First Outing With The Dual Field PI

[Smudge]

I promised to post my results after taking the Dual Field out for the first time and here it is.

In summary, this is amazing detector.

First, it is a metal detector in the truest sense of the word: if it's metal, the Dual Field will find it.

The depth of this thing is amazing.

There was an air show over Cocoa Beach this past weekend, so I thought today would be an ideal time to go and check to see what got dropped. It turns out I wasn't the only detectorist with that idea. More on these folks in a moment.

I arrived a little after 8:00. I hip mounted the control box and gave myself enough cable to keep it slack and not tug on the box. I then set the Pulse Delay to its lowest settings and set the Gain and Threshold to their factory recommended settings. This created a light buzz that faded in and out, like a mosquito, but it didn't aggravate me so I left it there.

I headed down to the wet sand and as it was low tide, I had a good stretch of beach to cover. I did a sweeping search from the high tide mark to water and back again. First, I'm surprised there were so few targets, but what the Dual Field did find was fairly deep.

The stock shaft is not my favorite ergonomically and I think I'm going to upgrade to a straight shaft real soon. The 12" coil is cumbersome, no question about it and I know about its tendency to float, but as I never got more than calf deep in the water due to the rough tide action, so I really didn't get a chance to test this. However, I know that dual coil is there for a reason, so I'm going to learn to work with it.

My biggest mistake this trip was in not taking my larger SunSpot scoop, but instead taking my long handled 6" scoop. I should have known better. The tide was filling in my holes faster than I could dig it out. It took me nearly ten minutes to retrieve the bent pulltab you see below, because the of the water action and the fact that the target was about 12" deep.

Even in the wet sand, the scoop didn't perform much better. The hole kept collapsing and soon I had formed a crater trying to get to the target. Some passing Excal users took pity on my and handed me a larger grown-up scoop that nailed the target in two swipes. Bless you guys and thanks! I owe you! I guess they were kind of curious too to see what I'd found, which turned out to be the tent stake you see below.

There weren't many goodies found in this 4 hour hunt, but the most interesting find was the key and chain I found at about 8" in the surf. I looked for the accompanying chest but found nothing.

Happy to say I also found the obligatory sparkler wires and bobby pin. No PI hunting trip would be complete without both.

I have found this detector fully living up to its hype and expectations and next time, when I'm better prepared with the right scoop, I hope my target retrievals will go more smoothly.

So a thumbs up for the Dual Field, just remember a big scoop and be ready to dig. You'll find what most other detectors can't.

I'll let you all know how it goes next time. Until then, Happy Hunting!

 

[digum smacks]

this is good stuff, oldbeechnut.which coil ? amp? i use a platapus it goes a little deeper than the slimline with more coverage.if the excal coil goes deep as the df id like to know? thanks dave

 

[petersra]

this is good stuff, oldbeechnut.which coil ? amp? i use a platapus it goes a little deeper than the slimline with more coverage.if the excal coil goes deep as the df id like to know? thanks dave

Dave,
You are right, this post is getting some interesting comparisons. Now, since you have the "Big Dog" Aquasound, how does that compare in depth to the Excalibur and DF on a gold ring small and large. I have thought about taking the plunge on one, but have been hesitant since I don't have a feel for the depth of the Aquasound. Any thoughts appreciated. Ralph

 

[OBN]

Very Nice Plat Sn2..


On the AMp with the Excal, 10 inch coil, settings.{sen 11 o'clock}...Get your Excal, put it in PP mode, adjust your Excalibur's threshold knob down to on the edge of,... just audible, stop { mark this as point A }. Now turn the knob to the point of where it turns off, { point B } From point A to point B there is still a threshold, but you can't hear it because it is not loud enough to hear. What the Amp does is open this area up to where you can hear it, it is amazing how sensitive the excal really is in this area. And just like having a bigger coil will give you a advantage over your fellow hunters in certain locations, this is just one more op to get more performance out of the Excalibur when you need it. If you have ever had a car that had the bottle on it {Nitrous oxide}, this is as about as close as this gets to that. And the good thing is you can turn it off if you find you don't need the extra kick. The Bad is ...it's not water proof, but has done very well with a few donks in the saltwater {Working on this}, and on shallow targets it can wake the dead. Working on a Limiter on the shallows but not much luck yet, 10 to 14 second reset time is too long..headed to Oc Saturday, Inlet around 12pm, An detectors are welcome to do a compare..in the surf, wet sand.....WOT/PI's/DF/Cz/Ls/Excal's & II's....not trying to make any detector look bad just do a interesting test to see how each fair's on this beach, results could be different 20 miles away on another beach. Have shown a few hunters when I was there this summer, 2 excal II's hunters..both were amazed at the targets they could not get with there excals..one called them Headphones on steriolds.........

 

[Silver Surfer]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is this "AMp" you are referring to?

 

[OBN]

Sorry, Getting Old, left out the most important part.. Doc's treasure Amp

 

[PA John]

Many, Many more happy hunts!!

Great report! Thanks!

 

[wyobuck]

I've had my DF for about a year and love it. You do get a workout digging though.lol I set my gain to around 3:00 and the T hold to just a bit below the arrow. I try to keep the humm just audible and that seems to work for me along the FL east coast beaches. The depth is unbelievable. Coins found to 22 inches and the little piece of wire below was found at around that depth, it drove me crazy.
Should be some good conditions coming up soon, maybe we'll see you down there.



Good Luck
Pete