what is a good beginner water machine for fresh water hunts?

[vaquero44]

did some beach hunting with my cz3d tonight and got some halfway decent stuff but was a pain to retrieve because had to hold machine and try to find with the other any suggestions would be great!

 

[bootybay]

Hate to tell ya but no matter what machine your using its going to be the same, machine in one hand scooper in other.. just have to get used to it is all.

 

[COTTON]

Booty nailed it. But i would get the Tiger for fresh water an then you can make a belt leash for it.(hands free)The only time i use mine is when its time for a new chew.LOL.

 

[bootybay]

and Cottons right too on the tiger shark ( forgot about that one, since I dont have any fresh water lakes near me)... sides, you should see me in the ocean... I could win a funniest home video.. lol

 

[vaquero44]

well what was awkward was that i had no scooper which i do have i keep forgetting i do but just was using my hand on real small stuff was hard to pinpoint!

 

[Bobbie]

Get yourself a DetectorPro Pirate Pro, electronics are in the headset and the machine is good on pinpoint.....right center in the coil with good depth.......6 - 8 inches. Plus it is not expensive and works great on land. The headset is water resistant and can take a dunking.

 

[Willee]

Get yourself a DetectorPro Pirate Pro, electronics are in the headset and the machine is good on pinpoint.....right center in the coil with good depth.......6 - 8 inches. Plus it is not expensive and works great on land. The headset is water resistant and can take a dunking.

LOL ... yeah sure ... it is a great machine ...
Had them all ... the best one is the Pirate Pro and I could not get rid of it fast enough. IMHO
Course ... you got to consider ... I am used to using detectors that actually are great machines.

There is no beginner detector.
What you are really wanting to say is "CHEAP".
You will get what you pay for and believe me you will regret buying a cheap machine.
Buy American .... stay away from the Chinese made detectors.
Buy a quality detector and it will pay for itself.

I would strongly recommend you stay away from any PI type detector for fresh water.
Go for the VLF type machine like the White's BeachHunter ID or the Tesoro TigerShark.
A used Fisher CZ-20 or CZ-21 would be a very good choice as would the 1280X they make.
The older Garrett waterproof VLF detectors work well ... but all they make now are the PI types.

 

[Bobbie]

Get yourself a DetectorPro Pirate Pro, electronics are in the headset and the machine is good on pinpoint.....right center in the coil with good depth.......6 - 8 inches. Plus it is not expensive and works great on land. The headset is water resistant and can take a dunking.

LOL ... yeah sure ... it is a great machine ...
Had them all ... the best one is the Pirate Pro and I could not get rid of it fast enough. IMHO
Course ... you got to consider ... I am used to using detectors that actually are great machines.

There is no beginner detector.
What you are really wanting to say is "CHEAP".
You will get what you pay for and believe me you will regret buying a cheap machine.
Buy American .... stay away from the Chinese made detectors.
Buy a quality detector and it will pay for itself.

I would strongly recommend you stay away from any PI type detector for fresh water.
Go for the VLF type machine like the White's BeachHunter ID or the Tesoro TigerShark.
A used Fisher CZ-20 or CZ-21 would be a very good choice as would the 1280X they make.
The older Garrett waterproof VLF detectors work well ... but all they make now are the PI types.

We have had a variety of machines, presently owning Excals, Whites and DetectorPro. We have the first generation DetectorPro Pirate, the newest one is the Pirate Pro, and for an inexpensive machine it really works very well and finds just as much as an Excal. You can easily use this machine on land where it works very well. What you don't want to do is buy a USED Fisher product, they are horribly expensive to fix and there are plenty of broken ones out there waiting for the right sucker to buy it. Whites and Tesoro are both good and have a good repair reputation as well as DetectorPro. It is all in what you can afford and how much water detecting you will be doing.

Don't let someone scare you about DetectorPro, they have a good product and the owner has a lot of history with designing detectors. As far as being made in China..........even the best of the machines have most of their parts made in China. Even Minelab has moved operations to Malaysia.....and that is the best of the best.

If you can wait, save all your clad that you can find and then go top end on a machine.......but remember it is the operator of the detector that finds the treasure, not the detector and a child's toy in the right hands will find treasure.