New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

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Looking for an effective salt water metal detector - Seeking advice on a good salt water detector

Steve Hinge		Posted : 10 years ago
Rank: Gold Dust Groups: Registered Joined: 10/11/2013(UTC) Posts: 2 Location: Gisborne Thanks: 4 times		Hi, I have been using a Garrett ACE 250 for metal detecting in parks for the past two years and have reached a point where I think I would like to give metal detecting at the beach a try. I have tried using my ACE 250 for salt water detecting but it 'falses' real bad and after winding down sensitivity real low to combat this ... the machine seems to be ineffective in wet sand. It seems to be ok in dry powdery sand though. So I have done a bit of research for a machine that will better cope with a wet sand environment and the Garrett AT Pro appears on my 'radar' as a machine that seems to handle Ground Discrimination quite well ... on highly mineralised land and at the beach. Would anyone perhaps be able to comment please on their experience with using a Garrett AT Pro for beach metal detecting ... or .... is there another brand/model that you would recommend I research? In advance, thanks so much for your time and advice. Kind regards, Steve

Metal Kiwi		Posted : 10 years ago
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered Joined: 19/06/2011(UTC) Posts: 1,210 Location: Auckland Thanks: 498 times Was thanked: 484 time(s) in 322 post(s)		Hi Steve, I also started with an Ace 250 and although that was a good entry to the hobby I experienced exactly the same limitations as you have outlined when at the beach. So I made the jump up to a Minelab E Trac on the recommendation of another detectorist and have had no issues at the beach since. My finds also improved massively both at the beach and on land. The ET is easy to use and has a waterproof coil. If you want to hunt in the water then have a look at either the Minelab Excalibur II or the CTX 3030 which are both fully waterproof. The 3030 is for beach , water and land while the Excal is intended for beach and water. There is more info on my website www.detectnz.co.nz Hope this gives you some idea's. Chris DetectNZ AKA MK
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Mudwiggle		Posted : 10 years ago
Rank: Gold Ingot Groups: Registered, Moderators Joined: 22/10/2013(UTC) Posts: 742 Thanks: 182 times Was thanked: 683 time(s) in 317 post(s)		Hi Steve, I run an AT Pro and Excal2, The Excal is built for the marine environment and as a result performs a lot better. However the AT Pro works well as long as you manually ground balance, don't run full sensitivity and work each zone separately (dry, damp, wet, underwater) with a retune for each zone you'll find it's not too bad. Bit scatty at times, particularly if it's a coarse sediment beach (gravel for instance) as the water level moves readily within the substrates. If you are planning on doing predominantly beach, then I'd go Excal. If you still want to grub in the dirt, with occasional forays onto the foreshore I'd stick with the AT Pro. Hopefully Creamer will be along shortly - he seems to have good result on the beach with his 250 and should be able to give you some specific tips. The main reason I got the AT Pro was the ability to hunt in the rain on land. The Excal is a little cumbersome for dirt-work. Hope this helps

creamer		Posted : 10 years ago
Rank: Gold Ingot Medals: Groups: Registered Joined: 19/06/2011(UTC) Posts: 2,022 Location: Bay of Islands Thanks: 2289 times Was thanked: 525 time(s) in 391 post(s)		An Ace 350 to be exact. The 250 is great for parks but doesnt have the depth for the beach. Soon as you lower the sensitivity you lose all depth and the coil is too small for sweeping large areas. The AT Pro is a better option as mentioned or the new Garrett Euro Ace which has replaced the Ace 350. Minelab produces some awesome beach machines as also mentioned and you cant go past one of them for great detecting. Tough decision to make as to what machine to go to next. The budget sometimes determines where to go. Hope you get some more feedback here as its a good topic. Good luck out there and happy hunting. Shane .
		Garrett Ace 350 Xpointer www.nzfossickers.co.nz
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o0motorhead0o		Posted : 9 years ago
Rank: Gold Dust Groups: Registered Joined: 1/02/2016(UTC) Posts: 4 Location: ohauiti Thanks: 3 times Was thanked: 1 time(s) in 1 post(s)		Sorry to dredge this thread up but has anyone tried the nokta fors core on the beach? I'm really interested in one of these machines but can't find many comparisons to the ever popular Garrett atp which is in the same price bracket Tia Gordon.
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