PI question?

Bigcypresshunter

Bigcypresshunter

Gold Member
Dec 15, 2004
27,000
3,339
South Florida
Detector(s) used
70's Whites TM Amphibian, HH Pulse, Ace 250
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Upvote 0
A simple suggestion, PI detectors are best for salt water where discrimination is not much of an issue since one should recover every signal anyway. As for how small a piece of iron/minerals will a PI find. VERY. It gets annoying after a while. The question is what type of hunting will you be doing? HH! Chris
 

I live in SE Florida. I used to MD in the early 1980's but gave it up. Last year I sold my white's coinmaster at the flea market because I wasn't using it anyway. Then 2 hurricanes hit the Treasure Coast. I then became suddenly interested again, and used my old whites amphibian. Works good in the water, but no depth on the beach and it picks up the tiniest little fish hook pieces. I don't care about discrimination on the Treasure Beaches because there is little trash. Does a PI have the same good depth on silver, gold or copper that it has on iron?
 

The depth is great in the water. On the beach they fall short. My PI is only good to around 5" on dry sand. That's why I have so many detectors I guess. No one detector does everything. I would say if your looking for a reasonably good detector for the FLA. I would look into a Soverign or the CZ 20. What price range are you looking for? Chris
 

I have a PI detector, a Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II.? It does have a certain degree of discrimination? contrary to popular opinion.? It does equally as well on dry land as in the water on freshwater beaches.? It does not tell you how deep your target might be which I see as the only drawback.? Most of the coins , jewelry and artifacts I have found were between four and six inches.? I have found a few items at or below a foot on dry sand.? ? After a foot I usually quit digging because of time constraints, so I don't really know how deep it will go.? Most of the coins I find are up around old fire pits in loose dry sand where they have camped overnight and had a bon fire.? I found two rings at the break line between the dry and wet sand.? This area was under water earlier in the year when the lake level was kept higher to prevent flooding below the dam.? I haven't had it in saltwater yet, but I have read several articles that highly praise it.? No doubt about it, you will dig a lot of trash with a PI detector,? but.......you will notice the better treasure hunters here on the forum all say, "dig everyting" .? I'm not saying it is or isn't any better than a VLF detector because I don't have a VLF to compare it to.? That's as fair a comparison as I can make without more details on what you want and expect your detector to do.? jimakaks.
 

I? believe in digging everything, but in some trashy places with time restraints it becomes impossible.
Thank you both for trying to help me. But I am still confused. One pulse unit falls short on the beach in depth, but another does equally well wet or dry. ???? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Maybe I have one of the early white's pulse units... Nice in saltwater but I only get 4-5 inches on the beach which? is not acceptable...and it picks up every tiny pin, wire or fishhook...
I'm looking for a waterproof unit that gets the best depth on gold or silver coins on the beach... I'm willing to pay $1000...it looks like I'll have to.... I'll buy a cheaper second unit for parks and discrimination if I need to.... Help..
 

Bigcypresshunter....

With a PI you will find staples and small iron but in my opinion its worth it... I have been a dirt digger for years and a couple months ago I decided I wanted to try water detecting and I purchased a White's PI PRO and I love it... I am beginning to love water detecting more than dirt digging.

Here are my finds from water detecting in saltwater for the past two months.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v634/Cfmct/P1010412.jpg
 

Well for $1000 you can obtain the Garrett Infinium. It is waterproof and has two tone ID. Yes you will still dig small iron.
http://www.goldminingcentre.com.au/articles/Infinium Discrimination.html
Remember like VLFs all PIs are different. The Whites surfmaster pro may detect a nickel at 10 to 11 inches while the Goldquest SS will detect this nickel at 14 to 15 inches. Why? The Goldquest operates at a delay of 10uS which is hotter on low conductive targets such as gold whereas the pro at 15uS. My GS 5 also operates at 10uS and is hotter on small gold than coins(It produces low tones on most iron and high tones on low conductors-(gold, lead, hardened steel)-however price tag of $2300).
In my opinion deepest beach PI under $1000 is the Goldquest SS-however not waterproof.

Hope this helps
George
 

FYI... My PI will detect a nickel down to than 14"... I tested it in Mr.Bills coin garden when I was up to see him on the Cape... In my opinion its the user of his detector who learns his machine who does the best... :) And many of my good finds were deeper than 14"s.. :)
 

In addition, the only reason I don't have the Infinium instead of the Sea Hunter is $$$$! I have about $730.00 invested in my detector where the Infinium almost doubles that. Yes, my machine will pick up hairpins and even small tacks and pins, but the signal is much weaker on these smaller items whereas a gold or silver object will almost blast your ears off.....the Sea Hunter doesn't have a volume control which it sorely needs. Be wary of cheap bargain detectors. Many are Chinese made and the quality and reliability is not as good as American made machines. Several of the bottom end detectors do not have removable coils or headphones so you are stuck with what comes with it. With my Sea Hunter I am able to switch out the coil or the headphones if I want to. I also bought a larger coil with mine for under water detecting that covers more area than the standard coil. The power pack can also be located in several positions on the rod or even belt mounted if need be. It also comes with a shorter shaft that is handier for SCUBA diving if that is your need. Just a few things I though of that might be useful. jimakaks
 

As with any detector, any question about any issue, the first and last answer will be," it's more about the person than the detector". Some people in different areas can get a garrett to do amaizing things, where I can't get them to do diddly. Are they better or am I just not doing something right?. Not at all. The variables involved in our combined hunts would fill volumes. Truth be told, right here, right now....... I am most comfortable with my minelab machines. That's because of my experiences. I could'nt get the same depth out of a Fisher or a Garrett if I had to. Not because of the detector, but because of me. Others wouldn't leave home without a Bounty Hunter detector. There is only one blanket answer for your question bigcypress, it's all about the person the ground conditions and the machine in unison. An older detector will not have the ability to discriminate like Kwikslvr's newer MK II. My Excaliber tone Id's. The 1280X is not very good in salt. The Infinium is deep, but expensive. And most importantly, We all have an opinion that may or may not work best for you. Good luck and HH! ;) Chris



P.s. minelab, minelab, minelab.....HEE HEEE HEEEEE! ;D
 

Amen Chris, we can only relate our personal experiences. In the end opinions are just opinions. JIMaka KS
 

Thanks for the info. I see that there are different opinions and there are different circumstances and there are different manufacturers.... that is why I get different answers...Let me try to simplify my question....Maybe there is no simple answer...Also I feel that since I am not a beginner, I am capable of getting the best out of a machine. My machine is just too old and was not made to use out of water, where I have no depth.
The question is: Hunting on the same salt water BEACH, by the same experienced user, with the same size loop, hunting for gold and silver COINS,(not manhole covers or other large iron items), on the same day, and everthing else being equal, What type of unit will give the best DEPTH?? Pulse or VLF??
Is there a factual answer? Help please.
 

I would say yes. I have so much faith in my Soverigns that I have two. Why do I like Minelab? Because I have had Fishers, Garretts, Whites, Compass, PI's, VLF's and multi's. By far I have had more personal success on the beach with Minelab. I can not tell you what to buy, but if it were not for the detectors that I have now I would have given up several years ago. I wish you luck and Keep us informed. HH! Chris
 

southern gent said:
The depth is great in the water. On the beach they fall short. My PI is only good to around 5" on dry sand. That's why I have so many detectors I guess. No one detector does everything. I would say if your looking for a reasonably good detector for the FLA. I would look into a Soverign or the CZ 20. What price range are you looking for? Chris
Click to expand...
Southern gent: you answered my question on PI beach DEPTH earlier and I appreciated it. But I"m confused by some of the other posts. Maybe other owners could express their factual opinions on saltwater PI BEACH DEPTH of their units.
 

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