garret sea hunter

[diver1382]

I'm thinking of getting a sea hunter does anyone have experience with one
any advice would be appreciated
i was thinking of a excal, but I have read to many horror stories with service

 

[erikk]

The SH MK2 is a good machine but keep in mind it is a PI and U will be digging every signal

 

[davest]

three years in. PM me with your questions.

 

[Sandman]

The Garrett is a very good Pulse detector for water work. However it will love to find long pieces of iron.

 

[GibH]

I had one. It was the deepest PI I've used so far. Once on the beach I hit on a target. I dug and dug and finally at about 16" I found a quarter. I checked the hole and still got a signal. Another 10" or so and I pulled out a nickel. It has been by far the deepest coin I've found. Using it on dry/wet sand I found you had to search perpendicular to the water. The threshold would drift higher the closer to the water. It was fine in the water and on dry sand (if you want to dig tent washers at 2 feet). Don't buy it thinking it will discriminate out trash because it won't. If you notice on the face of it it doesn't say "trash discrimination" it says "elimination". It does this by greatly reducing the sensitivity to smaller items.

I think it is one of the most underrated detectors out there. Sure it's heavy, but hip mount it and that isn't a problem. I just bought another one off the forums and it should be here by monday. I still have quite a bit of time before the Gulf gets too cold to hunt and this year I'll buy a wetsuit to extend that too. I've never tried the 10x14 coil with it, but I've read it makes it hard to use in the surf.

 

[gravediggermax-vabeachva]

i had my first encounter today with one........... ......

 

[EpsilonMinus]

I had one. It was the deepest PI I've used so far. Once on the beach I hit on a target. I dug and dug and finally at about 16" I found a quarter. I checked the hole and still got a signal. Another 10" or so and I pulled out a nickel. It has been by far the deepest coin I've found. Using it on dry/wet sand I found you had to search perpendicular to the water. The threshold would drift higher the closer to the water. It was fine in the water and on dry sand (if you want to dig tent washers at 2 feet). Don't buy it thinking it will discriminate out trash because it won't. If you notice on the face of it it doesn't say "trash discrimination" it says "elimination". It does this by greatly reducing the sensitivity to smaller items.

I think it is one of the most underrated detectors out there. Sure it's heavy, but hip mount it and that isn't a problem. I just bought another one off the forums and it should be here by monday. I still have quite a bit of time before the Gulf gets too cold to hunt and this year I'll buy a wetsuit to extend that too. I've never tried the 10x14 coil with it, but I've read it makes it hard to use in the surf.

You found a nickel at 26 inches? Holy crap!

 

[GibH]

You found a nickel at 26 inches? Holy crap!

I try not to make claims about depth because from what I've seen, some detectorists seem to go by the fisherman scale of inches. I also don't carry a tape measure with me. I will say it was at least 2 feet deep though. I may not have noticed it if I hadn't already dug the quarter and re-checked the hole. I'm glad I was dragging my water scoop with me and not my smaller sand scoop.

 

[FLauthor]

Several years ago, I considered the Sea Hunter but when I found out it was HOT on iron then I chose the Minelab Excalibur which ignores iron but is HOT on gold. I've dug dimes at 18 inches with my 8 inch coil in chest deep water. I don't think I want to try digging 26 inches at the same depth or in a running surf. Good luck with whatever choice you decide on.

 

[Smudge]

Good PI detector, but don't let that discrimination knob fool you. It's virtually worthless and destroys your depth if you turn it up. The White's Dual Field is getting better reviews these days, mostly because its proving to be more sensitive to small gold. Thinking about getting one myself.

 

[Sandman]

If I was a lot younger I would go back to using PI's at the beach because of the extreme depth. I could do a lot of things when I was younger.

 

[Diver_Down]

One nice thing to consider is the ability to swap coils and headphones without doing a "mod" to your equipment or sending the entire unit in for repair only to have headphones replaced. If the machine ever does need work, Garrett service and support is top notch. Also after using the Sea Hunter, you will get used to the tones (double beep/halo) that the PI unit will sound off on when encountering an iron target. Allowing you to ignore the targets if you choose. Most Excal users will point out the ability of responding to a gold ring while ignoring the iron in the same hole. Great! But I've never encountered such a scenario in my years of hunting where the two are in the same target radius. Good luck with your choice.

 

[coin finder]

Hi, Just a Note Don't forget , The Beach Hunter ID 300 I Just got one ! and it work GREAT !

 

[diver1382]

Thanks for the input, I had a Whites DF and I liked it , except the coil is to big for diving and it floats and i found both to be annoying
I would get an excal, but i think i will wait in till they minelab gets their issues fixed (1200 $ is a lot to spend on something that has of late had problems and bad service

 

[rehless]

I disagree on the DF being hard to use diving. I dive and snorkel with mine with out any coil problems.
I have had two Sea Hunters. Good machine, but at that time Garrett was not good on quality control.
I now have two White's, two Tesoro's and a Fisher water machines. Good luck to you with your choice.