Need Some Help/Info ~ Beach 2 for Dry Sand??

[unearth]

I have a question concerning an experience I had today at the beach. I was detecting when I came upon a friend of mine who was trying to help a woman find a pendant she had just dropped into the sand. I went over to see if I could help because my friend couldn't find the item. The pendant is very small. Think of a battery for a hearing aid only thinner. My friend Richard finally gave up so I decided to give it a try. Before I got there I was hunting in beach 1 with GB 0, RS 5, IB 3, five tones and nothing rejected. I switched over to beach 2 with all attributes the same and started hunting for the errant pendant but couldn't find it. The area was very small, about five feet by three feet. The woman was absolutely positive she had just dropped the pendant at that spot. Richard and I covered that small area very well. Finally, when I couldn't find the pendant, the woman said thank you for looking and started to walk away. Me, thinking she probably dropped it somewhere else, reset my Nox to the previous beach 1 set up. I put the coil to the sand, made one sweep and got at 2-3 hit. I turned 90 and it remained. I got my pin pointer out, pushed it into the sand maybe two inches, got a hit, reached into the sand and pulled out the pendant! The woman was about 30 yards away by this time so I had to holler to get her attention. She was very happy to get her pendant back.
So, after that long story, here's my question. I'm a bit confused about beach 1 and beach 2 and when is it best to use one over the other? I switched to beach 2, from beach 1, because I've read it hits harder on small gold than beach 1. Is this true or have I mis-construed what beach 1 and beach 2 do? Is beach 2 only for in the water?

 

[WaterWalker]

Yes, Beach 1 for dry/wet sand with no salt water over the coil.
Beach 2 for use when the coil is immersed in the salt water.
Keeping it simple: A different environment, a different program.

 

[Mr. Carolina]

You did not say what machine you had. If a 800, I think the higher single frequencies would have been the way to go for a small pendant.. If the 600 beach1 deffinately. Water walker is correct in his assessment.

 

[dewcon4414]

Dry sand....... i might have used field 2, it is pretty darn good and deeper than the beach modes and doesnt have a salt setting which allows you to hunt in single freq. Beach 1 is HOTTER in the wet/dry sand than beach 2. If you check it you will find it has a different GB and is at least a couple of sensitivity digits lower than beach 1 to compensate for the salt in the water so it can run smoothly.

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

Beach 2 also transmits at reduced power, it should only be used over Beach 1 as a last resort.

 

[bklein]

Something I was playing with was Prospect modes in dry sand with the 800. It would find the target most distinctly and I’d go back to Beach 1 or 2 to verify/ID it. I didn’t spend a lot of time at it as I was done because of the heat and the couple miles I just hunted - but it might be worth trying when you know there should be a target there.

 

[unearth]

Thanks all for your input, it was very helpful.

 

[BootyHunter]

Any mode in dry sand. Park 2 more likely to get you some small gold than the beach mode.

 

[dewcon4414]

The problem with say park or field modes that ive ran into is dry sand isnt always dry so those modes can chatter....... what do we do then? Turn down the sensitivity..... by time we do that you will notice beach 1 is a better choice.

Charles .... so you determined that beach 2 does run at a reduced power? I can say if you manually GB it ...... there will be a difference between beach 1 and 2. I can also say the sensitivity digits arent the same in the water. Beach 2 seems to be able to run about 2 or 3 digits higher to reach the same chatter level as beach 1. Ie.... beach 1 running at 18..... sounds about the same if you run beach 2 at 20 or 21. Is this just the algorithms combined with the weighted freqs or as you say reduced power? I guess id have to ask....... whats the advantage of running different power...... especially if its reduced?

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

Charles .... so you determined that beach 2 does run at a reduced power? I can say if you manually GB it ...... there will be a difference between beach 1 and 2. I can also say the sensitivity digits arent the same in the water. Beach 2 seems to be able to run about 2 or 3 digits higher to reach the same chatter level as beach 1. Ie.... beach 1 running at 18..... sounds about the same if you run beach 2 at 20 or 21. Is this just the algorithms combined with the weighted freqs or as you say reduced power? I guess id have to ask....... whats the advantage of running different power...... especially if its reduced?

Yes it says so right in the manual, lower transmit power resulting in lower noise. Here it is from the manual, Beach 2 gives the best results when either wading or shallow diving, with the coil and/or detector fully submerged. In these instances, there is a very strong salt signal present, so [size=large]Beach 2 has a lower transmit power[/size], which results in much less noise

So what does "reduced power" really mean? Hard to say but bank on a negative consequence, reduced depth, reduced sensitivity to small targets, or both. There must be a negative consequence otherwise there would be no reason to have a Beach 1 mode. The weighting of Beach 2 is also even more towards lower frequencies and that will reduce sensitivity to small targets. So a double whammy of reduced power and that.

Here's the good news, there's a Beach 1 mode for wet sand. If there was only 1 beach mode, a one size fits all mode then they would have to detune the machine to work in the worse case wading/diving under water. That would still work on wet sand but needlessly give up the improved performance Beach 1 provides.

DRY SAND - I'm already ignoring the manual for dry sand. When I say dry sand I mean dry sand above the high tide line, its still dry 2 foot down so salt really doesn't come into play. An Explorer that's cranked up and noisy on wet sand will be quiet as a mouse up in the dry on east coast beaches I have hunted and most of them have black sand. To me the Equinox should work well in other modes in the dry sand, field or park, maybe even gold modes and I have read some posts saying so. Ideally Minelab would have said Beach 1 for wet sand to damp sand, and better explained that in dry sand you could likely use the other modes.

 

[dewcon4414]

EXACTLY what ive been saying....... dont expect a lot of that small gold you saw in the videos...... like chains IN the water. Like you said Charles a double whammy. They apparently DUMBED down beach 2 so it would run smoothly out of the box for the average hunter. Do a manual GB Charles in the same area with beach 1 then try beach 2. You can boost beach 2 sensitivity by a few digits ..... 2 or 3 and obtain some of that back on most gold the Xcal and CTX will find. But basicly ..... ML didnt do much with multi freq in the salt water.

You appear to be correct about it being a reduced POWER...... because right under that they talk about the BEACH OVERLOAD INDICATOR. It to causes reduced power temporarily. So....... we now have a third reduction of power in some cases. Let me tell you what we also know.........if that indicator comes on it DONT GO OFF until you take your coil out of the water. Something you may never notice. Try it Charles ..... use a coke can to make it come on and see if it goes off for you. It will in beach 1 or out of the water. If it dont go off are we then hunting with more reduced power?

Dew

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

The beach overload mode which triggers on black sand, that's weird. I run my Se Pro cranked up and have no real issues with black sand on beaches I have hunted. I'll have to keep an eye on that overload indicator. Ha I should take the EQ over to a river beach I know, even the Explorer 8 inch coil squeals like a stuck pig now that's black sand.

In salt water, with an Se Pro there's a couple of things it doesn't like. If you are near the surf where the waves are breaking, even if its a small gentle break it doesn't like that disturbed water turning upside down with the sand and shells it will frequently false in that. Wade in deeper and its the volume of water changing above the coil it doesn't like. Say you are waist deep, a wave comes through and the water depth changes from 3 feet to 5 feet then back to 3 feet that causes a false. Someone once told me its the capacitance changing. Excal in the same situations not really much of an issue at all.

 

[Ron12]

I always run Beach one when possible
What works for me is having beach 2 in user profile so I can switch back and forth to each beach mode with one push
One thing I did see on a testers YouTube was that Beach one is more sensitive
But was saying it’s opposite in other modes like park 2 is hotter and field 2 is hotter than there 1 counterparts
I did test park mode and could not make it stable in damp sand but definitely much deeper than either Beach mode
So if usable in dry sand would be very deep
I just don’t generally Hunt dry sand so haven’t tried it

 

[dewcon4414]

Field 2 is the deepest usable mode for dry sand. Also, if you use park modes remember it disc out some lower positive digits. In those modes you also have the use of single freq you dont in beach modes. I had to reset my tones ect in those modes to make it more compatible to what i was used to in beach mode.