New Member/ looking to make beach walks more fun!

[Targetseeker]

Hello, all. I have been interested in this activity for a while, just kept putting it off. I plan to search beach and shallow water and am currently researching the available tools of the trade I welcome recommendations and hope to find a decent MD for a reasonable price. I am looking at a couple of used units: Garrett's AT Pro, and Whites Beach Hunter. I have not researched ALL the brands and hope that members will offer some suggestions. Looking forward to productive strolls on the shoreline. Thanks -

[Tony Two-Cent]

Welcome to the forum, Targetseeker! Glad you found us here! What part of the world do you live in? Will you be hunting salt water beaches or fresh water, or both?

The Garrett AT Pro seems to be a popular machine for shallow water hunting. I'm not sure how well it handles black sand on salt water beaches, maybe someone with more knowledge will chime in.

Good luck selecting a machine and welcome to the hobby! :beerbuddy:

[Lowjiber]

Welcome to the forum from southern Nevada.

There are plenty of good beach hunters here to help, and plenty of machines that will meet your needs. Check the beach forum for a lot of tips that will help get you started.

I suggest getting a waterproof machine, but staying in the dry sand for a while. The water makes the searches interesting, productive, but much tougher.

Nails and hairpins can drive you crazy at a beach, so make sure the machine you buy can mask them out.

A good scoop is invaluable. Look for one with a long handle that is strong enough to withstand foot pressure. Below is a pic of me using mine in wet sand at Santa Cruz to give you the idea.

BTW: That's White's Surfmaster Pro (Pulse) detector.

[Targetseeker]

My primary search areas will be the beaches N & S shores of Long Island, NY, And West coast Florida, (Ft Myers - Marco island) ALL Salt water environments. . . Thanks so much for your help.

[Terry Soloman]

Hello, all. I have been interested in this activity for a while, just kept putting it off. I plan to search beach and shallow water and am currently researching the available tools of the trade I welcome recommendations and hope to find a decent MD for a reasonable price. I am looking at a couple of used units: Garrett's AT Pro, and Whites Beach Hunter. I have not researched ALL the brands and hope that members will offer some suggestions. Looking forward to productive strolls on the shoreline. Thanks -


Let me explain Very Low Frequency and Pulse Induction metal detectors.

The first thing to determine is what type of water, or beach you will be hunting. Are you detecting in the saltwater and on wet ocean sand, or will you be hunting dry sand and freshwater lakes and river beaches? This is important because there are different metal detectors designed for fresh- or, salt- water use. For instance, a VLF or very low frequency type metal detector works extremely well on dry sand and in fresh water. It does not work as well in saltwater, or on wet ocean-water beaches. In highly conductive saltwater conditions pulse induction or PI, and multi-frequency VLF &quot:beerbuddy:boxing:S metal detectors excel.

The VLF metal detector sends 4,000 - 80,000 radio waves per-second into the ground. When the radio waves hit something conductive - like an iron nail, gold ring, coin or aluminum pull-tab, a magnetic field sets up around the object and a particular signal frequency is transmitted back to the detector's receiving coil. VLF metal detectors have the ability to discriminate, or tell what type of metal they are seeing by reading the return signal frequency.

An iron nail for example, has a different frequency than a silver coin. The processor in the metal detector knows the difference between the two, and can be set to remain silent when seeing the nail. However, the radio waves bounce off everything that is conductive in the sand or water. This is why VLF detectors must be ground balanced to work effectively in highly mineralized soil, or on highly conductive saltwater beaches. You must tune or adjust the machine to see through the fog, or white-noise created by the salt and iron in the sand or water you are detecting. Unfortunately, this usually leads to a loss of depth and stability with most VLF detectors.

Minelab has a fully submersible VLF beach machine that can discriminate out iron in wet sand and saltwater. The “Excalibur” uses Broad Band Spectrum, or “BBS” technology, and retails for about $1,300.00. According to Minelab, their BBS operating system, “simultaneously transmits, receives and analyses a broad band of multiple frequencies to deliver substantial detection depth, high sensitivity and accurate discrimination for a wide range of target types.” The key takeaway here is “multiple frequencies.” Unfortunately, radio waves regardless of their frequency still have to be filtered and balanced in heavily conductive wet-ocean sand and highly mineralized saltwater. That limits the systems depth capabilities.

The magnetic iron sands (“Black Sands”), salt, and high concentrations of other minerals in the water and sand conspire to bounce the radio waves away from the target. Conductivity and mineralization act like a shield around the target and create white noise that must be filtered electronically.

Think of it as turning on your bright headlights in a heavy fog at night. All that powerful light is diffused and causes a complete white out – you can’t see anything three-feet past the hood of your car! However when you turn on your yellow fog lights, you can see a little further – not as far as you could in clear daylight, but further. That is why all radio wave machines must be “ground balanced” or tuned, to maximize their depth potential, and why BBS filters and multi-frequencies are so effective – yet still limited.

Unlike BBS and VLF metal detectors which constantly send and receive thousands of low frequency radio waves per second, a Pulse Induction (PI) metal detector fires high-voltage pulses into the sand several hundred times per second. If no metal is present the electric pulse decays at a uniform rate with no anomalies. When metal is present a small “eddy” current flows through it causing the voltage decay time to increase, which creates a measurable anomaly. Unlike VLF radio waves, electronic pulses are impervious to the effects of conductivity and mineralization, and are unaffected by salt or black sands.

Using the same heavy fog at night metaphor that I referred to earlier, pulse induction is like headlights that cut completely through the fog as if it were not there at all. The trade-off for that added depth and clarity is the inability to discriminate, or block out iron targets that you generally don’t want to waste time and energy digging. While a pulse induction machine detects all metals without discrimination, the minute differences in the signal tone and quality can give a skilled and experienced operator a clue as to what the target may, or may not be.

I personally use a Tesoro Sand Shark (PI) in wet sand and ocean water, and a Tesoro Cibola (VLF) on the dry sand. Hope this helps you! |:cheering:

[Targetseeker]

Great info - thank you. It looks like I will need to check out these pulse machines since I am surrounded by salt water beaches. Thanks again!

[Terry Soloman]

Forgot to mention, GET your PERMIT! You'll need it for Jones, Robert Moses, yadda, yadda, yadda..

Long Island State Park Region Beaches - Permit Office PO Box 247, West Babylon, NY 11702 $40.00 -- 631-669-1000

[aloldstuff]

Glad you are taking the plunge (finally). Looking forward to your future finds.

[Targetseeker]

Gotta hand it to NY, any way to get a fee, for walking the beaches.... Thanks, I didn't think that a permit was required. Is an annual permit or are there limitations?

[Terry Soloman]

Yep, it's Annual, and if you buy it tomorrow, it expires Dec. 31st!!!!!! Then you pay ANOTHER $40 for Jan 1 - Dec 31. :thumbsdown:

[del]

hello Targetseeker and welcome to the forum , Terry gave you some great info and if you are exclusively doing salt water beaches i would agree and get a pulse induction machine . some do have better discriminating features than others so do your homework on the features you like and that would be most benificial to your type of beaches or style of detecting. all the big makers have very good detectors to choose from and if your not sure about something this is the place to bring it up to ask.

Dan

[Targetseeker]

I appreciate all the replies, and I am sure I will have many questions. ::usaflag::

[Celluforce]

Welcome Target seeker ! Hope you'll enjoy MDing as much as I do! :yes:


...And thank you very much Terry Soloman for the crash course on different metal detector! I really appreciate, because I want another machine... A waterproof one... Am I right to think that Minelab's BBS technology is the best of the both worlds?

Regards,

Daniel

[Epi-hunter]

Welcome to the forum! Looks like you got some great advice :clapping:

[jkress]

Welcome from Iowa Targetseeker. :clapping:
As you can see... there's lots of great people here. :)

[Terry Soloman]

...And thank you very much Terry Soloman for the crash course on different metal detector! I really appreciate, because I want another machine... A waterproof one... Am I right to think that Minelab's BBS technology is the best of the both worlds?

Regards,

Daniel


If you can afford BBS technology, and you don't mind maxing out at 15 in depth, yes it is the bomb. I use two detectors, VLF on the dry, PI in the wet - just my preference..

[tanacat]

Welcome from Kentucky :groovy: I am a long way from the ocean... crying01 So I'll just live through you and your posts! lol

Hope to see pics and hear some stories of your adventures! Obviously this is a great place for tips- Terry sure gave some good advice.

[Relic Whisperer]

Welcome from the sunny beaches of Florida. Always good to have another beach hunter on board. Looking forward to your posts. Happy Hunting!

[Fire Fighter 43]

Welcome to the forum and the hobby. The AT Pro would be a god machine for what you need it can handle the water and the sand. Good Luck

[Targetseeker]

Thank you - the AT PRO is on my short list! ::usaflag::

[CODY]

Welcome from Mississippi. Welcome to the forum. Looking forward to some great beach finds.

[Celluforce]

If you can afford BBS technology, and you don't mind maxing out at 15 in depth, yes it is the bomb. I use two detectors, VLF on the dry, PI in the wet - just my preference..



Thank you!

I may go a step under BBS... :thinkingabout: May be I'll try something like an AT Pro before getting an Excalibur...?


Daniel

[Terry Soloman]

Thank you!

I may go a step under BBS... :thinkingabout: May be I'll try something like an AT Pro before getting an Excalibur...?


Daniel


Not in SALTWATER. The AT Pro is a single frequency vlf machine, so great for freshwater, saltwater not so much. Maybe a used Minelab Sovereign - not waterproof, but true multi-frequency.

[OxShoeDrew]

Welcome, what did you decide on? :->

[Mudder]

Welcome Targetseeker, I will not try to influence your decision, but I recently purchased the AT Pro, and its a great detector considering the low price tag. I'm still learning, but I do know that i'm hitting targets at 8+ inches in areas that I have gone over several times with a 350. Good Luck.