Sea Hunter II not to good on iron trash beaches here in South West Florida Beach

Dec 11, 2011
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Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Well it has been awhile since I last posted. I moved down to Indian Rocks Beach in Florida between St. Pete Beach and Clearwater beach. I am basically retired and I own the Sea Hunter and the Ace 350. There are more metal detector guys on this beach and their are some real pro's. They all use Minelab's either Excaliburs or Sovereigns. Aaron is definitely the most knowledgeable metal detectorist out here who uses the Excalibur. Honestly I am ready to trade in the Sea Hunter and get the Excalibur. PI's are so labor intense!!! I didn't listen to anyone really, but Garrett salesmen, distributors and a few others. I have EVERY tool one can have even
Clive Clynick's book "pulsepower! finding gold at the shore with a Pulse Induction Metal Detector." I have the 8" and the 10" coil and I use the 10" coil mostly.
If you are not familiar with IRB (Indian Rocks Beach) it is laced with tons of iron. ALL I find is sparklers, iron pipes 2' down in wet sand, barnacles attached to iron, iron pieces. I have been doing this now since Jan 3rd every morning when the sun rises (I live right on the beach so it's my back yard.)
I have the threshold or sound down to silent about 2 and the elimination down to 2, so I can pick up everything. And I have the mode on Standard to go deep.
Maybe I am not detecting in the right area's, but I follow the shoreline like the pro's are doing on this beach.
So honestly does the Sea Hunter work or not? How can you tell if there is an iron target or not? I'm honestly thinking about buying an Excalibur or Sovereign GT.
Anyone have any real advice. Thanks
 

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
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In Michigan now.
Detector(s) used
Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
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I think I remembered when you posted asking for advice on PI's few months ago and we suggested not to get one. If I am wrong, I am sorry. Heck I am sorry anyway. PI's are very deep and if you can't reach them buried way down there you won't hear them. Using PI's however wastes what little time we have for detecting by us digging holes for tiny wires and such where an EXCAL or Sov GT nulls on these. Those Pro's that you are following might not be the pros you think they are and just doing what has worked in the past. Swing and dig. Try to look for the lower areas where more sand has been lost. Hit any cuts you notice and watch for holes in the water where wave action has eroded more sand than normal and formed sand bars. Hunt in front and behind them.
 

John-Edmonton

Silver Member
Mar 21, 2005
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Canada
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They work good in the right locations. A beach literally littered with iron is not a beach I would use the PI on. A discriminating metal detector which can handle salt water would be my choice, and I would then disc out the iron. The sea Hunter mark II is an excellent detector used in the right location.
 

Adrian SS

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Dec 7, 2008
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LST, BDHI,Infinium,Sov XS,6000DI Pro SL,Scorpion,V-SAT,Spectrum XLT,Gold Spear,Scorpion,Sand Shark, Compadre,Sierra Madre,Safari, SDC2300, Sea Hunter,CS4PI,TDI OZ Pro, Vallon VMH3CS. Gardiner 202A
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
The Seahunter is not a detector i would use in an iron littered area, It will always hit hard on iron like all PIs.
You might have to be a bit selective in which signals you dig for a while.
Try running in Standard and setting disc to 2 0r 3 to find most targets and then on the signals that sound good in all directions of sweep try winding disc to max and recheck the target; If it is still strong then it is likely to be iron, so dig the signals that disc out a bit or sound a bit chirpy at max disc.
Sparkler wire and bobby pins always give a good signal in one direction of sweep and an iffy or brocken signal in a direction of sweep that is about 90Degrees to the strong signal.
The Seahunter detects deep, so you will have a bit of difficulty finding the weaker good signals if the beach is as iron littered as you indicated.
Sure the Excal and Sovs can disc/null on iron but they will also null on small gold rings and chains etc.

Just some thoughts.
Cheers.
 

cz70pro

Full Member
Mar 18, 2011
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I feel your pain. I also live/ hunt in FL. I always wanted to try a P.I. machine,so like you I bought the Garrett.My first month of daily hunting was painful.Even working "clean" beaches.I was digging so much iron,I was getting left arm"scoop" elbo. Then one morning I got a beautiful wisper signal,that turned out to be the deepest,nicest gold and diamond ladies ring I had ever found. Over the next two weeks I dug two more 14k mens wedding bands(both shallow) I also learned to ignore(took all of my might) bobby pin "double beep" readings.I had been digging at least 30 per outing. Pulse machines have thier place,the quality of the Garrett is top notch. For normal everyday "trashy" beaches,I swear by my Fisher CZ21. The Excal is another great machine.I think owning both types of machines,gives you a better "attack" on the gold,under different conditions. Good luck,keep at it!
 

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