Hello all. Glen the newb here. Am looking for a new hobby and a girl friend and myself have been mulling this over for a bit. So weve decided to get to want to see/try something, and our closest big city is Wellington. Any outfits in Welly anyone knows of. I/we are in Blenheim so… any help greatly appreciated.
chairs glen
Questions: What sort of hunting are you wanting to do? (Coin shooting on land or beach…or both) Relics? Gold on the West Coast?
And what sort of budget are you looking at - Assuming you’ll be wanting a machine each (competition always makes it more fun 
)
Also, I’d repost in the Coil Swingers / Social forum to see if there’s anyone near you who’d be willing to take you out for a hunt to try before you buy.
MW
Thank you. Mr Mud. Yes to both areas really. Beach and around firm ground. Old housing areas etc. Up rivers after floods. Believe there is still a bit to be had around canvastown area. Pelorus rivers etc. Gold obviously would be a bonus. But just coming across old interesting finds… As to equipment, having looked at sites that sell this gear, somewhere around the 2 grand, 2 and a half perhaps. thinking that the more expensive is probably for a more advanced prospector though, advice for a first machine would be taken. But definitely one machine. Just to spend a lazy day with. She may wish to purchase her own later:-) I do see an outfit in Auck, Tactical Solutions, who deal with Garrett and another down Gore way, Piuaki, who have the Fisher. Altho this Minelab stuff???.. Dilemmas
Anyway, cheers for your reply, and yes will try and move post to the swingers. (not a proficient computerist:-))
chairs glen
The only gold I hunt is the funny ring-shaped nuggets found on beaches, so this is biased to that rather than searching for native gold.
$2k will pretty much put you in the upper quarter of machines anyway.
Maybe look at the XP Deus - I don’t know the machine personally, but reports from users in webland seem to be favourable and it seems to have a bit of bang-for-buck down to the wet sand on the beach. Although if you want to actively hunt in or very close to the salt water then you’re looking for the Excal or similar, but will need the straight shaft mod to stop your arms being pulled out of their sockets after a few hours (it’s designed for diving, so weight/balance are against you in the stock setup)
Problem is if you ask any swinger, you usually get the answer that their machine is the best. And it probably is, for them. Best advice is to read the ‘unsponsored’ reviews which pretty much eliminates any website that sells detectors and a few posters in forums.
So, ignoring all the above I run an Excal on the beach and AT Pro on land to good effect and have no reason to change.
two different machines for the different applications. this is what I’m looking for. great advice. A lot to get ya head around for sure. Bit like 4wd’ing. Just cos ya got 4 don’t mean ya going everywhere. More research. appreciate your help (so far) Mr Wiggle:-)
Hi - Makro Racer (Red) is a great all-round machine - Beach (wet & dry sand) - Prospecting (as good as a Gold Bug) & of course a fantastic Coin/Relic hunter -
Grab a Teknetics Delta 4000 for the Mrs - Great lightweight coin-shooter
Good luck with what ever you decide
thanks eSCANz. think theres gonna be a few over time. Mr Mud has sorted me a little unit that should suit a newb:-) something with training wheels on… 
Hi Kapiti Coast detector calling, I use the Garrett Ace 300i as our group mainly goes dry land hunting for coins and relics and the odd job finding jewelery but occasionally goes detecting at the beach and can be a bit funny. As were new as well we don’t know how to change to the settings to math the sand. I bought my detector and pinpointer off the official Garrett NZ website and it appears it comes from a shop in Auckland so very handy next day delivery which is good, Good luck out there.