Looking for a really good metal detector for land and water. Suggestions?

[kdejong14]

I would love to get into metal detecting and do not mind spending a decent amount of money, but would like some input as to one of the best metal detectors for land and water. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

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[TNGUNS]

The Garrett AT Pro is super popular right now. One of the best selling detectors out there. I have had no experience with them but most people who have them seem well pleased. Good for land and water. Can be bought for a little under $600. If you call one of our supporting vendors listed they may be able to do a bit better and set you up with a package deal on the other stuff you need to get started. Best of luck on your decision.

 

[gleaner1]

Get the best one your wallet will withstand moneybags.

 

[Terry Soloman]

I would love to get into metal detecting and do not mind spending a decent amount of money, but would like some input as to one of the best metal detectors for land and water. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Are you asking about Fresh water, or Saltwater? Do you want a water proof detector, or one you can just stick the coil in the water? What is a "decent" amount of money to you? The first thing to determine is what type of water, or beach you will be hunting. Are you detecting in the saltwater and on wet ocean sand, or will you be hunting dry sand and freshwater lakes and river beaches? This is important because there are different metal detectors designed for fresh- or, salt- water use. For instance, a "VLF" or very low frequency type metal detector works extremely well on dry sand and in fresh water. It does not work as well in saltwater, or on wet ocean-water beaches. In highly conductive saltwater conditions pulse induction or "PI," and multi-frequency VLF "BBS" metal detectors excel.

The VLF metal detector sends 4,000 - 80,000 radio waves per-second into the ground. When the radio waves hit something conductive - like an iron nail, gold ring, coin or aluminum pull-tab, a magnetic field sets up around the object and a particular signal frequency is transmitted back to the detector's receiving coil. VLF metal detectors have the ability to "discriminate," or tell what type of metal they are seeing by "reading" the return signal frequency.

An iron nail for example, has a different frequency than a silver coin. The processor in the metal detector knows the difference between the two, and can be set to remain silent when seeing the nail. However, the radio waves bounce off everything that is conductive in the sand or water. This is why VLF detectors must be "ground balanced" to work effectively in highly mineralized soil, or on highly conductive saltwater beaches. You must tune or adjust the machine to see through the "fog," or white-noise created by the salt and iron in the sand or water you are detecting. Unfortunately, this usually leads to a loss of depth and stability with most VLF detectors.

Minelab has a fully submersible VLF beach machine that can discriminate out iron in wet sand and saltwater. The “Excalibur” uses Broad Band Spectrum, or “BBS” technology, and retails for about $1,300.00. According to Minelab, their BBS operating system, “simultaneously transmits, receives and analyses a broad band of multiple frequencies to deliver substantial detection depth, high sensitivity and accurate discrimination for a wide range of target types.” The key takeaway here is “multiple frequencies.” Unfortunately, radio waves regardless of their frequency still have to be filtered and balanced in heavily conductive wet-ocean sand and highly mineralized saltwater. That limits the systems depth capabilities.

The magnetic iron sands (“Black Sands”), salt, and high concentrations of other minerals in the water and sand conspire to bounce the radio waves away from the target. Conductivity and mineralization act like a shield around the target and create white noise that must be filtered electronically. Think of it as turning on your bright headlights in a heavy fog at night. All that powerful light is diffused and causes a complete white out – you can’t see anything three-feet past the hood of your car! However when you turn on your yellow fog lights, you can see a little further – not as far as you could in clear daylight, but further. That is why all radio wave machines must be “ground balanced” or tuned, to maximize their depth potential, and why BBS filters and multi-frequencies are so effective – yet still limited.

Unlike BBS and VLF metal detectors which constantly send and receive thousands of low frequency radio waves per second, a Pulse Induction (PI) metal detector fires high-voltage pulses into the sand several hundred times per second. If no metal is present the electric pulse decays at a uniform rate with no anomalies. When metal is present a small “eddy” current flows through it causing the voltage decay time to increase, which creates a measurable anomaly. Unlike VLF radio waves, electronic pulses are impervious to the effects of conductivity and mineralization, and are unaffected by salt or black sands.

Using the same heavy fog at night metaphor that I referred to earlier, pulse induction is like headlights that cut completely through the fog as if it were not there at all. The trade-off for that added depth and clarity is the inability to discriminate, or block out iron targets that you generally don’t want to waste time and energy digging. While a pulse induction machine detects all metals without discrimination, the minute differences in the signal tone and quality can give a skilled and experienced operator a clue as to what the target may, or may not be. PI metal detectors start at $600.00 and top out around $6,000.00

So, what EXACTLY do you want to do with your metal detector?

 

[vergador]

Are you asking about Fresh water, or Saltwater? Do you want a water proof detector, or one you can just stick the coil in the water? What is a "decent" amount of money to you? The first thing to determine is what type of water, or beach you will be hunting. Are you detecting in the saltwater and on wet ocean sand, or will you be hunting dry sand and freshwater lakes and river beaches? This is important because there are different metal detectors designed for fresh- or, salt- water use. For instance, a "VLF" or very low frequency type metal detector works extremely well on dry sand and in fresh water. It does not work as well in saltwater, or on wet ocean-water beaches. In highly conductive saltwater conditions pulse induction or "PI," and multi-frequency VLF "BBS" metal detectors excel.

The VLF metal detector sends 4,000 - 80,000 radio waves per-second into the ground. When the radio waves hit something conductive - like an iron nail, gold ring, coin or aluminum pull-tab, a magnetic field sets up around the object and a particular signal frequency is transmitted back to the detector's receiving coil. VLF metal detectors have the ability to "discriminate," or tell what type of metal they are seeing by "reading" the return signal frequency.

An iron nail for example, has a different frequency than a silver coin. The processor in the metal detector knows the difference between the two, and can be set to remain silent when seeing the nail. However, the radio waves bounce off everything that is conductive in the sand or water. This is why VLF detectors must be "ground balanced" to work effectively in highly mineralized soil, or on highly conductive saltwater beaches. You must tune or adjust the machine to see through the "fog," or white-noise created by the salt and iron in the sand or water you are detecting. Unfortunately, this usually leads to a loss of depth and stability with most VLF detectors.

Minelab has a fully submersible VLF beach machine that can discriminate out iron in wet sand and saltwater. The “Excalibur” uses Broad Band Spectrum, or “BBS” technology, and retails for about $1,300.00. According to Minelab, their BBS operating system, “simultaneously transmits, receives and analyses a broad band of multiple frequencies to deliver substantial detection depth, high sensitivity and accurate discrimination for a wide range of target types.” The key takeaway here is “multiple frequencies.” Unfortunately, radio waves regardless of their frequency still have to be filtered and balanced in heavily conductive wet-ocean sand and highly mineralized saltwater. That limits the systems depth capabilities.

The magnetic iron sands (“Black Sands”), salt, and high concentrations of other minerals in the water and sand conspire to bounce the radio waves away from the target. Conductivity and mineralization act like a shield around the target and create white noise that must be filtered electronically. Think of it as turning on your bright headlights in a heavy fog at night. All that powerful light is diffused and causes a complete white out – you can’t see anything three-feet past the hood of your car! However when you turn on your yellow fog lights, you can see a little further – not as far as you could in clear daylight, but further. That is why all radio wave machines must be “ground balanced” or tuned, to maximize their depth potential, and why BBS filters and multi-frequencies are so effective – yet still limited.

Unlike BBS and VLF metal detectors which constantly send and receive thousands of low frequency radio waves per second, a Pulse Induction (PI) metal detector fires high-voltage pulses into the sand several hundred times per second. If no metal is present the electric pulse decays at a uniform rate with no anomalies. When metal is present a small “eddy” current flows through it causing the voltage decay time to increase, which creates a measurable anomaly. Unlike VLF radio waves, electronic pulses are impervious to the effects of conductivity and mineralization, and are unaffected by salt or black sands.

Using the same heavy fog at night metaphor that I referred to earlier, pulse induction is like headlights that cut completely through the fog as if it were not there at all. The trade-off for that added depth and clarity is the inability to discriminate, or block out iron targets that you generally don’t want to waste time and energy digging. While a pulse induction machine detects all metals without discrimination, the minute differences in the signal tone and quality can give a skilled and experienced operator a clue as to what the target may, or may not be. PI metal detectors start at $600.00 and top out around $6,000.00

So, what EXACTLY do you want to do with your metal detector?

If I may ask terry, Saltwater at about 35-50 ft. Iron discrimination
About $1500 bucks.
How would that spiffy minelab ctx 3030 fair in saltwater. It is submersible to 10ft only tho.
How about on land? 6-7 ft metal detectors? What are the best?
Thanks

 

[Terry Soloman]

If I may ask terry, Saltwater at about 35-50 ft. Iron discrimination
About $1500 bucks.
How would that spiffy minelab ctx 3030 fair in saltwater. It is submersible to 10ft only tho.
How about on land? 6-7 ft metal detectors? What are the best?
Thanks

Not sure about your question, but if you want to discriminate out iron in Saltwater, you need to spend $1,100.00 - $2,500.00 for a Multi-frequency machine. The CTX 3030 has done OK on some beaches, especially down in Florida. I use a $600.00 Tesoro Sand Shark pulse induction detector in the saltwater and wet sand with great success. The deepest metal detector that I have personally owned and used is the Minelab GPX 5000, which can hit small silver coins deeper than 24" and large 4-ounce gold nuggets at 35"-40" deep.

 

[bigscoop]

Since you want discrimination there's really not that many to chose from. Fisher CZ-21, Minelab Excalibur, Minelab's new 3030, the AT Pro. Two of these are only waterproof to 10 feet, which leaves you with only two remaining choices, the CZ & Excalibur. Both are top notch machines. (I may have missed a machine but these are the industry standards at presents.)

 

[vergador]

Not sure about your question, but if you want to discriminate out iron in Saltwater, you need to spend $1,100.00 - $2,500.00 for a Multi-frequency machine. The CTX 3030 has done OK on some beaches, especially down in Florida. I use a $600.00 Tesoro Sand Shark pulse induction detector in the saltwater and wet sand with great success. The deepest metal detector that I have personally owned and used is the Minelab GPX 5000, which can hit small silver coins deeper than 24" and large 4-ounce gold nuggets at 35"-40" deep.

U are the man, thanks

 

[Jason in Enid]

My suggestion is to buy two detectors. None of them are good for both. If you can only afford one, pick which area you plan on hunting the most and buy for that. If you are wanting to hunt saltwater beaches, there are only a few options. The AT-pro is NOT one of them. It does not handle the salt mineralization well. You can go with the Excalibur (waterproof), the CZ-21 (waterproof) or the Soveriegn. The Sov isn't waterproof, but sadly Minelab is discontinuing it. Now could be a good time to get a good discount on one!

 

[Jason in Enid]

U are the man, thanks

I hope you have $5000 plus whatever import fees your country charges if you think you want one of those GPX5000.

 

[vergador]

I hope you have $5000 plus whatever import fees your country charges if you think you want one of those GPX5000.

Good point Jason. Save or compromise, Excalibur 2 is somewhat affordable now a days.

The ctx 3030 is pricy as well but well worth it if you look at the demo and the stuff people miss without it. Even on areas they have been through