Some Questions About A Detector For Water Hunts

Stand Watie

Jr. Member
Mar 24, 2012
99
34
Greenwood SC
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Ok I'm fixing to order a detector I can use in water. I won't be diving so the control box won't be getting wet intentionally, of course I could always trip and fall or drop it. So all I need is for the coil to be water proof. I'd like for the control box to be water "resistant" but it doesn't have to be water proof.

I've been reading a lot on here and there has been some mention about certain units being better for salt water.

• Does it really matter whether I'm hunting salt or fresh water as to which detector I get?

I hope to use it in both, but predominantly I'll be using it in fresh water.

• What is a good reasonably priced machine that will work in both salt and fresh water?

Thanks to all who reply.

~ Stand Watie
 

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Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
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In Michigan now.
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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
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
There are hardly any good detectors that can operate in both salt and fresh water. Salt is a mineral and then there is black sand to contend with at the shore. Your choices are many for use in freshwater however. Granted you will somehow get the controls wet and fry the detector where service is needed for $$$. The Tesoro Tiger Shark is a great water detector with a life time warranty and it has a salt mode so it can work at some saltwater beaches where the salt concentrations aren't to high. The Fisher 1280-X is a good freshwater one and built like a tank. The AT PRO by Garrett is water proof to only ten feet, but if your not a diver this isn't important. Some say it works well near saltwater, but we can't get ours to act right near fresh because of to much falsing.

Then there are the better ones like the Excal and CZ-21 which are excellent in both fresh and salt to depths of 200 feet. I don't recommend Pulse units for beginners as they lack good disc and sound off on tiny trash.
 

Treasure_Hunter

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Staff member
Jul 27, 2006
48,305
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Sandman is spot on.....If your wanting a detector for water, buy a good waterproof one, you WILL get it wet one way or another...... Another thing to remember, a good detector will hold its value so the money spent is not lost, it is still there in your detector.

Remember after that detector your next most important tool is your scoop....Get a good scoop...
 

Terry Soloman

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May 28, 2010
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Primary Interest:
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Ok I'm fixing to order a detector I can use in water. I won't be diving so the control box won't be getting wet intentionally, of course I could always trip and fall or drop it. So all I need is for the coil to be water proof. I'd like for the control box to be water "resistant" but it doesn't have to be water proof.

I've been reading a lot on here and there has been some mention about certain units being better for salt water.

• Does it really matter whether I'm hunting salt or fresh water as to which detector I get?

I hope to use it in both, but predominantly I'll be using it in fresh water.

• What is a good reasonably priced machine that will work in both salt and fresh water?

Thanks to all who reply.

~ Stand Watie

Single frequency VLF machines (Very Low Frequency), have limitations in the harsh saltwater environment. Take for example the Tesoro Lobo Super Traq. This VLF single frequency machine (17.9Khz) is one of the finest and deepest gold nugget finders on the market today. The Lobo Super Traq, is capable of finding BB-sized gold nuggets eight-inches deep in heavily mineralized ground, or a nickel in dry beach sand at 14-inches. Put that same nugget – or even the nickel, seven-inches deep in wet saltwater sand and the Lobo could walk right over it while chattering, or maybe without seeing it at all. Why?

As Sandman said, 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 (Broad Band Spectrum) 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.

PI metal detectors give the user superior depth capabilities in all metal detecting situations and soil conditions. 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.

Will one machine do it all? Not in my opinion. I always advise new beach metal detecting hobbyists to have a VLF machine for dry sand (as well as Freshwater, and their other dirt detecting needs), and a PI machine for the Saltwater and wet-sand (and deep farm field and relic hunting). Why? Let’s take a look at average depth capabilities for different technologies in wet sand and saltwater.

VLF – 4”-7” in wet-ocean sand or saltwater.
BBS – 15”-17” in wet-ocean sand or saltwater.
PI – 19” -25” in wet-ocean sand or saltwater.

You can buy a fantastic VLF – and a quality PI machine, for under $1,200.00. In truth, it all comes down to what you prefer and can afford. I will say this. If you are not ready to dig it all in the wet sand, you are leaving a lot of treasure behind for my pulse induction machine. Hope this helps!
 

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cudamark

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Mar 16, 2011
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San Diego
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For the most part, I agree with Terry. If you're going to hunt anywhere that has a lot of iron targets, you'll regret getting a PI machine. Their only real advantage is depth but if you've ever tried to dig an 18" deep target in the surf or wet sand, you won't see that as much of an advantage. It's almost impossible to do it as the hole keeps collapsing in on itself. I've used a bunch of beach machines and find the Excalibur to be the best overall one to use. We have real mineralized black sand here in San Diego and it totally ignores it and finds small items 18" deep. Larger items even deeper.
 

signal_line

Silver Member
Nov 14, 2011
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If you want good iron discrimination the #1 best seller Garrett AT Pro or AT Gold is something you should look at. I don't know if they are the best, but the Iron Audio and Hi-Resolution iron discrimination are extremely powerful tools. Don't take my word for it, ask someone else. I have hunted an old city park for four hours and never dug one bottlecap or nail with the AT Gold. Check the Garrett website for videos.
 

WIDirtFishing

Sr. Member
Apr 29, 2010
322
129
Twin Cities, MN
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800

Past:
Tesoro Tiger Shark
Tesoro Silver uMax
AT Pro
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Just bought an AT Pro and I decided on it after I talked to a Garrett Tech. He assured me that the "bugs" with the first few sets of detectors have been worked out and that if myself or anyone I know is having issues to send them to Garrett and they will take care of it. He didn't tell me exactly what they fixed (I'm surprised he even admitted to me there were "bugs), but I read somewhere that someone was falsing alot because of the coil wire and how it was attached and he sent it to Garret and they did a firmware update and replaced the coil cable.
This isn't gospel; just what I read from another post. I have heard good things about the AT Pro and am excited to get it in my hands :-)
 

Chuck In Oregon

Full Member
Jun 16, 2004
149
26
Cottage Grove, Oregon
Detector(s) used
AT Pro, CZ-20, Pro-Pointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I bought a Fisher CZ-20 in the late '90s and it still works as good as it did on Day 1. It is my salt-water go-to machine and it's also my back-up dry-land and loaner machine now. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a CZ-21 if it needed replacing.

I bought an ATPro this past January and it has worked just fine for me on land and in shallow fresh water. You really need a waterproof MD like that here in Oregon. I probably won't bother with it on salt water beaches but I'll take it along as a back-up. I haven't used a lot of detectors but those two have worked well for me and their customer support has been outstanding.

Chuck
 

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