Beach detector on £500 budget

[TinTin]

Hi chaps,
Could i have a bit of advise please. My sister has now decided to buy her other half a metal detector as they love looking at the stuff i have found.
They live near Brighton and want to search the beaches 90% to the time, they have asked my advice on what would be a good beach detector for a total novice with a budget of about £500 max.
The like the look of the Minelab 505 and 705 at the moment but i know nothing at all about beach detecting or the best machines to use on the beach.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

TinTin

[Tomo]

Second hand sov gt, explorer etc

[John and Dawn]

Sovereign or explorer both great machines.

[oliver]

Sov GT if you can get hold of one best for the beach.

[TinTin]

Ah sorry to mention, they want to buy new so the GT will be out of the price bracket i'm afraid.

TinTin

[John and Dawn]

Becomes more difficult then.
Most work well on the dry stuff but the wet areas are a different ball game.

[SheffieldSparky]

Hi. tin tin, Looks like a PI m/c and just hope they like digging

[Boandtia]

Hi chaps,
Could i have a bit of advise please. My sister has now decided to buy her other half a metal detector as they love looking at the stuff i have found.
They live near Brighton and want to search the beaches 90% to the time, they have asked my advice on what would be a good beach detector for a total novice with a budget of about £500 max.
The like the look of the Minelab 505 and 705 at the moment but i know nothing at all about beach detecting or the best machines to use on the beach.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

TinTin

Garrett AT Pro International will do everything they want on the beach, waterproof also to 10 feet.

[thirddegreewitch]

Secondhand Minelab explorer..perfect for the job, i personally wouldn't consider anything else . Purely my opinion.

[Addicted to bleeps]

CS4PI.

She won't miss a thing. Some people see that as a problem, as you'll be digging everything. But you won't...miss a thing.

When I go out with the bigger boys (Minelabs etc) the 4PI always does as well or better.

Wet sand or dry. Doesn't matter. Couldn't be more simple. Switch on, put dials to the green bits, and gooooooooooo!

[lord lovell]

id go for a decent pi

[I-Found-Nothing]

I sold my CS4PI. My beaches are riddled with iron and junk. I found so much crap and nothing of value. I'd sooner dig a bit shallower than dig every signal again. Explorer would be my vote too. The Sovereign also works well.

[ROCK HOPPER]

I would also go for the AT Pro.
I have an explorer but because it is not waterproof I have had problems with water getting into the battery compartment twice shorting out the battery even though the seal was down correctly.
So I now don't use it near a beach.
On beaches I use both the 8in and 10in Detector pro Wader water proof down to 6ft, the coils on both are very robust and will take a hammering that any other coil would break, after 5 years of very hard battering still no problems and as all the electronics are in the head phones you can swing it for hours with no problems. I also use the Vibra Probe 580 as it is water proof down to 100ft, I find the Garrett probe will not work on wet sand.You may have to get a friend that is going to the US to bring one back for you.

[TinTin]

Thanks for the help everyone, i have recommended the AT Pro to her.
I found it at a tad under £500 at http://www.themuseum.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and have told her to phone some of the big companies to see if they will price match.

TinTin