Fisher 1280x aquanaut is completely useless anywere near salt water or wet sand

[DETECTOR GUY]

Ok on dry sand but if I had my choice again I would not buy it, I have tried on several occasions with it, to get into the sea and on saturday I was chest deep again, on a relatively calm day in the sea at a hot spot with loads of tourist swiming and was once again disappointed it wont pinpoint anything and falses almost constantly I tried to scooping more than 30 tones. I had my diving googles and was even diving down with a buddy helping me. We even put some old pennies and some silver in the water and the md battled to pinpoint them. We tried every, setting discrimination on 10 and sensitivity on the lowest nothing worked. So I am very frustrated to say the least. I did buy this md for the sea and did a lot of reserch before hand, most owner are happy with theres maybe I got a dud.

 

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[SusanMN]

I don't have that detector, but a couple i might suggest you check. First that the coil wire is wrapped tightly around the pole, and second that the coil nut is tight where it attaches to the detector. If either of these are loose, any kind of a splash could make the detector unstable.

 

[seeker41]

hmmmm...sorry you bought a 1280x, everthing I have ever read or been told was that it was not usable in saltwater. its a single frequency machine and you need a multi freq like a excel or cz20/21. test it in freshwater and see how it works and if it works go ahead and sell it and buy a machine designed for salt.

chuck.

 

[CASPER-2]

friend of mine uses one in ocean and fresh water - he doesnt seem to have a prob with his
cz21 is better in saltwater though

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

DG: Out of curiosity, I researched the Fisher 1280X aquanaut and most reviews which I read indicated that it was marginal to not suitable for use in salt water as it constantly false alarmed and was noisy.

The reviews on wet sand at salt water beaches were mixed most recommended staying away.

The reviews were very favorable for use in fresh water wet sand and fresh water shallow water hunting.

The reviews were favorable for dry sand hunting on salt and fresh water beaches.
As you stated your detector is ok on dry sand - there is most likely nothing wrong with it and should be sold to someone who hunts fresh water beaches.

As a caveat, I would like to remark that research on the internet is tricky.
You may of been looking into the wrong places or overlooked the shortcomings as your research was biased. The best place to start is to read the detector's User's Manual to determine if it is suitable for your use as it is more objective than most reviews.

If you don't want to dig every signal, you will need a multifrequency detector for discrimination.
If you dig every signal at the beach, you can detect deeper and get by cheaper with a pulse Induction (PI) detector.

Recommended multifrequency detectors, in production, for diving, shallow water, and wet/sand on salt water beaches are Minelab Excalibur II (nulls on iron, discriminates) and Fischer CZ 21 (discriminates).

Recommended Pulse induction (dig almost all signals) , in production, for diving, shallow water, and wet/sand on salt water beaches are Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II, Tesoro Sand Shark, Whites Surf PI Dual Field , Garrett Infinium LS.

The above detectors are listed in order of my personal preference based on my requirements. You will have to do more detailed research to determine which one(s) best meet your needs.

 

[mikeothmer]

The 1280 was not designed for the salt environment. Fresh water only. It's like trying to haul a piano on top of your small car, it may work but there are better tools!

 

[davidfl]

hello im sorry your having issues with the aquanought. i had one, it was difficult to use in saltwater. if i remember right, it didnt have a pinpoint, you had to x your target. i ran mine with enough discrimination to find gold. which is to say almost wide open. your swing technique has to be perfect to hunt with this unit in the water. any movement up and down quickly will cause a false, also hitting the sand will too. like i said it was a hard machine to use in salt. im not really able to give you any good advice to help you get the results you want, but i do feel your pain, i sold mine in loo of a cz20. i thought maybe you would like to hear from someone who actually had one. i can say that it did very well in fresh water, in fact flawlessly. one tone, if it was solid, not crackly. it was something good, you can increase the disc to find if you have coins or silver, gold fell in the middle with pull tabs and beavertail tabs, so you have to dig alot . good luck with it or hope it sells fast, which ever way you go with it. david

 

[MoTwister]

I have not had any problems with my 1280-X in salt water. It finds all the beer cans and pull tabs under the rocks and water that the Aquapulse finds, just not as deep.