Good advice or not? That is the question?

[Lifes A Garden...Dig IT]

I spoke with a local metal detector dealer that specializes in White's and Minelab today. They are also like this outdoor/adventure/sporting goods store. I explained to the fella that I was looking for a conservative priced unit such as a Bounty Hunter Pioneer EX or Garrett Ace 250 until I could build my way up to a more premium model.
I also explained to him that I had a piece of White's history which is the White's Goldmaster 66TR. I told him it was a clean, complete unit with the exception of needing to replace the 12v battery pack. He went on to say that he had the replacement battery holder that would do the trick for a little of nothing. Knowing our area, he knew primarily I would be detecting on and around the beach and other sandy or black sandy areas which would have salt and mineralization which would torment a newer beginner level detector unit (although modern) and also torment me...lol. He recommended that the White's Goldmaster 66TR was dependable although a very outdated unit and would handle the sand and mineralizations better and probably would detect deeper. So, did this gentleman give me sound advice in your opinion?

Thanks to all,
Bobby

 

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[liftloop]

I would think so because the two you described are junk when it comes to black sand and salt Y'all the 66rt was developed for high mineral ground.... were the is to gold be found...get a white's with the black sand/salt switch....

 

[Sandman]

Welcome to Tnet for your first post.

As for the detector to use for beaches with black magnetic sand and saltwater the old Goldmaster would handle the mineralization ok, but the combination of them together would make it unstable. Even the addition of a beach mode sometimes doesn't help at all locations because of different amounts of black sand and salt. This is why we hear reports of guys running such an such detector at a certain beach with no trouble yet we can't do it.

The best beach detectors for saltwater beaches are the Sov GT, Excals or Pulse's like the Dual Field, Infinium LS, Sea Hunter Mk II and a few other pulse's. Other land detectors can search there with reduced sens. and depth.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

First of all, you've got the name of the vintage Whites detector wrong. It's 66TR not 66RT. And no lift-loop, it was not developed for the "high mineral ground". There is no "beach mode" on that. It's an all-metal TR, circa very late '60s, to early 1970s. It might handle salt ok, but will immmediately fail miserably when mineralization is added to the wet salt. You will know if there is mineralization to your wet salt beach, by the color of the sand: If the beach is cinimmon colored tan-ish, then there are minerals present. Only if the beach if very very white colored, is there a pretty good absence of mineralization.

The 66TR might be ok ...... for 4" or so, on the dry sand, but that's about it. Even an ACE 250 (which is a p*ss-poor wet salt beach machine IMHO) is going to do better than a 66TR on the wet salt beach.

 

[liftloop]

My reply was ...If he was going to buy a detector.. he should buy one with a black sand or salt sand switch...and the 66tr would be more geard towards mineral sation to find gold in black sand not salt.. is what i was getting at...or they didn't under stand mineralisation back then and that case it is not geard for any of thy above...

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

If your not going physically in the water, look for a good used Sovereign GT. Being a beginner, a pulse machine will probably frustrate the heck out of you unless there is little to no trash in beaches of your area.

 

[Lifes A Garden...Dig IT]

Thanks everyone for their advice and expertise on the subject. Tom in CA, I was up pretty late when I miss quoted the model # of my Goldmaster (lol). The beaches I'm around are primarily blowed over (sand piped in too look pretty) for the tourists and so most of that sand is nice and white, so it is tougher to distinct the mineralization coloration of the original sand. Around the dry/wet sand line where folks have their beach chairs down to the tide line it sometimes looks like a light blackish silt on the wet sand, but all the dry sand areas are nice and light colored.

 

[Frankn]

I had an old 63TR which is the same except it didn't have the signal strength meter, only a battery meter. It went down about 6" on dry sand with no black sand. The battery boxes are cheap, try it. You can also get a battery holder at Radio Shack for about $2. Have fun with it. The best detectors for the beach are Pulse Induction models. My old Whites Surfmaster PI will pull coins out of totally black sand with no problem.

​

 

[TerryC]

I have two surf/sand machines. My main machine is a Fisher Impulse 8 (out of print) and a Garrett Sea Hunter. The Impulse 8 has been the mainstay for many years. The Garrett a backup. It is my opinion that a dedicated sand/surf PI machine is the only way to go. TTC

 

[batcap]

This is my raw intuition based on what you said (if I read it correctly).

The man seems to be honest -- he offered you a battery holder at a profit that wouldn't buy him lunch, when he could have pushed to sell you a detector that would have turned him a handy profit.

Now as it it being good advise: I'd once again say yes, because NOBODY escapes finding out if this hobby is right for them for the price of a battery holder.

Fix that old detector up and give it a month, if you find yourself itching to get back out and swinging it you know you are a detectorist. If not, you just saved yourself a bundle.

One great piece of advice that I'd adopt from the early days of computing: Don't worry about a perfect first detector, invest some thought into your second one.