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Water Detectors

P

PJ

Member
Help, opinions and expertise needed. I have never water detected before and I thought I would enjoy doing water as well ground. Currently have an Explorer SE and an Ace 250. Live in the frigid north of Wi so I will not be detecting in the salt water. I,ve been reading your posts on water detecting lately and thought I would ask for opinions on which machine you users suggest would be best. I would be detecting beaches, lakes, ponds and Lake Michigan. I am not looking for the cheapest one as my wife is buying it for me for Christmas (last Christmas). What I would like is the best for coin and jewelry detecting. Thanks for looking and would appreciate your expertise. Wish you all great finds in 2009. PJ
 
The Garrett Infiniun / Whites Surf PI / Minelab Excalibur All are good in the water and will find what you are looking for. I use the Infiniun my son uses the whites and a friend of mine uses the minelab all have found Gold and Coins.
 
The Excal. is a great machine for both fresh water and salt water. The iron mask feature makes it easy to hunt areas with lots of iron scraps and nails.

I've read that the Tesoro Tiger Shark is a superb machine for freshwater and supposedly is great for finding gold chains so that's a machine to think about.

You're going to have a ton of fun hunting in the water.
 
Hey, I'm a HUGE Excal fan too, own 3 and have never sold one either! But since you are hunting fresh water ONLY, then I think I would choose the Tesoro Tiger Shark. Lifetime warranty is hard to beat too. You will find that WARRANTIES are a VERY BIG DEAL in this sport.Water hunting AIN'T no walk in the park, savvy? Fact is, I have broken EVERY brand of water detector I've ever owned. Best of luck to ya mate!
 
id go Excal just in case you might hunt salt water beach it will blow the TS away in depth and the tone ID of the Excal is great no matter where you hunt.
 
jbell. Thanks for the reply. Of the 3 choices which is the easyist to operate, the hardest to operate and the 1 with the most depth. Which 1 picks up small chains the best? Thanks for your opinions. PJ
 
For 99.9% of your hunting being in fresh water, the Tesoro Tiger Shark would be my first choice . . . . it is the hottest out there in terms of sensitivity to small gold (while not as deep as the Excal or a PI, it will hit ear ring backs and gold chains the others struggle with), comes with a life time warranty (which I admit to having needed on my Tiger and Stingray before that simply due to the demands water hunting places on a piece of equipment), and the fact it has interchangeable search coils.

Just one more opinion to muddy the water . . .

Andy Sabisch
 
I will second the Tesoro Tiger Shark. Though I've never used one I used to use Tesoro units exclusively way back when I was a relic hunter. Their prices are good and their warranty, like GH said, is lifetime. But best of all, at least back when I used their units, they were top notch in performance. And there simply aren't many units that will hit on a small gold chain like I hear the Tiger shark will. If I were only hunting fresh water that's exactly what I would buy. Best of luck with whatever you get.
Jerry
 
PJ said:
jbell. Thanks for the reply. Of the 3 choices which is the easyist to operate, the hardest to operate and the 1 with the most depth. Which 1 picks up small chains the best? Thanks for your opinions. PJ
Click to expand...

I posted one response and though I'm not jbell, I think I would like to respond to this as well. The Tesoro units I used when relic hunting were so simple to setup and use that it's almost rediculous to try to talk about. Though there were units that could achieve greater depth, it wasn't that much greater and the soil conditions had to be right for them to achieve it. The best Civil War relics I ever found were with a small, plain, simple to use Tesoro Bandido.
Though, as I've said, I've never used the Tiger Shark, I would think it would be the same. Tesoro has always made fantastic machines that get the job done and are backed with lifetime warranties (already said that didn't I) and, at least the ones I used, were fairly lightweight and easy to swing for long periods of time.
Jerry
 
Having use many types and brands of water detectors I can only say that I use the Excal and the Tiger Shark. I always seem to grab the Tiger for the fresh weter. With changable coils, long battery life and the lifetime warrany if you ever need it, it is a no brainer.
 
jbell, Macaco, Gabeachsweeper, Gulfhunter, Bling Fieldboy, Andy, Thinkin2, bdahunter and Sandman, Thanks for your input. You have helped me narrow it down to the Excal and TS. I have about a good 3 months before are deep freeze leaves to decide which one to purchase. Are both of these machines totally submersible? Could I scuba or snorkel with either 1? Thanks for your replies guys, cuz I would be lost without your knowledge. PJ
 
PJ said:
jbell, Macaco, Gabeachsweeper, Gulfhunter, Bling Fieldboy, Andy, Thinkin2, bdahunter and Sandman, Thanks for your input. You have helped me narrow it down to the Excal and TS. I have about a good 3 months before are deep freeze leaves to decide which one to purchase. Are both of these machines totally submersible? Could I scuba or snorkel with either 1? Thanks for your replies guys, cuz I would be lost without your knowledge. PJ
Click to expand...

Yes, PJ, both the Excal and the Tiger Shark are submersible units. I think they are both rated for 200 feet.
Jerry
 
The Tesoro is considerably more sensitive to smaller gold . . . you can literally lay a gold chain (not one of those 1 ounce+ chains) on an Excal coil without a peep. Not knocking one as I own three of them but for freshwater, sandy beaches, the Tesoro is hard to beat, especially at half the price ($600 street price vs. $1200 street price)

PJ did say that he "Lives in the frigid north of Wi so I will not be detecting in the salt water"

Andy
 
Amen to that, Andy. PJ, this guy knows what he is talking about. Listen to him, you will be glad you did. Different detectors meet different needs. They are designed to. I would not recommend buying something because it may be better for that once a year vacation even though it may be "okay" for your area as well. You have to think about where you are going to do the vast majority of your hunting and get the equipment best suited for you and your location because that is where your opportunities lie. Plus, like Andy said, there is a huge price difference (but not a huge difference in quality if you don't consider location). If someday you find yourself taking more or longer vacations to saltwater beaches then start thinking about a unit better suited for that. Best of luck to you.
Jerry
 
As stated it is much more sensitive to the small stuff. I can literally set my small TS finds on the coil of the Excal2 and not a peep. If you were hunting salt, the Excal would be the way to go, but for fresh only, its the Tiger hands down... Oh, and with the Tiger, you have a CHOICE as to which coil you want to use at any given time, they are user interchangable!!! I have the 8 AND the 10.. HH Joe
 
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