Lets talk detectors.

[LM]

My UW machines are presently a Seahunter mkII and a Detectorpro Headhunter Diver I got cheap in the forums.
Grabbed the Detectorpro to have a VLF while I'm learning to dive in the trashy lakes around here and to generally familiarize myself with operating a MD in an underwater environment (Handles beautifully and works well enough dry but haven't gotten it wet yet; I know these have a bit of a 'quality reputation', so wish me luck )

Question is: Do I really need to 'upgrade' my Seahunter to an Excal or Fishers to have a machine adequate for diving salt wrecks in FL? So far, the thing's been an absolute anvil in terms of reliability and signals deeper than --deleted--, but I've only gone waist deep with it.

Is there any preference for PI vs VLF when diving the old FL wrecks? Are you guys disc'ing at all or digging everything?
Any other tips on detectors for Florida / general salt diving?

Thanks.

 

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[SEAHUNTER]

Hello LSMorgan
Dustin only uses the Seahunter MK II and he constantly finds more treasure than anyone else on the site. Great machine once you learn how to use it. At $650 brand new it is probably the best detector for the money in my opinion.
Seahunter

 

[Hangingfor8]

Lots of people will tell you the Aquapulse is the best, but I think the detector that you understand best is the one you should use.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

I use the Seahunter for both land and sea. admitedly a bit heavy for land but works just fine there with a hip mount.

I had an old Garrett bfo Master Hunter 2 ' coil which I played with a bit and managed to get it electrically tuned / balanced for the Sea Hunter which gives me perhaps 12 ft air distance.

It is also waterproofed so that I can use it as a drop antenae from a boat to 100 ft.

The Garrett people said that I was just plain lucky since it shouldn't have been useful in a pulse circuit, buttt.

I am an unabashed Garrett pusher.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[stevemc]

Real, if you chose the 2 wires which only went to 1 of the windings, and they were isolated from the other-usually, it should work. LS Morgan, you asked about diving with a metal detector on old saltwater wrecks, which is different than water hunting for jewelry. Usually there is a smaller coil, and more pulse delay, and better headphones, and of course PI, but usually not one with much power. The reason for smaller coil and more pulse delay is because often you are diving with another person with a detector, and both a large coil PI especially if it has faster pulse, or an Excal. If you are using one of those, or at least a PI with some power, you would cause EMI - falsing on the others detectors, the closer you get to them. Actually everyones. But many can turn down the pulse timing. I dont know about the Garrett Seahunter. But if you are diving alone, by all means, go with it. It would be much more effiecient, and of course more sensitive to alloys and gold. Silver coins back then were an alloy. Mostly silver but some copper and other metals. Enough copper that they are often green when found. Plus with a larger coil it can be hard to swing underwater. But again by yourself, by all means. You will be able to pick up deeper, and cover a larger area quicker.

 

[ericschmitt2005]

Aqua Pulse, all of us treasure divers use them.

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

Good evenng Steve: the coil was a single one, from a BFO circuit. Which was why I tried it. Gracias my friend.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[charlotte49er]

I use the Seahunter for both land and sea. admitedly a bit heavy for land but works just fine there with a hip mount.

I had an old Garrett bfo Master Hunter 2 ' coil which I played with a bit and managed to get it electrically tuned / balanced for the Sea Hunter which gives me perhaps 12 ft air distance.

It is also waterproofed so that I can use it as a drop antenae from a boat to 100 ft.

The Garrett people said that I was just plain lucky since it shouldn't have been useful in a pulse circuit, buttt.

I am an unabashed Garrett pusher.

Don Jose de La Mancha

I echo his sentiments. I have owned a Garrett Sea Hunter (Not Mk II) since mid 80's. I have found it won't pick up anything smaller than a gram of gold, it will blow your ears out on coins and anything bigger than a gram! The sole reason I bought it was that I heard/read Mel Fisher say that the Sea Hunter was the best underwater detector he ever used. I ran out the next day and bought one. 25 years later and it's still working great!

Out of the 5 MD's I have, 3 are Garretts and I'm looking to buy an AT Pro.

 

[mad4wrecks]

I believe the circuits in those original Garrett Seahunters were designed by electronics guru Eric Foster, from England.

Salvor Chris James used an old Garrett Seahunter (before they were PI) and I have never seen anybody find as much shipwreck treasure just metal detecting. The gold/emerald ring shown on my webpage, and the 2 gold/diamond brooches found on the Cabin Wreck in 1993 by Chris were found with that old Garrett.

 

[stevemc]

Yep, Garrett PIs were very popular 20+ years ago, in the treasure hunting world. And they still are. I know Treasure Inc, Mel Fisher's treasure hunting company, the divers have used many different types of UW detectors over the years, mostly PI, and even Excals. Maybe they were given some free to say good things about them. Now there are many PI UW detectors, and really most of them are very good. Rugged, find any metal deep, even small modern gold jewelry which is hard to pick up, but the newer PIs have been tuned to find that. I would say any PI out there, and a Minelab Excaliber are a good choice for diving on old shipwreck sites. A PI will be deeper, but an Excal will null out on iron, which is good. That way you dont dig any iron, but with shipwreck diving you do want to find everything, sometimes, which you could put the Excal in all metal mode, and it will find anything.