Sea Hunter Mark II

[Monty]

Got my Sea Hunter Mark II yesterday afternoon.? Couldn't find anything in the package that told you how to put it together. The instructions in the manual were barely adequate and needed some good photos to accompany the text.? I wrestled with it for about an hour and by trial and error I figured it out!? Couldn't get to the beach because of the week end crowds so I did a dry run in a local park where I do a lot of testing and experimenting.? I had the machine set up fairly well from the night before so I headed out about daylight.? I found an old pull tab and notched it out as per the instructions.? This required the elimination (discrimination) knob to be set at about six (6). I set the threshold knob to where I could barely hear it or at about a four ( 4).? I turned? the power on and kicked it over to Standard Trash Elimination mode!? I started getting target hits right away.? I dug only the hard, loud tones at first .? As I suspected, it was like using my 2500 in? the all metal mode.? It rang up everything including rusty nails.? I dug all the targets I came across and finally quit after I had given it a good test run.? I dug some items at six inches and gave up on a couple that were more than 6" deep.? It picked up everything and I do mean everything!? I recovered a few bobby pins and a couple of paper clips which it easily picked up. It could use a volume control switch.? Each "hit" was so loud it nearly blew my ears off!?Maybe it works better under water? I switched over to the Discrete Trash Elimination mode and it held the volume to a lower pitch.? It was the most comfortable mode to search in but it possibly would allow you to miss a soft target now and then. A soft target is what I call gold, like a ring, etc.? It comes in quite weak sounding on the Discrete trash Elimination mode.? So, I dug up one clad penny, a milk bottle opener (looked quite old), the end off a bicycle brake cable, a big steel washer, a rod of some kind abut 4" long, a spring loaded keeper rod,? a couple of aluminum cans,? and some more misc trash.? The trash discriminatin don't work too good on dry land it seems?? I have about picked the park clean of coins because I go there so frequently so I wasn't surprised at not finding many coins.? So far I am just learning the controls and I will get back to this topic when I get a chance to water hunt.? ? JIM

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[nedigger]

The Sea Hunter Mark II is supposed to be a really good machine from all I have read. The lack of a volume control knob seems to be the number one complaint. Keep us posted on it's performance. I hope to get a waterproof machine someday and the Sea Hunter Mark II is one of the units I am considering. Good luck and HH.

 

[Monty]

I might add that the Sea Hunter is quite heavy and kinda' awkward on dry land with the power unit/controls set up in the traditional manner. It doesn't balance as well as my other Garretts detectors. I will probably set it up with the optional hip or shoulder mount in the future. I ordered the 10.5" coil but it hasn't arrived yet, and I found out it was shipped seperate from the detector. JIM

 

[neilo]

The sea hunter mk2 my friend has one the first time out with it he scored a massive mans gold ring with a huge sapphire about half inch across as his first target. A little while later I was using my excalibur and I detected a small copper coin I called out to him and threw the coin out in the water in front of him so he could see what the coin would sound like.A few minutes later he called out to me I ve got it! he looked down into his scoop and picked out another big gold ring.The coin wasnt found, I dubbed him the man with the midas touch, he could turn copper into gold with that machine.
Needless to say he loves his machine,I like my minelab but I think the sea hunter is better for smaller targets.He still hasnt mastered the discrimation side of it but he will in time.
from down under, neilo

 

[Monty]

Neilo, from all I have gathered a detector using PI technology can just discriminate so much and that's not much?? ?I think you pretty much have to develope an ear for specific tones.? I haven't a clue what a gold ring might sound like, but I am going to static test one of mine and see if it's any different than a coin.? Reading several really excellent reports on the Sea Hunter was mainly what caused me to buy it over others.? JIM

 

[Monty]

Well, it looks like the beach or at least the water hunting is about over for the year.? Woke up to day to 48 degrees and rain.? The water temps will drop rapidly in OK fresh water lakes.? Once it gets down into the low 70s, it's just too cold without a wet suit and I can't justify the expense when there are many other places to hunt in cool weather.? Guess I'll pull the batteries and store it for the winter.? Next? spring I'll be back at it.? Didn't really have long enough to do a really good evalualtion. MONTY

 

[Cfm]

Monty,

You're going to want to dig those deep targets, Gold sinks fast in the sand... I have found quite a few gold rings down past the 14" mark... I own a PI and yeah we are going to dig everything But its worth it in the long run... In the two months I have owned my PI PRO I have paid for it at least 5 times over...

 

[Monty]

The only thing I don't like about my Sea Hunter is that is doesn't give you a clue as to how deep a target might be. YOu just have to dig and listen, dig and listen until you find it or give up. I usually give up at about a foot as the sand keeps rushing back into the hole after the walls get steep. This is a midrange detector price wise, so does the highend machines have a depth indicator? That would make PI technology a lot easier to live with! Monty

 

[Cfm]

Monty...

I'm in same boat as you with the Whites PI PRO I hunt by sound just like you I hunted a beach this morning that I know gets no water hunters by the finds... 3 rings, V nickel, Buffalo nickel, (3) 1939 nickels 5 wheaties all about 2 inches down because there was no sand just rock, I quit after 2 hours my wrist was aching from digging in chest deep water This only my 3rd month water detecting I am a longtime dirt digger

 

[Monty]

Just as the season was winding down I did get to take my Sea Hunter to a club water hunt. 99% of the club uses Fisher VLF products so I got some looks when I pulled out my Sea Hunter II. Quite a few of the club members were curious though and came to look it over and ask some questions. Some of the prize tokens were on pull tabs I was told so I turned the discrimination completely off and "dived" in. I began hitting targets right away and found two prize tokens right off. I thought I found another but it was a washer unrelated to the hunt! Before the hunt one of the better hunters told me there wasn't anything out there in the water. He said he had made one long sweep and didn't get a single contact. Oh contraire....I hit lots of targets that the Fisher units were not picking up. Since I didn't dig them I have no idea what they were. Guess I should go back? Anyway, several members were impressed or so they said. Nearly everyone said they could hear my detector "thumping" in their earphones, but it didn't seem to interfere so much so as to cause them a major problem. I didn't hear a thing from their units. That was my last water outing for the summer so I will report back next spring when the water warms. Monty

 

[TXKajun]

Monty, I truly enjoy reading your reports on the different MD units. Keep up the good work and HH!

 

[Monty]

One thing I forgot to add is that it has no pinpoint feature. You just have to ex the target until you think it is centered. This is a problem with the larger coil as there is such a large area under the coil and if you are under murky water you cannot see what you're doing! Difficult to locate your target! Monty

 

[diverjon123]

One thing I forgot to add is that it has no pinpoint feature. You just have to ex the target until you think it is centered. This is a problem with the larger coil as there is such a large area under the coil and if you are under murky water you cannot see what you're doing! Difficult to locate your target! Monty

is there a coil 1mx1m that would work with SH mark 2?

thanks

 

[RobRieman]

Hi diverjon. This thread is almost 8 years old.

 

[diverjon123]

Hi diverjon. This thread is almost 8 years old.

Haha didn't realize

 

[bottlebum]

Cool thread tho..... Heck, I'm left wanting to hear more about Monty's "thumping" Sea Hunter.