What is the best underwater detector to find gold and silver coins and rings?

[OBXmetalDet]

My Nokta PulseDive Underwater Metal Detector failed on me after going into the water (and not even using it). When I came back on land, although I could turn it on, I couldn't detect metal. Maybe some water got into it.

I'm looking for something that is handheld so about 15" long.

I would be diving right off the shore/beach in relatively shallow, but it would be good to have the ability to go much deeper in case I ever decide to boat dive.

Can anybody recommend anything?

 

[OBXmetalDet]

Minelab Excalibur

Excalibur I or Excalibur II?

 

[OBXmetalDet]

All I can speak for is my Fisher 1280X Aquanaut. It has been a great machine for me and has found plenty of good stuff including jewelry in some fresh water swimmimg holes.

The control box comes off the shaft for belt mounting if you want, but I don't find it awkward in one piece in the water. On land it would not be a comfy machine unless it was belt mounted, but there's other machines for land hunting.

The Fisher website says it operates at 2.4 kHz.

Does this mean no other single frequencies? No multi-frequency mode?

 

[OBXmetalDet]

I have used the Fisher CZ21-10 in 50' of saltwater with a hip-mount and just the lower coil stem (about 15"). Worked great and found a lot of jewelry that day. It was an area where yachts dock off Martha's Vineyard.​

On Amazon, one 10" coil costs $1,300 and another is $1,500 so I don't know what the difference is.

Also, I didn't see a hip mount with either one.

 

[OBXmetalDet]

with CZ21s (i own 3 - one is a converted CZ20)
I hunt in all metal = 0... and notch to 1 to check ID
but i dig it all - if possible
my motto - at least one of them - if you dig it all...hopefully you get it all
I got into hobby in 1974 - but i say 1975 cause thats when i got my first machine
My first machines were all "all metal" machines - so i was always used to digging everything
for years until I got my Whites XLT...then i got my first true underwater machine
Whites PI Pro - which has no discrimination
I'll tell you something about the Whites PI - If you have or had one - I hope you did not
use the suggested settings on it - you will lose depth - i have no idea whose idea
the setting were - awful!
I got max depth just clicking it on and then tuner to a constant low hum and dug every
slight fluctuation in the hum - I found tons of old gold and silver at many spots
hammered by other that they thought were cleaned out - A group of CT. guys bought
PIs a few yrs after hunting with me and used my method and went back to some
of their fav spots and killed it

I can't find the Whites PI Pro on Amazon or anywhere else to buy. Also, how many frequencies?

 

[goldnugget]

Minelab Excalibur

1 Second that Reply

 

[Mike(NC)]

The Fisher website says it operates at 2.4 kHz.

Does this mean no other single frequencies? No multi-frequency mode?

I suppose so. Not a multi frequency unit. Not the best around salt, but not the worse either. I did OK with it.

 

[WaterWalker]

For water hunting, I have owned The Sword, and a few Excaibur 1000 with different configurations of shafts and coils from the Sword's horseshoe, 8 in., 10 in., to the WOT (my favorite for 20+ years). I have also used the original, carbon fiber, Stork Leg, and hip mount. I have tried many other water detectors and have always gone back to the Excalibur. But at age 78 I find myself switching between the Excalibur with 10 in. coil and over/under carbon fiber shaft and the Manticore with the 15 in. coil. The 2D display saves me digging a lot of "trash" targets. Even with a Titanium scoop I just can not dig as many hole as I could 43 years ago. Even with all the new technology, the increase in the number of detectorists, the decrease in number of target to dig, and those dang plastic cards the nuber of target has decreased drastically. I can't remember when I last dug 100 coins in one day let alone 100 gold rings in a year. I do know it was at least 15 years ago. I sure am glad I still have the thrill of finding something different and the thrill of finding and returning someone's lost item, be it jewelry, a ring, hearing aid, keys, cell phone or what ever else I am asked to search for. Just loving the hobby!

 

[OBXmetalDet]

For water hunting, I have owned The Sword, and a few Excaibur 1000 with different configurations of shafts and coils from the Sword's horseshoe, 8 in., 10 in., to the WOT (my favorite for 20+ years). I have also used the original, carbon fiber, Stork Leg, and hip mount. I have tried many other water detectors and have always gone back to the Excalibur. But at age 78 I find myself switching between the Excalibur with 10 in. coil and over/under carbon fiber shaft and the Manticore with the 15 in. coil. The 2D display saves me digging a lot of "trash" targets. Even with a Titanium scoop I just can not dig as many hole as I could 43 years ago. Even with all the new technology, the increase in the number of detectorists, the decrease in number of target to dig, and those dang plastic cards the nuber of target has decreased drastically. I can't remember when I last dug 100 coins in one day let alone 100 gold rings in a year. I do know it was at least 15 years ago. I sure am glad I still have the thrill of finding something different and the thrill of finding and returning someone's lost item, be it jewelry, a ring, hearing aid, keys, cell phone or what ever else I am asked to search for. Just loving the hobby!

On Amazon I read some reviews if the Excaliber II hip mount and some people say it is cheap, flimsy and not suitable for carrying the main part of the detector. What is your opinion on that?

What is is the benefit if a carbon fiber shaft?

 

[OBXmetalDet]

If you hip mount it and use the short dive shaft, it's not too bad. More than 15" though.....as most full featured detectors will be.

I saw the Excslibur II hip mount on Amazon. Some reviews say it's thin and cheap and not good for carrying the main part of the detector. What is your opinion?

I hear the Excalibur II is quite heavy. Is there anyway you can make it lighter?

 

[WaterWalker]

Back in the 1990's I made my own hip mount and I am still using it today on one of my Excaliburs. It takes the weight off my arm as I swing, especially on the wet and dry sand. My hip mount hang vertically from my waist.

 

[cudamark]

I saw the Excslibur II hip mount on Amazon. Some reviews say it's thin and cheap and not good for carrying the main part of the detector. What is your opinion?

I hear the Excalibur II is quite heavy. Is there anyway you can make it lighter?

I've modified all my Excals by using carbon fiber shafts, hip mounts, different size coils, better headphones, and the pin point handle mod. Doing that, I don't find it too heavy, but, it's still not as light and balanced as the Equinox 900 IMO.

 

[OBXmetalDet]

I've modified all my Excals by using carbon fiber shafts, hip mounts, different size coils, better headphones, and the pin point handle mod. Doing that, I don't find it too heavy, but, it's still not as light and balanced as the Equinox 900 IMO.

Did you switch to a bigger or smaller coil? Is the switch permanent? If not, under what conditions do you switch coils? I never really thought about that with my Equinox 800.

What is the pinpoint handle mod?

 

[cudamark]

Did you switch to a bigger or smaller coil? Is the switch permanent? If not, under what conditions do you switch coils? I never really thought about that with my Equinox 800.

What is the pinpoint handle mod?

I have 3 Excals, (well, actually two now as I sold one recently to a friend) all equipped slightly different. I have a Ex2 with stock 11" coil with upgraded Tony Eisenhower speakers, straight shaft and stock controls that I use mostly for deeper water. One I sold has a WOT 15" coil, Plugger carbon shaft, upgraded Eisenhower speakers, and pin point switch in the handle. The last is my favorite for wet sand....NEL 15" Attack coil, Steve's carbon fiber shafts, Eisenhower upgraded Grey Ghost headphones, RNB battery, and the pin point handle mod. All hardwired at this point. I had one with a waterproof connector on the coil cable so I could change coils, but, it got changed to a solid wire during a coil upgrade at one point when I got the third Excal. The pin point modification helps to quickly switch from pin point (which is the mode you should be hunting in) to discrimination to weed out the iron targets. Much quicker and easier to have the thumb switch on the handle than to have to turn the knob on the pod.

 

[OBXmetalDet]

The pin point modification helps to quickly switch from pin point (which is the mode you should be hunting in) to discrimination to weed out the iron targets. Much quicker and easier to have the thumb switch on the handle than to have to turn the knob on the pod.

With the Equinox 800, as far as I know, you hunt in detect mode, then after you get a signal you switch to pinpoint mode.

With the Excalibur II, when you say switching to discrimination, do you mean switching to detect mode? If so, I thought you would start in that discrimination mode, then switch to pinpoint mode.

Also, how do you get a thumb switch on the handle? Do you have to send it out somewhere and have somebody do that or can you buy it that way?

Do you really need to wear headphones underwater?

 

[cudamark]

With the Equinox 800, as far as I know, you hunt in detect mode, then after you get a signal you switch to pinpoint mode.

With the Excalibur II, when you say switching to discrimination, do you mean switching to detect mode? If so, I thought you would start in that discrimination mode, then switch to pinpoint mode.

Also, how do you get a thumb switch on the handle? Do you have to send it out somewhere and have somebody do that or can you buy it that way?

Do you really need to wear headphones underwater?

With Excalibur, you detect the other way around. Hunt in pin point (all metal) to get max depth, then switch to discrimination to see if it's iron or not. The thumb switch is a modification that you can do if you have the skills, or, you can send it to someone like Tony Eisenhower to have him do the mods.

 

[OBXmetalDet]

With Excalibur, you detect the other way around. Hunt in pin point (all metal) to get max depth, then switch to discrimination to see if it's iron or not.

Interesting. I plan on digging every signal I get so I guess I should just keep it on pinpointer mode.

 

[OBXmetalDet]

If you hip mount it and use the short dive shaft, it's not too bad. More than 15" though.....as most full featured detectors will be.

Do you have a picture of your Excalibur with the short dive shaft and coil? I would like to see what the entire thing looks like.

 

[OBXmetalDet]

For water hunting, I have owned The Sword, and a few Excaibur 1000 with different configurations of shafts and coils

When I search for "Excalibur II" instead of getting results for Excalibur II, I get Excalibur II 1000

Amazon.com : excalibur II metal detector

What is the difference between Excalibur II vs. Excalibur II 1000?

 

[Mike(NC)]

For water hunting, I have owned The Sword, and a few Excaibur 1000 with different configurations of shafts and coils from the Sword's horseshoe, 8 in., 10 in., to the WOT (my favorite for 20+ years). I have also used the original, carbon fiber, Stork Leg, and hip mount. I have tried many other water detectors and have always gone back to the Excalibur. But at age 78 I find myself switching between the Excalibur with 10 in. coil and over/under carbon fiber shaft and the Manticore with the 15 in. coil. The 2D display saves me digging a lot of "trash" targets. Even with a Titanium scoop I just can not dig as many hole as I could 43 years ago. Even with all the new technology, the increase in the number of detectorists, the decrease in number of target to dig, and those dang plastic cards the nuber of target has decreased drastically. I can't remember when I last dug 100 coins in one day let alone 100 gold rings in a year. I do know it was at least 15 years ago. I sure am glad I still have the thrill of finding something different and the thrill of finding and returning someone's lost item, be it jewelry, a ring, hearing aid, keys, cell phone or what ever else I am asked to search for. Just loving the hobby!

What a great post water Walker and I am leaning towards that Manicore myself these days for both water and land shooting. Your pick up on plastic & the reduction in coin finds makes perfect sense!

 

[cudamark]

Interesting. I plan on digging every signal I get so I guess I should just keep it on pinpointer mode.

Yes