I am new to detecting, and need some advice

[Narthoniel]

Hello,

I recently came up with metal detecting as one hobby that i can do to make money, and not spend it. So about 2 weeks ago, I bought a Whites Prism 3, to see if I would enjoy the hobby, and to see what I could get out of it. Well, I am hooked, in the last 2 weeks, I have been out every day but one for hours at a time. I kind of told my self I wouldnt buy anything else for this hobby, unless the hobby paid for it. Not only that, but money is tight for my wife and I, so most of my questions refer to equipment.

I live near a very busy tourist beach, and for the last 2 weeks, have combed it almost daily. I have done pretty well there, but I can only hunt in the dry sand, as the Prism does not work so well near the salt water. I have met many people out hunting in the water, and they seem to find a lot more of the good jewelry items that I am interested in.

All that being said, I have a few questions to ask, and I appreciate any feedback avaliable. Since I have never done much of any digging or searching in hard ground, or research on old homesites, I am at a loss for how to go about those things. I also have no clue about machines for the water, and things of that nature.

Will my Prism work in the dirt? And how effective is it?
What types of detectors work best in Salt water? How affordable are they?
Is it worth buying a pinpointer to use when using a detector in dirt/hard ground?
Typically how deep are objects in the surf zone at the beach?
What methods fo selling silver and gold jewelry are best?

That is all I can think of right now. I will post more questions later if they occur to me.

Thank you very much for any help and/or insight into this hobby,
Anthony

 

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[flyinguy]

shift down three gears kid! i'm gettin' dizzy! i don't know the whites except a few plays with my brother's dfx. i have learned my old compass machines so well that they tell me what to do. this is the key. learn what they tell you. it is like any art or job or hobby, you have to learn it. you sound like you want to water detect. lots of experts in here. you probably won't get rich with money but you will get rich with life. this is a great hobby. Bill

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Anthony, you have asked enough questions to fill a book with answers. And the opinions on machines, well ..... that's like going to a Raiders/Steelers game, and asking a bunch of drunk revelers at a tailgate parking lot party: "who's the best team"? You know, the "Ford/Chevy" question

But I'll take some stabs at a few of your questions: Yes the Prism will work for land hunting. But it will not be that competitive. I hunted side by side with a Prism guy last week. We traded off some deeper coin signals (wheats and silver at 8" type stuff). His machine would not even give a peep. Only on the shallower stuff could he get repeatable signals. The prism just isn't a "powerhouse" deepseeker. Ok for goofing off, getting started, etc... But definately not full of the "bells and whistles". If you're going to a place that's loaded with targets, and depth, TID, etc.. is not "the issue", then it will work ok. But if you think you're going to go behind other aces using expensive deepseekers, in worked out spots, you're not likely to find stuff easily behind them. But if you did the research and found a virgin spot, then yeah, you'd find stuff. So it all just depends on the type spot you're going to hit.

The "how deep are objects found in the wet/surf", is also "it depends". The wet sand is always changing with each tide and swells. One day sand may be "going out" and the next day sand may be "coming in". I've dug zinc pennies at a foot deep, and other days (when erosion/storms are occuring), I've dug silver coins (and even gold coins) at 1" deep! I've even eyeballed barbers, etc... on top of the wet sand before, when erosion is occuring. When you get good at the wet sand, you'll eventually be able to tell from the "lay of the land", where the "low spots" are. Spots where mother nature tends to move and deposit stuff to. Like scallop shapes, slopes, cuts, etc... Generally where I'm at, we watch the internet swell and tide sites, to try to determine when erosion will occur. But the "rules" are different at each beach, depending on which way to the ocean it faces, and other stuff like man-made obstacles that change sand migration (jettys, harbor mouths, riff-raff, etc....). All you can do is talk to the pro's in your area, and see when they determine how the most sand will be be "going out" to reveal mother nature's natural riffle board effect.

One benefit of working the wet, vs the dry sand, is that on the wet, you can frequently find "zones" where the moving sand/surf has left a predominance of targets. So you don't have to do quite so much walking around looking for random signals, as you have to on the dry. Ie.: on the dry, targets are wherever they were dropped. But on the wet, I've seen where hundreds of targets can be in an area the size of your living room, so fast, you just dig non-stop for hours. And to top it off, all the light stuff will be gone -- washed out. So no foil, tabs, bottle caps, etc... just heavy stuff. Hard to go back to trudging through the dry sand for random losses, after you've stumbled into pockets like that

As the the machine that will work best on the wet, can you get by without a discriminator? (ie.: to pass nails, for example) Is the wet sand so mineralized, that a standard VLF discriminator might have fits? If so, either of those factors might cause you to choose any of various pulse machines. But if there is a lot of iron (like if there was a history of piers and commercial activity there) and if the sand is not too badly mineralized, then you might want to go with a VLF discriminator. If you intend to get the machine wet (like sloshing around, or wading in to where the box might get sloshed, or if you intend to snorkle, etc...) then you'd need something waterproof, like the Excaliber. That goes deep, and is waterproof, and has good discrimination. But be prepared for a long learning curve with the crazy warbling sounds. If you don't need something water proof, the Explorer or Sovereign would be my choice. Both good beach machines. Both handle moderate minterals and salt ok, and both have reliable disc. to pass iron. The Explorer makes a good crossover for land sites, so that would be my overall favorite choice for beach and land both. I've even used my Explorer during beach storms before, getting hit with rain and waves, and .... as long as you have the control box wrapped in plastic, you can usually get away with some pretty wet hunting. The coil is waterproof, so no need to worry about that.

But like I say, this is a Chevy/Ford question, so no doubt someone will come on saying another machine is the preferred choice! haha

 

[Narthoniel]

Tom,

Thank you very much for your long and thought provoking reply. I have known sand moves, but have no idea how to read it yet, and expect a long learning curve there. I also expected different answers to these questions, depending on personality, but thats what I was after. What works for who? I understand that instead of the machine breaking into you, usually the person gets broken into a certain machine, and wont use another period.

One of my major concerns is, If I go out nd drop a bunch of money and go into debt for a detector to hunt the wet stuff, will it be a wasted effort? It seems everyone i see on the wet has found jewelry when I stop to talk to people. And I know I will be out hunting 5-7 days a week, as much as I can this summer. I knew when I bought the Prism, that if i were to get into this completly, I wouldnt be keeping it, and would eventually upgrade. My hangup is that there is so little good jewelry on the dry sand, that it seems futile to try to buy an expensive detector with dry sand finds.

I was also told last night by someone I stopped that the Soverign might be a good option, and I plan to look into it. I may give it a try, and later, if it pays off, give it to my wife, and buy an excal for myself, so we can hunt the wet and together.

All in all, being new, I dont understand which machine does what and where best, so I greatly appreciate the time you took to address my questions. It is nice to see a good friendly community here to support this rewarding hobby.

Thanks, and happy hunting,
Anthony

 

[Silver Fox]

Anthony: Even with the satisfactory answers you've received, your best bet before you lay down a lot of money for "another" detector is to simply do sufficient research. If you want to do the wet sand and inland, then just concentrate on the models that specify wet sand modes. Some, such as the Minelab X-Terra 70 have electronic controls for the wet sand mode, and some have actual switches on the display that switch between wet sand and inland.

Visit this website (which I found through google.com) for questions and answers:
http://www.dixiemetaldetectors.com/reviews/beach.htm

Silver Fox

 

[Narthoniel]

Thank you for the link, looks like some good information.

Anthony

 

[relichunters]

Welcome To TNET! Let me give you some information that will help you very much.

#1. All non-underwater detectors work in dirt. Things like red clay might be different. I know nothing about underwater ones, so I cannot tell you much on those.

#2. You can put the coil in the water, (the coil is the circle thing on the bottom of your shaft) you can also put your shaft in the water, I wouldn't put it in more then half deep. Never raise your coil to waist high or more, like upside down or anything, the water will run into your head unit and destory it.\\

#3. Saltwater acts weird in some machines. Sand is usually fine, but the water can cause many false signals.

#4. I cannot stress how important a pinpointer is. The White's Bullseye II pinpointer is the best all around pinpointer. Some will agree some will disagree. However in my opinion it has no flaws. Has a depth range, tone or pulse option, LED light, and push button on button. You can buy them here on TNET for $79 brand new. They work in all soils, unless the vibraprobe which cannot detect in red clay, has no switches or buttons, and you can run the battery dead quickly. Also doesn't have a depth or tone option. But review the pinpointers and pick the one you want, I just highly recommend the Bullseye II.

#5. I also live in Virginia. I am in Charlottesville, if your ever up this way, we can detect some nice civil war spots.

#6. I keep all my jewelery, for memories, are you sure you want to sell it? I have a business card at work that buys it, I could get you their number.

#7. How deep items are on the beach can vary from on top to 3 feet. Depends on how much it's been walked on, how much rain it got, how much it's been under a tide, etc.

 

[Narthoniel]

Some very good points to consider, thank you for the input. The info about the pinpointer is excellent, thank you. I have done some looking around, and am currently eyeballing the excal2. Kellyco has a deal with it that they throw in a free pinpointer. Not the bullseye, but hey, free is free.

As for the jewelry, I started this for a few reasons, and one of them was for it to be a profitable hobby. Something to do for fun that makes, and doesnt lose, money. So yes, I want to sell the jewelry. I do plan to take pictures of it. You mention a business to sell to. I have 2 diamond rings I found last weekend I want to sell, but they arent worth much. Where si the business located, and how does that work?

All in all tho, thanks a ton for all the pointers. I really appreciate the information, and the relevency. I dont run out of town much. But if i do get out that way, ill let you know. I am on the beach a ton. (was kicked off earlier by lifeguards for a storm, soon as its gone, so am I ) If you are coming down, send me a holler, and we could do some hunting here.

Anthony

 

[relichunters]

When I go in to work on tuesday ill get the business card for you.

Also jewelery will detect as different things, like on mine, White Gold comes up as Iron on my machine, while 10K gold comes up as a nickel. So dig all holes, some come up as Zinc.

 

[Ricardo_NY1]

Regarding some of your questions..............your detector will work fine in dry ground/soil/parks/turf, etc.

The detector's Pin Pointer is good enough. Once you get proficient, it will get you down to the target. A hand held pin pointer can save you some time, but unless you get a really good unit, I'd say most are not even worth it.

Regarding making money.............if you can find as much as you're spending on batteries and whatever other cost to get to your locations, you will. Finding a rechargeable solution can help in this area. With your machine, you could easily find a couple hundred dollars in clad alone if you go to productive areas in parks, etc. You could do even better, depending on how much time you put into it. No joke, I think I would probably gather 1/2 grand in clad if clad is all I were hunting for and I put in double the time I do now. Maybe more.

With that said, if you were able to save a couple hundred dollars, you could get a quality used machine that you could use in the sand. If you had another one or two hundred to add to that, you could be looking at a really nice used machine. One ring or good find at the beach is all it would take to get your money back, and if you invest the time, it will definately happen. The odds are with you on this one, as people do lose jewelry.

Silver coins.........you probably may not find enough of them to make a substantial profit...........they are as hard to find as it is. That doesn't eliminate the possiblity of finding a more rare and valuable coin. I think the most expensive coin I've found to date is worth about $50. There is a good chance though that you may not want to sell your silver coin finds.

Also, most detectors that work well in the salt/water do not work as great on land and vice versa, with a few exceptions. You may want to keep your current machine which does work on land as opposed to trading/selling it, and buy your second dedicated water/sand machine.

Final advice..........research what you buy and ask people here. Alot of people here are extremely knowledgable.

 

[radarwill]

Anthony: Even with the satisfactory answers you've received, your best bet before you lay down a lot of money for "another" detector is to simply do sufficient research.
Silver Fox

Satisfactory? I'd say Tom, and everyone, has given Excellent advise in face of the numerous questions presented.

Anthony.
Keep swinging what you have and read this site border to border before you plunk down some money on equipment.
My 2 cents.

 

[Narthoniel]

Thanks to you both for the input. I have dug around a good bit, and ahve decided that a new machine was emminent, and laid down 1200 for an excal2. Should be here soon, and cant wait to break it in. I will still keep the prism, it does work, and I have had some good success with it in the last 2 and a half weeks. Over $50 in clad, 2 small diamond rings, a golden pendant(not tested the metal yet), a pair of Oakley sunglasses, and many other smaller items.

I am hoping for more jewely in the water tho, but, either way, its fun and enjoyable, and it gets me out of the house more. Now the wife doesnt have an excuse to stay home, as she can sue the prism

Thanks again,
Anthony