james45
Elite Member
:All you hunters whats your favorite hunting detector at the beach
what's the magic brand
- Thread starter james45
- Start date
I think that most beach hunters (salt water beaches) use Minelabs or a Fisher CZ.. Of course there are other options as long as the detector has more than one frequency. There are also quite a few PI hunters out there and that list is pretty long.
Minelab Excalibur with a composite shaft and remote pinpoint mod. I also got the changeable CTX headphone mod. Crank the volume. If you could run a CTX in pinpoint on the beach it may do what an Excalibur can. Mine don't like pinpoint other than locating a target center. Downside to a sov gt is you got to slow your swing down. Results will vary even on a different beach, county, country, etc.
zeemang
Forum Supporter
minelab for salt water
jtb2017
Elite Member
:All you hunters whats your favorite hunting detector at the beach
My favorite is the ctx 3030. It's downfall is its heavy and has leak problems. Leak problem can be fixed with aftermarket gasket.
And it has outdated hardware. It uses usb to connect to the pc and does not connect to the phone. I have not been able to wrap my head around that.
I can live with the usb an aftermarket gasket though. The machine is rugged. And works awesome. I don,t see any variation between one machine to another.
The gt an excal I think vary just a bit unit to unit.
Lotta good machine. Lot of pros out there... No one machine takes the cake.
I think it was a huge mistake on my part no getting the dirty thirty sooner lol hh gl -Joe
Captain Silver
Elite Member
I use a Sovereign Elite for the dirt and anything beach up to knee deep...and a Excal Sword for farther out in the water. Sov/Excals and CZ's seem to be the most popular machines used on the nearby beaches by the regular hunters...
007tallguy
Elite Member
Lol, I use what I have, so gonna have to say my At Pro. No, it's not the best machine for a saltwater beach, but it does find stuff, paid for itself many times over last year.
Basically everyone on my beaches uses a Minelab. I'm the only guy swinging a CZ21... mine has paid itself off a few times over, so I think I'll keep it. 
Whites DF or Garrett Sea Hunter seem to be the most popular PIs.
Whites DF or Garrett Sea Hunter seem to be the most popular PIs.
Compass
Forum Supporter
Quite a few Whites PI Pros and Dual Fields on my beaches and they're my top choices too. I use my Excal II as well but the black sand gives it a hard time.
streetshark1966
Elite Member
Tesoro sand shark (it's a PI detector) love mine hits very deep and the life time warranty is a big plus
upena
Forum Supporter
Excal primary
Sand Shark back-up
Sand Shark back-up
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I started with the Garrett Ace 350. Great in the dry sand, but falses on the wet if you don't tone down the sensitivity.
Next was the Garrett Sea Hunter. It's a diver's pulse induction machine. Be prepared to dig everything. I nicknamed it "Hairpin" for a reason.
Then came the Fisher CZ-21. Great water machine. It has a good transition from the dry sand to the wet with little falsing or adjustment. It is waterproof up to 200 ft. The coil and headphones are fixed. It's a little heavy, so be prepared to belt mount the controls.
I wanted the flexibility to change the coil and headphones, so I bought a used Minelab Sovereign GT and added the 15" Coiltek Wonderful Orange Thing coil and Skullies headphones. The "SovWOT" controls are not submersible, but the coil is fine in salt water. It transitions well from dry to wet sand and is DEEP. It takes some time to learn the tones, but once I STARTED to dial it in, a whole new world opened up. I like the SovWOT so much, I sold "Hairpin" bought a backup GT. But Itsa is right, you need to slow your swing to give it time to process the target signal.
As good as the CZ is, I got so used to the GT that the CZ only saw the light of day maybe four times since December 2013. It started to get hard to re-think the ground balancing, tones, etc. I knew I needed a waterproof machine, so I sold the CZ and bought a Minelab Excalibur 1000 (Blue). Similar mode of operation and tones, but submersible to 200 feet.
So, there you have it! I have the Ace 350, two Sovereign GTs, and an Excal Blue in the stable. The Ace hasn't seen the light of day in nearly three years, but I keep it to loan to a friend if they want to try the hobby. If I were to do it again, the Ace 350 was a good choice for a starter. Today, I might start with an AT Pro, but knowing what I know now, I would have transitioned directly to the Sovereign GT.
How's that?
R5
Next was the Garrett Sea Hunter. It's a diver's pulse induction machine. Be prepared to dig everything. I nicknamed it "Hairpin" for a reason.
Then came the Fisher CZ-21. Great water machine. It has a good transition from the dry sand to the wet with little falsing or adjustment. It is waterproof up to 200 ft. The coil and headphones are fixed. It's a little heavy, so be prepared to belt mount the controls.
I wanted the flexibility to change the coil and headphones, so I bought a used Minelab Sovereign GT and added the 15" Coiltek Wonderful Orange Thing coil and Skullies headphones. The "SovWOT" controls are not submersible, but the coil is fine in salt water. It transitions well from dry to wet sand and is DEEP. It takes some time to learn the tones, but once I STARTED to dial it in, a whole new world opened up. I like the SovWOT so much, I sold "Hairpin" bought a backup GT. But Itsa is right, you need to slow your swing to give it time to process the target signal.
As good as the CZ is, I got so used to the GT that the CZ only saw the light of day maybe four times since December 2013. It started to get hard to re-think the ground balancing, tones, etc. I knew I needed a waterproof machine, so I sold the CZ and bought a Minelab Excalibur 1000 (Blue). Similar mode of operation and tones, but submersible to 200 feet.
So, there you have it! I have the Ace 350, two Sovereign GTs, and an Excal Blue in the stable. The Ace hasn't seen the light of day in nearly three years, but I keep it to loan to a friend if they want to try the hobby. If I were to do it again, the Ace 350 was a good choice for a starter. Today, I might start with an AT Pro, but knowing what I know now, I would have transitioned directly to the Sovereign GT.
How's that?
R5
Golden Oaks
Forum Supporter
My favorite hasn't been created. 
I want a detector that will use some type of 3d ultrasound to identify the target much like the baby cameras. My dream machine would also have voice identification much like a car GPS... example: "Bottle cap", "Coin", "Ring", "Turn left" oops
But for now, I use my Tesoro Sand Shark in water above my ankles for ease of swing and my Minelab CTX-3030 in very shallow, wet & dry sand for speed of identification.
I want a detector that will use some type of 3d ultrasound to identify the target much like the baby cameras. My dream machine would also have voice identification much like a car GPS... example: "Bottle cap", "Coin", "Ring", "Turn left" oops
But for now, I use my Tesoro Sand Shark in water above my ankles for ease of swing and my Minelab CTX-3030 in very shallow, wet & dry sand for speed of identification.
T-Man
Elite Member
I can't afford the gas to even get to an ocean beach from SW Ohio.
Cherry Picker
Forum Supporter
Kansas beaches are covered with cow patties so you need a detector with a good strong shaft. 
melbajoe
Forum Supporter
I use a sov gt inwet sand and up to waist deep water. CZ21 for anything deeper and if its raining. Have to say it does take some time each time I go from one to the other just to adjust my head since they are very different in responses.
sandrat
Full Member
i use sea hunter in water found 47 gold rings in two years (over 5000 hairpins) lol 
dry sand and fresh water= at-pro, just got a sov. gt for salt water sand but not used to it yet, (in for service at kellyco now under warranty)
adamBomb
Senior Member
:All you hunters whats your favorite hunting detector at the beach
Minelabs (excal and ctx) and Fishers (cz21) for vlf. There are other non waterproof options too like minelab sovereign, cz3d, etc but water proof is the way to go if you can. For PIs I would definitely say White's DF and Garrett SH2 or infinium are the most popular. All of those machines I just listed kick some butt on the beach.
dirtydog
Forum Supporter
I know all the salt water capable machines are good and have their place. My first detector was a Minelab 3030. I love that machine. I have a few thousand hours behind it and it hasn't even hesitated. Think I'd like a Sov. and a Excal, but can't imagine being any happier with them than the 3030.
