Best Underwater Metal Detector?
George
I am planning to buy the best hand-held (as oppossed to boat towed)
metal detector within the next few days. I don't want to waste time
or money on cheap crap, and I expect to pay as much as $1500-$2000 for
one.
I have reserached a few sites and believe maybe the JW Fisher Pulse 8X
may be the one ($1445 @ www.detection.com). Is this THE one to get
and is this THE best price?
What else do I need to buy? I have bought things before only to find
that I should have bought other accessories...please help me save some
aggravation and suggest some additional items for me. Thanks.
My plans for the detector are to find lost items from boaters and
other rec divers...lost watches, anchors, jewelry, knives, etc.
Mostly fresh water, but salt water in the future...does it matter?
Finally, what advice do YOU folks have that you wish you would have
known when you bought one of these gizmo's?
Thanks....
George (in Las Vegas)
PADI IDC Staff Instructor
(...yes, I want to look for stuff in Lake Mead mud!)
Briny Sea
photography instead. Problem with the JW Fisher Pulse 8 is it's too much of
a good thing. It's extremely sensitive to the smallest pieces of scrap
metal. It's more suited for experienced treasure hunters going over a site
that's been already picked over. I spent a lot of wasted time sifting and
fanning silt and dirt (I used it above water also) only to find that it was
picking up a beer can, pull tab, or small piece of scrap wire. If I were to
do it over, I would get something that has a discriminator, i.e. a feature
that will distinguish between old pull tabs or beer cans and actual coins,
rings or something worth digging for. I believe the other Fisher (not JW)
makes some good detectors with discriminators.
George <off...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:3931777f....@news.earthlink.net...
John
Check out alt.treasure.hunters and read some of the past messages. These guys
are mostly land detectorist, but a few do venture into the water. This forum is
loaded with info on metal detectors and the users there are extremely helpful.
There is an active thread 'Water hunters please help' that may yield some info
helpful to you.
Also look at some of these links:
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/electromag/java/detector/
http://www.garrett.com/index.html
http://members.tripod.com/~dlclark/902.html
http://pages.prodigy.com/QAZX57A/dainty.htm
http://www.tesoro.com/
http://www.whitesmetaldetectors.com/
http://chat.hotx.com/chat/Fishin#start
http://www.treasuresites.com/
http://www.treasurenet.com/
http://www.treasurenet.com/nwts/
http://treasurehunt.about.com/hobbies/treasurehunt/library/weekly/aa091898.htm
http://tthn.com/geotech/metdet/index.html
Recently (last fall) I bought a used Tesoro Stingray II, VLF detector ($750 list
- $300 used...,) but have not dived yet with it. The VLF detectors can
discriminate (disc) out some of the trash like pull tabs and nails but you also
lose some good stuff, like rings and other things. (From what I remember from
my research, the Pulse Induction MDs don't have the ability to disc very well.)
I have taken this detector to a few areas that would be impossible to run
without the ability to disc. And yes, I probably did miss some good stuff
because it was tuned out with the trash, but without it I would have gotten
tired of digging trash and probably not found anything.
Bear in mind, that when you ask who makes the BEST detector, it is sort of like
asking who has the best diving cert - PADI, NAUI, YMCA, etc... - or who makes
the best diving equipment, or who makes the best automobile... If you are only
going to use it in the water and never on land then that would narrow it down
some and just in salt water even a bit more. I got the Stingray II not because
it was the best at anything - IMHO, but because it was extremely good at a lot
of different things, it is water proof to 250 ft, and has a lifetime guarantee.
(Had cash not been a mitigating factor, I probably would have gotten several
different machines that excelled each in a different arena... )
(BTW, Stingray II is out of production - Rumor Control states replacement
imminent...)
I hope that this helps some. Several people gave me some "food for thought"
when I was searching for the "ultimate metal detector." ...just trying to keep
the candle burning...
John
jwcross at airmail dot net
Rudy Benner
"John" <"jwcross"@airmail.SPAMICIDE,net> wrote in message
news:7A008B4924267EEB.4B2EAD75...@lp.airnews.net...
John
John