Teknetics Omega, G2, and HeadHunter PI on Oregon or Washington coast beaches.

LuckyLarry · Jan 23, 2012

Has anybody ever tried the Omega 8000, G2, or Fisher Gold Bug Pro, on Oregon or Washington State high black-sand/salt beaches? And if not how about the Headhunter PI? I may wind up with two of these in the not-so-distant future. Thanks folks, and HH

LL

Tuberale · Jan 23, 2012

Have I used one on the beaches? No.

Not exactly sure what you are talking about, either. What do you mean by "high black sand/salt beaches?" If you are speaking about the black sand beaches of southern Oregon, some of them are some distance from the ocean; others right on the beach. Are these what you are wondering about?

Or are you specifically asking if anyone has used a PI detector on these black sand deposits? I'd guess they wouldn't show up terribly well, although you might well find concentrations of platinum, osmium, iridium, palladium, etc. there.

LuckyLarry · Jan 23, 2012

Hey Tuberale,

The entire Oregon coastal (salt) beaches have an over-abundance of black sand. It is the norm here and on other west coast (ocean) beaches. I am looking at all three detectors and thinking about getting both the GB Pro AND the Head Hunter PI. I had a Whites Surfmaster and I liked it better than any other PI I had seen at the time, but I sold it thinking about getting a different one. Now I'm read for it, or almost ready. I'm looking for someone who has tried any of these detectors on our salt/black sand beaches on the oceanside, not inland. Thanks for the response.

LL.

U.K. Brian · Jan 24, 2012

The Whites P.I. appeared good with its smooth threshold but as usual not all is as is it seems as it had a false threshold. The Pro version that followed was for your conditions even worse as they removed the pulse deay of the original machine which had helped to a degree with black sand and replaced it with a gain control. End result it was even more unstable in difficult hunting conditions.

The Headhunter hardware has been improved over the years making it better and you have a u.S. adjustment range from 15 to 40 (original Surfmaster your stuck with 25). Two drawbacks. They still eat batteries and your adjusting a control that costs you performance to balance out the black sand effects.

Get a pulse that also has a SAT control (I like the Goldquest SS or later model Deepstar) and you can increase its setting to deal with the beach conditions without having to resort to pulse delay adjustment that reduces the detectors sensitivity to gold.

Tuberale · Jan 24, 2012

First of all, I was born in Lebanon, Oregon (where Teknetics is made) and have been over much of Oregon's beaches. There is not an abundance of black sand, at least what I consider black sand. Definitely the strongest concentrations of black sand on Oregon beaches is in extreme Southern Oregon.

Most of the Oregon beach areas are of decomposed sandstone and sedimentary deposits, with what I consider modest concentrations of dispersed black sands. There is also basalt and andestitic basalt outcroppings along the northern coastal areas, south to Cape Arago. (For more on this subject, see Gold and Silver in Oregon Bulletin 61, written by Howard C. Brooks and Len Ramp in 1968. I'm pretty sure I purchased my copy from White's Electronics in Sweet Home about 1975.) South of Coos Bay (or Cape Arago, just south of Coos Bay) are the known black sand beach placers, many of which are actually located between 1 and 5 miles inland. Also in this area are some of Oregon's oldest rocks generally grouped together as the Southern Oregon batholith area, including both Klamath and portions of the Siskiyou Mountains.

It's possible what I consider black sand and what you call black sand are not the same things. To me, black sands are heavier minerals and metals associated with gold production. Illmenite is a major component, but black sand beds also include platinum, palladium, osmium, iridium, gold, some mercury and other heavier minerals.

LuckyLarry · Jan 24, 2012

Tuberale in the vernacular of metal detectorists "black sand" is the term used to (specifically) describe/define magnetite and hematite deposits found in soils, especially magnetite. Firstly, Oregon has a over-preponderance of it as regards to metal detector operational behavior when detecting in it. One can see the streaks of it in both wet and dry sand on Oregon beaches, and I have written scrolls about it. I have hauled buckets of it back home to Sweet Home where I live - and have also gleaned it from the Oregon coast beach sand to examine the %'s of it found in that soil. As we all should know magnetite is by and large our biggest problem here. I think you may be reading in a bit too much petrology from my black sand statement Tuberale, so that may well be the misunderstanding.

Here is a decent article about black sand: I think you will enjoy it; www.nevada-outback-gems.com/Reference_pages/black_sands.htm

That southern Oregon area is quite interesting, I lived in Coos Bay for awhile, and nearly got eaten by a cougar one day. It is still fairly wild at best in some places, and yes I know what you say about older rocks in the area. But that is another story.

Oregon's biggest nightmare when trying to detect here is magnetite precipitation deposits, and they well know that at white's Electronics right down the street too. I stop in there now and then and have been involved in a business adventure with one of their quality control personnel employees in the past. I wasn't born in Lebanon, but my adult children were. When Teknetics got it's start in Lebanon I had a conversation with George Payne about the magnetite problem here too. He too is well aware of it. Everybody who is part of this game and who has been at for awhile, including those at one of the world's largest metal detecting businesses, of which I was privileged to have been involved in the development of and the engineering of some of it's products via a private designing/manufacturing firm - are aware of the magnetite problem too. I cannot go any further with the manufacturers discussion though, because it is tied in with The Department of Defense and is a case involving Top Military Secrets. But yes, there are areas inland that have sufficient problems with black sand or other mineral deposits/rocks too. In Washington State there is an area on the central coastline where my Surfmaster wouldn't work at all, and of course neither would any multi or single frequency detector. A magetometer might be the way to go. I may care to explore that area some more too, if I can find the right hand-held machine.

My main interest as regards to metal detectors is to be able to do better than I currently do to search on Oregon, California, and Washington State coastal beaches search for jewelry and old coins. I want to keep it light, easily portable.

Thanks for the input Tuberale.

Brian, do you think that the Gold Quest SS is very practical for my needs or would it be too tedious and slow for one who prefers to go at a roadrunner's pace, like myself? And the same question goes for the Deepster. I'm not looking forward to being caught in a peat bog of heavy and cumbersome contraptions - if I can at all avoid it.

Thanks guys for the input, I'll do some thinking about your posts.

LL

U.K. Brian · Jan 25, 2012

The Deepstar Mk 1 and 2 you should avoid due to the weight that requires them to be chestmounted whilst not giving that great a performance. The Mk 3 is great but even second hand which is the only way you can get one now is very expensive and repairs/spares could be a problem.

The Goldquest SS is a great secondhand buy as its so reliable and uses AA batteries rather than a great chunk of rechargable that only allows five or six hours detecting on maximum settings. Small and light with the Mk 1 being a belt mount but easy enough to shaft mount. For land use you would be better off with the more expensive Mk 2 shaft mount but I found little difference on the beach between the versions and you can swing both at a fairly good sweep speed, not super fast but far, far better than say a Minelab Sovereign.

The only problem is going to be getting hold of one as people tend not to sell them !