Find's Treasure Forums
Welcome to Find's Treasure Forums, Guests!
You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.
Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.
Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.
Click here to register!
Need Support Help?
Cannot log in?, click here to have new password emailed to you
Changed email? Forgot to update your account with new email address? Need assistance with something else?, click here to go to Find's Support Form and fill out the form.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Looking for new water detector.
- Thread starter Tony R
- Start date
Well you know if your going to be in Fresh water a lot you could get away with a Fisher 1280...which is a lot cheaper than the CZ21. The only hang up is the odd trips to the beach. In the salt the 1280 will freak out on you. If you can swing the extra money or find some good used options I really favor the Minelab Excalibur in either the 10 or 8" coils (10 is a good all rounder) or the Fisher CZ 20(used) or 21. The excal is a tad deeper( at least in my area) and is my go to unit but, I have used both and have found some big heavy gold with the CZ as well. You can't go wrong with either machine. If I were you and was just getting started, I would post a Wanted To Buy (or WTB) ad on the metal detector classifieds on this and other forums and you will get a bevy of responses for both private used and dealer sold new items at better than standard pricing. If you have any questions as you go through the process, I'd be happy to try and answer any questions you have or concerns you run into. Just email me!
Jerseymike
New member
Take a look at the Tesoro Tiger Shark. Arguably the best freshwater detector made, good in dirt and on dry sand ocean beaches. Adequate on wet salt beaches and in saltwater but can get a bit chatty. Waterproof to 200' deep. Tesoro has a lifetime warranty and IMO the best customer service.
grumpyolman
New member
If you are going to do both it'll have to be a PI the CZ-21 or the Excal. Read here for awhile and you'll see the Excal has a little steeper learning curve and it's durability and the company's customer service frustrates quite a few folks. I've had all four machines. Fisher 1280, CZ-21, Tigershark, and the Excal. Also have a Dual field on the rack as well. I am now down to just the CZ. My Excal was a PIA even though I had it serviced 2Xs. The Tigershark was a killer on small gold. It can be easily hip mounted, which you might want to do if you dive, and it did have the option of changing coils. There was some trouble with that for awhile and I don't know if they have gotten that fixed. A phone call to Tesoro's friendly customer service could get that answered.
Dig, whose a really experienced person, stated the CZ is almost as good a machine as the Excal in terms of identifying targets. Some others state they are equal. The CZ and it's durability plus excellent customer service prompted me to switch to it. If I only did fresh water it'd be the Tigershark. But like you I do some salt water also. The design of the CZ is the same as the 1280, a separate compartment for the batteries isolated from the electronics, and the 1280 has been out forever. I have flooded the battery compartment and it required just a little cleaning and drying out. If that much water had gotten into the Tigershark or the Excal, they probably would've been severely damaged. Even if $$ were an issue, I'd stretch and get the Excal or the CZ. You'll never need to 'move up' to a better machine. jim
Dig, whose a really experienced person, stated the CZ is almost as good a machine as the Excal in terms of identifying targets. Some others state they are equal. The CZ and it's durability plus excellent customer service prompted me to switch to it. If I only did fresh water it'd be the Tigershark. But like you I do some salt water also. The design of the CZ is the same as the 1280, a separate compartment for the batteries isolated from the electronics, and the 1280 has been out forever. I have flooded the battery compartment and it required just a little cleaning and drying out. If that much water had gotten into the Tigershark or the Excal, they probably would've been severely damaged. Even if $$ were an issue, I'd stretch and get the Excal or the CZ. You'll never need to 'move up' to a better machine. jim
NightStalker
New member
I just purchased a CZ21 last Thursday and played with it on a constantly hunted out beach in shallow water and wet sand. After an hour 2 rings, two pendants and 16 coins! easy to learn and the three different tones are quite accurate and compared to my 9 other machines....its sure goes down very deep in the salt infested wet beach sand that drove my other machines nuts.
The Tiffany & Co silver .925 ring weighed in at 13 grams, the sound was very sharp and clear and well over 30cm in deph! Basically I learned the basics in a very short time.
The 9ct thin gold wedding ring sounded like aluminium though, like a pull tab.
Friend of mine uses a Whites dual field and swears by it and has found countless of items with his, but its an all metal detector.
Hope this helps.
The Tiffany & Co silver .925 ring weighed in at 13 grams, the sound was very sharp and clear and well over 30cm in deph! Basically I learned the basics in a very short time.
The 9ct thin gold wedding ring sounded like aluminium though, like a pull tab.
Friend of mine uses a Whites dual field and swears by it and has found countless of items with his, but its an all metal detector.
Hope this helps.
Well don't stress too much. When I got started my thinking was simply this: I bought the best detector I could afford, that came the most highly recommended by people who were finding the goods, because, you will be full of doubts starting out anyway... "did I do this wrong, did I do that wrong, am I looking in the right areas," etc..., but, if you've given yourself the advantage of a quality machine to start with you'll know, if it's there, and can be found, you'll get it. Also, one more piece of advice, don't skimp on a scoop. It is hard to watch someone who will pay a thousand dollars or more for the machine to find deep gold but won't spend the money to give themselves an even chance to get it out of the ground. I speak from experience. When I first started I tried to use a regular lawn shovel! LOL regardless my friend, welcome to a great hobby full of great people! I look forward to your finds!
I have been hunting the dirt for several years, but am just venturing into water detecting. I really like scuba diving and thought I would combine my 2 favorite hobbies. I have never seen anyone here with a detector of any kind while I have been out. Thanks for all the great advice and support. When I get my machine I will be sure to learn it and will post some finds here.