Beach detector?

[depwraith]

Have an old headhunter pro diver that has seen better days and thinking about a new machine. Will be used almost exclusively at beaches/shallow saltwater west of Tampa. Looking at the Deus (not sure on version), Etrac, Excalibur 2 and of course the CTX 3030 (not sure I want to spend that much though).

Any recommendations from those of you that have hunted the same area or conditions?

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

Excal II and CTX 3030 only two that can be used in the water. I would consider the excal first then the 3030. The etrac will work but not water proof, if used at beach in wet sand it will work but will need an environmental cover and be sure it is used or you will get corrosion from salt mist in the air entering through the speaker openings..

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

Treasure Hunter is right; those 2 are your best choices.

If you will do ANY dirt hunting, get the CTX.
If you will do ANY scuba diving, get the Excal.

 

[VTColonialDigger]

AT Pro is good for shallow water as well.

 

[Rick K]

Fisher just lowered the MAP pf the highly regarded CZ-21 to$1299.

 

[bigscoop]

Go with the time tested and proven Excal, eventually upgrade with the modifications.

 

[RustyGold]

Welcome to TreasureNet! My suggestion is the Excal II and if you want to try out a CTX you can get top dollar for the Excal should you wish to sell it. Also consider you may want to get a straight shaft for the Excalibur for comfort and balance.
Good luck!

 

[penzfan]

Excal and CTX...period. And if you're handy you can build a custom fit straight shaft from aluminum stock found at any marine store for under $20 (like I did). GL and SH

 

[cudamark]

AT Pro is good for shallow water as well.

Fresh water, yes........salt water, not so good.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Or, you can get real and get a $600.00 Tesoro 10.5" Sand Shark and never look back.

 

[Peyton Manning]

nice production terry

 

[depwraith]

Don't see how the sand shark is any better than my head hunter, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Tpmetal]

AT Pro is good for shallow water as well.

Not salt water though, mx sport will do salt water. but if your concentrating on the beach there are better machines than both of these

 

[TooManyHobbies]

Don't see how the sand shark is any better than my head hunter, but thanks for the suggestion.

Why not stick with that (or a newer one)? I love my DP HH Underwater, fresh or salt doesn't seem to matter. So glad I didn't get the ATpro. And it's half the price of the Excal. Can dive to 100' (I don't dive), all electronics are in the headphones, straight cable, light weight (no box) for water detecting. Only 8" coil, but I've had no problems with it. Tone and dig machine, but the non-ferrous targets sound off nice and clear. Any click to it and it's iron. And the shaft is 3 pieces for easy travel.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Don't see how the sand shark is any better than my head hunter, but thanks for the suggestion.

Now THAT's Funny! I wonder if Eric Foster is still laughing?

 

[cudamark]

Or, you can get real and get a $600.00 Tesoro 10.5" Sand Shark and never look back.

In some iron rich areas, that just isn't realistic.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I like never digging iron, that is one of the big reason why I love the excals...

 

[depwraith]

Now THAT's Funny! I wonder if Eric Foster is still laughing?

Meaning will the sand shark help reduce the number of iron digs any more than my current machine? I'm looking for advice, not sarcastic responses that don't help. Thank you to those that have replied with reasoning.

 

[cudamark]

The Sand Shark is a pulse inductive machine. It doesn't discriminate between ferrous and non-ferrous metals. In other words, a beep and dig machine. It gets great depth and the price is a bargain compared to many others, but, too frustrating to use where there's lots of iron targets.

 

[bigscoop]

Have an old headhunter pro diver that has seen better days and thinking about a new machine. Will be used almost exclusively at beaches/shallow saltwater west of Tampa. Looking at the Deus (not sure on version), Etrac, Excalibur 2 and of course the CTX 3030 (not sure I want to spend that much though).

Any recommendations from those of you that have hunted the same area or conditions?

Look at all the past recoveries posted in these forums and there will be one very constant machine, the Excal. It's been around a long time, it's a proven machine, and it performs well in most any beach environment. Most experienced hunters who own other machines still have and use an Excal, and there's a reason for that. There's a reason why it's still top dog on the beach. And if you eventually upgrade the machine with the recommended modifications there just isn't another machine that can offer you so much performance in a wide variety of conditions. It's the one beach & water machine where you really can't go wrong.