New To Metal Detecting -Help

[lou0541]

Hello all first time posting, I live in Long Island N.Y. I p/u a Whites Coinmaster detector. Its great for the beach found a lot of coins , but i tried to go into to saltwater but i get crazy reading drive me nuts so i stay on the sand. Any suggestion what i should try or is this detector is only go for sand.

 

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[fishbone3d]

Pretty much for soil and sand. The salt water, and high mineral concentrations will bug it out. There are detectors especially made for saltwater. By the way, is it the old Coinmaster or the new one? I have used both. They can be very dandy. Just use a slow swing, and take your time. Dig any repeatable signal. A lot might be trash, but there are a lot of goodies out there. Remember, that the next pull tab might be a gold ring!

 

[relichunters]

Metal detectors don't like saltwater/sand.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Saltwater has minerals in it, minerals are metal so your detector is freaking out on all the metal it "thinks" it sees. A multifreq detector is much better in saltwater conditions. You can turn down your sensitivity which may or may not allow you to hunt in the water, works on some detectors but others it doesn't really work, you will be losing depth as you turn the sensitivity down...

 

[lou0541]

The coinmaster I have is the new version. It works great but I bump into other detectors they say that model won't find anything in saltwater. But I ignore them and keep trying anyway.

 

[TerryC]

The key phrase for salt water detectors is "pulse induction". The machines made specificaly for salt water will be a PI machine. Some others are not PI but if you want a machine built for salt water, get a PI machine. TTC

 

[fishbone3d]

My lovely girlfriend has a new Coinmaster Pro and an old classic one. Salt will definitely mess with them a lot. Try to go up past the beach on higher ground away from the salt. Do not let the people get you down on your detector. Ask treasuregirl25 about her detector. She has found many Indians and barber dimes with it at 6+ inches. Just take it slow, and keep away from the salt.

 

[njnydigger]

As others have told you, the Coinmaster really isn't suited specifically for beach hunting. However, that doesn't mean you can't use it on the beach with some degree of success

Try this...

1. I'd stay out of the water all-together. Work the 'wet water line' instead. It's the next best thing to actually being IN the water. Go to your beach at low tide (very important) and look for where the water just reaches the dry sand once it washes ashore. This will be your hunting zone. Wherever you see wet sand, detect it. But, don't go further out than where the water starts to wash over your coil. This is plenty far based on your equipment.

2. Make sure the machine is on while standing in the wet sand (duh ). It will probably be VERY noisy & chattery. Next thing is to turn down the sensitivity until you hear the machine quiet down or when the chattering stops or becomes manageable.

3. Walk the length of the wet water line and dig EVERY signal your detector gives you.

To be sure, your detector still might not operate totally quiet since it's really not a water unit, but, it should be stable enough to let you get your feet wet - pun intended Oh yeah, by turning the sensitivity down, you're gonna lose a lot of depth, but, there's no other choice if you want to use that unit in the wet sand. Besides, I've found some really good targets in the wet that weren't that deep

P.S. - At all costs, DO NOT GET THE CONTROL BOX WET

Hope it works for you & good luck!

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

PI's are perfect for clean beaches, but if your hunting a beach full of trash and tiny pieces of iron from nails, crab traps and every other piece of iron commonly found on a beach be prepared to dig a lot of holes real deep for it...

If it was me and I wanted to hunt saltwater beaches that are not real clean I would get an Excalibur, you will not dig any iron it is built for saltwater, waterproof to 220 foot...

 

[Terry Soloman]

Hello all first time posting, I live in Long Island N.Y. I p/u a Whites Coinmaster detector. Its great for the beach found a lot of coins , but i tried to go into to saltwater but i get crazy reading drive me nuts so i stay on the sand. Any suggestion what i should try or is this detector is only go for sand.

Very Low Frequency (VLF) and Pulse Induction (PI) metal detectors.

A "VLF" or very low frequency type metal detector, works extremely well on dry sand and in fresh water. It does not work as well in saltwater, or on wet ocean-water beaches. In highly conductive saltwater conditions pulse induction, or "PI," metal detectors excel. The VLF metal detector sends 4,000 - 90,000 radio waves per-second into the ground. When the radio waves hit something conductive - like an iron nail, gold ring, coin or aluminum pulltab, a magnetic field sets up around the object and a particular signal frequency is transmitted back to the detector's receiving coil. VLF metal detectors have the ability to "discriminate," or tell what type of metal they are seeing by "reading" the return signal frequency. An iron nail for example, has a different frequency than a silver coin. The processor in the metal detector knows the difference between the two, and can be set to remain silent when seeing the nail.

However, the radio waves bounce off everything that is conductive in the sand or water. This is why VLF detectors must be "ground balanced" to work effectively in highly mineralized soil, or on highly conductive saltwater beaches. You must tune or adjust the machine to see through the "fog," or white-noise created by the salt and iron in the sand or water you are detecting. Unfortunately, this usually leads to a loss of depth and stability.

A pulse induction or, "PI" metal detector, sends out hundreds of electric pulses-per-second, rather than thousands of radio waves. While PI metal detectors do not have the ability to discriminate between different types of metal, their powerful pulses go much deeper than the VLF signal, and eliminate the problem of mineral conductivity. A pulse induction detector measures the decay rate of the electronic pulses it sends out, and looks for anomalies. The strong electronic pulse is not conducted by the salt in the water or the iron in the black sands.

Think of a Navy ship "pinging" with its sonar for an enemy submarine. If there is nothing in the water the "ping" just continues on and fades out at the same measured rate. If the submarine is there, the signal decay is interrupted and bounces back to the sonar operator on the ship. Most successful ocean-beach detectorists, own both types of detector. The land-based VLF unit is preferred in the dry sand blanket area because you can use discrimination to knock out iron and still achieve superior depth without loss of stability. The pulse induction machine is used on the wet ocean- and black- sands, as well as in the surf.

I do not advocate buying one $1,400.00 Machine that is supposed to do it all - it doesn't. Good Luck!

 

[TerryC]

Hello all first time posting, I live in Long Island N.Y. I p/u a Whites Coinmaster detector. Its great for the beach found a lot of coins , but i tried to go into to saltwater but i get crazy reading drive me nuts so i stay on the sand. Any suggestion what i should try or is this detector is only go for sand.

Very Low Frequency (VLF) and Pulse Induction (PI) metal detectors.

A "VLF" or very low frequency type metal detector, works extremely well on dry sand and in fresh water. It does not work as well in saltwater, or on wet ocean-water beaches. In highly conductive saltwater conditions pulse induction, or "PI," metal detectors excel. The VLF metal detector sends 4,000 - 90,000 radio waves per-second into the ground. When the radio waves hit something conductive - like an iron nail, gold ring, coin or aluminum pulltab, a magnetic field sets up around the object and a particular signal frequency is transmitted back to the detector's receiving coil. VLF metal detectors have the ability to "discriminate," or tell what type of metal they are seeing by "reading" the return signal frequency. An iron nail for example, has a different frequency than a silver coin. The processor in the metal detector knows the difference between the two, and can be set to remain silent when seeing the nail.

However, the radio waves bounce off everything that is conductive in the sand or water. This is why VLF detectors must be "ground balanced" to work effectively in highly mineralized soil, or on highly conductive saltwater beaches. You must tune or adjust the machine to see through the "fog," or white-noise created by the salt and iron in the sand or water you are detecting. Unfortunately, this usually leads to a loss of depth and stability.

A pulse induction or, "PI" metal detector, sends out hundreds of electric pulses-per-second, rather than thousands of radio waves. While PI metal detectors do not have the ability to discriminate between different types of metal, their powerful pulses go much deeper than the VLF signal, and eliminate the problem of mineral conductivity. A pulse induction detector measures the decay rate of the electronic pulses it sends out, and looks for anomalies. The strong electronic pulse is not conducted by the salt in the water or the iron in the black sands.

Think of a Navy ship "pinging" with its sonar for an enemy submarine. If there is nothing in the water the "ping" just continues on and fades out at the same measured rate. If the submarine is there, the signal decay is interrupted and bounces back to the sonar operator on the ship. Most successful ocean-beach detectorists, own both types of detector. The land-based VLF unit is preferred in the dry sand blanket area because you can use discrimination to knock out iron and still achieve superior depth without loss of stability. The pulse induction machine is used on the wet ocean- and black- sands, as well as in the surf.

I do not advocate buying one $1,400.00 Machine that is supposed to do it all - it doesn't. Good Luck!

Very well put, Terry.... but still a big nutshell. For those new to the techknowlogy, read this post twice, or three times.... as many times as it takes to sink in. Very good post. TNX Terry. TTC

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

May be the case on VLF, but on the Multifreq detectors it isn't. All three of the 3 Minelab Excals and 2 Sovereign GTs, (one of which is custom waterproofed for use in salt water) that I own/owned find gold, palt, and silver jewelry in wet salt sand and salt water up to chest deep, and they will go deeper, I just don't....

I have hunted with hunters using PIs, seen them digging holes to china, I have scanned their target, got a null from 2 different directions and told them they were digging iron, but the continued to dig and low and behold their target was a tiny piece of iron... Never once has my detectors been wrong on a target it said was iron and I dug hundreds just to check over the last 5.5 years

I know hunters who own PIs, their prefered machines on beaches that are not clean is still the Excal or Sovereigns....Your average hunter just starting out in detecting is going to become extremely frustrated with a PI quickly unless he has a hunting partner that is very famuliar with PIs to hunt with, which most new hunters don't have....

I know at least 6 hunters that gave up on their PIs and went to Minelab's multifreq detectors...Not saying PIs aren't great, just that many of your average users will never take the time to master one, and besides a PI there are other great options for salt water beaches...

 

[njnydigger]

May be the case on VLF, but on the Multifreq detectors it isn't. All three of the 3 Minelab Excals and 2 Sovereign GTs, (one of which is custom waterproofed for use in salt water) that I own/owned find gold, palt, and silver jewelry in wet salt sand and salt water up to chest deep, and they will go deeper, I just don't....

I have hunted with hunters using PIs, seen them digging holes to china, I have scanned their target, got a null from 2 different directions and told them they were digging iron, but the continued to dig and low and behold their target was a tiny piece of iron... Never once has my detectors been wrong on a target it said was iron and I dug hundreds just to check over the last 5.5 years

I know hunters who own PIs, their prefered machines on beaches that are not clean is still the Excal or Sovereigns....Your average hunter just starting out in detecting is going to become extremely frustrated with a PI quickly unless he has a hunting partner that is very famuliar with PIs to hunt with, which most new hunters don't have....

I know at least 6 hunters that gave up on their PIs and went to Minelab's multifreq detectors...Not saying PIs aren't great, just that many of your average users will never take the time to master one, and besides a PI there are other great options for salt water beaches...

Uh-oh, I sense a debate coming on

 

[Terry Soloman]

May be the case on VLF, but on the Multifreq detectors it isn't. All three of the 3 Minelab Excals and 2 Sovereign GTs, (one of which is custom waterproofed for use in salt water) that I own/owned find gold, palt, and silver jewelry in wet salt sand and salt water up to chest deep, and they will go deeper, I just don't....

I have hunted with hunters using PIs, seen them digging holes to china, I have scanned their target, got a null from 2 different directions and told them they were digging iron, but the continued to dig and low and behold their target was a tiny piece of iron... Never once has my detectors been wrong on a target it said was iron and I dug hundreds just to check over the last 5.5 years

I know hunters who own PIs, their prefered machines on beaches that are not clean is still the Excal or Sovereigns....Your average hunter just starting out in detecting is going to become extremely frustrated with a PI quickly unless he has a hunting partner that is very famuliar with PIs to hunt with, which most new hunters don't have....

I know at least 6 hunters that gave up on their PIs and went to Minelab's multifreq detectors...Not saying PIs aren't great, just that many of your average users will never take the time to master one, and besides a PI there are other great options for salt water beaches...

Great post! It comes down to personal likes and dislikes. My PI unit is going to give me anywhere from 1/2" - 3" in additional depth over most - if not all, multi-freq VLF machines. I own several Minelab GPX machines, including the 5000, so I am not knocking Minelab or multi-freq units. I would rather dig iron, and get deeper. For me, and in my head, discrimination is for the dry sand.

 

[njnydigger]

May be the case on VLF, but on the Multifreq detectors it isn't. All three of the 3 Minelab Excals and 2 Sovereign GTs, (one of which is custom waterproofed for use in salt water) that I own/owned find gold, palt, and silver jewelry in wet salt sand and salt water up to chest deep, and they will go deeper, I just don't....

I have hunted with hunters using PIs, seen them digging holes to china, I have scanned their target, got a null from 2 different directions and told them they were digging iron, but the continued to dig and low and behold their target was a tiny piece of iron... Never once has my detectors been wrong on a target it said was iron and I dug hundreds just to check over the last 5.5 years

I know hunters who own PIs, their prefered machines on beaches that are not clean is still the Excal or Sovereigns....Your average hunter just starting out in detecting is going to become extremely frustrated with a PI quickly unless he has a hunting partner that is very famuliar with PIs to hunt with, which most new hunters don't have....

I know at least 6 hunters that gave up on their PIs and went to Minelab's multifreq detectors...Not saying PIs aren't great, just that many of your average users will never take the time to master one, and besides a PI there are other great options for salt water beaches...

Great post! It comes down to personal likes and dislikes. My PI unit is going to give me anywhere from 1/2" - 3" in additional depth over most - if not all, multi-freq VLF machines. I own several Minelab GPX machines, including the 5000, so I am not knocking Minelab or multi-freq units. I would rather dig iron, and get deeper. For me, and in my head, discrimination is for the dry sand.

I've never used a P.I. machine myself, however, from what I understand, an experienced person using a P.I. machine will be able to 'hear' iron in the tone. Is this not a form of discrimination?! If a person can indeed develop this skill, the hands-down winner would definitely have to be the P.I. unit. If not, as others have mentioned, it more or less comes down to personal tastes

 

[Frankn]

There are 2 basic types of detectors. TR & PI. The Transmitter/ Receiver type do not have to be VLF, but this group includes them.
The TR type constantly send out a signal and receive the signal. The PI type send out a pulse and receives the pulse. With most you can set the pulse delay.

The TR type with displays are calabrated on the basis of coin size and composition. It does not really know what metal is down there. It is all in the processing circuits. It sends out a signal, lets call it 100%. you ground balance either manually or automatically. Depending on the ground type you may be eliminating say 5% of the return signal. The return signal is based on the surface area of the target and the medal type. That's why a coin on edge will seem to vanish, the surface area has diminished. Now in the case of the gold chain, the surface area is so small as to not even be noticed. With coins the return signals are programmed into the detector. It's all really guesswork on the part of the detector program.
Because the PI only has to contend with one signal at a time, it can go deeper.
OK that's my theory, let's hear the theory of yours . But back it up!
Frank

 

[lou0541]

Wow thanks for all the info ill take it slow and see what happens and have fun. Ill post with good findings thanks again