Hello Everybody-
If I want to hunt beaches, including the wet sand and water, parks and old towns, is it adviseable to have more than one detector or will a detector like the White's DFX work in all those places? I know I can put different coils on the unit, but how does a multi-purpose unit compare to a mostly single purpose unit? Thanks in advance for all advice given.
unearth

Oh boy! This isn't an easy topic. If there was an all in one machine you bet we would all have it.

The more time spent in this hobby you will find that you need different tools (machines) to do all the the jobs.

You didn't say what area your located. You will find that here in Ca that the ground is very mineralized especially in SF. There are areas where there is high tension interference and underground water/electrical interference (like the Fulton side of GGP)

You need to figure out how much beach hunting your going to do. Do you plan on going out when it's raining? Or are you a fair weather hunter? The are underwater detectors that can get wet incase you dunk it into the ocean unexpectedly or in case Mother Nature decides to pee on you.

How much turf hunting are you going to do? You wanna get something where there is a section of loops avail. Small ones work great in thru trashy areas. Big ones work when your trying to cover more ground. Bigger doesn't always mean better.

You have to start somewhere. You can always add to the arsenal of tools as you go. Get one machine at let it pay for itself and then on to the next one.

Clear plastic bags work purdy darn well in this wet stuff.

Good Luck!

Blue

Hello Blue-
Thanks for the info. I live in the San Fernando Valley of So. Calif. I plan to hunt at all times. I doubt that I'll hunt while it's raining or very cold. I want to hunt at the beach, on the dry sand, in the wet sand, in the water. I want to hunt parks, old buildings, tot lots, and old towns.
I don't know if this extra info helps, but there it is.
unearth

Hello unearth,

Blue gave some great advice, She's one of the best we have here in Ca.

I'll go ahead and post a detector that has done well in all the areas you mentioned, Great for wet and dry sand, Very good for inland hunting and you can switch coil sizes to fit certain hunting conditions.

I know several here on the forum will agree the Sovereign will fit most of your needs if not all, They retail about $300.00 for a good used detector and sometimes you can get find one with the modified 180 Minelab meter which will give you an ID on targets.

It's not uncommon to dig 11" to 12" inch coins or gold rings in the wet sand using the stock 10" coil, The ocean wet sand doesn't affect the Sovereign which allows you to run full sensitivity in the all metal mode gaining an extra inch on depth over the discrimination mode.....Most don't use the all-metal mode but those that do get excellent depth hunting the wet sand.

Good luck and please let use know which detector you select :)

HH, Paul

IMHO the DFX works pretty darn good in all of the above mentioned situations also! B) Altho it does cost a bit more than the sovereign.

doubt tho Goldhart if ya would take the DFX in the water, thats where the Sov has the edge.
I've heard its a great machine..the DFX...but the Sov is a bit more beach friendly in my opinion

Big I

IMHO, there isn't a better VLF discriminator than the Sovereign for all around beach hunting. That said, the DFX is extremely hot on small gold, hotter than the Sov. The DFX also allows more geek-out factor in terms of electronic configuration options, but that's a 2-edged sword. Configuring it beyond presets can of course make it hotter if you do it properly, but it can also make it a dog if you don't do it properly.

So I would say weigh how often you think you'll be hunting the beach, as opposed to other types of hunting (turf, demos, etc.) and decide from there.

I think the Explorer is the undisputed turf-king for deep silver, but the MXT, DFX, and others are great turn-on-n-go machines that will work fine for 95% of the hunting you wish to do.

Just depends on what type of hunting you're going to do most of the time, and how much you wanna geek out on it :)

Big I, you say the sov is more beach friendly. Is that in or out of the water, or both? I think I can now see why some detectorists have more than one machine! I'm really going to have to think about the detecting I expect/want to do. How much beach, turf or other. It's all good I'm sure.
For the San Fernando Valley, So. Ca. people, is there a business that will let you rent different machines to try out so you may be better able to decide which one is right for you?
I want to give all a big THANKS for your time and perspectives to my questions now, and when I have others later.
unearth

Unearth, read your post and I was in the same situation as you 2 months ago. Toxic Waste and I live in the central sierra, go to the coast several times a year.

Well we got a Soveriegn Elite, it has worked very well for us in the high country, around all sorts of rocks, lakes and streams. We made one trip to the coast near Monterey and had a very good hunt, found coins, a ring and lead weights and some trash. There are two concerns with the Soveriegn: Don't drop the control box in the water (not waterproof) and it is a little heavy for my wife.

We got a used Surfmaster PI on ebay, good unit also, lighter and total waterproof. Only problem with it is it lacks the descrimination that the Soveriegn has. You will dig more iron and trash with it. (the man we bought it from told us about this forum, what a good deal that was). Learned tons of good tips from this forum, made learning the detectors much easier.

good hunting

- timberline -

Altho I never went more than about knee deep in the water I used the DFX for many many years on the Santa Cruz beaches in and out of the water. Just covered the controls with heavy duty plastic and taped the heck out of it. With the hot shot coil on it I found a lot more than my share of the goodies. B)

Here's a few of the gold and silver beach finds:

Wow! Dan, Both you and Terry Crenshaw should start your own on-line jewelry store with the finds you two make on a continuous basics.

Thanks for sharing your finds with the DFX, Goes to show it does work in the wet sand. In fact! Very well with those finds under a skilled user ;)

You finding any arrowheads or Indian artifacts up in your area?

P.S. unearth, I used to live in the San Fernando Valley, Oct 29th of this year was my 20th anniversary of almost meeting my maker at Holly Cross hospital. After then, came back to the valley and never intend to move back, just visit my sister and brother who still live there.

HH, Paul

well I guess it does work well in the water, I stand corrected about that, but I still love
my Minelabs. ask Plugger about the Sov. too.

Big I

I have a number of friends who use minelabs and we take turns kicking each others butts! :D

The brand of the detector is not as important as attitude, experience and just getting your loop over something good. :)

Goldhart,

Good point, I agree with your words of wisdom.

Good hunting,

- timberline -

Good candidates for those types of hunts would be: Whites DFX. Minelab Explorer II (my choice, I bought one a few months ago and I couldn't be happier); Minelab Sovereign (Great on the beach); Minelab Quattro; Troy X-5 or X-3, etc. Those are your best choices I believe, it's up to you.

Unearth, I thought I would reply since I found myself in exactly this situation some time back. I started with an MXT, which has been great for land detecting and is also super in dry sand at the beach. Unfortunately, I was getting frustrated when I tried to use it in the wet sand, and I also wanted something that I could hunt in the surf with. I finally decided to add to my arsenal of detectors and bought a Headhunter Wader. Let me tell you, the Wader is a killer beach machine. So stable, it's actually kind of scary. It has discrimination, too, and is very sensitive. Completely waterproof and very light, so you can swing away for a long time without getting tired. It's definitely worth taking a look at. In fact, I ended up getting my son, Tristan, one, too, since every time we went to the beach, he'd want to be using mine.

HH,

Dan

On the east coast saltwater beaches the Sovereign and Excalibur have one advantage over the Explorer, they are a lot more stable in salt water and on the wet sand than the Explorer and that comes into play big when you want to use a large coil.

The Explorer is still my first choice for most beach outings because of its superior tone ID and depth but it can be annoyingly unstable in the waves, over seaweed and beach grass roots after the beach erodes. The other issue is that the Explorer's waterproof coil isn't. Many beach hunters out here have gone through several coils as there is no o-ring under the cable flex fitting and the coils leak. The salt water corrodes the drain wire and thats that.

This summer a couple guys started building their own large Sovereign coils for beach hunting. That's the advantage of having a really stable machine in the salt water and wet sand. I have built the same sized coils for the Explorer and while they worked good on land they were too hot e.g. unstable on the wet sand.

I hear the 11x14 Sovereign elipitcals coils they build got excellent depth on gold and they were able to reduce the weight down to less than the stock Explorer 10.5 coil. Its doable, my 14 inch DD coil for my Explorer weighs less than the stock coil. Its just too hot on the wet sand GRRRR.

So I purchased an Excalibur new and a used Sovereign, I'm going to join this big Sovereign coil building party and see what I can come up with.

Charles