Cobra Beach Magnet - First Impressions

[DigEmAll]

I have been using a Cobra Beach Magnet for the past couple of weeks and have been having really good luck with it. I live in the middle of a really large beach (read desert) and I have already found some really nice finds... nothing really of value, but nice. As for the detector, I can assure you that it can, and will, locate a crushed 1970's model Pepsi can in sand about 14" deep! I bought the Cobra to hunt the washes and holes that have water in them, but I have been hunting it in general just as a evaluation. I agree that it is quite adequate. Worth the $350.00? We'll see. I took all the stickers off so that it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, and it looks much better. But it's overall appearance is a little lacking... typical China build quality. It does have a five year warranty, and the controls can't be any easier. Even the preset levels are pretty close to ideal. Ask me again in a year what I think about it. For now, no complaints. Oh, just one... pinpointing underwater would be a gift from God. How do those surf hunters do it?!?!?

 

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[Monty]

I went out today and the lake level was up, muddy with lots of debris from recent heavy rains in Kansas. I got to Lake Keystone which is built at the convergence of the Arkansas and Cimarron Rivers. The beach I went to is on the Cimarron side of the lake and it drains a lot of red sand and clay so the water was pretty muddy. I didn't get out much past my knees and not being able to see the coil was a problem. I had to scoot my digging tool along the bottom until I hit my coil and then try to scoop beneath it. Having that much trouble with a little muddy water I don't know how in the world those surf hunters do it! I think the Cobra would work just fine for what you bought it for. Considering that the next best thing is about $800.00 it should be well worth $350.00. And if it gets a little beat up from using it and hauling it around so what, you're not out that much. JIM

 

[JakePhelps]

Yea pinpointing underwater is kinda hard, specially in waist deep water with waves hitting you and knocking you down Its kinda hit or miss for me, takes me like 6 scoops to get the item half the time

 

[DigEmAll]

Well, I had a pretty good day with the Cobra. Got an 1898 "V" nickel and a 190? IH cent! Pulled the "V" nickel up from about five inches in dry sand (actually it was really fine gravel) and the penny was about two feet from it at about three inches. Both were probably dropped at the same time. My quest for Camp Harry J. Jones continues. After some searching, and some help from the folks on here, I have located the area of the camp, but there is NOTHING there to place where anything was. No foundations or pits, just flat desert. While looking at satelite images of the area I found an old dump, so that was where I went today. All but a very few of the bottles are cork bottles, so I'm guessing 20's or 30's. Guys, you wont believe me if I tell you how many pieces of wire and nails cover the ground around this place. Unless someone knows a way to discriminate a nickel from a bucket of nails, it is hopeless to try to hunt this place. The junk covers about five acres or so, so I had to hunt the areas around it. It looks like someone took every nail and piece of wire in the county and spread them over the five acres with a tractor and rake. Neither my White nor my Fisher will even touch this spot! (in all fairness, they are a little older) It was interesting though... the Cobra will ALMOST do it! I tossed the nickel and IH cent in the mix (on top of the dirt) and although the cent barely had a prayer, I could almost tune out the junk and pull out the nickel. It would still hit on the nails and wire, but would give a nice loud tone over the nickel. I'll keep you posted on my progress with the Cobra. By the way, this is week four and I am still on the original batteries.

Until next time,
Happy Hunting!

 

[Monty]

A nickel has always been the hardest coin to find for me since on all my detectors it rings up just like a pull tab! For some reason dimes bring the loudest response, and quarters are barely there and you would think it wasn't a legit target if your LCD wasn't showing quarter, Now a silver quarter, that's a different story. It will nearly blow your headphones off, but so will a piece of aluminum lawn cabbage! I guess if detectors were perfect and identified the target 100% of the time this hobby would be pretty boring as everything would have been picked up and toted off years ago! We are getting close to 100% perfection but for now it's the mystique of what will I find that is keeping me interested! JIM

 

[Mike in Fla.]

Great report Jim, I bought a Cobra a few weeks ago, but have yet to use it. You've given me the inspiration to get out this afternoon and use it. I will take my mask and snorkel.
I hope it works as well for me as it did for you.

Mike

 

[DigEmAll]

So, I had some time to kill the other day before a doctor appointment. So I look around and there is an old baseball field just down the street. Just so happened that I still had the Cobra in the truck from a prior trip. I only had about twenty minutes or so but I thought I'd give it a shot. So I grabbed the detector and head off down the street. I get there and the first place that I see is the old ticket box so I thought that would be a good place to start. I turn on the detector and move it about a foot and get a hit. Dug a buffalo nickel (can't see a date on it) about half an inch below the surface, right under the ticket window about nine inches from the wall. With a smile on my face, I started hunting again. With only fifteen minutes to kill, I found 17 cents in clad, and the buffalo nickel. Not to shabby for a twenty minute hunt that didn't cover more than a spot about the size of my living room! More later... right now I have an appointment with a lawn mower... wish me luck!

 

[Mike in Fla.]

I still haven't been to the beach with the cobra yet, but my wife and I took it to an elementary school. The first thing I noticed was how heavy it seemed. I'm not sure if it's not balanced right, or if I'm getting weaker. We found just a lot of clad ($2.50) but also found a canadian dollar. That's the first one of those I've found. Not too much to get excited about. I still am eager to get to the beach with the cobra.

 

[DigEmAll]

I did manage to dunk the Cobra on Wednesday... EXACTLY why I bought it! Walking down a wash after a good rain, checking all the holes of water. I try to get a jump on everyone else and hunt while the water is still there. The running water turns everything over. Anyway, I was coming down a steep draw and WHOOPSSSS there I go! I ended up in water up to the family jewels and the Cobra proved that it is water tight! I have had to coil wet plenty, but this was it's first swimming trip! Glad it wasn't my White!

 

[DigEmAll]

The very first let down.... other than the cosmetic appearance.

I was tightening the wingnut on the plastic 1/4 inch bolt that holds the coil on and it snapped.? So, I was looking and couldn't locate another one like it anywhere.? As a quick-fix you can drill it out a bit larger and buy a 3/8 inch toilet seat bolt and nut from the local hardware store.? It'll work like a charm!!!? And then you won't have to look hard to find another one, although this one should be harder to break as it is larger.

 

[DigEmAll]

This is a re-post from the new topic in the same forum. Posted here to rap things up with this topic.

Ok, here's the highs and lows for the Cobra Beach Magnet.

I bought the machine to survive getting wet, which it has with ZERO problems.? I was a bit let down by the cosmetic appearance of the machine because it looked cheaply made.? After six months of hard use that include it being completely drowned and dropped and bashed, it hasn't had one problem.? I have found that 8 AA batteries (Energizer 2200 mA Rechargables) will last a very long time in this machine.? I guess that could relate to the lack of bells and whistles.? The coil is held on with a 1/4 inch plastic bolt, which I over tightened and snapped.? I couldn't find a replacement like it, so I purchased a PVC toilet seat bolt and drilled the coil and shaft to 3/8 inch and it has worked perfectly since.? There is a pretty basic Discrimination and Depth setup, but they work just like any other machine's.? There is only one tone that either hits or misses, but it seems sensitive enough for the task but takes some getting used to.? The coil has exposed epoxy on the bottom, but it doesn't seem to be wearing very much and I do hunt in some very rocky areas.? It lacks a pinpoint function, but by "X-ing" the target, I can usually get really close.? A double tone indicates that the target is close and single tones are usually at least a couple inches down.?

It has found silver dimes at five inches, and quarters at a solid six inches.? It has a 10.5 inch coil and is not very sensitive to small targets, the smallest I have dug are .22 long rifle casings at less than an inch.? It will get deep with this same coil though.? I dug a crushed Pepsi can at about 14 inches in a wash.? It also found lots of other coins and relics and I didn't feel as though I was missing things I would have found with the White or Fisher.? In the coin garden, it performs on the same level as the other two.? It has yet to give me a false hit or have problems in heavy mineralized areas.

The head phones are indeed water proof, but I hate that I can't swap them out to another set.? They do work well, and are plenty loud.? I usually hunt quite areas and when I do I always wear them around my neck.? In noisy areas, you can still hear them, but I usually turn the volume down and put them on my ears.? I am pretty tall with long arms and found that the cord for the head phones is a very little bit to short.? A little reasonable stretching fixed this problem.? I also didn't like the fact that the cord attached to the front of the machine, the "too short" problem would not exist if it came out the back.?

When the low battery tone is heard, you can still hunt, but I never ran them until they were dead so I don't know how much time you have left.? The batteries ran the machine for about ten, five to six hour hunts before the low battery tone was heard.? That is a little better than advertised.

It is marginally heaver than like machines but after a couple hunts, you never notice the difference.? The coil is also a bit heavy, but it is slightly bouyant in water, where it is intended to be used.? The shaft is steel (I think) and is really solid and strong, no complaints there.? It might be aluminum, but the finish is hard enough that I have yet to scratch it, but it feels like steel.? There is no rust on it anywhere.

The appearance when it arrives is cheesy and cheap looking.? After removing the stickers from the sides, it looks much better and a lot less "cheap" to the crowd.? It now has the normal scratches and wear and the housing is holding up very well.? It now looks as respectable as any other well used machine.

In summary, NOTHING on this machine is interchangable with anything else out there.? No coil swap or headphone swaps.? It is a sealed unit.? It is much better built that I originally thought.? The only thing that broke was totally my fault; the coil mounting bolt.? No malfunctions of any kind.? And it did hunt well with lots of finds to back it up.? It will not find ANYTHING smaller than a BB, but will reliably find buckshot everytime.? It will discriminate out nails and pulltabs, but you will lose that end of the spectrum.? It will find gold and silver at the factory recomended settings, but also tabs.

In all, I would say this is a much better machine than I thought when it arrived, it's easy to learn and does do what the ads say it will do.? Is it a $399.95 machine?? Yes and no.? As far as other machines in the underwater detector field go, I will refrain from answering.? As far as land machines go, it works as well as my other two that cost more, although they do have more bells and whistles.? I have verged on abuse with this machine and it held up rather well.? I would say it will do well in the "used" markets.? Save yourself some money and buy a used one on E-Bay.? If you have any questions, PM me.

Happy Hunting!!!