Are all detectors pretty much the same?

ARC · May 9, 2016

To answer your question...
Yes.

Detectors are all the same... in that they detect some form of metal.

I am still waiting for a precious stone detector

Frankn · May 10, 2016

OK, I will tell you what I use and you can make your own judgement from that.
My three main detectors are all over 15 years old.

My general purpose Whites XLT will show all targets on the bar graph and give ID#. It pinpoints exactly. It has gone down 2' for a large target. It has found #6 shot size targets.

My beach detector is a Whites Surfmaster PI. The version with pulse delay. ( There are 3 versions) it has found a boat anchor at 4' and it will find fine gold chains.

My cache detector Is an old Hays 2 box. It has found a target at 6'. It will also pick up sideways to scan stone walls. It will not pick up an object smaller than a baseball so you don't have to dig a ton of junk while searching for a large cache.

You don't have to spend a bundle to get quality, you just have to know what you are looking for. Just thoughts from my experience. Frank

slider66 · May 11, 2016

It your at the beach and a water guy like me the Excalibur 1000 or II are the way to go. In my humble opinion.

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penzfan · May 11, 2016

Two GREAT beach machines...

Slingshot · May 11, 2016

Detectors are all different, even the same models will vary from machine to machine. Components change values with time, and how it has been stored can affect it's components in a dramatic way if it has spent a lot of time in the hot trunk of a car or attic of a building. Some are just naturally "HOT" when they leave the assembly line, others of the same model can be on the "DUD" side.

Deep machines get the deep treasures, but also get a lot of deep trash, digging time and your objectives must be taken into consideration. Beaches are huge and need lots of depth, along with large coils, PI's tend to trump on beaches. Relics can also be very deep, and VLF's tend to be the preferred machines. In iron infested sites a good old TR is hard to beat, and on and on...

Keep trying them out and keep the one's you really like that actually match your own style of digging. There are lots of good machines out there, life is short, so try to taste as many as possible. You might already own the best machine for you, but you won't know until you try out some more.

Good luck & enjoy yourself!