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Recomendations For Detector
- Thread starter Dug in Me
- Start date
the first detector I ever bought was a Fisher 1280X and I have made thousands of finds with it. I also have the CZ 20 but rarely use it.
The 1280 is normally used in fresh water as I understand there is a lot of noise in salt but that is the reason I bought the CZ.
It is tougher than heck and I have never had a problem with it except when I set it against the exhaust on my Hookah. Bad idea.
I think it is one of the least expensive too.
Check out Garys sponsers and you will be able to swing a deal.
This is just my opinion but the opinion of a guy that has many hundreds of hours with one in my hand. I have never used any other brands so I can not compare.
The 1280 is normally used in fresh water as I understand there is a lot of noise in salt but that is the reason I bought the CZ.
It is tougher than heck and I have never had a problem with it except when I set it against the exhaust on my Hookah. Bad idea.
I think it is one of the least expensive too.
Check out Garys sponsers and you will be able to swing a deal.
This is just my opinion but the opinion of a guy that has many hundreds of hours with one in my hand. I have never used any other brands so I can not compare.
I have found many thousands of coins and a hundred gold rings and lord only knows how many silver. I don't think much gets past me either.
I use it for diving and from my experience and I have had a lot diving, it will find stuff deeper than I can dig in the water. If you go much deeper than six or eight inches it just keeps caving in and you never get to the coin. In diving I generally fan the bottom. That is in a sandy bottom. Now a marl bottom the target is not gonna be very deep anyway, an inch or two usually. Sometimes there is a little silt over it but not much.
For years I have seen posts about what detector is the best for what conditions and I will tell you, there is no machine that will find it all. There is no machine that is the best for everyone and the guys that find all the goodies generally are the ones that take the time to learn what their machine is telling them.
The 1280 is much more than a beginner machine. I have proven it. I found 11 rings on two seperate dives and was hunting with a guy that had a 1280 also. We were hunting the same place at the same time with the same machine an dhe found 3 and I found 11 each time. The difference was I knew my machine. Now I probably would not be worth a crap with another machine but the 1280 is a great machine. I also have a CZ20 and use it as a backup and on the rare occasions I hunt salt water. Other than that, I just store it.
I see dealers raving about this machine or that machine but they always seem to be the ones they sell. I usually ignore them.
I have a hard time understanding a person saying a 1280x is a beginners machine. I have paid for mine many times over and just why a person would want to spend over a thousand dollars for a detector is beyond me unless it is just the, "Mine cost more than yours did" thing
I use it for diving and from my experience and I have had a lot diving, it will find stuff deeper than I can dig in the water. If you go much deeper than six or eight inches it just keeps caving in and you never get to the coin. In diving I generally fan the bottom. That is in a sandy bottom. Now a marl bottom the target is not gonna be very deep anyway, an inch or two usually. Sometimes there is a little silt over it but not much.
For years I have seen posts about what detector is the best for what conditions and I will tell you, there is no machine that will find it all. There is no machine that is the best for everyone and the guys that find all the goodies generally are the ones that take the time to learn what their machine is telling them.
The 1280 is much more than a beginner machine. I have proven it. I found 11 rings on two seperate dives and was hunting with a guy that had a 1280 also. We were hunting the same place at the same time with the same machine an dhe found 3 and I found 11 each time. The difference was I knew my machine. Now I probably would not be worth a crap with another machine but the 1280 is a great machine. I also have a CZ20 and use it as a backup and on the rare occasions I hunt salt water. Other than that, I just store it.
I see dealers raving about this machine or that machine but they always seem to be the ones they sell. I usually ignore them.
I have a hard time understanding a person saying a 1280x is a beginners machine. I have paid for mine many times over and just why a person would want to spend over a thousand dollars for a detector is beyond me unless it is just the, "Mine cost more than yours did" thing
I love mine (except as you mentioned in salt) I use mine everywhere else even in the woods but mostly in fresh water. Royal what do you use for settings normally? I know different conditions call for different adjustments. I tend to use 0 disc. Very high sensitivity and I dig every thing (underwater of course use a lot more disc on land) if for no other reason than to get it out of the way. Do you use the 8 or 10.5 coil? I seem to lack on the gold but I don't have much time to go usually a couple of hours after work a few times week or less . I have a small beach that I don't think anybody has detected I find a lot of wheats and a few other old coins a lot of silver jewelry yet only a few pieces of gold and tons and tons of junk.
Troy
Troy
start adding it as conditions warrent. Sens I usually start high and make adjustments.
I use a hookah and this gives me a lot of down time so toward the end of the dive I tend to be much more discriminting. I get tired. I can get 4 hours out of a tank of gas
I might miss a few things, in fact I know I do because I go back to an area and still find targets. On lake Charlevoix in Michigan there is a beach from the late 1800's that I have hammered and found much old stuff. The last time I dove it I found three gold rings in an area one foot square. One a gold band, one a school ring from 1923 and another from 1932 which I returned to the family. How the heck I missed that one foot square is unbelevable but it is a big beach.
I see the 1280 has gone up quite a bit because I gave 430 for mine but that was a long time ago. To its credit I don't see that they have changed it a bit since then. Great machine
I use a hookah and this gives me a lot of down time so toward the end of the dive I tend to be much more discriminting. I get tired. I can get 4 hours out of a tank of gas
I might miss a few things, in fact I know I do because I go back to an area and still find targets. On lake Charlevoix in Michigan there is a beach from the late 1800's that I have hammered and found much old stuff. The last time I dove it I found three gold rings in an area one foot square. One a gold band, one a school ring from 1923 and another from 1932 which I returned to the family. How the heck I missed that one foot square is unbelevable but it is a big beach.
I see the 1280 has gone up quite a bit because I gave 430 for mine but that was a long time ago. To its credit I don't see that they have changed it a bit since then. Great machine
how deep underwater do you usually search. It seems to me where I go that the target field seems to peter out after about six feet. This would make sense to me being that is where most people swim and play. I only dive with a mask and snorkel even at six feet it gets pretty tiring diving down and fanning and surfacing until the target is uncovered enough to scoop!
Troy
Troy
well I did once and decided they were a pain.
If you want to find nice old stuff and go where nobody has been find the old beaches. They may not be a beach now but if they were in the past you are in luck.
Unlike many modern beaches the older beaches had swimming rafts and they were usually out at the edge of the dropoff. Lawsuit crazy lawyers have cause the beaches to stop using them.
What you want to look for is their anchors. Usually they are barrels of cement with loops for the rope in them or something like that. Usually they never brought them up and what ever was lost under the raft is still there. I have seen places that I could not move the 1280 without a half dozen signals. One old beach I used to swim at when I was a kid has 11 of those old anchors. I have found over 65 silver halves and a good share of them came from that one beach. It took me about 20 dives there to thin out the finds.
Many people swam from the rafts out over the drop and I have found many targets at 30 ft or more. Some of the drops are carpeted with targets and one nice thing about the old beaches is the fact that there is very little trash, other than bobby pins and lipstick cases. If you start finding buckles from old swimming suits and swimming caps you and in a good area.
Most of the old rafts had to be swam to so don't stop at the chest deep water. Most of the wading water is not worth bothering with in my view because everyone with a detector has hammered it.
Another good area is at the end of a diving board, if you can find where they were years ago. Go to the local historical society and see what pictures they have of the local lakes and parks. The parks may now be someones yard but the lake area is still public and if you can get there by boat it is a legal area to hunt.
Do a little research and it will pay off.
I still prefer the 1280X as it has been very good to me.
If you want to find nice old stuff and go where nobody has been find the old beaches. They may not be a beach now but if they were in the past you are in luck.
Unlike many modern beaches the older beaches had swimming rafts and they were usually out at the edge of the dropoff. Lawsuit crazy lawyers have cause the beaches to stop using them.
What you want to look for is their anchors. Usually they are barrels of cement with loops for the rope in them or something like that. Usually they never brought them up and what ever was lost under the raft is still there. I have seen places that I could not move the 1280 without a half dozen signals. One old beach I used to swim at when I was a kid has 11 of those old anchors. I have found over 65 silver halves and a good share of them came from that one beach. It took me about 20 dives there to thin out the finds.
Many people swam from the rafts out over the drop and I have found many targets at 30 ft or more. Some of the drops are carpeted with targets and one nice thing about the old beaches is the fact that there is very little trash, other than bobby pins and lipstick cases. If you start finding buckles from old swimming suits and swimming caps you and in a good area.
Most of the old rafts had to be swam to so don't stop at the chest deep water. Most of the wading water is not worth bothering with in my view because everyone with a detector has hammered it.
Another good area is at the end of a diving board, if you can find where they were years ago. Go to the local historical society and see what pictures they have of the local lakes and parks. The parks may now be someones yard but the lake area is still public and if you can get there by boat it is a legal area to hunt.
Do a little research and it will pay off.
I still prefer the 1280X as it has been very good to me.
SirLostAlot
New member
Royal said in his post.
" The parks may now be someones yard but the lake area is still public and if you can get there by boat it is a legal area to hunt. "
Better be careful with this one. In Michigan where I live the owner of the lake property has lake bottom rights. I'm not sure on how far out. All anyone else has is anchor rights. Which means you can take a boat there and drop anchor. But you can;t walk on it. Found this out fishing.
" The parks may now be someones yard but the lake area is still public and if you can get there by boat it is a legal area to hunt. "
Better be careful with this one. In Michigan where I live the owner of the lake property has lake bottom rights. I'm not sure on how far out. All anyone else has is anchor rights. Which means you can take a boat there and drop anchor. But you can;t walk on it. Found this out fishing.
I think it depends on the lake. I have dove many places in from of private homes and never had a problem. To tell the truth I probably would not bother arguing with a home owner anyway because how we act is how the public sees us and other detector users.
You may be right but I don't think so but it might be something for me to research. I have dove and detected almost every lake in the Pontiac area and some of the sites have been at old beaches and are now private property. Never had a problem but maybe I could. I have never hunted in wading areas though as I don't bother with them. I am usually in deeper water.
You may be right but I don't think so but it might be something for me to research. I have dove and detected almost every lake in the Pontiac area and some of the sites have been at old beaches and are now private property. Never had a problem but maybe I could. I have never hunted in wading areas though as I don't bother with them. I am usually in deeper water.
99% of it at the beach at the end of the lake. I am sure nobody had dove it with a detector because it was loaded. Lots of silver and rings. I found a silver ID bracelet that I returned to the owner, who now lives in Alaska. He had lost it 50 years before.
I also did well at the Michigan State Camp-I think that is what it is- I dove Thumb Lake or Lake Louise too and what a beautiful lake.
I found a lot of silver and rings at Walloon Lake and there is still stuff there. You have to go out beyond the beach area a ways though. There are a bunch of logs out there and through research I found that there was one or two swimming docks that ran out quite a ways. I found where they ended and had a ball. I spent 6 hours on bottom there one day. I was exhausted but had a ball and my goodie bag was full!
I also did well at the Michigan State Camp-I think that is what it is- I dove Thumb Lake or Lake Louise too and what a beautiful lake.
I found a lot of silver and rings at Walloon Lake and there is still stuff there. You have to go out beyond the beach area a ways though. There are a bunch of logs out there and through research I found that there was one or two swimming docks that ran out quite a ways. I found where they ended and had a ball. I spent 6 hours on bottom there one day. I was exhausted but had a ball and my goodie bag was full!
No wonder there was nothing there when I was detecting it by wading over the 4th. Yeah that has been a public swimming area for ever, And thats Camp Michiganda run by the U of M. God forbid if any alumni should hear it being refered to as a Michigan State Camp. We used to rent a cottage directly across the lake from the camp in the 60's & 70's. Actually there were quite a few little camps & resort cottage clusters on he lake at one time, most have been bought and turned into private homes.
My Sister Actually got married at that Babtist (I think) camp on Lake Louise just off Thumb Lake Rd. Great little spot.
Do you live in the Petoskey, Harbor, Char, Area?
I am just getting into the underwater stuff, any suggestions would be greatly appriceated, I was
a certified Diver at 14, but didn't really do anything with it. I was thinking more in line of getting a Huka type rig instead of the full blown diving gear,,, Your thoughts!
Doug
My Sister Actually got married at that Babtist (I think) camp on Lake Louise just off Thumb Lake Rd. Great little spot.
Do you live in the Petoskey, Harbor, Char, Area?
I am just getting into the underwater stuff, any suggestions would be greatly appriceated, I was
a certified Diver at 14, but didn't really do anything with it. I was thinking more in line of getting a Huka type rig instead of the full blown diving gear,,, Your thoughts!
Doug
is in the Pontiac area. I live in Waterford now, which is in the same area.
I have friends in the Boyne City area, actually just a short distance from Horton Bay and have been up there many times since 53 which was the first time.
You want to get into the diving detecting if you want to find the glory holes. I have found quite a few of them and you have to get out beyond the waders. Do your research and have a ball. I found a 1853 half at the Depot in Charlivoix! There is something in the sand there that just makes a mess out of them but there was once a swimming dock there too and I have done good there.
On my first detecting at the Depot I found 20 dollars and 50 cents on one dive. all in change and all clad. I have dove the old docks in Boyne City too and it is a spooky place to dive. The docks are gone but there is enough piled lumber on bottom to build a small town. I have found many old bottles there too. Get to diving and do your research
I have friends in the Boyne City area, actually just a short distance from Horton Bay and have been up there many times since 53 which was the first time.
You want to get into the diving detecting if you want to find the glory holes. I have found quite a few of them and you have to get out beyond the waders. Do your research and have a ball. I found a 1853 half at the Depot in Charlivoix! There is something in the sand there that just makes a mess out of them but there was once a swimming dock there too and I have done good there.
On my first detecting at the Depot I found 20 dollars and 50 cents on one dive. all in change and all clad. I have dove the old docks in Boyne City too and it is a spooky place to dive. The docks are gone but there is enough piled lumber on bottom to build a small town. I have found many old bottles there too. Get to diving and do your research
in fact I have rebuilt the compressor twice and I love it. It is a twin cylinder three horse, I think. It is gasoline and since I dive alone 99% of the time I turn the speed down and can get about 4 hours out of a small tank of gas.
It will take one man to 90 ft, which I would never do without a bail out bottle, two men to 60 ft and three to 45 ft. I have used it with two of us quite a few times and it works great.
I have had the tube blow while using it and now I buy a new truck tube every year
I have never used any other kind but can sure reccomend their equiptment!!
http://www.browniedive.com/
It will take one man to 90 ft, which I would never do without a bail out bottle, two men to 60 ft and three to 45 ft. I have used it with two of us quite a few times and it works great.
I have had the tube blow while using it and now I buy a new truck tube every year
I have never used any other kind but can sure reccomend their equiptment!!
http://www.browniedive.com/