Whites Surf PI Dual Field

[digaholic]

I am contemplating buying the Whites Surf PI Dual Field to compliment my Minelab Excalibur II. Is this a wise choice? Any comments/feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[grumpyolman]

Depends!! It's a deep all metal machine. You want to hunt areas others have hunted and hope to find some of the stuff that's just a hair deeper? You going to dig in the sand or in the rocks. How much iron is in the ground?
It doesn't discriminate. You dig it all. If you dig in rocks you'll find it, but it'll kill you before you get to the target. It's a water machine and the miserable coil FLOATS. How stupid! Other than that a wonderful well built machine like all of White's stuff. I put white non-mineralized white sand in clear plastic tubing and plastic tied it to the coil. Wouldn't want to swing it that way on the damp or dry sand, but in the water it's neutrally buoyant. Maybe White's thought not many would use it 'in' the water.
I had an Excal. I still follow what folks are doing with it. I would think that if you hunt in the all metal mode, hear the beep, check on discriminate, then dig, it's probably just as deep as the Dual Field. Might take a bit more skill to do that. At my skill level, I'd use the PI as it's a little easier to manage for me. Besides....any reason to get a new machine is a good one. Jim

 

[digaholic]

Thanks for the feedback Jim. I plan on using it mostly on the wet sand and in maybe knee deep water. I am looking to get some extra depth on the days that the beach gets "sanded in" or not.
Steve

 

[sandhound]

steve i have both the whites dual field and the bhd 300 . on sat i found my first gold ring using the dual field i swear that ring was very deep about 15 to 20 inches i use the big stealth scoop and i had to scoop 3 times before i was able to get the ring. so you wont go worng getting a dual field just practice with it and listen to the tones

 

[Craig-PI]

I'm going to repond to both posts here... the Dual Field is deeper than a Excalibur even with a WOT coil... I own the Sovereign GT which I use in iron infested areas of the beach and its very deep but its not as deep as my Dual Field... as to the coil floating its not that big a deal... I have dug some very deep gold that I know for fact my GT or an Excal wouldn't even hear... personally I didn't find using the Excal in PP mode all that deep...

The DF has one tone but I don't dig anymore more trash than a VLF user does because I have learned the subtle differences in its tone very well... if you want to cover more ground the DF is the way to go... if your beaches are not iron infested again the DF is a great detector...

Personally I have the best of both worlds with my DF and GT and I would never think about giving up either detector...

The DF is great in the wet sand and shines in the water... if one feels the coil floats too much then hold the coil down where the S is in the shaft... its very easy to hold the detector at this point...

If you choose to try a DF you are listening for quiet whispers almost like a drop out in the threshold...

When you go over a target that has a long drawn out tone its most likely a target that you don't want to dig either big iron or a can top...

Wire,nails and bobbiepins have a choppy broken tone...

A PI user is listening for a narrow, sharp tone... with patience the DF is a awesome machine...

Another bit of advice... get a copy of Clives book Pulse Power.. great book.

Craig

 

[Cupajo]

I've put in a lot of hours with water machines and the hours I have spent with the DF have been some of the most enjoyable I have spent.

At first I thought the floating coil would be a problem, but there is very little wave action where I hunt so it has been no problem at all.

The more I use it the better I understand what it is telling me which means more target recoveries. So far I have 25 hours on the batteries (the second set. I didn't keep track of the use of the first set and changed them too soon I think!!) and they seem to still have plenty of power.

I notice some interference when air and water and train traffic is heavy in the area, but I have managed to keep searching successfully. Until the traffic quiets I think there are weak signals that may get missed, but even with the disturbance I still get strong responses on most targets.

I own an older Excal with the small coil, a Garrett Infinium LS, and a couple of Garrett's XL500s that still work very well, but the DF is my "weapon of choice" these days and until someone can convince me that there is a better detector to do the job it will continue to be my choice!!

GL&HH Friend,

CJ


PS Ditto on Clive's book!! It's the most you can learn about PI hunting without getting wet!!

 

[Craig-PI]

CJ... try the these batteries... they are expensive but I put them in last year during the summer and they are still going strong

http://www.energizer.com/products/hightech-batteries/lithium/Pages/lithium-batteries.aspx


They even make some longer lasting but I felt $18.00 for 8 was enough for now

 

[Neptune]

The Whites Surf PI is a great machine that reads very, very deep. I just hope that your forum name lives tru because you will be a digaholic for sure with that unit but you will also uncover some great finds.

Best of luck.

 

[Goldak]

I've put in a lot of hours with water machines and the hours I have spent with the DF have been some of the most enjoyable I have spent.

At first I thought the floating coil would be a problem, but there is very little wave action where I hunt so it has been no problem at all.

The more I use it the better I understand what it is telling me which means more target recoveries. So far I have 25 hours on the batteries (the second set. I didn't keep track of the use of the first set and changed them too soon I think!!) and they seem to still have plenty of power.

I notice some interference when air and water and train traffic is heavy in the area, but I have managed to keep searching successfully. Until the traffic quiets I think there are weak signals that may get missed, but even with the disturbance I still get strong responses on most targets.

I own an older Excal with the small coil, a Garrett Infinium LS, and a couple of Garrett's XL500s that still work very well, but the DF is my "weapon of choice" these days and until someone can convince me that there is a better detector to do the job it will continue to be my choice!!

GL&HH Friend,
Today was the first time I experienced the interference CJ mentions. I was hunting in the wet sand about 30 yards away from the nearest house (yeah, it was right on the beach). The machine was making this oscillating like sound which was a bit annoying but when I got a signal it would still indicate. In fact, I found a silver bracelet in these conditions but I agree with CJ- I don't think there's any way that those "whisper" signals are going to be heard when you have interference noise. HH!

CJ


PS Ditto on Clive's book!! It's the most you can learn about PI hunting without getting wet!!

 

[digaholic]

Thanks for all the feedback. I will be picking up my new Whites Surf PI Dual Field today. Now for my next question, I will be planning a trip to Aruba this year, do I bring the Excalibur II or the Whites PI Dual Field?

 

[Cupajo]

The logical and therefore the most difficult to accomplish answer is YES!!

CJ

 

[Neptune]

The logical and therefore the most difficult to accomplish answer is YES!!

CJ

Could not have said it better myself.