Heading to Outer Banks w/ Garrett Master Hunter ADS Deepseeker

Kiwini · Aug 11, 2008

Hi everybody! I came across this site while searching for tips on detecting for my upcoming trip to the Outer Banks, and have found a lot of good reading on here. A lot of nice pics posted by everyone also! I'm taking my girlfriend and her daughter (plus one of her friends) for a vacation, and figured if I took an MD along, I'm guaranteed not to be bored for 4 days

I have a White's Coinmaster 2000/D with a big Hot Head coil, and recently bought a Bounty Hunter Quick Silver and a Garrett Master Hunter VLF/TR ADS Deepseeker w/ 5.5" coil, paying $150 for the pair.

I was hoping someone might have some tips on the Garrett which might be of use. I did manage to find the owner's manual online and printed it out to take along, in case I need to adjust the settings on it. I noticed last week when I went from the sunny, dry grass in the morning to the shady, wet grass the detector was all out of kilter. I'm guessing the same thing is going to happen on the beach. I'll be in the KDH area, and from what I've found, MDing is allowed from the high tide line to the ocean. Any help would be appreciated

gary in idaho · Aug 11, 2008

Check this site, you may get some good info on the Garrett here:
http://members6.boardhost.com/classicdetector/index.html?1172512320

Jim Hemmingway · Aug 11, 2008

Hi Kiwini,

Didn't want to pass by your post. Still own but have not used this model in 20 years until tonite. Using the 4 1/2" co-axial "SuperSniper coil, it easily signaled over a six inch buried coin in the backyard in all metal, quite a surprise. First piece of silver/and silver coins were found with this model.

Can't advise much for a salt environment. If minerals are low, you may be able to use the TR disc mode directly in non-motion/or motion (using the "automatic" mode under "Tuning") to knock out iron if that's desirable. On a beach I'd use All-Metal in automatic, and adjust Sens to try and achieve stable operation; and dig everything. Then again, I'm not a salt beach hunter and stand to be corrected.

If it's desirable to use the (TR) discrimination, you might find it easier to use what's called "reverse discrimination". Practice with a penny and iron screw buried separately, say at 2 inches or so.

Ground balance the unit first. Get your signal in all metal, flip the auto switch to manual, use the trigger switch at the end of the handle to detune the signal by pressing it a time or two or three to the left (to remain in all metal) as you sweep the coil nearer to the signal (to make the signal sharper and better defined); once you have the signal detuned nicely, maintain that signal by keeping the coil precisely over it at about an inch or so above the ground surface; now flip the same trigger switch to the right (into TR disc mode) and slide the coil off to the side maintaining the same ground to coil height...this doesn't have to be exact science, but do your best. If signal remains or get louder, it's an undesirable target (depends on where the TR discrimination is set); if signal decreases or disappears when the coil is swept to the side away from the target (not too much..a foot or so will do fine), then the target is Good. There's more to it than the foregoing once you get some practice under your belt, but that's the short and sweet of it for now.

I found I could use this method of discriminating easier than trying to maintain a constant height (and therefore sound level without spurious interfering ground noise) with the coil over mineralized ground when using direct discrimination according to the manual (TR disc mode does not have ground balance capability). I also thought that somehow I was able to discriminate deeper with this method, but I'm sure some users would say no to that idea. Good luck with the excursion, hope the above is not confusing.

Jim

liquid1 · Aug 11, 2008

I cant add much to this post..But I can tell ya if your HEADED o the outer Banks of NC..I would check the local laws on Detecting..Lots of Federal reserve land off Limits..I know Nags Head Nc east into virginai is ok.But south is not..You might be speaking of somewhere in NY..Not sure..But if your headed to the outer Banks of NC welcome and good luck..Its a beautiful place and theres some goo Fishing..james

Kiwini · Aug 12, 2008

Thank you for the replies! Yep, I'm headed to North Carolina

That's one thing I've been trying to figure out- just where you're allowed to MD, but it sounds like I'll be OK I guess

My girlfriend loves to fish and I like to eat it, but I'm not much into fishing. She'll be happy to know that though!

Jim, I got out of work this morning and tried your recommended method and it seems to work GREAT. I posted in Today's Finds yesterday, with a pic of the royal JUNK I dug in my brother's yard (I'm still a renter...). Today I went back by his barn, where a previous owner apparently worked on cars and the area hadn't been MD'd yet. Using your method, I thought for sure I had at LEAST a penny five times- but each one turned out to be an unused stainless steel Lift-The-Dot fastener. I didn't know what they were til I googled Lift The Dot- I figured they were some kind of fancy pull tab

I see they sell for about 40c each, so they're my first find of any value so far! Also dug a couple old hose clamps and one pull tab. I feel more comfortable with the Garrett now, and I think I'm starting to feel it talking to me

Thanks again!

TerryC · Aug 12, 2008

Kiwini,
I have hunted those areas alot from '91 to 2000. You will do well! All areas north of Nags is huntable. Try around Kitty Hawk. It's too bad you are not going in winter time. The sand goes to sea in the winter and you will be hunting 14/15 feet down. If you can make it during winter, you can hunt up at Duck and Corolla (near VA border) while sand is out to sea and you don't need a detector! The rings and coins will be ON THE BEDROCK! But you might want to use a net as the waves wash them up and back past your feet! Check with me for more info. TTC

Kiwini · Aug 12, 2008

TerryC said:
It's too bad you are not going in winter time. The sand goes to sea in the winter and you will be hunting 14/15 feet down.

Wow- I didn't realize the beach receded THAT much. Good info to know, thanks! I'll have to try getting down there around that time. Not sure when kids get their winter breaks from school, but I'll look into it

Steve (btw- Kiwini is Steve in Hawaiian, happened to see someone's post on the subject same day I registered...just DON'T call me Kiwi

)

TerryC · Aug 13, 2008

The Emerald Isle, Salter Path areas are good too. If you hunt there during your vacation, you will use wooden walkways to cross the dunes. They go up over the dune then back down to the sand. The water's edge will be about 200 yards from the dunes. Imagine coming back in winter when the water will be slopping under the wooden walkway and the end of it will be "up in the air"! At nags, in winter, the lower sand level exposes an old pier's pilings. I have found silver from the 30's and 40's among the rocks there. I have a VHS tape made by some of the local cops showing them picking up "old" money on the beach.... from colonial days. Also shows them finding it in nearby farm fields. Again, anywhere along there will be good due to the huge mass of vacationers that must leave the jewelry behind. Good luck. TTC

Kiwini · Aug 13, 2008

TerryC said:
The Emerald Isle, Salter Path areas are good too. If you hunt there during your vacation, you will use wooden walkways to cross the dunes. They go up over the dune then back down to the sand. The water's edge will be about 200 yards from the dunes. Imagine coming back in winter when the water will be slopping under the wooden walkway and the end of it will be "up in the air"! At nags, in winter, the lower sand level exposes an old pier's pilings. I have found silver from the 30's and 40's among the rocks there. I have a VHS tape made by some of the local cops showing them picking up "old" money on the beach.... from colonial days. Also shows them finding it in nearby farm fields. Again, anywhere along there will be good due to the huge mass of vacationers that must leave the jewelry behind. Good luck. TTC

Geez! If I hear much more I'll have a room booked for January before I even get to leave on this trip! LOL. I got up early this morning and decided to try the two detectors again. Since a few of my friends were interested, I emailed them what I've figured out, and it's worth a copy/paste here I think:

I went out back and used the Garrett to find a target and dug it up- piece of heavy rusty iron, and another one with it. Piece of broken pan or something, down around 10-11 inches. I put a copper plated zinc penny in the hole, laying pretty much flat then buried it in. The Garrett wouldn't pick it up with the settings I had on it, so I put the coil just above the ground and hit the re-tune switch. After making some passes it finally gave me a signal, but not every time. I'm not real proficient with it, but it should have been simple enough to give a signal every time.

I went in and got the Bounty Hunter Quick Silver, which they have in their middle category of Advanced detectors for $129. I turned it on and with the setting on Medium depth, it didn't give me a signal. I changed it to Deep, and about 3/4 of the time it did give me one- sometimes Iron, sometimes Al-Zn, and about 1/6 of the signals it gave me Coins. I don't know if there's another small piece of iron in the hole or not, but there's a good chance there is since the two pieces I found were from the same "thing".

On the way back inside, I stopped by where I put a penny yesterday, about a foot down, and the BH rang 2 signals near each other- generally changing its mind between Al-Zn, Al-50c and Coins. Maybe it was picking something up there that the Garrett didn't before, other than that penny, but I've had enough of digging Kyle's yard up, he can have all the fun later.

So the short and sweet of it is walking along slow with the detectors, there's a good chance the Garrett is going to miss small coins 10 inches down the way it's tuned now, and the Bounty Hunter will probably pick it up 3/4 of the time. The down side is the BH seems to have a small delay responding to it, so it takes a few sweeps to pinpoint where the coin is. The Garrett seems to be much faster and easier to know where the coin is from that first sweep over it. The old CoinMaster 2000/D with Hot Head coil I got from Mike is probably just as good at finding targets as the Garrett, if not better, but with fewer bells and whistles. Since I don't have a lot of room to take ALL of them on the trip, I'll leave that one home simply because the re-tuning feature on the Garrett might be real handy on the beach. The BH is going because if I get ticked off at the way the Garrett is running, the BH's "tell me what it is" feature will at least be amusing and I'll need less beer to calm me down afterward.

Maybe someone will find that useful

I don't really plan on finding much, but I'm not one to sit in the sun and read books all day, so I'll at least be guaranteed to have a good time while I'm down there. I promise to post a pic of any finds as soon as I get back

Thanks again for the advice, everyone! It's the afternoon of my second day of vacation and I'm just finally able to sit down and relax. I can't wait to hit the road in the morning!

Kiwini · Aug 17, 2008

Hi everyone, I'm in the Outer Banks now, and see there's free WiFi available down here- you just have to put up with annoying banner ads that seem to slow my laptop down. Here's a pic of everything I've found so far. I decided to use the Bounty Hunter because I'm feeling kinda beat from the hot weather and all the running around that goes with being a tourist. My girlfriend met me out on the beach early this morning, and brought the Garrett along to give her something to do. Wouldn't you know it- her first signal was penny and the second was a cheap ring, not marked, might be stainless. This stuff is from a 3 mile stretch of beach, hitting different areas by walking a line up to 1/2 mile in one direction, then walking back. Overall MDing the beaches has been a little boring- other than the bottle caps there really aren't many signals. I did skip digging some caps if I was feeling tired, and didn't dig any more than 2 signals that were near each other. Hopefully I find some gold or silver before I leave Tuesday, but it'd take some real doing I think. Enjoy!

ETA: Sorry for the date on the pic- forgot to set it after the batteries died....

SandFiddler · Aug 17, 2008

Where are you? Just curious, the NC outer banks are more than 100 miles long. Also, January can be bitter cold there.

Kiwini · Aug 17, 2008

I just took a pic of the rest of today's hunt. I no sooner put my detector to the ground than I find a "thing" over 18 inches down. Someone at the beach said it looked part of someone's boat, and I see the end of it was cut with a grinder. I found the big rusty donut that goes with it about 4 feet away from it. Pretty heavy, whatever it is... I skipped digging a lot of the bottlecap type signals because my arms and legs are getting kinda tired. I also went to the store and bought a regular size round-point garden shovel to try digging and sifting in the surf tonight. My homemade sifter worked fantastic, but the shovel handle broke on my first hole when I got down close to 3 feet. Pretty hard to do with the surf constantly filling the hole back in! 3 tries at that and the only item of note was a big, clear "pebble" that is probably a well-ground piece of a bottle. At least I found more quarters!

Replying to the previous post- I'm in the Kill Devil Hills area (KDH) and have never been here before, but it probably is cold in January down here

Kiwini · Sep 2, 2008

Hi everybody!

I thought I'd post a little update on my findings. I was sitting here today enjoying the first of my 2 days off when I decided to take a closer look at a couple of my findings. If you look at the first pic I posted, near the top below the trash and really-rusted bottlecap, there's what I figured was a bone which happened to end up in my scoop- so I put it aside with some of the shells. I did some searching online, and it matches up with what a human fingertip or toetip bone looks like. It could be another animal- I'm not an expert. I'll just call it one of those things that make you go "Hmm...", right off the beach at The Graveyard Of The Atlantic. I thought it worth mentioning and a quick scratch of the head, later!

Steve