Thank you for making this tutorial video; very much appreciated, considering the instruction manual is not so informative. I took my daughter to Harbor Freight and she was outside with me, all day, helping to find junk metal in her grandparents' yard. Anybody need an activity to do with their child? Get a HF coupon and buy this toy. Thanks again for the upload.
Picked one of these up the other day - had a 25% off coupon bringing the price down for $35 bucks. Can't tell you how many times I lost a nut, cotter key, tool etc in the grass. Thanks for the review - better than reading the manual!
It's a keeper! Mine gimme 2 quarters in the very 5 minutes in my back yard, great hobby with the kids ,just followe the instructions for setting up ,and you are good to go!
The electric company brought a big limb trimmer through and burried my water cut off valve, and meter. I tried several methods to find it but short of digging a trench in the vicinity of where I remembered it being I needed a metal detector. Ran to Harbor Freight and bought one of these 9 function detectors...and it works! I was actually surprised it put me right on top of it. It also found a buried can of skoal, some beer cans, and some foil ketchup packets. I don't think I'd bother trying to metal detect on the side of a public road unless like me you have to find something specific. lol
i got one of these detectors 5 months ago its my first detector and i love it and am addicted to it now i find more coins with it then my friend does with his expensive one my first silver i found with it was a 1917 mercury dime thats when i really got addicted to it lol nice review by the way
I don't know if this is some weird coincidence but... I wanted a metal detector for Christmas back in 2016. But the crazy part is, I got that EXACT SAME metal detector, and I'm 15, the same age as your son!!!
I just bought one at Harbor Freight yesterday. Already found over $20 in change at a location down the street that hosts an outdoor art festival every year, and I have only covered a small area. I will keep covering it on the weekends.
Thank you. I liked what you did for people. It helped me. The last time I touched a metal detector was back in the 70's. I bought one of these and for me it will be great.
Nice review. Thanks. You can tell the naysayers haven’t done their homework or even tried the Harbor Freight detector. They only criticize with no knowledge of how well this machine works. I own a Whites and two Bounty Hunters and this 39dollar Harbor Freight (with coupon) works just as effectively as those. AND your review is excellent.
Thanks Bob, sometimes what looks like a keyboard warrior is just looking through the wrong lens. I don't battle online unless absolutely necessary and prefer an educational and "enlightening" discourse. Thanks for the comment. If the harbor freight 9FMD had the build quality of say, bounty Hunter (a First Texas product) it would surely cost much more. It surves a purpose and fits in a market nitch..
Good review. I have an old Radio Shack detector that I have had for 20 + years. It doesn't have all the extra knobs that yours does. I used it to find my aluminum arrows that would get burried in the grass.
My grandson uses my old Tracker 4 and he is doing ok with it but it is a little tall for him. I have been looking at these and now I think I will get him one. This way he will be able to learn pinpointing. thanks Jay. This has helped a lot!
Wow...thank you for that. Your video has been the most informative video about how to set the dials and what they actually mean. Keep up the good work! Understanding the dials means everything.
Thanks John. Yes he did find some stuff. Some pocket change down around 2 to 4 inches, rusty bottle cap at 6", pull tabs in the sod etc..... So it works, My ace 250 to HF9FMD comparison video shows that this one might discriminate steel bottle caps better than my ace...
I bought one of these, I haven't hit the jackpot yet, but I'm having lots of fun looking for stuff, and I'm removing dangerous sharp metal objects from the local playgrounds, you would be surprised how many nails and screws are in the sand and play chips around playground equipment.
Hello NH treasurehunter. I actually found a Buffalo nickel and some Wheaties in the front yard of a 1940's house with this MD and that was (after) I had run over the same lawn thoroughly with a Fisher 1260X with the 11" factory coil. One big problem though. There was an overhead power line going to the neighbor's house and with max sensitivity on the Fisher, the Fisher was hampered by the AC line interference. So I had to turn the sens. on the Fisher to more than half way down just to eliminate the chatter the AC was causing. So I might as well, I figured, use a detector I could turn to max. sens. and it might not be affected by the AC the way the Fisher did. Sure enough, the HF 9-Function detector worked smoothly with full sens. so therefore I reason, was why I found the extra coins. I'm impressed with this lightweight and simple-to-use Harbor Freight 9-Function MD. Great detector, as you say, as a backup because no one detector can do everything perfectly but some, like the HF detector can do a few tasks quite well all around.
Great idea. When the good weather is here I usually have my detector hanging in the back window of my truck like a riffle but if i had a trunk it'd be in there for sure.
nice video, well done...I have been waiting for someone to do a decent review on the harbor freight model and you did a great job. hope if you have time you will do another review in the field actually detecting things....thanks!!!!!
Kids nothin, I've used this for about eight months for fun and exercise and I'm sixty one. Of course I am kind of hard on things and have broken three handles. All warranted, my fault but still great. Great little beginner machine in all aspects. I liked doing this so much I bought a professional one from Fort Bedford Metal Detectors. Lovin it.
The only difference between this one and let's say a bounty hunter mark 4 , is the price and a name that's it, now you want a nice once that will go as deep as 10 inches you have to pay the price and get one that's fully submersible will run you about $750 bucks for there low end expensive models that discriminate up to about 9, 10 inches and that's a gold pro model bye Garrett nice machine there for the money, but hey I just bought one of these harbor frieghts water proof coils models, becouse there like I said all the same up to certain models! They do the same job! They just dont go really deep about 5 6 inches is all but well worth saving $300 to $350 dollors I say !
Garrett makes the AT series, (All Terrane) in the AT Pro, Gold and now Max. All waterproof, the AT Pro can be had for about $550 but I do get your point. My Fisher Gold Bug Pro was $400 used demo model. Year 6 with it and it's still 💯%
I mentioned in my video that an air test does not get as good of results as "in the field" testing. Ground moisture and mineralization play a big roll in depth with a metal detector since it's a frequency of "waves" that penetrate the ground and bounce back to be translated by the units on board computing system. I love that you're defending the "HF9FMD", I really like this machine too. I bought this because of all the mods I'm doing to my 250. If I mess up the 250 I can still dig holes. Thanks.
Tones in tone mode are the key. This was my first metal detector. The second day out I found an old Bowie knife that I sold on Ebay for $145!!! I also found many coins (not to mention pull tabs), also some old bullets with this machine. I'd put it head to head hunting coins to the Garrett Ace 250 once you are familiar with the tones. Set at no discrimination and learn the tones and you "know" when you hit a coin or silver. Well worth the investment for a beginner or for someone that lost a ring in the yard. One of the few detectors actually worth the money. Also, if you get good with this, you are ready to work any mid or high range detector out there. PS: I didn't like the Garrett 250 (too close to this $45 machine) and sold it for $1 more than I paid for it. Go figure Ebay ;-) Went with a Garrett AT Pro I picked up for $250 and love it!
If not mentioned, harbor also sells a centech hand held detector for around $16. Very helpful tool to pinpoint your find. Only thing I had to replace was the push switch. Doesn't last long when used as a hobby tool. I installed an on off switch. 97245 is the item / part # . Great vid, thanks for uploading.
Do you mean the coil, the disc looking thing at the bottom? then no, it's hard wired. If you mean disc. as in discrimination then yes, the dial located top right changes it threw the different ranges. You gatta pracitce with the dial to learn how to eliminate iron and steel that you don't want but keep gold, thru silver that you do want. Good luck and have fun.
I've heard of a few people out there who got into the hobby the same way, looking for an arrow, found an baffalo....nickle and they were hooked. Thousands of dollars later there out there posting videos on you tube. Go figure. Thanks for watching Unc... SWING BEEP DIG.
Define GOOD... It works, when metal gets in it's range it goes BEEP. It doesn't go really deep, maybe 6" which is below the sod line and will find old stuff if it's there and the pin poin is dead on balls acurate. Every other feature you saw in the video is just as I described. It'd be great for, a spare, the kids, first time, wife just lost her wedding ring in the yard, etc, etc. Thanks for watching.
bought one of these last week... Not a bad detector at all, although I wish it's balance was a little better. Even though it's not heavy, it makes the forearm tired pretty quick because of the angle it keeps your wrist at. It works WAY better than you'd think it would for the money.
That's EXACTLY why I did the video. I search around for a review of this thing and found squat. It's not a bad detector for your first one but beware..... this is a VERY addicting hobby, once your hooked (first time you find something cool) your in it for a long ride buddy. I love this hobby. Just do your homework and watch lots of our (mine and people who've sub'd me and i've subscribed to) videos and learn just like most of us did. SWING BEEP DIG buddy and thanks for watching.
I like these old style detectors, the meter does nothing, unless your not getting a tone. I set mine all the way to silver and still get clad coins, so really this is a great first step into the hobby, or if your ear is good at the tones you can get more then the garrets tell you. Good video to show you how this thing works.
I just happened to get one of these today as my first detector mainly so I could go out with my buddy. We drove from Harbor Freight straight to a park. Of course I didn't read the manual, and just put it together and started swinging and adjusting by chance. The park was FULL of trash, and made it not very enjoyable. The entire park you would get at least one to two hits per swing, all trash... lame. But I wasn't using "tone" mode. Thanks for explaining it, Should be way more fun next time!
I'm quite familiar with this hobby now and was then too, I wanted to do a "just got this here's what it does in my cold garage" video. I've used it a lot since then and have ZERO complaints about it. Thanks for watching and commenting. If you have more/better info or results with yours do a video response. I know several people who want in on this hobby but have limited cash and may benefit from your info. thanks agian. SWING BEEP DIG.
+Brandon Vincent It's not a bad machine to start with, then as your addiction grows you can save up for a better one, or I you lose interest in it you didn't spend a ton of cash on it. Best to you with it.
That's awesome. I love hearing the "my machine is as good as yours" stories. I swing a Garrett Ace 250 and I got it in trade for some video equipment I paid $40 for and I love it. They retail for $212 so I got a sweet deal. As for the addiction, I hear ya. Good luck kicking this hobby. SWING BEEP DIG.
Thask you for this helpful video. I wondered what a real digger would think of it. I can only afford a start machine and the weather is getting nice so I may go get this for the starter unit. Thanks again.
Yeah well, only when he's not "chillin" with his friends lol. The 6 yr old loves digging with me in the yard but doesn't have the attention span for a hunt out in a field... The 16 year old ends up needing a ride to the skate park... Oh well, on more detector in the line up. Thanks for watching, SBD-----Jay.
I bought one used it this weekend in the mountains was amazed at where you could find beer bottle caps ,beer cans ,nails ,springs, ect. but I didn't get time to search the home stead areas like I wanted anyway thanks for the review.
Totally worth the money, hit a few playgrounds and it'll pay for itself in clad and junk jewelry. We find the craziest stuff in the oddest places, keep at it an you'll love it.
Like you said ....a good enough machine to see if it would peak a beginners interest enough to make them decide if it's something they would like to do and not break the bank !
No prob... whe i put it together i noticed the lower shaft is able to be cut (with a pipe cutter or hacksaw) 'cuz i thought of that for my 6yr old. Glad I could help PTD.... SWING BEEP DIG.
I'm late to the party, but this video should be called "You can measure up instead of down to determine depth" or "This is how the discrimination dial works and why" or maybe "That broken tone you've been hearing is the metal you don't want." Now I can go see if the old slightly-better-than-this one in the back of my truck works! Thanks for the gumball!
Lots of gravel is mostly processed "hot rocks" or rocks with high iron content so that's kinda normal but if the lil detector is that bad in gravel it's a good thing to know. I don't do much gravel hunts anyway so i'm not too worried. Thanks for the great info GLIMMERLAND. and as always, SWING BEEP DIG.
"Bring a magnet"?? magnets only pick up steel and iron (and some Canadian coins) so that would be good for finding nails and screws or iron relics but silver, gold, copper and other metals we look for won't stick to the magnet. The HF9FMD is stone age tech. but it's cheap and tells you where metal is underground, even your coolest sunglasses can't do that. I swing a supermodified ACE 250 normally and have this as my backup. Get yourself a Garrett ProPointer and you'll change your mind.
I had to rewatch my video to see if I said silver, I said clad. I didn't have any silver coins to test with, I do now and my next video (on modifying the HF9FMD to increase depth to 7 or 8 inches) I use a silver quarter and a silver half to test. I know it's ''face value" lol thanks for the comment.
I plan on doing a comparison between it and an ACE 250 that i usually use.... Find a target and compare the ACE to the HF9FMD, dig the target and see... thanks for watching.
I guess it depends on the unit. I figured out how to turn up the sensitivity and discrimination inside the box, there's 2 or 3 variable resistors to play with. You can do too much and it gets very unstable.
Right? Worst case you have a spare detector so the next time you lose yours in the woods you can use this one to find it... just saying. thanks for watching Bill n Bob. SBD.
This one is (MUCH) easier to understand how to use than the similar-looking ones radio shack (used to?) carry. The slung-over handled one form radio shack is two-tone and black with the silver shaft and a red tuning button on the end of the handle. This is (NOT) an easy detector to adjust and is (VERY) unstable with (too) many adjustments dependent on one another. (NOT) the kind of detector that would be good for a beginner let alone someone who has been MD'ing for a long time. A friend of mine found the Radio Shack (complicated) version in a local Goodwill one day. Absolutely nothing wrong with it cosmetically of functionally. But without the original owner's manual, I could not even (begin) to help him learn this machine. (SO) in other words the Harbor Freight MD is (much) better value for the money and much less complicated thus easier to 'set up and go' so to speak, especially for the beginner. The only things I'm a little disappointed in with this MD is #1; No (true) 2-tone i.d. like other detectors have. #2; My first one broke off at the handle where it attaches to the control box and made the rest of the armrest loosen up and fall apart as it's attached underneath the handle to the control box by only two small screws. #3; It's (lack) of an equal 8" depth given the 8" stock coil it uses, is really a bummer on regular U.S. coins. #4; This MD puts almost (all) it's energy into the discrimination that right at the point where the machine discriminates out nails, it's already lost a lot of it's depth capability; 6" tops on a quarter by then. The transmitter circuit is just not robust and powerful enough to 'get the job done'. BUT on the plus side it's (VERY) lightweight; less than a BH Tracker 4 or a BH VLF/Gold Digger. You can swing this baby all day without getting tired out. It (is) still fairly responsive all the way down to its' maximum depth (AS LONG AS) one keeps the discrimination just above nails (but) below nickel/p'tab/ thin gold items. Go higher in disc. than a p'tab/nickel, than you're guaranteed to lose a (lot) of depth as (well as) missing all your nickels/small gold items. Don't worry about digging tabs. In some areas, they are the least of one's worries and problems as ar as problem targets. Hope this helps in (addition) to what you've already told your audience, NH treasurehunter. PS Folks: The cheaper one uses the T/R (transmit/receive) signal system from the 70s and actually, on various sites like eBay, the older 'lunchbox' type T/Rs go much deeper than the cheaper Harbor Freight MD for around the same amt. of money but just make sure if bought off a site like that, that the detector is in good working order (AND) that the machine will still accept the newer type batteries. Some used a 67.5 volt large square battery and they, for the most part, are no longer made. You'd have to (really) modify the old machine to get the 67.5 volts (+) a 9-volt battery (&) a 1.5 volt AA battery, just to have it operate properly. So some of the older ones accepted AA's, some used just 9 volts (1 or 2 of 'em), and some used the 67.5 volt batteries (+ AA/9-volt) so be careful you don't get the latter one by accident. Be a little hard to make work right. Happy hunting to all!!!!
+Prairie G depending on which radio shack model you have you might be sitting on a version made by Bounty hunter for Tandy corp. ...the thing is the harbor freight is a modified version of the old micronta's also made for radio shack but they switched things up the red button on the old models is the auto tune reset now they switched it to a "pin pointer ..and the 3 position select switch was used to change frequencies on older models this is more then likely a beat oscillating model with crappy depth capability detecting an object waving it 6 inches away equates to about 3 inches in dense soil ......anyways actually the multi switch Radio shack model is based on a very effective Bounty Hunter model and is really better fro a beginner to learn on it really is not complicated at all ...being able to adust "ground" manually lets you fine tune the detector to different terrain and they always have to be "tuned " im sorry im not paying 3 or 4 hundred bucks because the model has an "auto tuner ..the Microntas that came with 3 function capability VLF TR1 TR2 PLUS an additional discriminator dial so you can weed out trash it really is simple to set it up because of the number of dials it seems complex when I got mine Radio Shack was closing its doors the units started out over 40 dollars when Tandy realized just how good it was the jacked their price up but people didn't go for it ..its only downside is its in a crappy housing all the detail and capability is upper end just wrapped up crappy the unit is sensitive t temp extremes and damage if dropped ...its a high performance engine in a paper machete body so to speak
Nice video! I just got this detector for my gf, followed by ordering one for myself. I would like to get a better detector, but i am still learning so the money isnt really there yet for me.
That's cool, glad my video helped you out. I still have mine and it'll find stuff for sure. Keep at it and you'll soon be saving for a much more expensive machine...trust me we all did. Then we make you record hunts and put them on youtube... lol, have fun with it.
Great review. I am brand new to this hobby and have not purchased a detector yet. I know nothing about it other than I do not want to spend a bunch of money to get started. I've been leaning towards this one. I have read all the reviews on harbor freight website, but your video sold me lol. If ya have any advice on metal detecting, I' am all ears , like I said I am brand new and know nothing about the hobby, Just something I want to start doing. Thanks, and again great video!
Hey, welcome to the world of the most addictive hobby. All I can say is, watch all the videos you can and get the best detector your money can get you. I have the harbor freight as a back up or for the kids, it's a good machine for the money and will find what you're looking for, just not that deep 6,7" max. Then when you thing you found all the good stuff in an area get a nicer machine (I have a Garrett Ace 250) in the $200-$300 range and see what you missed. Trust me, once your hooked there's little you can do. Good luck out there.
Hi, glad you enjoyed the review and that it helped you. I'll be doing a field test of this machine when weather permits so keep a look out for that. Trust me, once you get out there and find stuff you going to be hooked and not know how to go a few days with out metal detecting. It truly is addicting but in a good way. It's good excersize, you learn history and you find cool stuff (money, jewelry) for free... SWING BEEP DIG.
I was thinking about putting some kind of thin, lightweight material on top of the coil to maybe reflect most/all the signals downward into the ground to maybe help get better performance. I did a search to see if anyone has tried/experimented on this and haven't found anything. So far the only thing I tried was a piece of microwaveable coated cardboard that comes with a box of bagel bites but didn't seem to help right away but if I left it on top of the buried coin, it started to pick it up without moving the detector. If you think about it, it' reflect microwaves and doesn't have any metal in it. This is just an idea I'm playing with and was looking for any other materials anyone else thought might help reflect the signals without affecting the coils reception? thanks for video!
+Holdemnutz p Radio waves don't work that way. You'll end up "ground balancing" you detector to the shielding. In theory I guess it might help with the receiving side of the coil but i'm not sure. It's not like putting a piece of shiny metal behind a light bulb.
They still carry this model as of a couple months ago and yes the COIL is water proof but NOT the box, don't go lifting it out of the water and pointing it UP, water in the hollow shaft will flood the box.
yeah I figured that about the box. But that's awesome to know about the coil. Wife was thinking about getting into it which got me interested in it. Not sure what kind of money we have to spend yet but in doing further research I hear the Garrett 250 with a pretty good starter unit as well.
@@michiganmagneto Garretts are fine, I've had the Ace250 and liked it. The "coin bell tone" got annoying after a while but its fine. I currently swing a Fisher Gold Bug, simple and easy and deep. Good for me.
+NH treasurerhunter thank you for checking out my channel. I really enjoy using my detector but I am going to upgrade though, but keeping my old one lol
Thanks for this video, very informative. I was curious, why not just do all your detecting in the pinpoint mode? (assuming you want to find all metals) I ask because I'm wanting to find all the nails in my yard from when the roof was done, and it seems the pinpoint mode works better. I guess I don't really understand its purpose.
Well, sometimes you might not want to dig "all metals" like if you're detecting in the park and found 72 pull tabs that all ring up the same, or parts of an old can that the lawn mower chewed up and spit out. It's not so much to tell you what the target might be but more for you to guess what it is before you dig it.
Hi cool daddy! I got me one of these units. What is the working frequency or do you even know? I've tried to find out, this is yet another effort to glean info. I like my machine.
I like how he's still liking comments 7 years later... now thats dedication
I don't get the numbers bigger channels do so I can still keep up lol. Thanks for watching Jesse.
Thank you for making this tutorial video; very much appreciated, considering the instruction manual is not so informative.
I took my daughter to Harbor Freight and she was outside with me, all day, helping to find junk metal in her grandparents' yard.
Anybody need an activity to do with their child?
Get a HF coupon and buy this toy. Thanks again for the upload.
Picked one of these up the other day - had a 25% off coupon bringing the price down for $35 bucks. Can't tell you how many times I lost a nut, cotter key, tool etc in the grass. Thanks for the review - better than reading the manual!
Crazy this machine will find lots of stuff down 4-6". Almost as good as a $500 unit.
It's a keeper! Mine gimme 2 quarters in the very 5 minutes in my back yard, great hobby with the kids ,just followe the instructions for setting up ,and you are good to go!
found my son's lost custom made Silver ring in front yard.... worth $200 !!
The electric company brought a big limb trimmer through and burried my water cut off valve, and meter. I tried several methods to find it but short of digging a trench in the vicinity of where I remembered it being I needed a metal detector. Ran to Harbor Freight and bought one of these 9 function detectors...and it works!
I was actually surprised it put me right on top of it. It also found a buried can of skoal, some beer cans, and some foil ketchup packets. I don't think I'd bother trying to metal detect on the side of a public road unless like me you have to find something specific. lol
Yeah, not worth doing road sides but try the local park, go where people would have been a long time ago.
Thanks for watching and the sub, I couldn't find a video on the net like this with a good review of this little guy so I figured i'd do it.
i got one of these detectors 5 months ago its my first detector and i love it and am addicted to it now i find more coins with it then my friend does with his expensive one my first silver i found with it was a 1917 mercury dime thats when i really got addicted to it lol nice review by the way
I don't know if this is some weird coincidence but... I wanted a metal detector for Christmas back in 2016. But the crazy part is, I got that EXACT SAME metal detector, and I'm 15, the same age as your son!!!
I just bought one at Harbor Freight yesterday. Already found over $20 in change at a location down the street that hosts an outdoor art festival every year, and I have only covered a small area. I will keep covering it on the weekends.
Thank you. I liked what you did for people. It helped me. The last time I touched a metal detector was back in the 70's. I bought one of these and for me it will be great.
Welcome back to the hobby. a lot has changed.
Excellent tutorial! Far better than reading the manual. Now I'm excited to take this thing out with my son! Thanks!
Just be careful, you'll be shopping for a much more expensive detector for Christmas lol. It's addicting.
@@jaymoge Yes! We've watched The Detectorists tv-series five times and just had to get one. I'm sure we'll be addicted in no time. Thanks. ;)
Nice review. Thanks. You can tell the naysayers haven’t done their homework or even tried the Harbor Freight detector. They only criticize with no knowledge of how well this machine works. I own a Whites and two Bounty Hunters and this 39dollar Harbor Freight (with coupon) works just as effectively as those. AND your review is excellent.
Thanks Bob, sometimes what looks like a keyboard warrior is just looking through the wrong lens. I don't battle online unless absolutely necessary and prefer an educational and "enlightening" discourse. Thanks for the comment. If the harbor freight 9FMD had the build quality of say, bounty Hunter (a First Texas product) it would surely cost much more. It surves a purpose and fits in a market nitch..
Didn't know Harbor Freight had metal detectors too. It seems like a nice little machine. I hope your son enjoyed his time with you detecting.
Jerry Dineen Thanks Jerry.
Good review. I have an old Radio Shack detector that I have had for 20 + years. It doesn't have all the extra knobs that yours does. I used it to find my aluminum arrows that would get burried in the grass.
Very nice video. It was much more helpful and informative than the manual. Thank you very much.
Dave Lindsey Your welcome Dave.
Thank You for putting this video together! Very informative! 🙂
Wow, this is an old video too. Thanks for watching.
My grandson uses my old Tracker 4 and he is doing ok with it but it is a little tall for him. I have been looking at these and now I think I will get him one. This way he will be able to learn pinpointing. thanks Jay. This has helped a lot!
Wow...thank you for that. Your video has been the most informative video about how to set the dials and what they actually mean. Keep up the good work! Understanding the dials means everything.
True true. thanks for watching.
thank you so much just purchased one today I feel better on getting it.
Thanks John. Yes he did find some stuff. Some pocket change down around 2 to 4 inches, rusty bottle cap at 6", pull tabs in the sod etc..... So it works, My ace 250 to HF9FMD comparison video shows that this one might discriminate steel bottle caps better than my ace...
Perfect video of this unit
I bought one of these, I haven't hit the jackpot yet, but I'm having lots of fun looking for stuff, and I'm removing dangerous sharp metal objects from the local playgrounds, you would be surprised how many nails and screws are in the sand and play chips around playground equipment.
Hello NH treasurehunter. I actually found a Buffalo nickel and some Wheaties in the front yard of a 1940's house with this MD and that was (after) I had run over the same lawn thoroughly with a Fisher 1260X with the 11" factory coil. One big problem though. There was an overhead power line going to the neighbor's house and with max sensitivity on the Fisher, the Fisher was hampered by the AC line interference. So I had to turn the sens. on the Fisher to more than half way down just to eliminate the chatter the AC was causing. So I might as well, I figured, use a detector I could turn to max. sens. and it might not be affected by the AC the way the Fisher did. Sure enough, the HF 9-Function detector worked smoothly with full sens. so therefore I reason, was why I found the extra coins. I'm impressed with this lightweight and simple-to-use Harbor Freight 9-Function MD. Great detector, as you say, as a backup because no one detector can do everything perfectly but some, like the HF detector can do a few tasks quite well all around.
Glad the video helped you out buddy, great story about the coins too. Keep swinging those beepy thingys dude. SWING BEEP DIG.
Amen Brother!
Great review even after all this time!!! Thanks
Lol, thanks.
Great idea. When the good weather is here I usually have my detector hanging in the back window of my truck like a riffle but if i had a trunk it'd be in there for sure.
nice video, well done...I have been waiting for someone to do a decent review on the harbor freight model and you did a great job. hope if you have time you will do another review in the field actually detecting things....thanks!!!!!
Very good presentation
Wow, this is an oooooold one of mine lol,thanks for the flowers.
WOW.. Thank you for showing me how to use this thing.. I just bought one a few days ago..
And yet, I showed you how to use it YEARS ago... I knew you'd buy one eventually. Good luck with it.
Kids nothin, I've used this for about eight months for fun and exercise and I'm sixty one. Of course I am kind of hard on things and have broken three handles. All warranted, my fault but still great. Great little beginner machine in all aspects. I liked doing this so much I bought a professional one from Fort Bedford Metal Detectors. Lovin it.
+David Swiger Nice, another addict... good luck swinging buddy.
The only difference between this one and let's say a bounty hunter mark 4 , is the price and a name that's it, now you want a nice once that will go as deep as 10 inches you have to pay the price and get one that's fully submersible will run you about $750 bucks for there low end expensive models that discriminate up to about 9, 10 inches and that's a gold pro model bye Garrett nice machine there for the money, but hey I just bought one of these harbor frieghts water proof coils models, becouse there like I said all the same up to certain models! They do the same job! They just dont go really deep about 5 6 inches is all but well worth saving $300 to $350 dollors I say !
Garrett makes the AT series, (All Terrane) in the AT Pro, Gold and now Max. All waterproof, the AT Pro can be had for about $550 but I do get your point. My Fisher Gold Bug Pro was $400 used demo model. Year 6 with it and it's still 💯%
Great review. Thank You!!
I mentioned in my video that an air test does not get as good of results as "in the field" testing. Ground moisture and mineralization play a big roll in depth with a metal detector since it's a frequency of "waves" that penetrate the ground and bounce back to be translated by the units on board computing system. I love that you're defending the "HF9FMD", I really like this machine too. I bought this because of all the mods I'm doing to my 250. If I mess up the 250 I can still dig holes. Thanks.
What I like about this detector is that it uses 6 AA batteries. Many detectors use 9V batteries.
I like that too. Though I did solder in a 9v connector and it still worked the same.
Tones in tone mode are the key.
This was my first metal detector. The second day out I found an old Bowie knife that I sold on Ebay for $145!!!
I also found many coins (not to mention pull tabs), also some old bullets with this machine.
I'd put it head to head hunting coins to the Garrett Ace 250 once you are familiar with the tones.
Set at no discrimination and learn the tones and you "know" when you hit a coin or silver. Well worth the investment for a beginner or for someone that lost a ring in the yard. One of the few detectors actually worth the money.
Also, if you get good with this, you are ready to work any mid or high range detector out there.
PS: I didn't like the Garrett 250 (too close to this $45 machine) and sold it for $1 more than I paid for it. Go figure Ebay ;-)
Went with a Garrett AT Pro I picked up for $250 and love it!
Ken Durham Nice, great info. Thanks.
If not mentioned, harbor also sells a centech hand held detector for around $16. Very helpful tool to pinpoint your find. Only thing I had to replace was the push switch. Doesn't last long when used as a hobby tool. I installed an on off switch. 97245 is the item / part # .
Great vid, thanks for uploading.
Thank you for the informative review, very helpful to those of us that have never done this before!
glad I could help.
Forty-five bucks? Looks like a keeper.
Do you mean the coil, the disc looking thing at the bottom? then no, it's hard wired. If you mean disc. as in discrimination then yes, the dial located top right changes it threw the different ranges. You gatta pracitce with the dial to learn how to eliminate iron and steel that you don't want but keep gold, thru silver that you do want. Good luck and have fun.
I've heard of a few people out there who got into the hobby the same way, looking for an arrow, found an baffalo....nickle and they were hooked. Thousands of dollars later there out there posting videos on you tube. Go figure. Thanks for watching Unc... SWING BEEP DIG.
Define GOOD... It works, when metal gets in it's range it goes BEEP. It doesn't go really deep, maybe 6" which is below the sod line and will find old stuff if it's there and the pin poin is dead on balls acurate. Every other feature you saw in the video is just as I described. It'd be great for, a spare, the kids, first time, wife just lost her wedding ring in the yard, etc, etc. Thanks for watching.
bought one of these last week... Not a bad detector at all, although I wish it's balance was a little better. Even though it's not heavy, it makes the forearm tired pretty quick because of the angle it keeps your wrist at. It works WAY better than you'd think it would for the money.
That's EXACTLY why I did the video. I search around for a review of this thing and found squat. It's not a bad detector for your first one but beware..... this is a VERY addicting hobby, once your hooked (first time you find something cool) your in it for a long ride buddy. I love this hobby. Just do your homework and watch lots of our (mine and people who've sub'd me and i've subscribed to) videos and learn just like most of us did. SWING BEEP DIG buddy and thanks for watching.
I like these old style detectors, the meter does nothing, unless your not getting a tone. I set mine all the way to silver and still get clad coins, so really this is a great first step into the hobby, or if your ear is good at the tones you can get more then the garrets tell you. Good video to show you how this thing works.
They really are. worth more than the price. thanks for watching.
I just happened to get one of these today as my first detector mainly so I could go out with my buddy. We drove from Harbor Freight straight to a park. Of course I didn't read the manual, and just put it together and started swinging and adjusting by chance. The park was FULL of trash, and made it not very enjoyable. The entire park you would get at least one to two hits per swing, all trash... lame. But I wasn't using "tone" mode. Thanks for explaining it, Should be way more fun next time!
I saw on CZcams how these can be modified..
I did the 9 volt battery mod and tuned up the pots inside a bit but that's all.
I'm quite familiar with this hobby now and was then too, I wanted to do a "just got this here's what it does in my cold garage" video. I've used it a lot since then and have ZERO complaints about it. Thanks for watching and commenting. If you have more/better info or results with yours do a video response. I know several people who want in on this hobby but have limited cash and may benefit from your info. thanks agian. SWING BEEP DIG.
awesome video. I'm new to this and just picked one up so this was very helpful.
+Brandon Vincent It's not a bad machine to start with, then as your addiction grows you can save up for a better one, or I you lose interest in it you didn't spend a ton of cash on it. Best to you with it.
Very helpful
This is perfect for keeping in the car or truck like a TRUCK Gun.
Great point.
That's awesome. I love hearing the "my machine is as good as yours" stories. I swing a Garrett Ace 250 and I got it in trade for some video equipment I paid $40 for and I love it. They retail for $212 so I got a sweet deal. As for the addiction, I hear ya. Good luck kicking this hobby. SWING BEEP DIG.
Thask you for this helpful video. I wondered what a real digger would think of it. I can only afford a start machine and the weather is getting nice so I may go get this for the starter unit. Thanks again.
this is the perfect detector to see if you like the hobby. No big loss if you don't. I just don't see it lasting, due to it's weak design.
Jody Reed mines still going, the arm cuff is ready to snap but like you said, no biggy. I loan it out 3 or 4 times a year.
I got one and love it.
your kid wants to do something with you, priceless,,,
Yeah well, only when he's not "chillin" with his friends lol. The 6 yr old loves digging with me in the yard but doesn't have the attention span for a hunt out in a field... The 16 year old ends up needing a ride to the skate park... Oh well, on more detector in the line up. Thanks for watching, SBD-----Jay.
I bought the same one from HB and thanks learned sum stuff about my...
Travis Brooks cool thanks. it's really not bad. still have it.
I bought one used it this weekend in the mountains was amazed at where you could find beer bottle caps ,beer cans ,nails ,springs, ect. but I didn't get time to search the home stead areas like I wanted anyway thanks for the review.
Totally worth the money, hit a few playgrounds and it'll pay for itself in clad and junk jewelry. We find the craziest stuff in the oddest places, keep at it an you'll love it.
MrDeathd I used mine to find my glasses in a giant pile of leaves after dark.
Saved me $45 in labor and time going through the leaves to find them!
Like you said ....a good enough machine to see if it would peak a beginners interest enough to make them decide if it's something they would like to do and not break the bank !
No prob... whe i put it together i noticed the lower shaft is able to be cut (with a pipe cutter or hacksaw) 'cuz i thought of that for my 6yr old. Glad I could help PTD.... SWING BEEP DIG.
I'm late to the party, but this video should be called "You can measure up instead of down to determine depth" or "This is how the discrimination dial works and why" or maybe "That broken tone you've been hearing is the metal you don't want."
Now I can go see if the old slightly-better-than-this one in the back of my truck works! Thanks for the gumball!
This is an old shitty video lol, thanks for watching.
@@jaymoge Perfect because I have an old shitty metal detector.
@@W6QLE perfect. As long as it beeps over metal you'll find stuff. There's never nothing.
The tone feature is actually pretty cool on that little machine......
Pretty Cool. May have to give these a second look.
Thanks for the Vid. Learned something. :)
Lots of gravel is mostly processed "hot rocks" or rocks with high iron content so that's kinda normal but if the lil detector is that bad in gravel it's a good thing to know. I don't do much gravel hunts anyway so i'm not too worried. Thanks for the great info GLIMMERLAND. and as always, SWING BEEP DIG.
Just got this brand new at a second hand store ! Imma set it to tone and the II part
Run it. They're not bad really. If you don't like the hobby, not much lost. If you do then you can get a better one one day. Best of luck with it.
Thank you. My dad just gave me this detector when i asked to borrow it.
+Paul Cochrell Best of luck with it, it's really not bad if you're not sure if you want to stay in the hobby and buy an expensive one.
"Bring a magnet"?? magnets only pick up steel and iron (and some Canadian coins) so that would be good for finding nails and screws or iron relics but silver, gold, copper and other metals we look for won't stick to the magnet. The HF9FMD is stone age tech. but it's cheap and tells you where metal is underground, even your coolest sunglasses can't do that. I swing a supermodified ACE 250 normally and have this as my backup. Get yourself a Garrett ProPointer and you'll change your mind.
Good video. I learned something!
I had to rewatch my video to see if I said silver, I said clad. I didn't have any silver coins to test with, I do now and my next video (on modifying the HF9FMD to increase depth to 7 or 8 inches) I use a silver quarter and a silver half to test. I know it's ''face value" lol thanks for the comment.
Great Video ! Thanks for the review , awesome job.
By the way how did your son do with it ?
Did he find anything ?
Thanks
Awesome vid
Thanks for watching John & Jackie. Hope your package gets there soon.
Great job on the review Jay Mo. Seems like a pretty inexpensive way to get started in the hobby.
James Jackson I still have this machine, for the kids, but I end up using it while he swings my Fisher... go figure.
I plan on doing a comparison between it and an ACE 250 that i usually use.... Find a target and compare the ACE to the HF9FMD, dig the target and see... thanks for watching.
when u said headphone jack, do you mean it can take typical earphone that you listen music on?
I did...it works, Lol!
Thank you!
Discriminate works better (more accurately) with sensitivity at 3/4 max.
I guess it depends on the unit. I figured out how to turn up the sensitivity and discrimination inside the box, there's 2 or 3 variable resistors to play with. You can do too much and it gets very unstable.
Vary cool brother . I have the old radio shack one like that one and the newer radio shack one called nextec. I let the kids use them . GL&HH
A guy just leave that in his trunk. Happens to me all the time, I will be out with a few minutes to kill, but no detector!
Good vid!
Single tone analog machine would probably do well on the Monty Nail Board.
Wow, that more than you paid for the detector, I'd say you make a wise investment...
Yeah with mostly shallow target, absolutely.
Please show us the coin test - looks like its works good - has iron audio - ya the monty nail test next
Right? Worst case you have a spare detector so the next time you lose yours in the woods you can use this one to find it... just saying. thanks for watching Bill n Bob. SBD.
Great video! Wow did I overpay! $60 for the one I picked up. Hope it works
This one is (MUCH) easier to understand how to use than the similar-looking ones radio shack (used to?) carry. The slung-over handled one form radio shack is two-tone and black with the silver shaft and a red tuning button on the end of the handle. This is (NOT) an easy detector to adjust and is (VERY) unstable with (too) many adjustments dependent on one another. (NOT) the kind of detector that would be good for a beginner let alone someone who has been MD'ing for a long time. A friend of mine found the Radio Shack (complicated) version in a local Goodwill one day. Absolutely nothing wrong with it cosmetically of functionally. But without the original owner's manual, I could not even (begin) to help him learn this machine. (SO) in other words the Harbor Freight MD is (much) better value for the money and much less complicated thus easier to 'set up and go' so to speak, especially for the beginner. The only things I'm a little disappointed in with this MD is #1; No (true) 2-tone i.d. like other detectors have. #2; My first one broke off at the handle where it attaches to the control box and made the rest of the armrest loosen up and fall apart as it's attached underneath the handle to the control box by only two small screws. #3; It's (lack) of an equal 8" depth given the 8" stock coil it uses, is really a bummer on regular U.S. coins. #4; This MD puts almost (all) it's energy into the discrimination that right at the point where the machine discriminates out nails, it's already lost a lot of it's depth capability; 6" tops on a quarter by then. The transmitter circuit is just not robust and powerful enough to 'get the job done'. BUT on the plus side it's (VERY) lightweight; less than a BH Tracker 4 or a BH VLF/Gold Digger. You can swing this baby all day without getting tired out. It (is) still fairly responsive all the way down to its' maximum depth (AS LONG AS) one keeps the discrimination just above nails (but) below nickel/p'tab/ thin gold items. Go higher in disc. than a p'tab/nickel, than you're guaranteed to lose a (lot) of depth as (well as) missing all your nickels/small gold items. Don't worry about digging tabs. In some areas, they are the least of one's worries and problems as ar as problem targets. Hope this helps in (addition) to what you've already told your audience, NH treasurehunter. PS Folks: The cheaper one uses the T/R (transmit/receive) signal system from the 70s and actually, on various sites like eBay, the older 'lunchbox' type T/Rs go much deeper than the cheaper Harbor Freight MD for around the same amt. of money but just make sure if bought off a site like that, that the detector is in good working order (AND) that the machine will still accept the newer type batteries. Some used a 67.5 volt large square battery and they, for the most part, are no longer made. You'd have to (really) modify the old machine to get the 67.5 volts (+) a 9-volt battery (&) a 1.5 volt AA battery, just to have it operate properly. So some of the older ones accepted AA's, some used just 9 volts (1 or 2 of 'em), and some used the 67.5 volt batteries (+ AA/9-volt) so be careful you don't get the latter one by accident. Be a little hard to make work right. Happy hunting to all!!!!
+Prairie G Well said Prairie G... great info.
+Prairie G depending on which radio shack model you have you might be sitting on a version made by Bounty hunter for Tandy corp. ...the thing is the harbor freight is a modified version of the old micronta's also made for radio shack but they switched things up the red button on the old models is the auto tune reset now they switched it to a "pin pointer ..and the 3 position select switch was used to change frequencies on older models this is more then likely a beat oscillating model with crappy depth capability detecting an object waving it 6 inches away equates to about 3 inches in dense soil ......anyways actually the multi switch Radio shack model is based on a very effective Bounty Hunter model and is really better fro a beginner to learn on it really is not complicated at all ...being able to adust "ground" manually lets you fine tune the detector to different terrain and they always have to be "tuned " im sorry im not paying 3 or 4 hundred bucks because the model has an "auto tuner ..the Microntas that came with 3 function capability VLF TR1 TR2 PLUS an additional discriminator dial so you can weed out trash it really is simple to set it up because of the number of dials it seems complex when I got mine Radio Shack was closing its doors the units started out over 40 dollars when Tandy realized just how good it was the jacked their price up but people didn't go for it ..its only downside is its in a crappy housing all the detail and capability is upper end just wrapped up crappy the unit is sensitive t temp extremes and damage if dropped ...its a high performance engine in a paper machete body so to speak
Nice video! I just got this detector for my gf, followed by ordering one for myself. I would like to get a better detector, but i am still learning so the money isnt really there yet for me.
That's cool, glad my video helped you out. I still have mine and it'll find stuff for sure. Keep at it and you'll soon be saving for a much more expensive machine...trust me we all did. Then we make you record hunts and put them on youtube... lol, have fun with it.
Your video explained everything the manual confused!!!! Thanks
thanks. it's really not a bad machine to get you started. best of luck with it and Swing Beep Dig.
yup.
Great review. I am brand new to this hobby and have not purchased a detector yet. I know nothing about it other than I do not want to spend a bunch of money to get started. I've been leaning towards this one. I have read all the reviews on harbor freight website, but your video sold me lol. If ya have any advice on metal detecting, I' am all ears , like I said I am brand new and know nothing about the hobby, Just something I want to start doing. Thanks, and again great video!
Hey, welcome to the world of the most addictive hobby. All I can say is, watch all the videos you can and get the best detector your money can get you. I have the harbor freight as a back up or for the kids, it's a good machine for the money and will find what you're looking for, just not that deep 6,7" max. Then when you thing you found all the good stuff in an area get a nicer machine (I have a Garrett Ace 250) in the $200-$300 range and see what you missed. Trust me, once your hooked there's little you can do. Good luck out there.
It's Auto Ground Balancing. Yeah for that price, can't beat it.
Last night I was in Salem and saw a Harbor Freight store.
Yup, that's where I got it.
Hi, glad you enjoyed the review and that it helped you. I'll be doing a field test of this machine when weather permits so keep a look out for that. Trust me, once you get out there and find stuff you going to be hooked and not know how to go a few days with out metal detecting. It truly is addicting but in a good way. It's good excersize, you learn history and you find cool stuff (money, jewelry) for free... SWING BEEP DIG.
I was thinking about putting some kind of thin, lightweight material on top of the coil to maybe reflect most/all the signals downward into the ground to maybe help get better performance. I did a search to see if anyone has tried/experimented on this and haven't found anything. So far the only thing I tried was a piece of microwaveable coated cardboard that comes with a box of bagel bites but didn't seem to help right away but if I left it on top of the buried coin, it started to pick it up without moving the detector. If you think about it, it' reflect microwaves and doesn't have any metal in it.
This is just an idea I'm playing with and was looking for any other materials anyone else thought might help reflect the signals without affecting the coils reception?
thanks for video!
+Holdemnutz p Radio waves don't work that way. You'll end up "ground balancing" you detector to the shielding. In theory I guess it might help with the receiving side of the coil but i'm not sure. It's not like putting a piece of shiny metal behind a light bulb.
great info. thank you. Can the coil go into shallow water? does Harbor Freight still carry something like this or a little bit better?
They still carry this model as of a couple months ago and yes the COIL is water proof but NOT the box, don't go lifting it out of the water and pointing it UP, water in the hollow shaft will flood the box.
yeah I figured that about the box. But that's awesome to know about the coil. Wife was thinking about getting into it which got me interested in it. Not sure what kind of money we have to spend yet but in doing further research I hear the Garrett 250 with a pretty good starter unit as well.
@@michiganmagneto Garretts are fine, I've had the Ace250 and liked it. The "coin bell tone" got annoying after a while but its fine. I currently swing a Fisher Gold Bug, simple and easy and deep. Good for me.
I just bought a couple for 39 bucks with a coupon . Great XMas gifts.
+NH treasurerhunter thank you for checking out my channel. I really enjoy using my detector but I am going to upgrade though, but keeping my old one lol
+Southern Ohio Treasure Hunters always good to have a backup.
and the red button is for ?
Pin pointing. Finding spacificly where the target is in relation to the coils center.
Where is the gold setting on this device
It's more of a "dig it all" machine. It doesn't discriminate.
I couldn't agree more. I had one of these and it performed much better than expected. Obvious complaint being build quality and useless meter.
Grommy Lommy Yeah, there pretty good if you know the setting and don't bother with the meter.
He hasn't yet... Busy with his friends.
Thanks for this video, very informative. I was curious, why not just do all your detecting in the pinpoint mode? (assuming you want to find all metals) I ask because I'm wanting to find all the nails in my yard from when the roof was done, and it seems the pinpoint mode works better. I guess I don't really understand its purpose.
Well, sometimes you might not want to dig "all metals" like if you're detecting in the park and found 72 pull tabs that all ring up the same, or parts of an old can that the lawn mower chewed up and spit out. It's not so much to tell you what the target might be but more for you to guess what it is before you dig it.
Hi cool daddy! I got me one of these units. What is the working frequency or do you even know? I've tried to find out, this is yet another effort to glean info. I like my machine.
If I'm not mistaken I think it's 7.5khz just your average coin shooter freq
@@jaymoge just found out it's 5.8 khz
@@rickylakemusic good to know, that about the same as the Fisher F4.
@@jaymogethe fisher 7.69 khz