Best Single Freq VLF Machine For Wet Beaches??

[JAMES MC LERNON]

Hello all

OK. firstly not talking about dedicated beach machines like EXCAL II, CZ21, AND THE TIGER SHARK.

What would be the best top 3 (decending order ) normal, single freq, prospecting, vlf machines that would be good on wet salt water beaches. I know they wont be as good or as ideal as a dedicated beach machine, but having this capability on a general purpose or prospecting machine would be nice. I'm assuming 14-15 kHz maximum freq, ruling out the AT GOLD, FORS RELIC & GOLD+.?

I'm thinking:-

MAKRO RACER 2, WHITES MXT & MX SPORT, GARRETT AT PRO, FISHER GOLD BUG/F19/T2, etc,etc. How much are they giving away to the EXCAL II or the CZ21? 20-30% in depth?

Looking ahead, is this where the new multi frequency NOKTA IMPACT & FISHER CZX/MOSCA machines might be even better all rounders?

thanks

jim

[Steve Herschbach]

You have two issues on most beaches. A detector can see salt as a conductive signal, exactly the same signal as small gold or large but very deep gold. A detector also sees the ground which with most beaches means magnetite.

A single frequency detector can ground balance to a single point, either the salt signal or the magnetite signal, but not both at once. Some single frequency detectors can't actually ground balance to the salt range at all so having an expanded ground balance range is one way to deal with the issue. On low mineral beaches this works ok but with more mineralized beaches you have a problem as you can ground balance to salt or magnetite but not both at once.

To get around this many single frequency machines have a "salt" mode that allows the salt range to be eliminated by simply discriminating it out while the unit is ground balanced to the magnetite content.

Multi frequency machines can ground balance two channels, one salt, one magnetite. Better for most situations.

In either case you eliminate the salt signal, and any gold that reads in the salt range, like most micro jewelry (thin chains, ear rings, etc) or weak signals from items at borderline depths. PI detectors do the same automatically by the nature of the way they work. This problem is essentially unsolvable using metal detectors based on electromagnetics.

The simple answer therefore is any mid frequency machine with a "salt" or "beach" mode will do the job, as will some machines that have an expanded ground balance range. They generally work very well on drier sand and get more problematic in the water. Salt content actually varies widely at different beach locations and so what works well for one person in one location may not work well in another, especially as magnetite gets tossed into the equation.

A properly designed single frequency machine on a clean white non-magnetic beach can do just as well if not better than a multi frequency machine for depth. But as you add magnetite to the beach the inability to deal with two issues at once gives the multi frequency machines the edge.

Personally I would never use a single frequency detector actually in salt water so can't help you there. Conversely, I would be happy to use most any of them out of water on the beach itself. It would just depend on what I owned at the time. For me a list boils down to:

1. A pulse induction machine (dig everything)

2. A multi frequency machine (where there is too much junk for PI)

3. A single frequency machine (on beach out of water)

In my case personally based on current collection:

1. Garrett ATX

2. Minelab CTX 3030

3. Makro Racer 2

Those are just my detectors. Others could substitute and do as well. I don't wait for machines that don't exist yet. Pulse Devil fans have been waiting ten years. What will not change is if you tune out the salt signal, certain gold and other jewelry signals will be lost also.

[RickUK]

Why restrict yourself to just one freq,you may get one to work by reducing the sensitivity right down so that it would run of a fashion,but as Steve has mentioned they are not the best machines for the job,if you have a single freq machine that you use mainly for land use and just want to take away with you on the odd vacation few days on the beach then a single freq could be made to struggle to be used.Not the beast option for sure,although most will work on the dry sand.

But if you do beach detecting alot or most of the time then a multi freq machine or Pulse is the best way forward,why struggle with a single freq machine which is not designed for wet beach work,false economy if you ask me.

You can pick up one of the all time classic VLF machines like the Sovereign range pretty reasonable these days,a poos mans Excal if you like but still one of the best machine for beaches and also can be used inland as well,heavy but can be hip mounted to save weight.

[Roughwater]

1 hour ago, JAMES MC LERNON said:

OK. firstly not talking about dedicated beach machines like EXCAL II, CZ21, AND THE TIGER SHARK.

I'm in the same boat as you in that I'm looking or a beach detector.  Only thing I can advise is that if your beach is as trashy as our NC beaches I would not go with a ATX or any PI detector.  I have used them there a few times and it's futile as the amount of trash in the sand is enormous there.  Bobby pins, screw caps, crushed cans, pull tabs and lots of iron at depth.  So get a good discriminating VLF machine.  However if your beaches are not trashy the ATX would be the ticket!   

[fredmason]

The iron in San diego beaches is fierce...and of course there is salt in the ocean...my xterra-70 and dd coil worked pretty well in the wet sand and surf line; I found bits of gold chain with it-the 705 should be even better...they can be bought used for a decent price.

 

fred

[Roughwater]

The Fors Core Relic has a beach mode but is 19Khz I believe so may not punch quite as deep as a 15 Khz machine but would be interesting to try at the beach so see if it might be more sensitive to the smaller gold Jewry items.  

[Steve Herschbach]

Well, to get more focused, if you must be talking single frequency, and you are in or near the water, waterproof would be good. Wave splash, trip and drop - waterproof can save the day.

Some options would be Garrett AT Pro, Tesoro Tiger Shark, and White's MX Sport.

[1515Art]

since i just got one I've been researching and although i am not advocating it for the beach as i have no idea of its abilities in that area yet, i did see a video on some precautions using the deus at the salt water. apparently the gold plating on the charging posts will corrode over time if subjected to salt exposure preventing the ability to charge the coil.

one fix and i may be the only clueless one in the crowd about this so my apologies if this information is old news... placing a strip of electric tape over the terminals before going to the beach and removing the tape during clean-up will prevent the corrosion from starting.

[Roughwater]

I would not include the Sport just yet as its pretty new and not all who have one are singing it's praises, though some may be playing a tune with them.  But if you are into playing tunes with your detector it would be my first choice.