Help in learning to detect.

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MassRelicHunter

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I just took out my Cobra Beach Magnet for a trial spin. After 4 hours on a beach in Cape Cod I found-nothing. Well bottles caps 1/2 inch down and a beer can don't count. I was very frustrated. The Kellyco book gave me zero direction and my local library had books on metal detecting from the 1980's. I called the company because it has no depth finder, no indicator - I have no idea how deep I must dig or where to dig. I did a test on an open 6 inch hole with a large key and it failed to detect it. I was crushed. The guy said try "xing" but couldn't explain why it didn't find a key in an open hole. He also said "you cant find anything just buried, it doesn't work that way" HUH?

I have looked for clubs near me to no avail. I scoured the web for advice and came here. Is there anyone here who can give a novice some helpful tips on basic detecting and this type device? My wife bought it as a gift doing her own research. I've read good and bad on it.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 

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Welcome to TreasureNet, MassRelicHunter


I'm not Familiar with the Beach Magnet,
However Patience & Practice are the Keys.

Most Detectors Including My Minelabs Will Not Detect a Freshley
Buried Object as Well or as Deep as a Long time Buried Object.

If your Finding Bottle Caps, it's Only a Matter of Time,
Till your Finding the Goodies.

Just Remember Swing Slowly , Wear Headphones, & Dig those
weak Signals.

After awhile You'll be able to Guess Size & Depth of the Objects, just by Sound.

Best of Luck !

Jeff
 

The reason a fresh burried object gives a weaker signal than a long time burried object is that the long burried object tends to mineralize the soil around it as the soil leaches the minerals out of the object . That gives you a bigger target as you are detecting the soil surrounding the target well as the target itself. Reguardless the detector should still pick up the key. By x-ing out the target you just do your normal sweep from left to right andright to left when you get a signal or a beep you go over the targetforward and backward till you get the signal /beep and the target is where the signals cross -there is your x . good luck. Suwannee Pirate
 

jake (rudy)phellps has a cobra ...pm him
 

I had a Cobra Beach Magnet....notice I said had! I didn't like it at all and found it wasn't of the quality and reliability I had expected. It is a bottom of the line Chinese import and that says a lot. I wound up trading it for a Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II, that is American made and a very good PI underwater detector. If you are primarily a dry land hunter and mostly coin shoot I think you can get by with a low cost, bottom of the line detector. If you are going for water hunting, I think you should get all the detector you can afford because water hunting is a different proposition all together. I have found water hunting to be much more difficult and harder to learn. Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance. Monty
 

I am not familiar with the Beach Magnet either. However a freshly buried item won't be detected very deep. Maybe your key was discriminated out. Turn down the disc. control and run sensitivity higher if you can do it and still have a stable sound.

Find a clean piece of ground and lay some different coins down about a foot apart include a nail, bottle top, pull tab, small piece of foil and run your coil over them. Turn the knobs and keep checking till you get an idea of what settings you need for each item. When hunting, move the coil back and forth infront of you keeping it about an inch off the ground and level. Over lap your passes so as to not miss much ground. Your coil will detect items across the bottom of the coil the whole area, but about 8 inches down the area the machine see's is lots smaller. Think of the detection field as an inverted funnel. A good book to read to unerstand how to detect is "DETECTORIST" by Robert H. Sickler. This is one book of many. I would also suggest you subscribe to Western & Eastern Treasures magazine for knowledge on how-to. Also check out the websites by the major detector manufactures as they have lots of info. Good luck and this is a good place to ask questions.

Sandman
 

I was considering buying the Beach Magnet with 10" coil for a waterproof unit. It is advertised as a $1000 unit on sale at Kellyco for $399.95. I have heard nothing good about Kellyco on this forum, but the price sounds right. It only has 3 controls. I am guessing but I believe they would be set like this for maximum depth.
1- turn the "trash eliminator"(discrimination) all the way down to 0.
2-"detection Depth" is probably your sensitivity or tuner control. Turn until you have a very slight sound. This is your threshold.
3-"volume" turn as loud as you can stand.
I don't have a lot of experience with different units but try these settings..
I hope it came with directions. Let us know how it turns out.
Jake, we could use your help.
 

bigcypresshunter said:
I was considering buying the Beach Magnet with 10" coil for a waterproof unit. It is advertised as a $1000 unit on sale at Kellyco for $399.95. I have heard nothing good about Kellyco on this forum, but the price sounds right. It only has 3 controls. I am guessing but I believe they would be set like this for maximum depth.
1- turn the "trash eliminator"(discrimination) all the way down to 0.
2-"detection Depth" is probably your sensitivity or tuner control. Turn until you have a very slight sound. This is your threshold.
3-"volume" turn as loud as you can stand.
I don't have a lot of experience with different units but try these settings..
I hope it came with directions. Let us know how it turns out.
Jake, we could use your help.
Click to expand...

I believe this time last year Kellyco had these on sale for around $200. Not sure, but I think a couple members bought one. I think when you buy an underwater detector you're gonna get what you paid for!

HH 8) surfrat
 

I believe this time last year Kellyco had these on sale for around $200. Not sure, but I think a couple members bought one. I think when you buy an underwater detector you're gonna get what you paid for!

HH 8) surfrat

[/quote]

This is supposed to be a $1000 unit? Can we believe Kellyco?
 

This is supposed to be a $1000 unit? Can we believe Kellyco?
[/quote]

I've purchased some items from Kellyco with no problems, but never bought a detector from them though. I have purchased the last few detectors from a Mom & Pop store out of Mississippi. If you have any problems or questions, he always picks up the phone, and bends over backward to help.

HH 8) surfrat
 

I bought the one I had from Kellyco last summer for around $300.00. Same hype, $1000.00 machine, etc. But they didn't say it was made in China. It definately is not a thousand dollar machine. Two other members of the forum that I know of besides me bought them and sent them back for various reasons. Jake kept his and still has it for all I know. I think there is one other forum member that may have one. Of course we all got stuck with a restocking fee and shipping. Someone suggested they had a "thing" going with them. I don't know? The fittings are all glued together plastic. You cannot remove the headphones or coil and there's no way to change coils if there was a coil available which there was not at the time. It had a descrimination control knob that worked sometimes, but a lot of the time you had to keep cranking it up and down. It had the fit, look and feel of a "toy" machine. I only took it out twice for very short time frames and didn't find anything but junk. I went over the same area with a different detector and found some keepers. This is just my impression of the one I had. Someone else may have been perfectly happy with it and that's fine and I hope it works for them. Monty
 

Thanks Monty, I will not buy one now that you have explained. Maybe it is OK for a beginner? I don't know? :-\
 

Thanks to everyone who offered good advice. My wife did the research on the machine and while it may not be the best, I am truly a beginner at detecting. Historical surveying and archaeology are a different story but as for using a detector I am green green! :) I will try everyone's advice. My last question is this: The limited instructions say sweep left to right 1 inch of ground without scrubbing at 2' per second. Is this too slow? Too fast? It says its an "ultra slow" type device.

ps When I dig I tend to dig like I am excavating a site - careful layers in semetrical squares or grids. Is this right or should I just start digging holes like a dog burying a bone? LOL
 

MassRelicHunter said:
Thanks to everyone who offered good advice. My wife did the research on the machine and while it may not be the best, I am truly a beginner at detecting. Historical surveying and archaeology are a different story but as for using a detector I am green green! :) I will try everyone's advice. My last question is this: The limited instructions say sweep left to right 1 inch of ground without scrubbing at 2' per second. Is this too slow? Too fast? It says its an "ultra slow" type device.

ps When I dig I tend to dig like I am excavating a site - careful layers in semetrical squares or grids. Is this right or should I just start digging holes like a dog burying a bone? LOL
Click to expand...

I haven't done much detecting since the 80's, except in the water and on the beach. You should be able to pinpoint the target. On the beach, I just scoop it out and check the pile of sand with the MD. I am sure others will be able to help you more.
 

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