Garrett Sea Hunter 11

[Brit888]

I know everybody has there favourites but I was always set on an AT Pro which I recently purchased and was always going to try and buy a designated wet sand detector as well when funds are available because the ones that people talk about are always well in to the thousands.

Tonight I discovered and been reading about the Sea Hunter (mid hundreds)which doesnt seem as common (internet videos) as the Minelabs etc, so I was wondering how it compares against the other more expensive sea and beach detectors.

Is it worth a purchase or better waiting for the piggy bank to grow a lot fatter?

 

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[rick67]

I use a Mark II at the beach but in the water.
I dig everything at the beach so the Mark II fit my needs. It has discrimination but I don't use it. When you discriminate you miss gold. When you start forking over more money. It usually for more discrimination.
Its a deep machine while in the water 20+ inches. The plus is hard to say when you get deep the hole keeps filling in as fast as you dig.

 

[John-Edmonton]

I had the Mark II, then changed to the Infinium, as the Infinium like the Garrett ATX gives a little more discrimination. Example....low-high signal is usually copper or signal. High-low is usually gold. iron and junk can sound either high low or low high. But, the Mark II is no slouch on depth. When used at the right locations, it is a killer like any PI.

 

[Texas Ed]

I agree with rick67 I dig all targets at the beach with my Sea Hunter II and have had success and the depth is there also. I never use much discrimination and I do dig a lot of junk aluminum and rusty iron. I have my mounted in a harness and wear it belted on my waist. I wish you good hunting on what ever machine you decide on.

Texas ED
S/E Texas Gulf Coast

 

[Brit888]

I had the Mark II, then changed to the Infinium, as the Infinium like the Garrett ATX gives a little more discrimination. Example....low-high signal is usually copper or signal. High-low is usually gold. iron and junk can sound either high low or low high. But, the Mark II is no slouch on depth. When used at the right locations, it is a killer like any PI.

View attachment 1278424

John a little confused.

If gold falls in to the range of iron and junk why would you want to discriminate it out or have I misunderstood you?

 

[Brit888]

Ed - Rick ....... I want it for the wet sand at waters edge and just in the water as it would be too cold where I am except for a few weeks in the summer for deeper water detecting.

Sounds like it would be best to dig most signals on a beach any way unless in a really bad area.

 

[rick67]

John a little confused.

If gold falls in to the range of iron and junk why would you want to discriminate it out or have I misunderstood you?

That's when you have to use experience and your ears to segregate the object in question. Gold rings up as junk. It's as simple as that.

so long as it isn't frozen. Neoprene waders and keep it shallow. It's easier to dig in the water then out.

If you chest mount it like Ed you can swing it all day in wet sands.

 

[Brit888]

Thanks for this Rick and the more I have been reading about this detector which must be now at least 7 years old the more I like it big time.

But one thing is still puzzling me. If this detector goes to 20+ inches in water and the only real disadvantage I can see is the weight, and discriminating means missing high value targets which is really corrected with experience. Then what is the advantage of a similar latest spec detector costing up to 4 times as much?

 

[rick67]

I guess for the same reason most of my neighborhoods women drive BMW' s and the teens running around with there pants falling down. There Trendy.
Check out Da Chief's rant on the infinium, makes good sense.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/b...eback-garrett-infinium-ls-water-detector.html

 

[Irishgoldhound]

John, on your chart it says "No" got the Sea Hunters ability to balance in saltwater. It's PI machine so it should have no problem ignoring salt water.

 

[Brit888]

I guess for the same reason most of my neighborhoods women drive BMW' s and the teens running around with there pants falling down. There Trendy.
Check out Da Chief's rant on the infinium, makes good sense.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/b...eback-garrett-infinium-ls-water-detector.html

I agree with him entirely. Now I understand.

Thanks.

 

[John-Edmonton]

John a little confused.

If gold falls in to the range of iron and junk why would you want to discriminate it out or have I misunderstood you?

You can't discriminate it out, but what you can do is, if you are only searching for gold, dig ONLY the high-low signals. That can eliminate a lot of digging. If you are searching for old coins...ie silver/copper, dig only low-high signals. Now, that is a pretty generalized statement. Add other learned features, such as the unique sound the Garrett PI detectors make on nails and bobby pins, the audio duration the machines make on a large target compared to a small one, the iron check, the smoothness of a target, the intensity of the audio over a target and location of the hunt, you now are getting more unique forms of discrimination. A new PI user has to relearn how to use this type of detector. It takes a lot of time. I have often times said that if you are new to metal detecting, don't buy a PI detector, as it can be a severe lesson with frustration. There are no knobs to discriminate iron, foil, pull tabs. There are no knobs to show depth. There are no graphs on the screen giving lots of useful information. It's just you, your ears, brain and a metal detector, which goes deep, and is capable of punching deep in a salt water and or highly mineralized environment. The more expensive PI detectors can be manually ground balanced, eliminate interfering EMI and even utilize automatic ground tracking, which can overall squeeze yet some more precious depth, another reason PI's do so well.

I have been using my PI detectors since 2006, and have done exceptionally well. I have learned when and where to use one, learned discrimination features and had some of my best ever years digging deep gold rings from hunted out areas. I have also had some success using them on land coin shooting (digging only low-high signals) and digging the softer sounding deep coin sized targets. Using a PI detector is not for everybody. You do end up digging up a lot of junk targets you probably would not have using your VLF detector and using a PI in well used parks is not recommended, as it will beep on every target underneath the coil, often times sounding like a classical piece of music. But......in the hands of a seasoned user in the right location, a PI detector will do very well.

 

[Brit888]

Thanks John I am already in the process of trying to purchase the sea hunter.

 

[John-Edmonton]

Thanks John I am already in the process of trying to purchase the sea hunter.

Good luck with your Mark II

 

[Patriot 1776]

Brit888
Any thing I can help you with just give me a call
dennis

MetalDetectors.com: Beach / Water Metal Detectors

 

[John-Edmonton]

John, on your chart it says "No" got the Sea Hunters ability to balance in saltwater. It's PI machine so it should have no problem ignoring salt water.

In some heavily salt water regions, you may have to set the elimination to 1. But I have never heard of any complaints of using the Mark II in salt water. In discrete trash elimination mode the detector should not be bothered by salt.