Madmetalmax
Tenderfoot
- Dec 25, 2016
- 8
- 9
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Xterra 305, Whites Surfmaster PI DF
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Hey everyone, I recently just joined the forum but I wanted to pass along some limited knowledge I have with the machine I use at the beach.
Now I know a VLF machine is not optimum at a beach setting in wet sand but it can be done, my Xterra 305 came with the stock coil and I replaced it with the minelab 15 inch all terrain 18.75kHz coil. This made it significantly more stable.
Hunting in dry sand is pretty self explanatory but when I am hunting in wet sand I can't ground balance the machine at all, no matter the setting I get a ton of feed back, so I leave it wherever it was set for the dry sand on the same beach. Without any discrimination the machine would sound out a constant series of false beeps for iron objects, so discriminating out iron I'm able to search wet sand and into the water (tide pools) at level 7 or 8 sensitivity. Generally I can hit on any object down to about 4-5 inches and have found numerous coins in saturated sand and even out of tide pools.
I have not found any jewelry down by the water but I have found some in the dry sand, not sure if this is because it is sinking lower than I can reach in the sand, or if with these settings the machine can't sense the gold/silver. (Ground balance issue?)
Anyways, hope this helps anyone using a Xterra or a VLF machine, keep in mind every beach pretty much has its own characteristics.....
Now I know a VLF machine is not optimum at a beach setting in wet sand but it can be done, my Xterra 305 came with the stock coil and I replaced it with the minelab 15 inch all terrain 18.75kHz coil. This made it significantly more stable.
Hunting in dry sand is pretty self explanatory but when I am hunting in wet sand I can't ground balance the machine at all, no matter the setting I get a ton of feed back, so I leave it wherever it was set for the dry sand on the same beach. Without any discrimination the machine would sound out a constant series of false beeps for iron objects, so discriminating out iron I'm able to search wet sand and into the water (tide pools) at level 7 or 8 sensitivity. Generally I can hit on any object down to about 4-5 inches and have found numerous coins in saturated sand and even out of tide pools.
I have not found any jewelry down by the water but I have found some in the dry sand, not sure if this is because it is sinking lower than I can reach in the sand, or if with these settings the machine can't sense the gold/silver. (Ground balance issue?)
Anyways, hope this helps anyone using a Xterra or a VLF machine, keep in mind every beach pretty much has its own characteristics.....
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