Florida Beach Detector

miser · May 11, 2010

There are some extremely knowledgeable people on this site, and I have enjoyed reading their suggestions and thoughts very much.

I have a problem and I can use your advice. Every few years I seem to fall into and out of metal detecting. I live in Central Florida and frankly found land hunting a major chore (anyone who has ever tried to hack their way through St. Augustine grass to retrieve a pull tab knows what I mean). I much prefer beach hunting as the sand is easier to work with and I just enjoyed myself more.

I know a lot of machines work ok on dry sand (though some clearly do not) and if I also know that if I wanted to hunt in wet sand, then the kind of machine I need changes drastically.

So my question (finally!) is this: for someone who wants to do a majority of beachhunting in Florida (East and Gulf Coast), is there a machine out there that won't cost a fortune and really let me enjoy myself? I'd like answers on dry sand only and dry/wet sand also.

I see Kellyco sells a machine called the Viper Trident for $400.00. Any thoughts?

Any thoughts on Kellyco in general?

Thanks in advance to everyone who answers!

Dixie Digger · May 12, 2010

the Viper is total junk...stay away from it! save your money to buy a Minelab Excal or Sovereign. if you are going to hunt in the water,go with the Excal thats water proof. if you never go into the water the Sovereign's just cant be beat.most detectors wont work when you hit the wet salt sand. both of these will!

Sandman · May 12, 2010

Dixie Digger said:
the Viper is total junk...stay away from it! save your money to buy a Minelab Excal or Sovereign. if you are going to hunt in the water,go with the Excal thats water proof. if you never go into the water the Sovereign's just cant be beat.most detectors wont work when you hit the wet salt sand. both of these will!

This is 100% right! :headbang:

Though the Minelabs are more pricy than the run of the mill detectors they are the best for discrimination, depth and stablity in wet, dry or water hunting. Anthing else is make do........PI detectors can be deeper, but they love to respond to tiny pieces of trash at deep depths too. So you could spend a lot of time digging for junk.

As for thoughts on Kellyco, I will keep quiet.

miser · May 13, 2010

Sandman said:
Dixie Digger said:

the Viper is total junk...stay away from it! save your money to buy a Minelab Excal or Sovereign. if you are going to hunt in the water,go with the Excal thats water proof. if you never go into the water the Sovereign's just cant be beat.most detectors wont work when you hit the wet salt sand. both of these will!

Click to expand...

This is 100% right! Though the Minelabs are more pricy than the run of the mill detectors they are the best for discrimination, depth and stablity in wet, dry or water hunting. Anthing else is make do........PI detectors can be deeper, but they love to respond to tiny pieces of trash at deep depths too. So you could spend a lot of time digging for junk.

As for thoughts on Kellyco, I will keep quiet.

Thanks to you both for the thoughtful answers. That information was invaluable!

Deepdiger60 · May 13, 2010

You cant go wrong with a Sov.GT for wet sand hunting its a monster :thumbsup:

Dd60

crazyman · May 14, 2010

I have to agree with the others. If you don't plan on going in the water my first pick would be the Sovereign GT. If your going to hit the water then the Excalibur. Both can be hip or chest mounted also when using larger coils which is nice when your out there all day. I use the hip mount setup on my Sovereigns for most of my hunting.