This is the ultimate guide to metal detectors in 2020.
In this guide i’ll show you:
– The best metal detector that’s value for money (what most people look for).
– The metal detector that will perform best for the type of hunting you’re looking to do.
– The pros and cons of each type of detector.
– A small write up on what I think you will like or dislike about the detector based on our testing.
Let’s get started. This is a big write up, so I’ve created the following categories to make navigation easier for you.
First though, the reality is that metal detectors are expensive, so it take a lot of time and money to be able to test and review detectors. This post alone has taken close to 2 months to pull together, and while all care is taken to provide you the correct information, on occasion I will miss a detail – if you see an error, or you have a question please reach out to me.
Nominating the best value for money metal detector is highly subjective, so I have ranked based on:
Ultimately these are your no regrets detectors. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or an expert these machines will keep most people busy and having fun. | |||||||||||
| 1st – Minelab EQUINOX 800 | |||||||||||
 |   When it comes to being a gun all round metal detector, my favorite metal detector to recommend is the Minelab EQUINOX. It’s one of the best metal detectors that I have ever owned, and while it’s on the upper end of many peoples price range at just under $900, it packs in so much value when compared to other more expensive metal detectors that it’s a steal. Using the EQUINOX I’ve managed to rediscover old stomping grounds that I thought had been completely turned over. Check out why I love the Minelab EQUINOX – My detailed review
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| 2nd – Garrett AT Pro | |||||||||||
 |  I’ve put the Garrett AT Pro in the number 2 position for best value for money metal detector . It’s much cheaper than the EQUINOX 800 at under $600 and it’s a seriously good metal detector. Read my Garrett AT Pro Review here For the last 5 years I’ve had the trusty AT Pro in at the number 1 spot, and to be honest, you could make a case for it to stay there, but over the last few months I’ve found myself using the EQUINOX 800 significantly more than the AT Pro as i’m finding more with it. If you’re more budget conscious then you’ll love the AT Pro. I’ve spent years on this hobby, and in terms of number of hours spent with any 1 metal detector – this is the 1 I’ve spent the most time with by a long way.
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| 3rd – XP DEUS | |||||||||||
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The XP DEUS has 3 main advantages when compared with most other detectors.
Depending on what your searching for, this could easily be ranked as the number 1 detector, the only real issues I have with it is that it’s less intuitive than the EQUINOX and the AT Pro, and it’s over $1000. Now I know this is the value for money section of my review, and yet I’ve just said that the XP DEUS is expensive, but it is insane value when you compare it to many of the more expensive detectors and in many cases it also outperforms them. So while it’s a negative, it’s also massive value for money.
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| UNDER $100 – Bounty Hunter TK4 | |||||||||
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The Ace 200 is an upgraded version of the Garrett Ace 150 detector (The 150 is no longer a current model, but can still be purchased cheaply – Read my Garrett ACE 150 Review) and comes with a 6.5″ x 9″ concentric PROformance search coil. This is Garrett’s entry level detector that has all the basic features you will need to start metal detecting as a hobby. I recommend that people start with either this detector or the ACE 300 so that you get a decent feature set and also become familiar with the Garrett interface should you want to upgrade in the future to either an AT Pro or AT Max.
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The ACE 300 is an upgraded version of the Garrett ACE 250 detector (The 250 is no longer a current model, but it was one of the best selling metal detectors in the world and can still be purchased cheaply – Read my Garrett ACE 250 Review here). The ACE 300 comes with a Concentric 7″ x 10″ search coil for coverage and detection depth and operates at 8 kHz to better find low and medium conductivity targets.
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The Fisher F44 packs in a lot of value for the price and is clearly a star performer in the sub $500 range. In fact, if you do not plan on beach hunting, it is almost as good as the Garrett AT Pro, which is a couple hundred dollars more.
So the F44 comes with a standard 11″ Searchcoil and operates at 7.69 kHz frequency. The thing I love about the fisher machines is the display. It’s so easy to see and interpret – which makes it great for first timers and also people with poor eye sight. The big draw back is the lack of submersion capability, but for this price point it’s a steal.
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The Garrett AT Pro was released in 2010 and has been around for a long time, but it’s also stood the test of time. I personally used the Garrett AT Pro as my go to detector for most of that time until the Minelab Equinox turned up. Having said that, I still do use the AT Pro, I love the Pro Mode Audio and find that nothing else really compares to it in that department.
I know this is the under $750 section, but it almost made the under $500 review, as currently the AT Pro retails for between $500 and $600, which for a detector with this many high end features is a great price.
Read my Garrett AT Pro Review here
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My new favorite detector in the under $1,000 price range is the Minelab Equinox 800. In my opinion this is the best value minelab detector on the market, the easiest to use and hits the most targets for a detector under $1,000. The only thing I have struggled with is the different tones between it and the AT Pro, which I am more used to.
Read my Minelab EQUINOX Review here
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I haven’t done a full review of the XP DEUS yet, but it’s next on my list as it’s a top of the line performer that consistently hits targets – particularly if you are into coin shooting.
The thing I love about the XP DEUS is the weight. It might be a strange thing to be excited about, but when you go out often for hours at a time, the weight of your detector can become a major factor in
- A) how much fun you have, and
- B) how long you go out for.
I swear, sometimes when I use the Garrett ATX or when I did a recent trial of the Minelab GPZ 7000, I was ready to pack up after an hour as my arm felt like lead. If you’re getting on in years, this should be a major factor in your decision making. There is no point having the best detector in the world if you never use it because it’s too damn heavy!
Warranty on the XP DEUS is a huge selling point. I’m used to Garrett detectors that come with a 2 year warranty, so having 5 years with the XP DEUS is a big plus.
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Best Metal Detector For Gold / Finding Gold Nuggets
Normally when I go out treasure hunting for the day – I’m looking for gold. Normally I don’t find any, and when I do, it’s normally very small, but sometimes you can hit a big one and it really does help to have the right tools. When I go gold nugget hunting I use the Garrett ATX (Read my detailed Garrett ATX review here). The controls are different from the standard Garrett unit, but it doesn’t take very long to get used to, with most people likely to be able to start using it straight out of the box. Note: If all 3 of my top selections below are too expensive and you’re just looking for a decent gold detector that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, then I have 2 gold detectors that may be at a more suitable price point and still get the job done:
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| 1st – Garrett ATX | |||||||||
The Garrett ATX is ideal for gold prospecting, relic hunting in highly mineralized soils, shallow water coin and jewelry hunting, and even for industrial applications. The Garrett ATX metal detector includes Motion and Non-Motion Modes, Advanced Ground Balance, LED signal strength indicator, Iron Check, and much more. It features advanced pulse induction technology, a durable design that meets military specifications.
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| 2nd – Minelab GPZ 7000 | |||||||||
The Minelab GPZ 7000 was designed for the goldfields through the world, it uses their ZVT technology to detect both very small and large gold nuggets at extreme depths.
As this machine is top of the line, it comes with a top of the line price tag, which will put many people off purchasing it and while it’s better at detecting gold than the Garrett ATX, I have put it in at 2nd place simple because of the price tag. It is also missing many of the basic features that cheaper metal detectors have such as iron discrimination and target depth ID, so you need to dig or investigate all targets.
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| 3rd – Minelab GOLD MONSTER 1000 | |||||||||
I’ve included the Minelab Gold MONSTER in 3rd spot. I’ve only done a few tests with this machine, but so far it’s been very good at finding gold. Where this machine shines is that it’s super simple to use and it hits targets. It’s like an expert level gold detector, but for beginners that know very little about hunting gold and detecting in general. One of the main features that the Minelab Gold MONSTER has is that it uses a single 45 kHz frequency, which is supposed to be in a sweet spot for gold. This means you don’t need to spend time worrying about soil mineralization and constantly adjusting settings. It’s probably the best gold frequency detector that I’ve used, but it does fall short when compared to the pulse induction models.
This then leads to the other interesting feature of the Gold MONSTER and that’s the automatic ground tracking system – essentially it’s how the Gold MONSTER does ground balancing. It’s hard to tell exactly how well automatic ground balancing actually works, but I felt confident that this machine was doing the job well, as I was hitting plenty of targets when I tested it. Minelab has always been a leader when it comes to automatic ground balancing, so it makes sense that there were no issues – It’s probably a habit thing for me that makes be distrust automatic functions.
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| 1st – Minelab EQUINOX 800 | |||||||||
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| 1st – Minelab GPZ 7000 | |||||||||
The Minelab GPZ 7000 was designed for the goldfields through the world, it uses their ZVT technology to detect both very small and large gold nuggets at extreme depths.
I’ve put the GPZ 7000 in at number 1 for the expert category as if you’re a heavy treasure hunter like I am, then the cost of a machine like this won’t bother you as you’ll know that over time you’ll make the money back and have a blast while doing it. The GPZ 7000 will find things other detectors just cant. It might be due to a lack of noise interference, ability to cut through soil mineralization or just because the ZVT technology really does find gold deeper than other technologies. Whatever the reason, it 100% does find targets that every other detector misses and for that reason it has to be in 1st position despite the high cost.
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| 2nd – Garrett ATX | |||||||||
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| 1st – Bounty Hunter TK4 | |||||||||
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| 1st – XP DEUS | |||||||||
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| 2nd – Garret GTI 2500 | |||||||||
The real selling point of the Garrett GTI 2500 is the True-size imaging. This technology allows the user to know exactly what the size of the target is before digging. As you can see from the images below, the Graphic Target Imaging (GTI) shows both the size and depth of a target, and it’s very accurate – even at depth. Other than the weight, this machine is a boss for pretty much all types of detecting (including gold – see other gold detectors)
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| 3rd – Minelab EQUINOX 800 | |||||||||
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| 1st – Minelab EQUINOX 800 | |||||||||||
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| Minelab EQUINOX 800 Beach Videos |
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As far as beach hunting goes, the Fisher 1280X-8 isn’t very good.
So why is it in the list? Because some people like to hunt underwater whilst diving, and in that use case the EQUINOX 800 and AT Pro are not going to work. This machine will allow you to go up to 250 feet underwater, which is it’s main selling point. Honestly, unless you are going diving, the EQUINOX 800 and AT Pro are all you need on the beach.
Just to be absolutely clear – do not, I repeat, do not buy this detector for beach hunting unless you are planning on going dive hunting!
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| 1st – Garrett ATX | ||||||||||
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I haven’t done a full review of the XP DEUS yet, but it’s next on my list as it’s a top of the line performer that consistently hits targets – particularly if you are into coin shooting.
The thing I love about the XP DEUS is the weight. It might be a strange thing to be excited about, but when you go out often for hours at a time, the weight of your detector can become a major factor in
- A) how much fun you have, and
- B) how long you go out for.
I swear, sometimes when I use the Garrett ATX or when I did a recent trial of the Minelab GPZ 7000, I was ready to pack up after an hour as my arm felt like lead. If you’re getting on in years, this should be a major factor in your decision making. There is no point having the best detector in the world if you never use it because it’s too damn heavy!
Warranty on the XP DEUS is a huge selling point. I’m used to Garrett detectors that come with a 2 year warranty, so having 5 years with the XP DEUS is a big plus.
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| 1st – Garrett ATX | ||||||||||
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| 1st – Minelab EQUINOX 800 | ||||||||||
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I’ve put all the entry model Garrett metal detectors into this section of the review simply because they are easy to visually interpret without the need to hear anything. The displays show almost everything you need to know for target type, strength of hit and depth.
The people at Garrett have put together a great comparison of all the tech specs for each of the ACE models which I have included below
If you’ve made it this far – thanks, this write up has consumed a big chunk of my life and I hope it helps you to make an informed decision.