XP Deus salt water Beach questions

[Toothpick]

It's been a long winter up here. I haven't detected since late November.

In a couple weeks I am leaving the frozen tundra and heading down to the gulf coast of Florida.

I have almost zero experience detecting salt water.

I would really like to take the Deus because of the light weight, when swinging and in my baggage (50lb limit).

Has anyone had any luck with the Deus hunting the dry beach or wet sand areas?

If so what settings?

Or should I just pack less clothes, etc and bring the E Trac? I assume the E trac would handle the wet sand better?

Thanks for any advice.

 

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[vferrari]

OK - no one has dived in.

Dry sand- use any disc program like Deus fast at your favorite frequency. Bump the frequency up if you want to bias toward gold mid conductors.

Wet sand - cross your fingers and hope that wet beach mode which lowers the GB into the salt range is usable and not TOO chatty, though you should still be able to pick up legit targets through the chatter and pray that the beach does not also have black sand because then will have to decide whether salt beach GB or normal GB works better.

The water kit is a PItA in my opinion.

I hit the beach with my HF coil as it is very stable but still iffy under certain wet salt beach conditions and just dip my coil.

I think the Deus is GREAT a dry/damp beach machine and like the responsiveness and probably what you are going to be scanning most of the time.

The slower recovery speed and bulk of the eTrac is not worth the depth you get nor even the potentially more stable wet beach performance IMO. The Deus is plenty deep enough in dry/damp sand and will likely get it done in wet sand. Neither the eTrac nor Deus would be my choice for going into the water above my knees.

All of that is going to change once my Equinox shows up and that will be my beach weapon of choice for all scenarios. HTH

 

[smokeythecat]

I have used the Deus at a salt water beach. For this discussion, I am using it in the "wash line" area to about 6" deep. I set it on "wet beach" and auto tracking. I don't really fiddle much with the setting, and my particular beach does have black sand and a lot of scrap iron on it. What I have noticed is you have to move it with a slow swing, doing that I have had no problems picking up coins and jewelry. There is some chatter to it, but I can still clearly hear the coins and jewelry. Hope this helps.

 

[cudamark]

The E-trac is a better, deeper, more stable, wet sand/water machine at a salt water beach. Otherwise, the Deus would be a better choice for weight. They're both excellent in the dry sand.

 

[smokeythecat]

Yeah, I can't handle a heavy machine.

 

[cudamark]

I can't either, without my sling.

 

[smokeythecat]

The day I have to use a sling, I'm going to wrap it up. I'd probably trip over it somehow and wind myself in a knot with it!

 

[cudamark]

I'll do whatever it takes to keep detecting....even use with a walker or wheel chair!

 

[RustyGold]

I hit the beach with my HF coil as it is very stable but still iffy under certain wet salt beach conditions and just dip my coil.

I think the Deus is GREAT a dry/damp beach machine and like the responsiveness and probably what you are going to be scanning most of the time.HTH

I agree with what Smokey and vferrari said. I get fairly stable performance with the HF Elliptical Coil in both the dry and damp sand with my Deus.

 

[Toothpick]

Thanks for all the input.

Because of the light weight and my familiarity (trust) in using my Deus w/ HF elliptical this past year, I decided I will take it to FL.

My buddy is taking his CZ21 so It should be interesting to see how we both do. I'll report back on our finds.

We will be in the Ft. Meyers area.

 

[doverturtle]

I just got back from a trip to Wildwood. The Deus performed great in the dry sand and damp sand. For the dry sand, I used both the Deus Fast and Dry Beach programs. The dry beach program is a little quieter. For the damp sand, I used the wet beach program. It seemed to perform well. I used tracking for ground balance for all programs. I found, however, that in wet sand and with the coil underwater (using the underwater kit) that the VDI number was useless. For example, I had a signal that was reading 09 on the remote. I removed some sand and the number jumped to around 40. I dug it up, and it was a pull tab. Using the same program in the damp sand, that pull tab should have been around 65. In my opinion, until XP has some kind of fix for salt water use, it is best to use the Deus in the damp and dry sand only.

 

[HuntinDog]

Hey Toothpick,
You Never said how you did or what programs and setup you used.

 

[TORRERO]

I went to Cancun, Playa Del Carmen with my Deus, Dry sand is OK, I use the High Frequency 74, because of its sensitivity to Gold, but it always makes a lot of noise.
ALL BUT ONE, of their coins are IRON in Mexico and it took me a while to figure out how to do all metal to get them. At ANY discrimination level, even what I thought was all metal, would not pick up those iron coins.
But it makes a lot of noise, and will get those beer caps like coins.. in wet sand more noise.
I think in Freq 74 Nickels come up 86, so I just turned descrim up to about 60 and it clears a lot of the chatter up... but Gold chains come in around 35 so they will be out..
I don't think this is really a great machine for Wet sand, but can be used...
Possitive points are the wireless set up, which is MOST incredible. and the extreme light weight and ease of swapping coils..
good depth on coins and relics though my friend has a Whites XLT and my old DFX pretty much finds the same signals as my Deus in signal to signal comparisons.
( I find a signal and he checks it, he finds one and I check it) ...
in 8 months I think I have gotten maybe 1 or 2 signals he could not...
so my take is depth is basically the same..
but I love the machine, and no buying batteries, just plug and recharge..
My Two Cents
Richard