$.28 in 9 hours, help needed please

[Overkill Overkill]

Did I mention I have also found a sporty yellow matchbox car?

Man, what the heck am I doing wrong?!?!?!?!?!? I had better success last year when I rented a Garrett Ace.

To bring you all up to speed, I finaly took the plunge and bought a brand-spankin' new Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II. Of course, it's only as good as its operator, and, I, my friends, am not very good. So if you don't mind, I could use a little guidance to hopefully have a better last 3 hunting days on my Florida trip.

I flew in Friday early evening and went to Indian Rocks Beach around midnight (Low tide was stated as being around 3 am, so you should show up a few hours before that time, correct?). I am still getting used to the machine and its settings and beeps. I'm finding seemingly contradictory info in books and on this forum, etc. I think I recall the adage "If you have a PI unit, dig everything." But for example I read in the Golden Oldie website that covering area is very important, and one cannot cover a lot of area if one is digging up 95% junk. So I guess it will just take time to learn my machine. So far it seems that the best sound to hear with this Sea Hunter is a loud, short, crisp, discrete beep - which signals gold or coins, correct?. But should one dig everything; I am setting my unit to Standard Elimination 2?
Perhaps I need to try St. Pete Beach or the heavily hunted Clearwater Beach?

Also,
1) What the heck is going on when I can't find the target either in the scoop or in the sand I've just unearthed? Is it ever true that sometimes my PI will give me a false positive reading, or is it instead true that a single beep always represents some kind of metal?

2) I am finding quite a bit more clad in the dry and and as oposed to the wet, but I thought one usually finds more stuff in the wet sand, correct?

3) Part of the problem could be that I have not yet ventured into the sea. I read somewhere that one can use a hand scoop for water up to 2' deep, but I'm having trouble digging in only 1 inch water! Any suggestions?(Besides buying a long-handled scoop.) I've read about a method called "fanning"the sand away, but maybe that method is just for underwater hunting?

Thanks in advance!

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

I use a PI and I found gold and 2 silvers this weekend, I also dug a ton of metal, and only a buck or so and that was since friday, so just get out there... if your hoping to strike it rich you shoulda used the money for lottery tickets instead...

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I use a PI and I found gold and 2 silvers this weekend, I also dug a ton of metal, and only a buck or so and that was since friday, so just get out there... if your hoping to strike it rich you shoulda used the money for lottery tickets instead...

Congrats on the gold and silver..........

 

[TheTreasureAddict]

LMAO,

Im sorry but this is funny. I feel for you I do but weve all been there, I mean 9 hours is a little much for only 28 cents, but you did go and buy a PI after we strongly discouraged it, a beginner with a PI on the beach, ur funny, LOL. Now I know some of you may find this harsh but I did tell you to buy an excalibur along with many other seasoned very succesful detectorist on this forum. What I find so funny is after all those questions and people giving you their time and opinion like I am now you went against it. I think you should read my rant. http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,207750.0.html Got 7 Gold yesterday, 2 silver earings 1 junk ring with a Minelab ETRAC.

My Help: Run over to Kellyco, trade in the SeaHunter, Grab an Excal and a beach scoop, go enjoy the rest of your hunt!

Crackbadger

 

[beachboy]

LMAO,

Im sorry but this is funny. I feel for you I do but weve all been there, I mean 9 hours is a little much for only 28 cents, but you did go and buy a PI after we strongly discouraged it, a beginner with a PI on the beach, ur funny, LOL. Now I know some of you may find this harsh but I did tell you to buy an excalibur along with many other seasoned very succesful detectorist on this forum. What I find so funny is after all those questions and people giving you their time and opinion like I am now you went against it. I think you should read my rant. http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,207750.0.html Got 7 Gold yesterday, 2 silver earings 1 junk ring with a Minelab ETRAC.

My Help: Run over to Kellyco, trade in the SeaHunter, Grab an Excal and a beach scoop, go enjoy the rest of your hunt!

Crackbadger
I agree, on that rant..100% I believe after experience, location is the most important....

 

[Silver Surfer]

O/K, you did not listen to us..

1. Metal detecting is NOT PLUG AND PLAY, which is why we kept telling you to just buy a detector and LEARN. You should have spent weeks practicing before your trip.

2. Many of us told you to not buy a PI, but you bought a PI. PI is going to beep on every single piece of metal there is, every tiny piece of iron ever made, every piece or trash.... It does not have different tones to tell you the diference in the metals, nor does it "null" on iron like Minelabs to tell you "don't dig me, I'm just a piece of iron". A PI takes a lot of patience and skill, and even then your going to be digging a lot of trash. We highly recommended you bought an Excal or Whites Beach Hunter that told you more about the target you were digging.

3. There are more good targets in the wet, and less trash is what we told you, but you have to get your coil over it to find it, and if your busy digging trash, your not spending time finding gold....There is some gold in the sand, but there is also at least 100 times more trash in the dry sand and when you have a PI, that is a lot of wasted time digging......

4. We told you a scoop was VERY important, a dry sand hand scoop will not work in the water, and barely works in the wet sand. You need a water scoop, it gives you leverage for digging. West coast of Florida has a shell base and that is hard to dig in....

Last......A lot of people buy a detector and go to the beach thinking I just going to go out and find all that gold......NOPE, it takes time to learn your detector, time to learn how to read the beach, time to learn how to pinpoint, time to learn how to search the beach......In other words you have to pay your dues..............

Solid advice, but I do have to mention that the first time out with my MXT, I found a lovely gold/diamond/fire opal ring... LOL..
But, I used to hunt a lot when I was a teen (no ID machines then), so maybe the basics stuck with me...

You will learn, just like TH said, it will take time..

 

[jeff of pa]

over 3 Cents an Hour.
& a Matchbox. Awsome !

That's about what I Did yesterday.


7 cents in 2 1/2 Hours

& I'v been doing this since the Dark Ages.

Relax ! it's a Hobby. Some days you may get Completly
Skunked.

 

[PA John]

Before you go on your next hunt stop by Staples or Office Max and pick up two magnets and glue them inside your scoop! This will gather all the steel that your PI unit will pick up. I have a old Sea Hunter XL500 and like it. Haven't struck gold but only been out a couple of times.

I have found that one week I was at the beach in Florida and the wind was blowing straight into the shore. This washed a lot of earrings to the area where the waves were hitting the shore. I wish I spent more time there instead of in the surf fighting the waves! We live and learn!

 

[Willee]

Why ... after you had good success with a rented Ace 250 did you run out and buy a new SeaHunter Mark II?

Trade your SeaHunter Mark II for an Ace 250 and you will find things again.
It would be best to go back to where you rented the Ace 250 and trade the guy for that same exact machine ... and offer your computer as boot!

Yeah ... that is the ticket.

 

[petersra]

O/K,
I read a lot of good advice in this post. You stirred up a hornets nest. I particularly liked Crackbadgers Rant link. It is all true and good advice.... I use a Tesorro Tiger Shark and a Whites Dual Field PI machine. I have found gold with both machines in and out of the water. Sometimes I wish I had asked more questions to the right people before I bought my first machine, and my second machine. One thing I have been frustrated with is not being able to always get straight answers to comparisons between various machines in terms of depth or sensitivity or stability in and out of the water. Every manufacturer seems to claim their machine is the best. The guys on this forum will give you straight answers, but manufacturer's literature doesn't always. It is just difficult to tell when you are getting the straight answer. I bought both my machines over the internet, because there were no local dealers in town. I wish I could have gone to a place like KellyCo and had the opportunity to actually try several machines in a salt water test garden before I bought one. But then dealers are in the business of selling metal detectors, and they think the more you buy the better for them. You will notice that most of us on here have several different detectors in our arsenal, probably for the same reason I do as well. We were not completely happy with the first one we bought and thought we could do better. Based on what I know now, (and I have not used either of them,) I wish I had bought a Minelab Excalibur or an Aquasound machine the first time. However, both my machines do find gold, so unless I get a windfall of cash, I will probably stay with what I have, and those guys who use the Excalibur and Aquasound say to themselves, "Yes... Don't one of the "Good machines" and give me any more competition." By the way, I went hunting 5 hours the other day and found $0.04. Of course I went out several days later to a different area on the same beach and found 2 rings and 3 ear rings (junk, but they could have been gold) along with $1.98 in change and 2 Chucky Cheese tokens. Don't give up..... The gold is at the next beep.....