Help me pick a MD

[recoiljunky]

I'm new to detecting but have been treasure hunting for a while.

I live in Alabama and would like a waterproof MD. It will be used in fields, fresh water, salt water and beaches. I SCUBA dive so it will need to be waterproof to at least 80 feet.

I'm 35 years old and in pretty good shape, so weight isn't the biggest factor to me.

I believe in "Buy once, cry once" and I'm willing to pay about 1k if it's money well spent. Of course, if a decent product can be purchased for cheaper that would be great too.

I've done a lot of reading on this board but a lot of opinions seem to contradict. At one time I thought the Pulse 8x was the detector I needed (at $1,400) but then I read that it was not good for beach detecting.

Any help would be greatly appeciated!

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[Pepper2004]

Better shoot Sandman a PM. If anyone knows the answer to your questions it will be him.

 

[RON (PA)]

Better shoot Sandman a PM. If anyone knows the answer to your questions it will be him.

Pepper, I was thinking the exact same thing when I read the original post. Go with Sandman, He won't steer you wrong. He is a great guy..By the way, Welcome to TreasureNet. Glad to have you with us.

 

[Sandman]

The Pulse 8 is a great detector, but not for the hobbist as it has almost no discrimination. You would wrap it around a tree out in the woods or walk a mile from a field to find a tree. All Pulse Induction detectors are very deep, but that lack of disc on iron makes you dig deep holes for nails and bobby pins.

A water proof machine will weigh more than a land version, but at least here you have many more choices. Most water detectors won't have a pinpoint as it isn't needed on the sand or in the water. Some do a good job at it, but the best have a true pinpoint mode. The only two that do that I can think of is the Minelab Excal and the Fisher CZ-21 or older CZ20. Even with the Excal with the DD coil you don't X the target, you pull the coil away and slowly slide it forward. When you hear the sound the target is just off the tip of the coil. Practice once or twice and you've got the skill for life.

Of these two, I favor the Excal 1000 mainly because of the Iron Mask feature as it can still respond to a gold ring very near a large nail, unlike the CZ20 or 21. Plus I think it is deeper than the Fishers. I've taken the Excal and CZ20 down to 90 feet without any trouble. No reason to go deeper, but they would have held up. The Excal comes with a short dive shaft, or I think it still does.

Even if weight isn't a problem for you, both these can be hip mounted, but I prefer to carry them around my neck with them infront of my chest. Naturally diving calls for them on a shaft for safety reasons. BTW, carry two dive knives, one on BC, one on leg.

Neither of these you have the option of changing coils yourself as they are hardwired. Get the larger coil for more coverage per sweep and depth. In trashy areas you raise the coil and lose some depth or get another detector so you can use a small coil. You will soon find that you need more than one detector for all the jobs you need done.

Good Luck,
Sandman

 

[recoiljunky]

Thanks for the welcome and the replies!

It looks like the Excal 1000 fits the bill pretty well. After Sandman's suggestion, I went back and looked at the posts centering around this unit. Aside from a little user error and a slight learning curve, the Excal 1000 gets good reviews.

 

[historydigger]

I would also look at the Tesoro Tigershark it's a little on the heavy side also. but for the cost $600 it would serve a person well right now it's the only detector I OWN OR WILL own when it gets here next week. I have used one in the past at the beach, on land and for the price hard to beat.

 

[recoiljunky]

My Excal II came in today! I've got the batteries on charge and I'm studying up on the detector. I'll give it a spin tomorrow.