Metal detectors

[diverrick]

Does anyone have any ideas how I could use my above water Metal detector, underwater? it's coil is supposed to work in shallow water, but I don't think it's water tight anymore. I was kinda thinking about a large sealed bag, or plastic box for the main elertical unit, and dipping the coil in that plastic dipping material. Leaving the pole exposed.

 

[pipedope]

Is your machine?

If you want to use a detector underwater then you really need to get a machine made for underwater use.

If you are only going to submerge the coil then many land detectors are fine depending on what you are looking for and where.

Example, my Garrett GTA-1000 is great on land and in fresh water to about 2 feet deep. The controll head and headphones cannot be made water tight and it won't pinpoint in salt water.

My Whites PI3000 pulse induction, under water machine is good under water and in salt water but is not nearly as easy to use on land as the Garrett.

Horses for courses.

 

[Gary D.]

It will be more trouble than it's worth. Not only are the cases different but there are some changes in the working componits as well.

I've got a White's and love it.

Gary D.

 

[Don Burke]

While we've got a couple of underwater metal detector users on the line, I have a question.

What detector would you get if you had it to do over?

The Minelab units look spiffy, but both of you are using White's.

 

[outlaws]

I bought a White's Beach Hunter ID before I started diving and it's only rated to 25'. If I had a choice now I would look at the Minelab or Garrett's new one or the Fisher. Most of these are rated at 200'. Garrett's is supposed to be a good land machine also. The Minelab Excalibur is supposed to be the top dog from what I've read for salt water hunting. Fisher has been around forever.
Just my .02

Butch

 

[diverrick]

I have this model. I picked it up used from another employee at work. When I went to use it in water it went crazy and wouldn't work correctly the rest of the week. It was supposed to be usable in water. Coil only.
I found the coil cracked around the outer radius. Now I will either sell it off, or get another coil for it. I was just thinking i might be able to use it for more water work deeper then a couple of feet. Thanks for all the info.
Any one got an extra coil?

 

[pipedope]

Is the first question when asking what new machine to get.
If I had the money I would probably buy Minelab.
I also like the Garrett 2500.

As for the coil that stopped working after being in water, you can fix it, ... maybe. Place the coil in a warm dry place and let it dry out *completely*. Once the coil is DRY it should work again. Then seal the crack, many of the coils have covers of PVC and you can use PVC cement from the hardware store.

ALWAYS use coil covers!
A $10 coil cover is much easier to replace than a $100+ (or +++) coil.

 

[pipedope]

A good dealer for mailorder (or OTC if local) is KellyCo.
http://www.kellycodetectors.com/indexmain.htm

 

[Don Burke]

Is the first question when asking what new machine to get.
If I had the money I would probably buy Minelab.
I also like the Garrett 2500.

I'll just save up my pennies for the MineLab. I've found buying cheap stuff is one of the most expensive things I do.
:thinkingo

 

[pipedope]

And where you are looking there are advantages to different machines.

Once you get into the upper level machines the differences become very small.

The MOST important factor to metal detecting success is to detect in the right place. This calls for research to discover where the things you want to find were likely lost.

The NEXT most important thing is operator skill and determination. You must understand what your machine is telling you and you must use a good search technique along with good recovery technique.

The machine you use is important mostly as it should be designed for the hunting you are doing. A coin hunting machine is not the same as a gold hunter. One will work for the other but with reduced efficiency.
The newer machines get better all the time but in small increments and mostly in things that make life easier.
Example, my Garrett GTA-1000 is a great coin hunting machine and it has a feature to tell me how deep a find is. It assumes the target is a coin and calculates a depth. For targets larger than a coin (or smaller) the depth will be wrong. The Garrett 2500 can detect the size of the object and the depth so it gives you more information that can save you time when hunting.

Is this important?
Sometimes.
In some areas I am looking for coins that are generally less than 8" deep. An Al can at 12" can sound exactly like a quarter at 5". If I know that it is a can I probably won't dig it up.
In other areas, especially when looking for very old items I will dig EVERY target detected. I want to remove everything that is either valuable or might be hiding something that is valuable.

The more you are willing to dig up trash, the more treasure you will dig up.

Remember that operator skill is both general and specific to the machine in use. When you get a new machine you need LOTS of hours of use to learn the machine. You will probably need 100 hours to get good on a machine. Don't think you won't find anything in the early hours, you will. Now after you have more time on the machine, go back to the places you searched first and search them again. You might be suprised at what you find.

I would not wait to get a $3000 machine to start detecting.
I would buy a $400-600 machine and get started and buy the better machine later. Any metal detector at RS, WallMart or other such stores are probably not worth buying. There are exceptions but the people who know the exceptions already have better machines.

Truely usefull metal detectors start at about $200 retail.