Best all-purpose easy-to-use land machine that can handle wet saltwater sand

[time4me]

I've been detecting for around 30 years, and my arsenal of detectors includes: Minelab Excalibur, Minelab Explorer II, Minelab E-Trac, Whites Eagle Spectrum, and a Garrett Ace 250 and Minelab X-Terra 70 both of which my son uses.

However, I always seem to have a hard time answering the question I often get, which I just got again from my brother and his wife. They want a good quality detector that is very easy to use out of the box, but something that can get more advanced as they grow in their understanding of it.

They live in southern california, and want to be able to detect yards and parks, but also want to be able to take it to the beach and detect the wet saltwater sand, so it needs to be able to handle wet sand on ocean beaches without tons of falsing and interference from the ground mineralization.

I think they can spend around $1000 if necessary, but if they can get something to meet their needs well for less, they'd be happy.

Suggestions

 

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[DOGMAN ( U.K )]

Minelab Excalibur or newer version seems to work fine here. A friend of mine has proved this machines worth here in the U.K by using it on land, salt water, dry sand, ploughed fields, pasture etc with great results. his secret is staying with t he machine and learning all it's traits until he's at one with the machine. As you have one, what do you think?

 

[time4me]

Minelab Excalibur or newer version seems to work fine here. A friend of mine has proved this machines worth here in the U.K by using it on land, salt water, dry sand, ploughed fields, pasture etc with great results. his secret is staying with t he machine and learning all it's traits until he's at one with the machine. As you have one, what do you think?

I've tried using it on the land, but don't like it at all for land use. I much prefer a digital display giving me data points in addition to the tones I hear, like a VDI number and depth. If taking the machine into the water is not one of my intentions, then personally I'd go with a machine that is primarily built for land use, but that can handle wet saltwater sand really well.

Jim

 

[Sandman]

I am sorry to say that I don't think there is such a machine that meets these demands. IMO the best detector for land and wet saltwater sand is the Minelab Sovereign GT as it is the land version of the Excal only with more features. However it has no display, but you can order a meter for it that gives VDI numbers. You can also change to a smaller coil for the trashy parks.

If your detector handles the grass well it will have trouble in the wet sand unless you turn down the sensitivity way down so it won't false when it comes near black sand and salt water together. The Pulse detectors handle the wet sand well, but in the grass I would be frustrated from finding all the trash. I don't know of a PI that has a screen either.

Good Luck on your Quest.
Sandman

 

[ivan salis]

there are many fine land machines (some not overly costly)--that just need to have the sen levels dropped a bit so that they do not pick up the excess minerals from the salt water "wet sand" area --its a fact their "over sensitive" and pick up the salt waters dissovled" minerals as "metal"-- by dropping the sen levels --you are in effect "recalibrating" it to not see the mineral --ie "ground balancing" it to properly suit the area. --it will once properly balanced pick up the under laying metals in the sand.

that my 2 cents on the subject

 

[TORRERO]

Years ago Tesoro made the Stingray, first version it was good for both land and wet salt sand.
It could pick up small gold on the beach real nice, but was for diving and weighed a lot.
Second model came with an interchangable coil, so you could get rid of the divers coil.
It also came with permanent headphones attached which were comfortable but tiresome for long days in the field.
I wish Tesoro could have made one of these in a model like the Silver Saber or Lobo....
Clean, light weight, and capable of handling salt water easily. I don't know about that...
I have a Tesoro Cortes and it seemed to do ok on the beach until we started getting signals we could not find... turned out to be some kind of Iron hot rock things that my other machines
could not even pick up.. we got these on every beach we hunted..... my wife would spend a long time trying to find a target she could hear, and then when I came over with my DFX I got no signal at all.....
Made my wife give up metal detecting...
Maybe those "Tesoro Custom Detectors" that came out a few years ago ?
I will be watching this thread because I want a detector like this myself.

 

[luvsdux]

Might be worth looking into the Whites M6 or Prizm 6T as they both have a "Beach" mode that may not be perfection, but should be better than a machine without and are both quite capable machines for most land detecting. Could post the question on several forums to see what the owner/user's have to say about them.
HH
Bill

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Time4me, I would agree with your assessment that the excaliber would not be a good land machine. At least not for cluttered areas. The long drawn out "booOOnnngs" are very annoying on land, where you might be trying to isolate targets, etc... Great on the beach because you certainly can't miss a beep but annoying land, IMHO. For the same reason, I don't care for the Sov. on cluttered land sites either (typical turf, yards, parks, etc... unless fairly un-cluttered).

Having experience on CA beaches (where you say your Q is intended for), I'd say to go with the Explorer or 6000 Di pro. Both work great on the wet salt. You can't submerse them, of course, but can go in and out of the ebbing surf ok. And if you did take it out in storms (for beach storm erosion hunting), you can always wrap them up in plastic to be splash proof.

 

[LX Kid]

My MXT is "very" good on land, beach, & wet sand. My Tiger Shark and Stingray II are my preferance for beach and wet sand though. MXT is a hard to beat "all around" detector! Lots of coil selections and is also a great cache, relic hunter and prospecting machine. I like the idea of two differant types of detectors for the variety of uses. Too many great land detectors and great beach detectors out there for your selection. I guess the best detector is the one that you learn all of it's capabilities and limitations and use it to it's best advantage.

 

[TORRERO]

Does anyone know about The Shadow X5 from Troy ?
It has a salt water mode and looks to be a very good land machine.
I have not heard much about it here on the forum, but I would like to see some
feedback from anyone who has one.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Torrero, I would not advise the x5 for the wet salt beach. It may have a mode for it, and yes, you may get it to work on the wet salt beach, but you will be left in the dust by any number of 4-filter and multi-frequency machines. The 2 filter x5 is more designed (IMHO) for working around iron, in relicky type land environments, target separation, etc....

 

[Ricky1601 aka pull tab king]

whites new spectra v3 has a beach mode... may serve their purpose...I have just recently got mine and have no trouble on northern ca. beaches, even in coin/jewelry mode so I have never even switched it into beach mode.

 

[TORRERO]

Torrero, I would not advise the x5 for the wet salt beach. IT may have a mode for it, and yes, you may get it to work on the wet salt beach, but you will be left in the dust by any number of 4-filter and multi-frequency machines. The 2 filter x5 is more designed (IMHO) for working around iron, in relicky type land environments, target separation, etc....

Looking at this machine though I might give it a try, Years ago I used a Fisher CZ6 Quicksilver
and it was great on the beach in the salt water mode, but would litterally walk over gold items that were not just really big targets.... I dug an 18k gold rope chain with 2 medallions on it with the CZ
Only to discover that it would not respond to the chain in salt water mode...
and the chain was huge !!
It would not pick up small bracelets or earrings or some of the smaller gold rings I am sure.
When I switched to a Stingray that all changed dramatically...
but that is a heavy machine, as long as its sensitive and light, and does not have a great deal of noise it should work OK..

 

[The-Bone]

Doesn't get much simpler than an M6.....put the 10" d2 coil on it and you have a depth monster also

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

HI G A R R E T T I N F I N I U M of course.

Next best is a gorgeous Blonde for finding Gold.

Don Jose de La Mancha