Metal Marauder
Elite Member
First of all, let me preface my remarks by saying that 2 and a half weeks is probably not enough time to give an accurate review about the remarkable capabilities of the White's Surf PI Dual Field. Secondly, I am a novice detectorist, so my insight into the more technical aspects of the Dual Field will also be limited. With that being said, this is my review...
Without a doubt, the White's Surf PI Dual Field has what it takes to be one of the best water detectors on the market. I was expecting to find plenty of coins (which I did) and eventually find the good stuff...jewelry, silver and gold. What I wasn't expecting was to find so much of it so quickly. So, how much of it is the ability of the detector to find the good stuff and how much of it is the fact that I might be in a place that is basically virgin territory to metal detectors? Probably a little of both.
I did what everyone said to do...dig all the targets. I dug so much the first day (I went out on an empty stomach with little hydration or sleep) that I got woozy after an hour and had to quit I easily dug quarters at 18" and dug other targets that were even deeper and eventually had to give up. Still wondering what was so deep? I found gold on my second hunt of the first day of owning my Dual Field. I also had a 5 ring day somewhere along the end of my first week or the beginning of my second week. I found so many rings, I started calling my Dual Field "Ring Slayer" and my scoop "Sir Scoops-A-Lot All in all, I have to give the Dual Field a resounding 10 out of 10 for sniffing out a lot of rings, jewely, silver, gold and coins.
As far a durability and ruggedness, I have to say my coil possibly failed in the middle of the third week. I should know more about this next week as the Dual Field is on it's way to Sweet Home Oregon for warranty repairs. I sent it Express mail from Guam and it was $71 bucks one way I also have to pay return shipping, so repairs suck. If I just got a bum coil, then I am a little ticked off that I'm going to be out $125-$150 in shipping costs. I'm sure if I was stateside, then the shipping would have been way more reasonable. Could I have done something to cause the coil to fail? I don't think so, but I have some thoughts on that (which I have already shared). I tended to lean on the Dual Field while scooping for stabilization. Maybe the downward pressure caused the coil to fail. It's not like I put my whole body weight on it, but I used it to stabilize myself. Also, as mentioned before, the velcro strap near the coil doesn't hold enough slack in the wire, and when the coil flexes, then the wire gets too much tension. Maybe that caused the coil to fail? Or maybe it was just a bad coil. I know the Dual Field can be a long lasting detector, as exhibited by Cupajo and some of the other vets. Even Craig had an initial coil fail, only to have it replaced without further incident. So right now I am giving the dual field a 7 out of 10 for durability and ruggedness based on my experience and what kind of life I have seen others get out of their machines. I will probably revisit the durability and ruggedness issue further down the road. I will certainly make some modifications to the way I use the Dual Field when I receive it back. Simple stuff like securing the wire with black electrical tape, using a coil stabilization bracket and letting go of the detector while I am scooping.
So now on to the pictures of the good stuff. First picture is of the 14 rings I found (back row junk, middle two rows .925 silver and first row 18k and 10k). Second picture 9 pieces of .925 silver. Third picture the yellow stuff 18k, 10k and gold-plated. Hell yeah I'm counting the gold-plated (rookies get to count the gold plated for at least the first 90 days ). Forth picture is all the junk, one nice stainless in there with Chinese or Japanese inscription. Last picture is a couple tags, a game token and a beaver tail. Using the treasure calculator (Dendritics) my finds for the 2.5 weeks of hunting (silver, gold and clad) totaled up to $194 dollars. I hope when I get the Dual Field back I can start posting some cool finds again. Thanks for looking and keep stackin' that silver and gold everybody
Without a doubt, the White's Surf PI Dual Field has what it takes to be one of the best water detectors on the market. I was expecting to find plenty of coins (which I did) and eventually find the good stuff...jewelry, silver and gold. What I wasn't expecting was to find so much of it so quickly. So, how much of it is the ability of the detector to find the good stuff and how much of it is the fact that I might be in a place that is basically virgin territory to metal detectors? Probably a little of both.
I did what everyone said to do...dig all the targets. I dug so much the first day (I went out on an empty stomach with little hydration or sleep) that I got woozy after an hour and had to quit I easily dug quarters at 18" and dug other targets that were even deeper and eventually had to give up. Still wondering what was so deep? I found gold on my second hunt of the first day of owning my Dual Field. I also had a 5 ring day somewhere along the end of my first week or the beginning of my second week. I found so many rings, I started calling my Dual Field "Ring Slayer" and my scoop "Sir Scoops-A-Lot All in all, I have to give the Dual Field a resounding 10 out of 10 for sniffing out a lot of rings, jewely, silver, gold and coins.
As far a durability and ruggedness, I have to say my coil possibly failed in the middle of the third week. I should know more about this next week as the Dual Field is on it's way to Sweet Home Oregon for warranty repairs. I sent it Express mail from Guam and it was $71 bucks one way I also have to pay return shipping, so repairs suck. If I just got a bum coil, then I am a little ticked off that I'm going to be out $125-$150 in shipping costs. I'm sure if I was stateside, then the shipping would have been way more reasonable. Could I have done something to cause the coil to fail? I don't think so, but I have some thoughts on that (which I have already shared). I tended to lean on the Dual Field while scooping for stabilization. Maybe the downward pressure caused the coil to fail. It's not like I put my whole body weight on it, but I used it to stabilize myself. Also, as mentioned before, the velcro strap near the coil doesn't hold enough slack in the wire, and when the coil flexes, then the wire gets too much tension. Maybe that caused the coil to fail? Or maybe it was just a bad coil. I know the Dual Field can be a long lasting detector, as exhibited by Cupajo and some of the other vets. Even Craig had an initial coil fail, only to have it replaced without further incident. So right now I am giving the dual field a 7 out of 10 for durability and ruggedness based on my experience and what kind of life I have seen others get out of their machines. I will probably revisit the durability and ruggedness issue further down the road. I will certainly make some modifications to the way I use the Dual Field when I receive it back. Simple stuff like securing the wire with black electrical tape, using a coil stabilization bracket and letting go of the detector while I am scooping.
So now on to the pictures of the good stuff. First picture is of the 14 rings I found (back row junk, middle two rows .925 silver and first row 18k and 10k). Second picture 9 pieces of .925 silver. Third picture the yellow stuff 18k, 10k and gold-plated. Hell yeah I'm counting the gold-plated (rookies get to count the gold plated for at least the first 90 days ). Forth picture is all the junk, one nice stainless in there with Chinese or Japanese inscription. Last picture is a couple tags, a game token and a beaver tail. Using the treasure calculator (Dendritics) my finds for the 2.5 weeks of hunting (silver, gold and clad) totaled up to $194 dollars. I hope when I get the Dual Field back I can start posting some cool finds again. Thanks for looking and keep stackin' that silver and gold everybody