Newbie- Wow.... all i can say is WOW!

[Hogfish]

sorry no, i haven't found any treasure ... i just had no idea metal detecting was so big.
T
o be polite some introduction and a little background info to start
After loosing my wedding ring after only 3 months of marriage, (probably not a record but close) and then hearing a friend do the same thing, i thought sheesh... this is a common problem. There's no hope of finding mine which is at the bottom of the ocean but his is on the beach somewhere so i start to think about getting a metal detector. Do a search and BOOM! now where do i begin...

Ive searched and read what I can about which specific detector would suit my purposes but as a total newbie i would still kindly ask for some guidance with questions that have probably been asked a thousand times before.

I'm from and live in the Bahamas and my detecting will be 99% beach use.
The sand is , i believe, almost entirely white limestone (calcium carbonate) with a little ground coral thrown in.
There's no clay or iron oxide but i read the salt water has an effect.
I wish to SPECIFICALLY TARGET GOLD AND SILVER JEWELLERY.
i've read Pulse Induction would be the way to go BUT i intend to target high traffic areas which means also there would be a lot of trash and i would be bending over every 5 seconds for a bottle cap. ssooo ...

Recommendations please for an entry level unit? budget... is $300 enough? (i see plenty for under $200 on toptenreviews.com but would the y suit my needs?)

Many thanks for all and any advise in advance,
best regards and happy hunting,
Hogfish

 

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[Beach Papa]

I have found rings in the dry sand, wet sand and in the water. Depending on the tide variation in your area high to low, if there is little tide variation, then in the water is the place to hunt. Water, suntan lotion and oops rings slip off. In my opinion you need a waterproof machine to be able to detect in all the areas where things are lost. $300 is not enough.. For $700, you can get a Tesoro Tiger Shark that can do land or water and is sensative on gold, but the descrimination is minimal so you nearly have to dig it all. For about the same you can Get a Tesoro Sand Shark PI and dig it all but get deeper targets. There are lots of detectors with varing degrees of bells and whistles to assist in reducing waisted time digging stuff you are not looking for. Minelab Excalibur II is a good choice for performance in and out of the water with discrimination and exclusion of most iron. I think the the price is around $1400. For $2,000 plus you can get a Minelab CTX that does everything but dig up the gold for you... Each detector has its place. If you are looking for your own lost ring only, and you think you know where it is, you can go cheap but if you think this is something you want to do as a long term hobby with substantial rewards, than I would go as high tech as you can squeeze into your budget, that way, you might not end up with 5 detectors like me.. I now own a CTX 3030 along with several others. In time, (if I use it) I am sure the CTX will pay for itself. Good luck in your search for your lost ring and a detector to find it with. (in actuality, I would prefer that you NOT get a CTX 3030 because when I come to the Bahamas to hunt, I want there to still be stuff to find.) Happy Hunting, Papa

 

[Hogfish]

thanks papa, looking and reading more i've figured i need to revise my budget. i'm also about 20lbs overweight (as noted by loving spouse) so a little extra digging here and there might not be too bad of a thing. Thanks for your recomendations, I will check into the Tesoro. Do you have any experience with the Garret AT Pro? thats also around the $700 mark. thanks, H

 

[firemac]

thanks papa, looking and reading more i've figured i need to revise my budget. i'm also about 20lbs overweight (as noted by loving spouse) so a little extra digging here and there might not be too bad of a thing. Thanks for your recomendations, I will check into the Tesoro. Do you have any experience with the Garret AT Pro? thats also around the $700 mark. thanks, H

welcome,
ive got an at pro, use it in parks, yards , schoolyards etc, but I use the etrac on the sand and use the excel in the salt water, they just out perform the pro at the beach, don't want to waste time when im there, good luck hunting

 

[Beach Papa]

Hogfish, although I don't own the etrack, excalibur or the AT Pro, from what I understand the CTX 3030 is all three of those detectors rolled into one. Papa

 

[trsrseeker]

$300 definitely not enough. Try a used Excalibur closer to $1000 if a new one is not possible.

 

[search and recovery]

If hunting in salt water beaches, you need either Minelab Excallibur at $1500 or pulse machines, Whites Duel Field at $850, or Tesoro Sand Shark at $650 to hunt water, and wet sand. On dry sand any detector worth it's cost is good. Excallibur discriminates out iron, something the pulse machines will not do, but they will find deeper targets. All three are waterproof machines which is what you need at any salt water beach if you want to venture out of the dry sand.

 

[Hogfish]

kindest thanks to all so far.
ok with a revised budget of 700bux, (remember i'm a total novice. the minelabs would be nice but 1k+ is a little extravagant),
i think it's narrowed down to these three:

1- Garett At Pro, 2-Tesoro Sand Shark, 3 - Tesoro Tiger Shark.

Reminder- use will be exclusivley beach, from dry sand to wet sand, into about 3 feet depth of surf.

I'm only intersted in getting a signal for Gold and Silver. -- No coins (pennies, quarters), iron, buttons, bottle caps etc ..

more Questions:

Does the Garrett AT Pro fit the above criteria?
I like that there is a display that would indicate if there's gold underneath and on their website there's a guy wading through water at waist depth. Seems about right.

The tiger shark seems also like a good fit. There's no display but i'm assuming that, in salt water, it can be tuned so as to only make a beep when its over gold/silver. Yes or no?

The sand shark is a Pulse Induction , just to clarify (as i'm getting a couple mixed answers from talking to people and the above answers). Am i correct in saying that I CANNOT filter out just gold and silver with this detector. This would scratch the sand shark off the list.

again, many thanks for all the advise, it's much appreciated.
happy hunting to all.
H

 

[cudamark]

Personally, I wouldn't buy any of the ones you listed. I'd save my money for a higher end beach machine. That said, if I had to choose between the ones listed, I'd go with the Tiger Shark with the bigger coil. No matter which machine you buy (even the high end ones) you can't discriminate out coins and pull tabs without losing jewelry too. Gold rings read the same as pull tabs, foil, and nickels. Silver will read the same as pennies through halves. At the beach you generally dig all non-ferrous targets.

 

[copperpenny]

So my question would be, are you in for the long haul, or just to try and find your ring !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, if you only looking for the ring, you may look at renting a unit if available in your area......... find your ring, then if you like MDing, look at buying one for the long haul. HH .....Cliff

 

[Hogfish]

no chance of finding my ring. fell off fishing. thats at the bottom of the ocean. would need a sub.

 

[TheInspector]

My Garrett AT Gold is great in fresh water, but is almost useless in the saltwater along the Texas Gulf Coast. I believe the AT Pro would not do the job for you.

I will most likely add an Excallibur II to my arsenal at some time in the future.

Good luck

 

[cntrydncr1]

Go with a high end machine like the excaliber. It will pay for itself many times over if you use it regularly!

 

[Can Slaw]

I'm only intersted in getting a signal for Gold and Silver. -- No coins (pennies, quarters), iron, buttons, bottle caps etc ..


I have been looking for a machine like that for 20 years, I sure wish they would hurry up and make one.

The AT Pro you mentioned will not work to it's maxium in saltwater, nor will the tiger shark, the false signlas will drive a new hunter nuts chasing ghost targets. The Sand Shark is a dig everything machine, iron, hair pins and all other metal targets.

One other machine that will do a good job in your price range is a used Fisher CZ 21.

 

[eathabs]

Don't rule out a pulse machine because you don't want to bend over every 5 seconds, get a long handled beach scoop.


habs

 

[Terry Soloman]

A lot of advice here - The T-Net community is AWESOME!

Here is MY opinion Hogfish. Tesoro Sand Shark for IN the water and on WET saltwater sand. Yes, you WILL dig it all, but you'll also find deeper and MORE gold than you will with ANY multi-frequency VLF (Minelab Excalibur/Fisher CZ). You will need a single-frequency VLF machine for the dry sand, and there you will get the same performance from a $170.00 Tesoro Compadre, as you would from a $1,400.00 Minelab Excalibur. Check this out!

The quest for the perfect metal detector to this point has been quixotic. Minelab, has come the closest to building a fully submersible beach machine that can discriminate out iron in wet sand and saltwater. The “Excalibur” uses Broad Band Spectrum, or “BBS” technology, and retails for about $1,400.00.

According to Minelab, their BBS operating system, “simultaneously transmits, receives and analyses a broad band of multiple frequencies to deliver substantial detection depth, high sensitivity and accurate discrimination for a wide range of target types.” The key takeaway here is “multiple frequencies.” Unfortunately, radio waves regardless of their frequency still have to be filtered and balanced in heavily conductive wet-ocean sand and highly mineralized saltwater. That limits the systems depth capabilities.

Single frequency VLF machines (Very Low Frequency), have even more 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?

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 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 their other dirt detecting needs), and a PI machine for the water and wet-sand (and deep farm field and relic hunting). In truth, it all comes down to what you prefer and can afford. Good Luck!

 

[JT1080]

A lot of advice here - The T-Net community is AWESOME!

Here is MY opinion Hogfish. Tesoro Sand Shark for IN the water and on WET saltwater sand. Yes, you WILL dig it all, but you'll also find deeper and MORE gold than you will with ANY multi-frequency VLF (Minelab Excalibur/Fisher CZ). You will need a single-frequency VLF machine for the dry sand, and there you will get the same performance from a $170.00 Tesoro Compadre, as you would from a $1,400.00 Minelab Excalibur. Check this out!

The quest for the perfect metal detector to this point has been quixotic. Minelab, has come the closest to building a fully submersible beach machine that can discriminate out iron in wet sand and saltwater. The “Excalibur” uses Broad Band Spectrum, or “BBS” technology, and retails for about $1,400.00.

According to Minelab, their BBS operating system, “simultaneously transmits, receives and analyses a broad band of multiple frequencies to deliver substantial detection depth, high sensitivity and accurate discrimination for a wide range of target types.” The key takeaway here is “multiple frequencies.” Unfortunately, radio waves regardless of their frequency still have to be filtered and balanced in heavily conductive wet-ocean sand and highly mineralized saltwater. That limits the systems depth capabilities.

Single frequency VLF machines (Very Low Frequency), have even more 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?

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 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 their other dirt detecting needs), and a PI machine for the water and wet-sand (and deep farm field and relic hunting). In truth, it all comes down to what you prefer and can afford. Good Luck!

GREAT post, Terry! Thank you!

 

[lost items recovery]

Tesoro "sand shark" is designed for salt water a "tiger shark is designed for fresh water!

I hunt with a Tesoro sand shark in VCO mode and it rocks. In VCO you don't miss much!

I've owned 4 other machines before this one and will never hunt with anything else. I won't hunt out of VCO Mideast my finds have tripled.
If I were you I would go Sand shark.
By the way it's available for $570 something with the 8" coil. I've had the 8" and 10.5" and prefer the 8" .

It will pay for itself rather quickly.
See my finds I've posted.
Interested in which way you go.

 

[bigscoop]

VLF or PI? If only it were that simple. Case in point......my area beaches. During the summer when the sand is really piled up on the beach and you can literally go hours without a hit, a PI is a very formidable tool. However, in the winter, once all the sand gets stripped away and stirred up and the beach is absolutely chocked full of tiny pieces of slaw and scrap iron, well, lets just say you can wear yourself completely out digging nothing but junk. So, perhaps the biggest factor is where you intend to hunt and the conditions to be encountered. Choosing the right machine, especially when you're limited to just one machine, has more to do with where you plan to actually hunt then anything else. If you plan on hunting a lot of different areas where you're going to encounter a lot of different conditions then VLF VS PI is something you need to consider and weigh for yourself. Digging everything isn't a bad notion when that everything isn't literally everywhere, but unfortunately this isn't always the case. Truth be told, there is no perfect machine for all conditions, if there was we would all own it. Perhaps the best choice is a machine that will allow you to comfortably hunt in most every environment you might encounter. It's all a tradeoff that's totally dependent on your personal desires and the conditions you'll be hunting in. Having said all this, you really need to settle on those personal desires and research those environments you may be hunting in first.

 

[search and recovery]

Great posts Terry and Bigscoop. Tiger Shark is only for fresh water. As you learn more and hunt more, you will probably be like the rest of the dedicated detectorists and aquire more and more machines for the particular areas that you hunt. I have bought six new machines in the last two years because I relic and saltwater hunt and, like most other detectorists, am always looking for an edge from the next newer and better machine. Nothing beats experience, and each machine has it's own little nitch to add to the toolbox for the area and particular conditions that you hunt. A machine that kicks butt in Florida on the beach, which has no mineralization in the sand, may not do well in Virginia or farther north because of the added black sand. Location can be everything on a VLF machine, but not even affect a PI machine....Stuart