ok, disclaimer, this is Larry, I sell Howie Scoops, so obviously, I probably shouldn't be inserting myself into this thread. But, I'm also a devoted user of the Howie Scoop, and I now have a few months experience with it so I have something to add besides my pecuniary interest. And pardon my prolixity on the subject, I'm pretty prolix anyway.
I don't hesitate to lever up a basketful of embedded rocks and coral with the Howie Scoop. I don't know if folks can work a scoop with a rounded tip 12" deep into embedded rocks, but it's really pretty easy to do with a Howie Scoop. I wiggle it around and I can work the point down the full 12" into a bottom full of rocks and coral, and I'm talking pretty big, very compacted rocks. I was surprised myself. It felt like solid rocks completely stopping the scoop, but when I wiggled it vigorously, things moved and it slipped down. I kept wiggling it, and quite quickly the basket was fully buried. I then levered up a basketful of rocks. It worked every time. One time, there was a 3 diamond gold ring in the basket with the rocks and coral. I have not bent the tip, and I have received no feedback about bent tips to date, and we got about 40 scoops out there.
The thing I like about the Howie scoop is how it lets me operate all over the beach; in the water, in rocks, on wet or dry sand. Since I've learned how versatile the Howie Scoop is, I feel there is no limitations on my beach detecting.
All the new Howie Scoops now incorporate a 3/8" thick top plate at the point where the force of leverage is greatest. That is definitely over-engineered for sand or rock beaches, which is the environment that the Howie Scoop is designed for. The scoop has a host of very desirable features, but the real benefit is that it's a pleasure to use and it helps you find bling. You usually can get the target in one scoop if your aim is good because it's a huge scoop ; it drains very fast; and it's light, yet it feels robust. Personally I love it, and I loved it before I started selling them. It made it possible for me to handle a detector, and a scoop, and a pretty big surf, and a target, all at the same time. That was a huge win for me.
Water detecting can be very challenging, especially for a 60 year old not very robust guy like myself.The Howie Scoop definitely helped me to find bling, in fact, I didn't find any bling at the beach until I started using the Howie Scoop. Coincidence? No, not to my mind. The first scoop I bought fell apart after a couple of hours. The second one was SS, a tank, but I couldn't handle it, and it couldn't handle a rocky bottom. I think the scoop you use is more important than the detector in the first year or so until you get some mastery over the vagaries of water detecting. A hard-to-handle scoop can totally frustrate you.
You just wouldn't want to use a heavy SS scoop on the dry beach, or on wet sand. If you want one scoop for water and wet sand and dry beach all at the same time, without switching scoops...well, my personal scoop does all that, and it does it all well.
So, say there's a falconet buried 2 feet deep in a thick clay and sand composite mud bank. Should you use your Howie Scoop to pry it out?
I don't know...I mean...it's a beach scoop. That's what I meant by don't use it as a pry bar.
Can an 8lb steel scoop pry out heavier, or more stuck objects than the Howie Scoop? Maybe it can. Probably. And a pick-ax will outpry a steel scoop. But a pickax makes a lousy beach scoop. I still have nighmares about dragging my SS scoop back for what seemed like miles to my vehicle.
I met an Englishman on South Beach. He's lived in Germany for the last 20 years. He metal detects the Baltic coast. I mentioned to him that we make and sell the scoop I was using. He smiled. "No scoops." He detects mud flats. They use picks and shovels and screens in that environment.
The right tool for the right job. I like the Howie Scoop for the beach.
I'm done. Sorry for the advert.
