First Detector

[YAKE]

I recently retired and would like to start metal detecting. I live in San Diego, CA and plan on doing beach up to knee deep water detecting in addition I RV quite a bit so will be detecting in other areas. I have done quite a bit of research and believe Minelab's Sovereign GT will meet my needs. Do you more experienced detectorist agree? If not what detector do you recommend?
Thank you in advance.
Jerry

 

[Eric from NC]

I think this will be a good one, however it is not a water detector. If you drop it or it gets hit by a wave it will go. The Minelab Excalibur will be better. You can use it on dry land, it is not strictly a water detector. I call it an all weather detector.
Good Luck.
Eric

 

[fieldboy]

n/t

 

[Martin(Qc)]

The sovereign has the same electronics as the excalibur (at least that was true for the sovereign X2a), so you'll have the same power for mhalf the price. But since it's not a water detector, you will need to protect it somewhat for the salt water (the control box). I used to put the control box wrapped thight in a good plastic bag and was carrying it on a small back-pack who had a small pocket on top. that way i kept it away from the water.
If you use it and find it productive and plan to do it on the long run, then i'd go for the excal and keep the sov as a back up!... just like i did

 

[bdahunter]

Eventually, you will either get knocked down by a wave in or you will want to know what is a little deeper. The Excal is an amazing water machine and i can't stress enough that you should have a water machine if you are going in the water. I will use my ACE 250 occassionally at the beach just for fun but when it's time for a surf hunt it's Excal, CZ-21 or Surf PI DF for this pirate.
By all accounts the Sov. is an excellent machine for the dry and wet sand but I don't think it's the machine you want to have when you are knee deep in the ocean. Va. Mike uses a Sov. in the wet but even a pro like Mike doesn't venture out deep with the Sov., you can correct me if I'm wrong Mike.

Cheers,

BDA

 

[sandman256]

While the Sov GT is an excellent beach detector you will at some point get it wet either from saltwater spray or a wave will knock you off balance. The Excal II is the detector of choice since it has good discrimination to stop you from doing any unnecessary digging and it is very deep. Many say the use of a Pulse Induction is the one for the saltwater beach because of it's deep depth, but it doesn't help if you are wasting time digging deep bobby pins that give a good signal.