Beach Hunting Strategy

George

Good point, i will be pushing the same around, this coming season, should i use the favored surf Pi Df, in the low tide line , or the CTX3030 with the 17, or the Excalibur 1000, i think the season has a lot to do with it, the Excalibur's will do well when there( is more depositor's) , as the DF in the off season is best since the fresh drop's are not available, deep is better, sand movement in the off season plays a big roll to, i always liked the big yellow DF coil for coverage, depth, and it doesn't miss the small gold, for anyone that has owned one, you can relate to searching through the piles, for minutes to try and find, what the machine hit on , i would say George it all depend's on the time of the year, the condition's, as to what detector, you pick up, and of coarse the find's , it's what ever your coil goes over that day, stop beating yourself up on this, you do really well, everyone on here goes through slumps, Starting May, i plan to make , great find's, hang in there , up's or down's, i will live with it, happy hunting, Earl

I have only found two gold chains with the Xcal and neither of them will give even a hint of a signal with the Xcal once I remove the pendant that was on them. Even with machine in pin point and sensitivity turned to nearly max I do not get a signal. Nearly everything I have read says that the Xcal is not good on gold chains appears to me to be true.

However I have found a 1 gram charm that gave a weak signal.

My Sand Shark, which I'm sure isn't the best PI out there, picks up chains. I have only picked one up with my CZ even though I've hunted with it more and it was a monster silver one. Now that I have an Excal that I'm learning we shall see. I still think my SS will be far superior to the Excal on chains and small gold based on the ear rings stud sized items that I get constantly. And I don't mind the extra digging either.

Hi George,
In the gold prospecting game, it is the operator who determines success, not the detector that is used. The trick is knowing your machine and using it within the design limits. I suspect beach detecting is the same, although you throw in the variable of changing conditions. A multi frequency machine rules the day on trashy beaches here in S. Cal, but those beaches are few and far between. I think the pulse is the way to go more often than not, especially when you have found a "patch" and run over the ground that one last time listening for those faint, deep signals.

Jerry

FelixtheCat said:

My Sand Shark, which I'm sure isn't the best PI out there, picks up chains. I have only picked one up with my CZ even though I've hunted with it more and it was a monster silver one. Now that I have an Excal that I'm learning we shall see. I still think my SS will be far superior to the Excal on chains and small gold based on the ear rings stud sized items that I get constantly. And I don't mind the extra digging either.

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Never found a chain without a pendant, but i used one of my wife's 18k ultra thin (<1mm) box chains and found my new Sea Hunter MK2 (PI) and Explorer XS with the 10" coil would hit on it, but not the older Sea Hunter XL500, Explorer II, CZ or Excal. The CTX hits in one direction only, and one time only.

BTW, all the machines would hit on an earing back, although it had to be pretty close to the coil on some of them.

Surf Master said:

Gthe big yellow DF coil for coverage, depth, and it doesn't miss the small gold, for anyone that has owned one, you can relate to searching through the piles, for minutes to try and find, what the machine hit on...

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Yup, the one scenario where you consider bringing a pin pointer to the beach! BTW, you'll find yourself doing that with the CTX. Last weekend I found 4 rivets, the ones on a pair of jeans. Darn things fall right through the scoop holes...over, and over, and over...

Well add some salt water and see how your machine reacts to any chain. Cant tell you how many crosses ive found WITHOUT the chains. I think a lot of it is getting you head on straight when you get out there..... have a plan and dont second guess yourself. Hitting the right spot, keeping the coil low and covering an area as efficient as you can is about as good as it gets. Sometimes just getting lucky is as good as it gets too. I try not to stress..... put in more and more hours.... or second guess my machine. I used to run marathons for the Army..... one of the worst things we could do was chase miles.... keep trying to run more and more. Sometimes your best days are when you back off a bit and enjoy the hunt.

Dew

I usually find a cross or pendent without a chain. Yester day I found both about 3 foot apart. Small chains are tuff to find unless they are wadded up in a ball. But I have found a couple with the CTX.