T-2 and Salt Beaches...

[rob]

Hello Fellow T2er's,

This question may have been asked but I am wonder how the T2 does in salt water. I have heard that it does well on the sandy beaches but what about the salt water. Since this is a close cousin of the latest Fishers (and they say "all the way to salt"), I was wondering what your thoughts were for salt...?

 

[Ed in SoDak]

Hmm, I'd have to bring my own salt to test it around here. Here's a quote from the T2 manual. The wording is identical for either the older R4 or the current R6 revision.
-Ed

>>>>
Shallow Water Hunting
All First Texas Products searchcoils are waterproof, allowing you to search in shallow
water up to a foot or so deep. However, if you're searching around water, be careful not to
get the electronics housing wet. Avoid salt spray, as it will work its way into the control
housing and damage the electronics-- such damage is not covered under warranty.
Both fresh and salt water beaches are popular places for metal detecting. Vacationers lose
money and jewelry playing in the sand and in the water. It's usually easy to dig in a beach
environment, and metal detecting is permitted on most beaches. Once in a while you may
be able to recover for someone a piece of jewelry they've lost minutes before, which is a
gratifying experience.
When searching on a beach, it's best to either search in All Metal mode, or to search with
the discrimination level set just high enough eliminate iron, because the value of beach
finds is largely in the jewelry rather than in the coins. You'll dig a lot of aluminum trash,
but the digging is easy, and you can tell people that you're helping to clean up the beach
and make it safer for people's feet. You may want to use a special "sand scoop" for
recovering valuables from the sand quickly-- most metal detector dealers sell these.
The electrical conductivity of the water itself can pose some challenges. You may get false
signals when going into and coming out of the water, making it necessary to pay careful
attention to keep the coil either in or out of the water but not to touch the surface. This
effect may be observed in either fresh or salt water.
Detecting Activities (continued)
26
Shallow Water Hunting (continued)
Salt water is highly conductive, and produces a strong signal which is like that of metal.
When searching in salt water, the following measures will usually be sufficient to silence
the salt water response while retaining acceptable sensitivity:
1. Set the sensitivity in both modes to 30 or less.
2. Ground cancel the machine manually in All Metal mode.
3. Search in the Discrimination mode with a discrimination setting
higher than 45, and "1+" tones.
<<<<

 

[SteveP(NH)]

Hey Rob,

The T2 has no trouble manually ground balancing for wet salt but if you do have to reduce the sensitivity and turn up the discrimination (note you have to manually ground balance in all metal, but the ground balance settings carry over to discrim mode) as noted in the manual. I am able to run the sensitivity higher than noted in the manual say around 45 to 50. That said I also have an old Explorer XS and mostly use that at the salt water beaches since it is not affected by salt water at all and save the T2 for relic hunting at inland sites. Though the T2 can be used at the beaches and I do use it sometimes if I have worn out my arm with that heavy XS from too much hunting the day before.

 

[Ed in SoDak]

I should mention that some people have apparently had issues with leaky coils. It doesn't take much moisture to make them inoperable until they dry out inside. I imagine getting salt water trapped inside would be a bad thing.

My advice would be to test the coil in fresh water first. It will go crazy with falses if it leaks. Once it is dried out and working again, seal your coil yourself before trying it in salt water. You could seal it up first and then test for leaks, but I figure why mess up the outside with sealant if the coil does not leak. It does take a day or three to dry out inside, so if you wet-test first, make absolutely certain it is dry before sealing.

I've read reports of leaks, as a matter of fact, the coil that came with my T2 leaked and had to be returned. Some people have successfully sealed their coils, but I haven't read an opinion on where the coils seem to be leaking. It may be the entry point is that little cap that surround the cable.

-Ed

 

[thompy]

i was thinking the same thing ED, mine leaks

 

[rob]

Thanks for all of your information about beaches. I kinda thought the T2 would be a good salt machine since it IS the best unit I have ever owned; and I have owned all of the top end units made by all of the companies.

Guess what? I checked my coil and you can see that moisture can get into the coil. I am going to seal before my next trip out.

Thanks again....

Rob in Tennessee