Shifting Tides

[SeaScene]

Pretty much staying on easy to walk beaches these days in the Pacific North West (British Columbia... should be similar to Washington). Salty sands including black sands and no matter the setting my Anfibio Multi (admirable elsewhere) I can not get to settle down. Perhaps a reference to a thread might be best but any update would be welcome for a new machine to handle PNW beaches and/or settings for the AM. Many thanks in advance. Living aboard SV DarMi BC coast.

 

[Odanscoils]

Possibly EMI.
Electronic interference.

 

[tvr]

Pretty much staying on easy to walk beaches these days in the Pacific North West (British Columbia... should be similar to Washington). Salty sands including black sands and no matter the setting my Anfibio Multi (admirable elsewhere) I can not get to settle down. Perhaps a reference to a thread might be best but any update would be welcome for a new machine to handle PNW beaches and/or settings for the AM. Many thanks in advance. Living aboard SV DarMi BC coast.

I'll start by saying I have not used an Anfibio. Having used several detectors on the beach, ground balance is critical and too high of a sensitivity setting can cause much falsing. Having alkaline conditions (wet salt) with heavy iron mineral content (black sand) is about the worst of both worlds when trying to keep ground balanced to look for non-ferrous targets.

If you have more than one coil to pick from, use a small coil (concentric if you have one), carefully ground balance and take sensitivity down. Then start working up in coil size and sensitivity as you hone the settings. In most cases, I've been more successful finding stable operation in tough black sand environments running in all metal. When the detector sounds on the black sand, sweep slower and see if the reaction to the black sand goes away or at least diminishes greatly. An actual target should still give a good response. Check ground balance frequently as it can change drastically as you move across the beach.

Good luck!

 

[SeaScene]

"Having alkaline conditions (wet salt) with heavy iron mineral content (black sand) is about the worst of both worlds when trying to keep ground balanced to look for non-ferrous targets." Thanks TVR you have really focused on my issue. I will give that a try. The AM has been good to me so hopefully can tweak beach performance. A plus is the fact that detecting for me is historical wilderness ... ship wreck vicinities, trading posts. Very little trash if any at all. Exception being old logging ops ... lots of iron there (cables). Good luck out there TVR.

 

[SeaScene]

Possibly EMI.
Electronic interference.

Thanks OC ... much of my detecting is wilderness areas ... no EI but then again could be very hot rocks ... black sands common. Thanks for get back... SS

 

[tvr]

ship wreck vicinities, trading posts. Very little trash if any at all.

Old square nails ... if not a lot probably worth digging to potentially date things. Have you considered getting a pulse induction detector? A pulse induction detector might be the right tool for the environment you are detecting.

 

[Nauti]

I have two detectors i use at the beach,my Sovereign gt and my garrett seahunter mk2.The Sovereign is my go to machine.....still one of the best beach detectors out there.However,if the going gets tough in black sand etc you just can't beat a pi.......in fact,I have been using the seahunter more than the Sovereign just lately as pickings are scarce at the moment......the seahunter goes very deep ,sometimes too deep,so it gives me half a chance of tagging those items that are out of reach of the Sov.If your beaches are relatively clean of junk a pi is,like tvr said,probably the way to go.

 

[SeaScene]

Just read some reviews from 1997 !! Soverign GT ... I will be checking out the PI's. Thanks and to TVR for suggestion. Is this machine still available? Last year after Anfibio did great job on dry salt sand but just too much chatter with the wet / black stuff I did look at the CTX 3030.

 

[Nauti]

Gt no longer made but the excalibur is which is basically a waterproof Sovereign.These machines do very well in the black sand,a lot better than the anfibio.The ctx is another good machine on the beach,you can't really go wrong with any of minelabs multi frequency units on the wet sand.

 

[SeaScene]

Nauti: So a multi frequency is not a PI? And handles the salt and black sands? Thanks

 

[SeaScene]

"There are three most common metal detector types you will find in the metal detecting market and community. They are VLF, Multi-Frequency, and Pulse Induction metal detectors.
They are not inherently better than the other as they are different. Each have their benefits and drawbacks." Just answered my own question. A PI is not a MF...seems.

 

[Nauti]

Correct........a pi or pulse induction works differently from a vlf machine and it's advantages include better performance on very difficult ground and generally greater depth.Their major drawback however is lack of discrimination,they find everything including ferous metals.
Multi frequency machines are vlf machines that work with multiple frequencies rather than the usual single frequency of most vlf machines.Multi frequency machines do far better on difficult ground such as wet salty sand than single frequency machines and minelab machines have dominated the beach hunting market for many years.
So you really have two choices if serious beach work is your main pursuit,either a multi frequency machine that copes very well with the conditions you find on the beach and has good discrimination or a pi.....a more specialist machine that has little problem with difficult mineralisation and gets a bit more depth but has no discrimination capabilities.
A pi is harder work and can be a real pain on beaches that have a lot of ferrous targets as you will be digging a lot of holes but ultimately they can locate targets that most vlf's will go over.
I own both types so I can call on the strengths of each depending on conditions at the time.

 

[SeaScene]

Thanks Nauti for hangin' in there. My turf is remote coastal wilderness. I have an old sea otter post from the late 1700's in mind. Spanish silver was the currency of trade. Both the shoreline and the landing beach adjacent this post could be hiding Spanish silver coins. Since this is wilderness perhaps more so than in the 1700's present times and not a trashy area and since I do have the Anfibio Multi for shore work I am thinking the PI is my best bet (a recommend model?). Pic is how I get there and the sand of course speaks for itself. Cheers.. ("I am an optimist It does not seem too much use being anything else.WC."

 

[tvr]

Multi frequency are VLF using more than one frequency to analyze targets. It allows correlation of the signals to cancel false responses. With the multi frequency units I've used (Excalibur and Fisher CZ models) you can still get a lot of falsing if you run sensitivity too high.
There are not as many pulse induction models on the market today as there used to be. Most are tailored to the gold fields and are expensive. A Garrett Sea Hunter Mk II might be the best bang for the buck at the moment for beach but not gold field use.

 

[SeaScene]

Thanks TVR. Just checked out the Sea Hunter Garrett machine. Seems to be marketed to scuba set. For myself I am strictly tide out which is substantial on the BC coast or upper level dry salt sandy beach and of course lots of it black sands. One suggestion here was to check out the CTX 3030 or for less money the new Minelab Manticore.

 

[tvr]

Thanks TVR. Just checked out the Sea Hunter Garrett machine. Seems to be marketed to scuba set. For myself I am strictly tide out which is substantial on the BC coast or upper level dry salt sandy beach and of course lots of it black sands. One suggestion here was to check out the CTX 3030 or for less money the new Minelab Manticore.

Think rain proof ... just because it is rated for depth in the water does not mean it can only be used at depth. I don't dive but use an Excalibur and a CZ-20 for years (until it would not ground balance correctly a year or two ago). Both are rated for pretty deep dive depths. CTX 3030 is a great machine by nearly all accounts. Manticore has not actually hit the streets yet. CTX and Manticore are in the VLF multi-frequency realm, Sea Hunter is Pulse Induction. I'm enjoying using a Fisher Impulse AQ at the moment. If Fisher ever brings a full production version of it to market, I'd suggest looking at one.

 

[Nauti]

Thanks Nauti for hangin' in there. My turf is remote coastal wilderness. I have an old sea otter post from the late 1700's in mind. Spanish silver was the currency of trade. Both the shoreline and the landing beach adjacent this post could be hiding Spanish silver coins. Since this is wilderness perhaps more so than in the 1700's present times and not a trashy area and since I do have the Anfibio Multi for shore work I am thinking the PI is my best bet (a recommend model?). Pic is how I get there and the sand of course speaks for itself. Cheers.. ("I am an optimist It does not seem too much use being anything else.WC."View attachment 30875

Wow,that looks like an amazing place to search.
The Seahunter as you found out is a dive rated machine.....it's built like a tank and will take any abuse that you throw at it.For a pi machine it is great value for money and with the larger coil on it goes as deep as I want to dig.It's a simple to use effective machine and it has been In production for a long time which speaks for itself.
The only negative I have found with it is the shaft it is supplied with which has a lot of play in the joints.....it wobbles when you swing it.I did a few simple mods on mine so it is now solid but you can buy a different shaft for it also.
It is ideal for shore searching,not just diving and will bang on silver coins at depth even in black sand but will also pick up the tiniest pieces of metal so as I said earlier they can be hard work,sometimes though the more you put in,the more you get out.