New Zealand beaches detector info.

Kiwibound

Newbie
Mar 14, 2015
4
0
Detector(s) used
WHITES XL-PRO TESORO SILVER UMAX
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I will be headed for New Zealand in May and possibly relocating as well. I have done land detecting off and on through the years. My first detector was a Whites 4000D fast swing detector, back in 1976 or so. Never have beach detected.

My question is this... What would be a fantastic metal detector to use on New Zealand beaches? Anyone who has actually been there and had that experience, would be greatly appreciated. I know they have areas of black sand.

I have thought of a Tesoro Sand Shark and was also recommended a Minelab Safari, probably because it's Australian made. lol Also a Garrett AT Pro was included. Also the newest one (ATX Pro I think), that is 14lbs and built like a tank. Don't have that kind of money to spend. I have also read about how good a detector the XP DEUS is, and any input there would be great. I read its not too great on beaches. I don't particularly care what brand the detector is, as long as it will do good on the beach. Any suggestions?

I apologize for not knowing more about their mineralization, but I have never been there and wish to make my first beach detector a good investment.

Any help at all would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thank You and Great Hunting!!!
 

Last edited:
Upvote 0

Rob071

Greenie
Oct 15, 2014
15
6
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
There is a user on this forum his name is Drunkbrothers i think.
He lives in NZ,he has some threads in this section
 

OP
OP
K

Kiwibound

Newbie
Mar 14, 2015
4
0
Detector(s) used
WHITES XL-PRO TESORO SILVER UMAX
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thank You!
 

Sir Gala Clad

Bronze Member
Jul 9, 2012
1,330
511
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
For Diving/ Shallow water, Wet Sand, Dry sand at salt water beaches you will need a multifrequency detector, if you want to be able to discriminate: Excalibur (any model) or CZ 21 recommended.

The more expensive, sensitive, and selective CTX3030 will also work well and supports different coil sizes and headphones will provide greater flexibility and the most discrimination capablility (headphone and visual display) but is not as rugged as the above detectors and should be used with caution in water.

The Sovereign has better discrimination capability the the Excalibur (which is based on an earlier sovereign design, hardened and dumbed down for diving) at salt water beaches, but is not waterproof and will end up as a very expensive paper weight if salt water gets into the housing (not water proof). It is no longer in production at Minelab.

If you don't require discrimination (dig it all) a Pulse Induction Detector, such as the Whites Dual Field PI, or Garret ATX (more
expensive) will work well. A Garret Infinium will also work well but is more difficult to master.
The Tesoro Sand Shark (life time warranty) should also work well, but it would not detect as deep.

For Dry Sand detecting, most any detector will work.
Discrimination capability is especially important on dry sand, where there is a lot of people, there
is usually a lot of trash.







I will be headed for New Zealand in May and possibly relocating as well. I have done land detecting off and on through the years. My first detector was a Whites 4000D fast swing detector, back in 1976 or so. Never have beach detected.

My question is this... What would be a fantastic metal detector to use on New Zealand beaches? Anyone who has actually been there and had that experience, would be greatly appreciated. I know they have areas of black sand.

I have thought of a Tesoro Sand Shark and was also recommended a Minelab Safari, probably because it's Australian made. lol Also a Garrett AT Pro was included. Also the newest one (ATX Pro I think), that is 14lbs and built like a tank. Don't have that kind of money to spend. I have also read about how good a detector the XP DEUS is, and any input there would be great. I read its not too great on beaches. I don't particularly care what brand the detector is, as long as it will do good on the beach. Any suggestions?

I apologize for not knowing more about their mineralization, but I have never been there and wish to make my first beach detector a good investment.

Any help at all would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thank You and Great Hunting!!!
 

Last edited:

lookindown

Gold Member
Mar 11, 2010
7,089
4,936
Florida
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
ACE 250,AT PRO, CZ21...RTG pro scoop...Stealth 720
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I think DrunkBrother lives there...send him a PM.
 

Tom_in_CA

Gold Member
Mar 23, 2007
13,837
10,360
Salinas, CA
🥇 Banner finds
2
Detector(s) used
Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
I knew a guy who had some cheapo machine in the mid 1970s, and got stationed in New Zealand at one of our US military bases there. He took the thing to the beach, and said the beach was so thick with coins, he could barely move (especially in front of old concession stands). Apparently he was the first to ever detect this beach . And even though he was probably doing good to get 5" deep, he could do 100+ coins any day he cared to go. It was all new stuff, and only an occasional jewelry, but still fun.

I'm sure by now the obvious zones like that have long-since been thinned out. Doh!
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top