MD suggestions for the beach

ER Doc

Tenderfoot
Aug 19, 2009
5
0
Destin, FL
Detector(s) used
White's Prizm 6T
I would like to congratulate everyone for having gotten me hooked on detecting and I've never even owned a machine! I live in Destin, FL (5 min walk to the beach) and would love some input regarding what type of MD I should get. I've been checking prices on the net and see that these things can run into some serious cash quick. Any suggestions regarding where I could find a good used machine would be helpful too. Thanks in advance for the help!
 

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
3,992
In Michigan now.
Detector(s) used
Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Some of our members might be able to help you out with a used detector for the beach. Suggest you check out the detectors from the major manufactures like Whites, Garrett, Tesoro and Minelab. You should decide if you are going to hunt the dry sand or both wet and dry. Dry sand can be hunted with about any detector while the wet saltwater sand requires a waterproof unit cause you are going to drop it sometime and they are designed to be more stable.

You will pay for the detector quickly if you go out often an your chances of paying for it all at once are greater with one nice ring find. I use the Excal 1000 and the CZ-20 and Tiger Shark as backups. If you aren't going to far in the wet, the Whites Beach Hunter ID is a nice unit too.
 

OP
OP
ER Doc

ER Doc

Tenderfoot
Aug 19, 2009
5
0
Destin, FL
Detector(s) used
White's Prizm 6T
Sandman said:
Some of our members might be able to help you out with a used detector for the beach. Suggest you check out the detectors from the major manufactures like Whites, Garrett, Tesoro and Minelab. You should decide if you are going to hunt the dry sand or both wet and dry. Dry sand can be hunted with about any detector while the wet saltwater sand requires a waterproof unit cause you are going to drop it sometime and they are designed to be more stable.

You will pay for the detector quickly if you go out often an your chances of paying for it all at once are greater with one nice ring find. I use the Excal 1000 and the CZ-20 and Tiger Shark as backups. If you aren't going to far in the wet, the Whites Beach Hunter ID is a nice unit too.

Thanks. From what I have learned on this site, I'm thinking I'll need to have something that will allow me to at least venture into the knee deep stuff. Any thoughts on the Minelab X-terra 350?
 

OD_hunt

Full Member
Aug 16, 2009
161
2
South Africa
Detector(s) used
Excal 1000
Hey I just paid for my Minelab Excalibur 1000 today :laughing7: and it feels good knowing a machine is finally on the way... But I had to eventually choose one, having started off with just about all of the well known MD's on the market. It was a helluva task being my first machine as well, and not having much experience with the units to compare to. These forums helped with many answeres! What I did was put a basic spreadsheet together listing all the decent machines, and each ones properties in a comparison format. One below the other I could look at info on one page that normally would be scattered all over the net. It helped a lot. If you want I can send it to you if it will help.
HH, OD
 

vondrewvious

Full Member
Jan 15, 2008
179
0
Maine
ER Doc said:
Sandman said:
Some of our members might be able to help you out with a used detector for the beach. Suggest you check out the detectors from the major manufactures like Whites, Garrett, Tesoro and Minelab. You should decide if you are going to hunt the dry sand or both wet and dry. Dry sand can be hunted with about any detector while the wet saltwater sand requires a waterproof unit cause you are going to drop it sometime and they are designed to be more stable.

You will pay for the detector quickly if you go out often an your chances of paying for it all at once are greater with one nice ring find. I use the Excal 1000 and the CZ-20 and Tiger Shark as backups. If you aren't going to far in the wet, the Whites Beach Hunter ID is a nice unit too.

Thanks. From what I have learned on this site, I'm thinking I'll need to have something that will allow me to at least venture into the knee deep stuff. Any thoughts on the Minelab X-terra 350?
I am a diehard xterra user and the 305 would not be my recommendation. It will run noisy on the wet salt. My opinopn would be a sovereign.
 

OP
OP
ER Doc

ER Doc

Tenderfoot
Aug 19, 2009
5
0
Destin, FL
Detector(s) used
White's Prizm 6T
OD_hunt said:
Hey I just paid for my Minelab Excalibur 1000 today :laughing7: and it feels good knowing a machine is finally on the way... But I had to eventually choose one, having started off with just about all of the well known MD's on the market. It was a helluva task being my first machine as well, and not having much experience with the units to compare to. These forums helped with many answeres! What I did was put a basic spreadsheet together listing all the decent machines, and each ones properties in a comparison format. One below the other I could look at info on one page that normally would be scattered all over the net. It helped a lot. If you want I can send it to you if it will help.
HH, OD
That spreadsheet sounds great. Can you send it in an e-mail?
 

OP
OP
ER Doc

ER Doc

Tenderfoot
Aug 19, 2009
5
0
Destin, FL
Detector(s) used
White's Prizm 6T
vondrewvious said:
ER Doc said:
Sandman said:
Some of our members might be able to help you out with a used detector for the beach. Suggest you check out the detectors from the major manufactures like Whites, Garrett, Tesoro and Minelab. You should decide if you are going to hunt the dry sand or both wet and dry. Dry sand can be hunted with about any detector while the wet saltwater sand requires a waterproof unit cause you are going to drop it sometime and they are designed to be more stable.

You will pay for the detector quickly if you go out often an your chances of paying for it all at once are greater with one nice ring find. I use the Excal 1000 and the CZ-20 and Tiger Shark as backups. If you aren't going to far in the wet, the Whites Beach Hunter ID is a nice unit too.

Thanks. From what I have learned on this site, I'm thinking I'll need to have something that will allow me to at least venture into the knee deep stuff. Any thoughts on the Minelab X-terra 350?
I am a diehard xterra user and the 305 would not be my recommendation. It will run noisy on the wet salt. My opinopn would be a sovereign.

Thanks for the info. I'm bidding on a sovereign on e-bay right now. 4 days until bidding closes.
 

Dano Sverige

Silver Member
Aug 10, 2009
2,946
189
SWEDEN
Detector(s) used
(on the dry)Minelab ETRAC, backup x-terra 305.(in the wet ) Minelab Excalibur II
You live in Florida.Take a trip to the popular beaches for a day or two.You'll probably see most detectorists there (and there's a fair few in FLA lol) using the excalibur II.
I'm biased lol, but to me you can't beat them. ;)
 

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