PI detector for freshwater hunting

[rarysgaard]

Hi! I've been metal detecting on and off for about 13 years. I have owned XLT,Sovereign,Explorer, Excaliber and now an E-Trac. My question is, I've been reading a lot about pulse machines and bought Clive's book on Pulse power. I live in Minnesota and will primarily hunt in freshwater lakes. I plan to hunt some in the ocean from time to time, but primarily in Minnesota. The competetion in the water is fierce here! I don't know of anyone here who is using a pulse, so I thought that would give me an edge. Please experienced P.I. user's tell me if I am crazy for buying a pulse for freshwater. I understand there is a learning curve and I am prepared to dig a lot of junk. Thanks!

 

[goodmore]

Having a PI and understanding your PI are two different things. With my PI (the HH PI) I can tell some of the junk by the shape of the signal. Booby pins give a double tone. It is not a steep learning curve. But I only use my PI in Salt water. There is just less junk in the salt water to contend with. One of the plus things about a PI in salt is the ability to handle the minerals. I think you loose that plus in fresh water because other detectors can do it also. Do I think you will get deeper with a Pulse? Maybe a little bit. But then you are digging more junk which means you cover less area and not to mention fatigue that will keep you from hunting entirely. I think an Excalibur in fresh water is as good as it gets. The new AT Pro has the LCD to help you identify junk. If you can see it under water.People are going to chime in and say that they use a pulse machine in fresh water all the time. It is just my opinion that there are more negatives than positives. Also the amount of junk in your particular hunting area has a bunch to do with your decision. Run an Excal in all metal and dig it all. See if you like it.

 

[freshwater1]

I second what goodmore writes, you will get wore out digging junk ,it will beat you down with targets that sound good and still just be junk.

 

[rarysgaard]

I currently own a Minelab Excaliber and love that machine. It has been great for me finding gold. The trouble is everybody is getting one and cleaning up the water of gold and silver. I took mine out several times this year and only found 2 junk rings with it ,hardly any coins. After reading about how much deeper PI machines are, I thought I would buy one and get an edge as nobody here that I know of uses one. That means there should be a fair amount of deep jewelry which no VLf machine can reach. I haven't tried hunting with my Excaliber in all metal. I will have to try that.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Yep, the only reason PI's have an edge at the ocean is because they arent affected my the salts or mineralization. Freshwater, just use a VLF. Also, freshwater sites don't bury targets like ocean beaches.

 

[rehless]

I guess I'm sort of in the minority here, but I hunt only fresh water here in the Puget Sound area and I only use a pi machine.
I have been at it a long time and have a fair share of gold and silver. I do not wade, dive and/or snorkel.
There is not much learning curve, you will learn to disregard overly large signals, some times a double beep is a goodie on edge.
You will dig lots of junk iron and aluminum, you will get smarter and clean the trash out of an area ,and then go for the whispers.
Get a Sand Shark or a Whites Surf PI Pro and go for it. I use a Dual Field, a Surf Pi, a Sand Hark and also have a Tiger Shark
that I don't use. I don't recommend the Dual Field for a trashy area. Good luck.
Bill

 

[rehless]

Should have edited that report. I do not wade. I dive and/ or snorkel. I have a Sand Shark, among other pi machines.