Need Help to Choose Proper MD for Land and Shallow Salt Water.

[Panayiotis]

I am from Cyprus and I am thinking in entering in Metal detecting.

The permited areas for metal detecting in Cyprus are in majority beaches. After reading a bit on the subject, I came to the conclusion (might be wrong and if so correct me), I need a detector that can be suited for dry sand/land conditions as well be able to detect shallow waters (Not more than 2m I guess.

The best choice for me would be a Minelab Excalibur 1000 or Mark II but my budget is no more than $650-$700 max. Up until now I have not seen one for sale for that amount... so I am thining to go for either a Garrett AT Pro (for the versatility in both land and water + discrimination modes) or Garrett Sea hunter Mark II (for better durability in saltwater .. but worrying about the non discrimination here).

If you have any suggestions for me .. or a clearer view on which way I should go that would be ideal as I have no experience whatsoever in the hobby.

I suspect that your beaches would not be so clean .. so perhaps discrimination is important .. but then again I have read that AT Pro looses substantial depth when used submerged. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to dig every other corner for alluminium rings from cokes!

.... thanking you all in adnvance for your help!

 

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[Sandman]

At Pro has serious issues working in wet saltwater sand. CZ-20 or 21, Excel or Whites Bounty Hunter ID being more than one freq will work fine. They have good disc.

 

[Fletch88]

FYI it doesn't matter if you buy a CTX, Excal, Sand Shark or anything made today you still have to dig pull tabs to find gold. In your budget I would look for a used CZ-21, Excalibur, new 8" coil Sand Shark , or Dual Field. Multiple freq VLF or PI is the only real way to go for saltwater.

 

[adamBomb]

^^ Listen to these guys. Find one of those machines used or save up for one new. You will just be doubting your purchase if you don't.

 

[Panayiotis]

I'm hearing you all out but unfortunately up to now I did not come across any excalibur or cz21 in that price range. Mind you I'm in europe so importing one from US for instance will substantially increase the cost too.

If I sacrifice discrimination (which I can relate is huge difference but least will get me started), what are my options? I am starting to give thoughts on Sea Hunter Mark II.

Any advice on that direction?

 

[Fletch88]

Sand Shark with 8" coil. Lifetime warranty and tough as nails waterproof control box. Headphones and coil is hardwired and over years will give less trouble than any saltwater machine with either that are interchangeable. The Sea Hunter is a good choice also but I have never owned one so cannot comment on performance.

 

[adamBomb]

Sand Shark with 8" coil. Lifetime warranty and tough as nails waterproof control box. Headphones and coil is hardwired and over years will give less trouble than any saltwater machine with either that are interchangeable. The Sea Hunter is a good choice also but I have never owned one so cannot comment on performance.

since the sand shark is PI, How does the tiger shark do on salt beaches since it says it has a beach mode but from what i can tell its single frequency?

 

[Fletch88]

Not very well. It will GB down to salt but depth is not all that great as many single freq VLF's will do.

 

[Terry Soloman]

You want the best depth on both land and sea? Then you need two machines - end of debate. At the low end, you can buy a Tesoro Sand Shark, and a Tesoro Vaquero for about $1,000.00US. ANY single frequency machine works well in dry sand, from the Tesoro Compadre, to the Teknetics T2.

 

[DiggerinVA]

The Sand Shark is the cheapest TRUE BEACH MACHINE.....You will dig ALOT! After some time you will dig less iron but you will still dig alot of other trash....thats why the Excal and CZ-21 cost more.