Best wtaerproof detector under $1000

[Saltydawgobx]

I'm a newbie.
I'm willing to spend $1000 for detector and accessories. My primary hunting ground will be on the beach searching for booty left by northerners.
I will probably get wet with it.
If there's anyone out there kind enough to indulge me with some advice it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

 

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[Saltydawgobx]

I'll be hunting saltwater. I'll be in the water too

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

If your not diving get the Equinox 800, lots of beaches are full of tiny pieces of iron, and a PI will have you digging every one of them. Once you get past 6-8 feet deep at the high tide line the iron is not nearly as bad.

 

[cudamark]

It also depends if you are in it for just the silver & gold or if you are in it for the hobby
I know plenty of guys that dont even want the silver - just gold
dont get me wrong - I want gold too but Im in it for the hobby - I like the silver - the gold and the other neat stuff I pull out
plus i take some pride in cleaning the junk out and making returns
A Pi in the right hands can turn plenty of worked out spots into good spots too
you use it right and you should get stuff deeper than othrs - up here in New england - the salt does a job on steel and iron
so we mainly have to worry about the fresh iron drops - bottle caps and nails dont last long up here -
where down in Fla. and other southern spots - caps and nails and other iron cake up and last forever
I hit a spot in Fla. in my early yrs with my PI and I pulled over 100 caked bottle caps and yes I was ready to quit the hobby
but if i lived down there - seeing as I pulled those out - i would just clean out all those oldies and just have to worry about the
fresh ones - I can take you to over 20 spots up here where you wont find a cap older than 2 yrs old - in salt waters at least
we had a rash of PI users - Im partially responsible for that (I was killing it in the late 90s - early 2000s with my PI pro and others
started to buy them) an those guys helped me clean up alot of spots of older and deep trash - those guys found alot of old gold too
- over the yrs ive had a few of them thank me for turning them on to PIs -
I used a Whites PI pro - I used it differently than most others and believe i got more depth than some - Most of all the PI machines
out there I beleive all do great - you can usually find a used one for under $500 and some times half that
like I said - maybe try and find a guy that has one near you as a back up that will take you out or a dealer that has a used one
and might take you you out - good luck

I agree with everything you've said......for an experienced detectorist. He's a newbie, we have to get him hooked first. The best way to do that is to have success right off the bat. Digging tons of iron can be a total turn off to a newbie. Most of my beaches here have lots of iron. Pieces of crab/lobster pots, remnants of old piers that have broken up in storms, nails and screws from pallets people have burned on the beach, etc. You waste a lot of time and energy digging that junk with a PI machine, and I've done it plenty of times in the past. In analyzing my trash vs. treasure ratio, I've done better with a multifrequency machine running in all metal over a PI machine (I've tried several). Whether it's my trusty Excaliburs, E-trac, or the Equinox 800, I run a BIG coil and in all metal. Depth seems to be equal or better than the PI's I've used, without all the extra iron digging. Now have I missed something masked by iron? Probably, but, I cover a lot more ground to more than make up for it. We don't have the same volume of history here that you do in New England, so, unless we have a significant storm or sand movement, we are finding stuff more recently dropped.....maybe from last summer at the most. Like I mentioned, a lot will depend on his hunting conditions and amount of iron trash. Will I get another PI machine? Probably! I'm a sucker for new tech. When that Fisher Impulse hits the market (or if I can wangle a test machine!) I'm more than willing to give it a whirl.

 

[devldog]

Lot of great advice given here. Best of luck to you SaltyDawg in your MD selection. Also, A Big Welcome to You to the Tnet forum from Georgia.

 

[slider66]

Sorry for clogging your post - I tell people - if you have to travel a ways to hit a spot
then by all means - hit and run
(I dont - I do what I always do - if i do good i go back - if not i dont)
but if you live right there or close by - just clean it all out and only way to do that is
with a PI or in all metal
thing is - large percentage of guys here have 2 or 3 or more machines to get the
job done - it just depends on how much you want to get into the "hobby"

I always hunt all metal mode in the water and dig every thing. Most beaches are sanded in bad so I dig every Target.

 

[RustyGold]

My suggestion would be the Minelab Equinox 800. There is so much good target information with the tones and target ID when using the Nox. It helps give the new person perspective on its use and behavior. That helps bring them up to speed quicker.
Also it recovers fast so potentially you don’t miss nearby targets. Good luck!

 

[CASPER-2]

i was an experienced land hunter but other than floating a land machine in the early 80s my first true experience in saltwater was mid 90s with PI pro and it was a brave new world
and i had no one to go to - no forums back then and had no partners or friends that wanted to get into the water
my exwife is one who pushed me into it really - I spent hours in water on trips snorkeling and got into underwater photography alot - i would hit land and dry sand now and then
and she said "you spend so much time in the water - why havent you gotten a water machine? - I did and the rest is history ...and so was she
i knew my machine so well - i could tell you exactly what i had 9 times out of 10 before i dug it - even on tiny iron and bobby pins
i used to wow friends i hunted with by telling them - "sounds like a ring" - bang - a ring...They'd see me stop and ask - "good target?' "No...sounds like a bottle cap" - it was a bottle cap
I used to do same thing with my early land machine - "it sounds like a deep indian head" - it was a deep indian head - it sounds like a silver dime - it was a silver dime
it was just learning the machine and really listening to its sounds - for some - everything sounds the same - they get hit and dig - easy
i make it more complicated sometimes... but thats me

I agree with everything you've said......for an experienced detectorist. He's a newbie, we have to get him hooked first. The best way to do that is to have success right off the bat. Digging tons of iron can be a total turn off to a newbie. Most of my beaches here have lots of iron. Pieces of crab/lobster pots, remnants of old piers that have broken up in storms, nails and screws from pallets people have burned on the beach, etc. You waste a lot of time and energy digging that junk with a PI machine, and I've done it plenty of times in the past. In analyzing my trash vs. treasure ratio, I've done better with a multifrequency machine running in all metal over a PI machine (I've tried several). Whether it's my trusty Excaliburs, E-trac, or the Equinox 800, I run a BIG coil and in all metal. Depth seems to be equal or better than the PI's I've used, without all the extra iron digging. Now have I missed something masked by iron? Probably, but, I cover a lot more ground to more than make up for it. We don't have the same volume of history here that you do in New England, so, unless we have a significant storm or sand movement, we are finding stuff more recently dropped.....maybe from last summer at the most. Like I mentioned, a lot will depend on his hunting conditions and amount of iron trash. Will I get another PI machine? Probably! I'm a sucker for new tech. When that Fisher Impulse hits the market (or if I can wangle a test machine!) I'm more than willing to give it a whirl.

 

[cudamark]

When I started 49 years ago, it was at the beach with a BFO machine. There were no good water machines at that point. I didn't mind though, as there was plenty to find in the dry sand. In fact, I made more detecting per hour than I made at my first job when minimum wage was $1.60hr. I hunted parks and schools too with good success. There wasn't as much (or any in some cases) competition as there is today. Nowadays, the parks, schools, and beaches get hammered on a regular basis, so, it's a lot harder to make good finds, even for experienced detectorists. For a newbie, it's a daunting task unless you can hunt virgin ground, like your own property or belonging to someone you know. I've talked with so many people while detecting and quite a few have told me that they have detectors too, but, after a couple of hunts with only finding trash, the detector ended up in the closet. Usually those machines were entry level or beep and dig machines. It seems that the people who bought the better, more advanced machines, tended to have better success and stayed with the hobby longer. Maybe it was because they had more invested and didn't want to admit they made a bad choice, or, that they couldn't bring themselves to just leave an expensive machine in the closet, but, whichever the reason, the ones with the better machines, had more initial success, and stayed in the hobby longer. Oh, by the way, I like to play "name that tune" also!

 

[Saltydawgobx]

Thanks to everyone. You have been very generous. Hopefully I can return the favor.

 

[OBN]

Thanks to everyone. You have been very generous. Hopefully I can return the favor.

Let us know what you decided on and maybe your feelings after summer. A follow up...


For me "knowing" what I'm walking in to lets me chose my weapon of choice since I have a few diff detectors. For you, having only one detector, that is versatile can make dealing with any conditions better,........... that's why I recommended the Nox. Then once you have learn your beach's habits you can make a decision on if more is required. The Nox will find you treasures, sell those and buy what you
need. It will pay for itself if you do the time. Good Luck

 

[Mudflap]

I use both the CZ and a dual field. I’ve had 2 PI Pros and overall think I liked the PI Pro over the dual field. The dual field tends to be front heavy even though I use a straight rod and have the electronics package mounted behind my elbow to help the balance. I’d still vote for a PI Pro or similar for anyone doing only salt water and beaches. After some use you can get pretty crafty with the PI. Just gotta tune your brain to the machine. If it’s there the PI will find it. The Bobby pins you take out this week won’t be there next time!

 

[cudamark]

The Bobby pins you take out this week won’t be there next time![/QUOTE]

These might be gone, but, the next crop will be in on your next search! Women are still using them. Add those to the new pallets being burned and you'll find areas almost unhuntable with a PI machine.

 

[Juiceman]

NOX 800.

 

[ColonelDan]

If I were in your shoes, I'd buy the following with my $1,000:
(Quoted prices are approximate but close)

Equinox 600: $650 (15% discount if you're military or a vet)
Stealth or Xtreme scoop: $200
Carbon Fiber handle: $150.

If you have any room left in the budget, a nice finds pouch: $35

Of course you don't need the carbon fiber handle...a wood handle for much less would do which would leave you more money for that finds pouch and a nice pair of beach shoes.

Just the view from my $1,000 foxhole...

 

[alaskaseeker]

I have a friend that uses a Whites PI Pro he could open a jewelry store....

 

[Mudflap]

The Bobby pins you take out this week won’t be there next time!

These might be gone, but, the next crop will be in on your next search! Women are still using them. Add those to the new pallets being burned and you'll find areas almost unhuntable with a PI machine.[/QUOTE]

No argument there. That does become an issue. I usually just move and find another less pinned area. Other side of that is when it gets bad I switch to the CZ.

 

[SocalJim]

I'd have to agree with the majority I've owned both and the PI is gone. Hearing the difference between targets is a long process with any detector. Hair pins are usually pretty shallow targets and can sound like much deeper coins. Having one that disciminates some of the trash makes it much more enjoyable. That taken with the lighter weight and shorter learning process make it an easy decision. You can always add the PI later on. A used CZ or Excal are excellent on the beach but lots of us who own both have gone to the Nox as the go to machine.