Newbie question about beach detecting

ArthurC · Mar 31, 2013

I have a question for those familiar with the Whites 6000 di pro sl........I live in South Carolina and i'm going to Charleston next week for a few days. We are planning on going to Folly beach and I thought I would give beach detecting a try. Will this detector do okay on the beach? I read several posts in this forum that said black sand and salt don't go well with this machine. Any thoughts? I planned on going early and hitting the deep sand higher on the beach and stay away from the fresh wet sand.

I appreciate your input

Terry Soloman · Mar 31, 2013

You will get less depth in the wet saltwater sand and perhaps some falsing, but in the dry sand you will clean up. Get a GOOD sandscoop and have fun!

Tom_in_CA · Mar 31, 2013

I disagree with terry (well ... at least where wet salt is concerned), the 6000 di pro is an excellent wet salt sand machine. As for "black sand", sure, ANY machine that is anything but a pulse will have fits on the really black sand (where it resembles gunpowder grey consistency, etc...). I mean, even renknowned beach machines like the excalibur, sovereign, CZ6, XLT, Explorer, etc... ALL will eventually wain in real bad minerals. If minerals were that bad, then sure, you'd need a pulse to cut it. But then your down-side would be that you'd have no way to discern iron vs conductive. And thus be bedevilled with safety pins, bent nails, flecks, etc...

If you're on a touristy clean beach, perhaps that's not an issue. But heaven-help-you if you get on a nail-riddled beach with a pulse (like underneath where generations of piers have burned down, or where they allow beach bonfires, etc....). The 6000 Di pro is a an excellent wet salt machine, as long as you're not in a very black zone. Not many beaches are *that* bad. In all of CA, (for example), I can think of only a few places where nothing-but-a-pulse would work. And those would only be certain gully-wash creek-in-flow spots, or whatever. For the vast majority of beaches, a machine like the excal or 6000 Di pro. does just fine.

ArthurC · Mar 31, 2013

Terry and Tom,

Thank you for your input and advice! So far this is the only detector I've ever used and I've been amazed at the number of coins I've found in the few short weeks I've been detecting. I'm going tomorrow to look for a sand scoop, if I find anything good I'll be sure to post some pictures. HH!

Arthur

cudamark · Apr 2, 2013

As mentioned, it will depend on the makeup of that particular beach. Here in SoCal, the 6000 doesn't do well in wet ocean sand or in the water. In the dry sand, it works very good. You'll be the first to know if it does or doesn't!