
If you intend to do beaches then Garrett is definitely NOT the way to go and if you wan't to do them and do them well then you have really got to be looking at either Minelab BBS (Sovereigns) or FBS (Explorers etc) machines, the Sovereign has proved itself to be the best VLF beach machine over 20 years and you can pick up a second hand model reasonably cheaply these are also great pasture machines and simple to use and understand, while the Deus will do beaches it is running in a very retarded mode which is of limited use, this is no slur on the Deus as no single frequency machine can cope with salt wet sand....a touch of "horses for courses".
Yes I would say that if you buy a basic machine and get the bug then like most you will be upgrading inside of 12 months this is the life blood of machine manufactures, my advise would be to buy a S/H which means that should metal detecting not turn out to be for you your money is pretty safe on a resale basis whereas if you spend £1100 on a Deus as soon as you walk out of the shop and get to the car it's now only worth £900
Nothing negative about Hidden History as far as I've heard

[Mungo]

hidden history are very helpful and pleasant to deal with......................

[avakad]

Evening Guys, thanks for the comments, good to hear that hidden histories are ok to deal with, i just wanted to check before spending quite a large sum of money. with regards to the tech side of things I should be ok (i think) 

I have enquired about SH detectors but the market is surprising limited with the exception of ebay! and the prices on there reach pretty much retail on most items! and being that there are no metal detecting shops in wales (that i know of at least) im kind of stuck with buying new (maybe a good business opportunity there somewhere)

As for the sovereigns, they are something that i hadn't considered but will look into, to be honest as far as detectors go i've not actually used any however a couple of kind people have offered to let me tag along with them

once again guys thanks for the replies

Chris
 

[Dryland]

If you're thinking of going down the second hand route, try Staffordshire Detectors, [google it ] I've had 3 machines from Kevin in the past.
He's a great guy to deal with