Trying to pick next MD.. Help please.

[Bigjdub]

I had an Ace 250 since about a year or two before the Ace 350 first came out. It served me well until it died recently. Its time for an upgrade and I'm going nuts trying to decide. I way over think things and read WAY too much when trying to decide on things like this.

I mainly used the A250 in parks, tot lots, and fresh and salt beaches (dry areas). I want to get in to underwater detecting in fresh with a snorkel (10 foot limit should be fine as I don't scuba). I couldn't see me going too much over waist deep in salt water. Being able to hunt gold nuggets in the bedrrock areas along creeks would be nice but would not be a main focus. Coins, jewelry, and relics found around old mining camps are my main land searches. Compleatly underwater searches would be in swimming holes looking for swimmer drops and fishing lures or what ever is down there. Salty areas (wet and dry) would be about 25% of my search areas.

I've been reading a lot on the AT Pro and the MXS. I like what I see in the MXS but the reviews make me nervous. I have a code for 10% off any MD from the Whites website. My limit is $1000. I might consider a little higher if the extra features are worth it. I would prefer something with a screen so I can see what's going on and be able to discriminate specific signals like I could on the A250.

What would you do in my situation?

 

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[gamiller]

its very difficult to get a detector to do it all even for 1000 dollars. the deal killer for you is the vid you want. Using in saltwater most are tone id and dual freq or p.i.
The at pro fits the bill and can be used in saltwater environment but its a single freq. machine and sometimes struggles in saltwater. Depending where on the beach it may require frequent ground balancing as you move from dry sand to wet sand and again from wet sand to directly into the water. Sometime it is necessary to lower the sensitivity to get it to stabilize loosing some depth.

 

[Bigjdub]

I know I won't find something near as good as a dedicated salt machine. My main focus on beaches is just the dry areas where people sit and play looking for pocket drops. Outside of our yearly surf competition our beaches are never packed like you would see in big cities. Being able to go in the salt water is more of a curiosity then expecting to find treasure. My A250 did ok I think on dry and moist salt sand. I did find clad and trash although not as much as I thought I would.

My productive sand areas where swimming holes along a fresh river. I had no problem hitting targets a foot deep or more. In the water here is where I think I will clean up with a MD. I've found thousands of dollars in fishing gear and jewelry over the years just by snorkeling.

I'm mainly just wanting the most bang for my buck in my price range.

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

Except for salt, imo the ATP is the best value out there. I'd do that, put the extra cash back and start saving up for a dedicated saltwater machine like an Excal. The ATP will do fine in dry sand once you get a handle on it.

 

[Bigjdub]

Thanks for the advice. I now have on order a AT Pro, a pair of waterproof headphones, and a 4.5" coil. I'm real excited to start playing with it. After work today I stopped by a small swimming hole and jumped in for a few minutes because it was real hot at work and I had no way to cool off all day. Without even having a mask on I found a new fishing lure and an Armatron sports watch that works just fine. It's a cheap one but it's a working watch. Guess where that ATP is going for its first swim.