What's a good entry level detector? How much do they usually cost?

Dice, if you are serious about metal detecting, Bounty Hunter and Garrett make good entry level detectors. They range from $175 to $250. They make cheaper ones but IMHO you get what you pay for. Walmart sells the Pioneer 202, which is the same as the Bounty Hunter QuickDraw II, but for Walmart they call them Pioneer. It sells for right at $200 and Garrett has the Ace 150 and Ace 250. They sell in the $175 to $250 range. I started with the QD II and moved up to the GTI 2500 by Garrett but I still use the QD II as a backup and my wife has the 202 that she bought on clearance one time from Walmart for $150. Check my webpage out, it has metal detecting as well as camping. Happy Camping................

Hope you find what you need, Josh loves his 100 dollar one from walmart

Dirtfisher,

Would you please recommend some websites and/or books that would be helpful for someone new to Metal Detecting?

Thanks!

There are quite a few sites that you can go to. There is http://www.garrett.com/ http://www.detecting.com/ the forum that I frequent alot is http://members.boardhost.com/luckydan The detecting.com is the Bounty Hunter website. The luckydan site is a group of metal detectorist from all over the country and great group of people to talk to, they are friendly and gladly answer questions for you. Another source is to goggle metal detector and that will give you page after page of resources. Happy Hunting and Happy Camping.........