Metal Detecting

Hi all

I was wondering what detectors the beach detectorists are using. I bought a Garrett Ace 250 about 3 weeks ago, its great and i have been out most days, (and bumped into lots of Ace 250 users on dry sand) my husband is now hooked and we want to take it to the next level and upgrade or buy a better machine. We will mostly be on beaches Dry/Wet but will hopefully also go on land too. When we go to the beach we want to be able to get to the 'possible' gold rings etc in the wet sand but with the Ace 250 after turning down the sens we have little to no chance of even hearing them. We have thought about upgrading to the AT pro but i have read some stories that this can also struggle on wet sand, then i have looked at the CScope detectors but some say these are only for wet sand and not for dry! So i thought i would put it out there to see what the beach goers are using, do you have 2 detectors? or is there one that would do both. If i upgrage i dont want to spend more than £400 if i buy a second detector i dont want to spend more than £260. The AT Pro is on an online auction site for just under £400 inc postage. Any advice would be much appreciated!

The Ferret wrote:The AT-Pro works a lot better than the Ace 250 on the beach I used the Euroace on our beach and had to knock sensitivity down 3 bars to stop the falsing,I still managed to make some nice finds with the Euro. Now I have the AT-Pro, I only need to knock the sensitivity down by 1 bar. It also has Ground balance and this helps stabilise the machine in wet sand.

Hope this helps
TF

Thanks for your comment, have you found some nice stuff with the AT Pro in the Wet, im hoping this machine will do it, i like the specs and the look of it!

Oh is yours the Pro or International, im looking at getting the Pro its so much cheaper than the International model.

Get a Minelab sovereign elite second hand for around 350 quid, fantastic all round beach detector, and great inland machine also. Can be hip mounted to make it lighter. Will blow the garrett away in the wet stuff.

I would have to agree with ferret on this one, I use my AT Pro on the dry and wet sand no prob's where I go, if you want to check out what I found with my AT last year, over 12 days around 2 hours a day then go to. " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. its very slow to start with because someone asked me to slow it right down to show how I do it. I use it on farm land pasture, wood land
I seem to find some nice stuff week in week out. A friend of mine uses his also on beach and farm land and his find rate is really improving. All the best Rob

I think a serious beach detectorist would be using a eric foster machine beachscan deepstar or goldscan you cant beat a foster machine never will

botto wrote:Get a Minelab sovereign elite second hand for around 350 quid, fantastic all round beach detector, and great inland machine also. Can be hip mounted to make it lighter. Will blow the garrett away in the wet stuff.

totally agree,depth and stability is so much better than the garrets,also good for inland,check utube,and I think you will agree,i have only been detecting for about six months,went over to the elite from the garrett about 3 months ago and haven't looked back its great ive got the ctx now but I wont be getting rid of my elite that's for sure.

lord lovell wrote:I think a serious beach detectorist would be using a eric foster machine beachscan deepstar or goldscan you cant beat a foster machine never will

What LL is suggesting is a Pulse Induction machine and is the type I swear by on the wet sand, which is mainly what I do. These machines are not good for use on the land though and I seldom take mine onto the dry sand area because of all the junk.

To be honest I think for an all round machine you can not beat the Minelab Sovereign range, it does not matter which one or how old it is, if you are on a budget, as long as it has Minelab Sovereign in the name.

Ray

If your thinking about doing a lot of beach detecting, why not invest in a machine specially designed for the beach and thrives in the wet sand, as been said above, a PI (Pulse Induction) machine.
I just been saying on another thread that's what I'm going for and you can get a brand new C-Scope cs4pi for around £280.
Good luck on whatever you get .

i agree with ray on that can use on dry if you like digging and digging you will with a pulse the soverign is a very good shout i found the fisher 1236x2 good on beach very good on dry soverign or explorer would be idea on both

i do 99% of my detecting on the beach VLF (like At Pro, Deus etc ) work fine on dry sand and will give some joy on wet sand, but if your spending that much i would go for a Minelab Sovereign/ elite because you can discrim some rubbish out with them and they work brilliant on the wet/dry sand and inland, the pulse induction detectors work best on wet BUT you dig everything with them and it is hard work, good luck on your choice

im not sure about this scope as i have seen loads secondhand on ebay so maybe not that good i think it has a watered down eric foster circuit but buy a pi if you are serious and like digging lots of very deep hole 17inches plus easy

lord lovell wrote:im not sure about this scope as i have seen loads secondhand on ebay so maybe not that good i think it has a watered down eric foster circuit but buy a pi if you are serious and like digging lots of very deep hole 17inches plus easy

Those CS4pi machines are good value for the money LL, not had one myself but have detected beaches along with people who use them and I was impressed by them. The reason they come up for sale on ebay so often is that they are a cheap entry level machine to PI detecting and many do not get on with digging junk so sell them on and buy a discriminating machine.

Ray

yes i agree with a Pi you have to dig almost everything because of no discrimination, but look at the depth one gets with a PI. It shoots it signal straight down into the sand and can't be reflected by wet sand mineralization, it just punches straight through it. Those finds can be deep into the sand down on the waters edge and i would think depth would be important.

maybe there lots for sale because of that, some people don't like digging too deep and want an inland detector.
Me, I'd love to dig 15 plus inches down into the sand as every signal could be a nice find, would make me feel confident of finding something nice for a change.

lol i never knew there were so many nails on the beaches untill i used a pi its finds the smallest of objects at over 10inches easy ive had pin at that depth can be hard work but theres no sure thing as a quite beach with a pi watch the chaps with a normal machine walk round for hours with out asignal and your digging every step nearly

lord lovell wrote:..................watch the chaps with a normal machine walk round for hours with out asignal and your digging every step nearly