Looking for feedback on buying a pulse detector

[Electro]

I currently have an explorer 2 and I am very happy with it however I want to buy a water detector that I can take in the surf without worrying about dropping it. I had decided that I was going to buy and excalibur with the 10 inch coil but I have been reading some very positive feedback about the pulse detectors. It seems that most of the feedback I see is about the Whites and Minelab pulse machines? Any feedback you can give me will be appreciated. I am looking for something that I can set and not have to tinker with balancing. I also am interested in finding out about advances in pulse discrimination.

Thanks in Advance!

[Cfmct]

Welcome Electro... Quite a few people like to waterproof the detector you own and are very successful with it. It has a nickname the Excal Killer, I don't know why it must be a inside Minelab joke

You can go either way on your choices... The Excal is a deep machine but with the ability to discrim out iron where as the PI (pulse machine) doesn't and you will dig everything. I own a PI and sure I dig trash but in the water there is far less trash than on the wet/dry sand. I believe the PI is a little deeper than the Excal or a VLF machine and you really need depth with all the competition out there. It's where you hunt in the water that will decide how successful you are with a detector.. Personally I look for and hunt troughs carved out by currents and the wind...

I would not recommend a PI for hunting the dry sand ( too much trash) but in the water as far as I am concerned its tops.

[TonyinCT]

Craig is right on in what he says. Let me know if you need anymore help in your decision. 8)

[Mr.Bill]

Hi Electro

There are a number of good PI detectors on the market along with the Whites. Garrett manufactures a couple of them, Tesoro has one, Detector Pro has one, and I am the US distributor for the Eric Foster line of PI detectors. Eric Foster was the inventor of the PI detector.

Whites has a good pulse with the Surfmaster PI Pro, and it?s waterproof. There are no waterproof Minelab PI detectors. The Minelab PI units have their major design toward nugget hunting, although they will do a good job at dry beach hunting.

At the present time they are no PI detectors that will allow discrimination. The Minelab SD?s, and the GP?s will give back a bit of iron ID at shallower level detection. The Eric Foster Goldscan 5b will ID between ferrous & non-ferrous metals down to maximum depth, including beach hunting.

For maximum sensitivity using a PI in the salt water environment, the Foster Aquasearch would be the way to go. There is no other water PI on the market that has the sensitivity & depth of the Aquasearch. It?s the most expensive of the water units, coming in at $1500. The next step down, one might take a look at the Detector Pro Headhunter PI, the latest version. This can be had for about half the price of the Aquasearch, and it?s the second most sensitive PI detector for hunting gold jewelry. My next choice would be the Whites Surfmaster Pro, tied with the Garrett Mk II PI.

The use of the Minelab Excalibur may not be such a bad idea for you, because you are already familiar with the operation of the multi-frequency Minelab units. Your experience with the Explorer will aid you using the Excalibur. They are similar in many aspects of operation.

I hope I haven?t confused you, and if you would like any clarification or help in your choice, please feel free to contact me. My email is wcrabtre@comcast.net. My phone #508-457-4805

Have a nice day

Mr. Bill
http://www.surfscanner.com

[Florida Tabdigger]

I have had the Whites Surfmaster PI for 8 years and am happy with it. It finds things as deep as I care to dig.(and thats pretty deep) Iron rusts away pretty fast in salt water.