Using SD/GP/GPX's at the beach?

I would like to know how they perform at the beach and which series is best, especially in the wet sand. I'm also interested how smooth mode or enhanced mode performs there.

I already have an Excalibur and Explorer SE but their depth and sensitivity is not good at all so I'm looking for a detector to fill the gap. I was looking at an Infinium for this reason but if a Minelab PI goes considerably better I will have to think otherwise.

I'm not concerned about having to sift through rubbish (as there's not much of that either).

Whilst you could use the Super Detectors (as they are sometimes referred to) on a beach, you'll probably wish you hadn't because of the number of tiny fragments of metal mixed with most beach sand. Especially on the kinds of beaches where people frequent. Fish hooks and lead sinkers will be your major concern and you'll be forced to dig much deeper for this junk as well. The main problem with a beach is that these detectors will be sensitive to very tiny fragments of metal and plenty of this will wash up on all beaches. I think a VLF would be better suited in most instances and you'll have a better chance to discriminate targets.

Just my thoughts. Others might have a very different opinion on the matter.

Gday Shinegold

Nero is absolutely correct about crap on beaches, using a pi detector that does not have suitable descrimination for this job will do your head in, there are people that use pi detectors for this purpose but they are very selective about where they use them, for instance they would detect the hard packed sand on a low tide to get jewellery items that are deeply buried.

You would be far better off investing in a Minelab Sovereign GT or similar, that has excellent descrimination ability and good depth, it will easily handle the miriad of junk items you will find, and the exelerator coil that it comes with can be used in the water as well.

good luck

cheers

stayyerAU

I already have an Explorer SE and an Excalibur and there aren't many targets at my local beaches (Adelaide) with these detectors, and these are some of the best vlf's around.

Digging targets is better than not digging targets at all.

How do they perform depth wise and how do they handle the wet sand conditions?

Shinegold wrote:
How do they perform depth wise and how do they handle the wet sand conditions?

Hmm. Hard to say for certain. Because of the saline content of wet beach sand and its highly conductive nature, the ONLY choice you'll have will be to use a Double-D coil to cut through it all. A Monoloop would never handle these conditions ideally. Your depth will be limited as this type of wet sand will be a little worse than dry. In neutral to medium soil (not beach sand), the GP's ought to offer about a meter and a half in depth so anything on wet beach sand (with salt water) is going to be much shallower.

Remember to avoid covering both wet and dry sand in the same sweep.

I have used an anti interference coil around electric fences and found them to be a coil that works very quietly under these circumstances. other coils wouldn't have a hope in these conditions. However, I understand they were designed with salt flats in mind. If this is the case then I think they would be a good choose of coil on the beach. I cant say this for sure as I haven't used one on the beach or on the salt flats. Maybe someone can shed a bit of light on this type of coil on the beaches.
Brett.

I have never had any problems with using any of the GP/GPX series on my local surf beaches. There are a few coin & relic machines down this way and it's amazing what they miss because of the smaller coils they use and the lack of depth they don't have. I use a Coiltek 17'' DD PRO coil when working the beaches ( only time a DD has ever been on) , the 4500 purrs along with all the settings in the book, only problem is it finds a lot of coins deep down that are badly corroded.... Deepest target was a 1kg lead divers weight found at 3 feet lucky the sand is soft and easy to dig !

TM

Toolman wrote:I have never had any problems with using any of the GP/GPX series on my local surf beaches. There are a few coin & relic machines down this way and it's amazing what they miss because of the smaller coils they use and the lack of depth they don't have. I use a Coiltek 17'' DD PRO coil when working the beaches ( only time a DD has ever been on) , the 4500 purrs along with all the settings in the book, only problem is it finds a lot of coins deep down that are badly corroded.... Deepest target was a 1kg lead divers weight found at 3 feet lucky the sand is soft and easy to dig !

TM

Thanks for the info,
How deep would it go on a coin? a $2? Or a medium sized ring? Do you have to resort to smooth or enhance mode or is it just quiet with a dd. I only ever want to go beach detecting and was thinking of getting an infinium but if I get an GP or GPX or SD I might be able to go deeper? And also go gold detecting later, whenever that would be.

My mate used his GP Extreme with a 14dd successfully and i'd use an Infinium on the beach. I don't know his settings but will ask.
I'd got the Infinium with the intention of going deeper into the water -but that was too hard.

Not sure of comparable depths between the 2 machines -but both worked well.

Cheers

roxydog wrote:My mate used his GP Extreme with a 14dd successfully and i'd use an Infinium on the beach. I don't know his settings but will ask.
I'd got the Infinium with the intention of going deeper into the water -but that was too hard.

Not sure of comparable depths between the 2 machines -but both worked well.

Cheers

So you have the Infinium and use it on the beach yourself? Which city do you live in?

Do you mean that it was hard to dig in the water, or hard to go into the water and use the machine?

I am very much considering the Infinium and if I had the money right now or could trade my Excalibur for it I would do it straight away.

I live in Geelong. Haven't been down the beach for a couple years with it -but would have if i could.
It was physically hard to get stuff while in the water as the sand fills your hole very quickly on surf beaches. I'm sure a technique could be worked out with a bit more effort
and tips from forums.It is easier at places like lakes and protected beaches
It's a good allround machine and of course more suited for the beach environment.

My mate had replaced all screws in the GP with stainless ones and put waterproof covers on his switches to protect it -mainly detecting dry sand areas.
His settings were all as per normal -no boost -and the 14DD ran sweet.Was his favorite coil weight/depth wise for beach hunting.

Cheers

Try a stainless sand scoop.....

bought a bounty hunter tracker 1v vlf off ebay for $125 and took along my soveriegn get and found i could use both at the same time quite effectivly (one in each hand ),as long as they did not get too close to each other, obviously the more expensive gt was more sensitive as when i put the two coils close to each other the gt registered first

thinking if im crazy enough i could get my headphones to register one detector in each ear so headphones could be used

anyway both picked up exactly the smame stuff rubbish and coins there was nothing that one could pick upand the other didnt .

but an interesting way to go and covers a massive area of sand and more cost effective than buying larger coils ...............even if i do look like a dickhead with two detectors at once

mickance wrote:bought a bounty hunter tracker 1v vlf off ebay for $125 and took along my soveriegn get and found i could use both at the same time quite effectivly (one in each hand ),as long as they did not get too close to each other, obviously the more expensive gt was more sensitive as when i put the two coils close to each other the gt registered first

thinking if im crazy enough i could get my headphones to register one detector in each ear so headphones could be used

anyway both picked up exactly the smame stuff rubbish and coins there was nothing that one could pick upand the other didnt .

but an interesting way to go and covers a massive area of sand and more cost effective than buying larger coils ...............even if i do look like a dickhead with two detectors at once

You have GOT to put that on youtube!

You've made my day with that one!
Just one point that I would like to make here,mono's are very effective in the wet sand near the water line as there isnt much junk there and the depth can be a distinct advantage for the deep jewelery thats often lost there.

Use the standard dd coil that comes with the detector great for beach be prepared to dig heaps of crap thats the only problem have gone well past the two foot mark didn t quite make the three foot mark thou. Great detector for both gold field and beach if your willing to do the hard yards if not save your money and but a soviergn or a xterra 705 which won t get you any more depth

Hi there, When I first got my GP 3000 I wacked on a coiltek 17" DD elliptical & headed to our local beach. The idea of the DD was that the discrimination doesnt work with a mono coil. To cut a long story short I had done this beach to death with my coin machines & wanted to try the GP for its depth & to see what it came up with. I had tried the mono but got heaps of junk, some coins amongst it but the amount & depth of digging junk drove me nuts. Nuttier than I already was/am. So on went the DD & the discriminarion mode. To my supprise I dug a few targets that it was blanking out on in discrimination & they turned out to be coins. Oh bugger, that confused me. Back in those days I was an active member on Jack Langs forum so I popped him the question as to why this was. His answer was that salt & black sand (there was a bit on this beach) can fool the discrimination mode on a "good" target. DAMN that ment digging big deep holes & no certanty it was going to be a good or junk target.
I went down to the beach after a big storm & heaps of sand had been removed & had formed a big cut into the sand dunes like a small cliff. There used to be a jetty at one end of the beach in the early 1900's, maybe even earlier, & I was picking up old pennies & half pennies & three pences etc. I then got a signal that as I dug down I came to a rock the size of a football. Dug around the rock in the sand & the signal was right over the top of the rock. Managed to get the rock out & the hole was a good 18" deep at this stage. The signal was still in the hole but very loud & sharp. Then I saw a silver coloured chain. I carefully pulled on this thin fine chain hoping it wouldnt brake. It came away easily in the sand & on the end of the chain was this big old antique heart shaped locket. Bloody hell . It had a hinge & opening clip but I thought it would be full of sand as god knows how long it had been there & he wasnt going to tell me. I waited until I got home & opened it over the sink so the sand could go down the drain. Well what a shock I got to see an 18 carat gold ring with 9 diamonds surrounding a blue sapphire . There was also the hint of a photo that had been inside but that was totaly knacked. Here is a pick of it. You can make out the ring leaning up on the back of the locket.



I guess some lady put the ring inside for safe keeping while she went for a dip only some how lost the bloody lot.
So to answer you question about an SD, GP or GPX being used on a beach.....hell yes... but be prepared to dig some hellish deep holes & no guarantee that it will be a keeper target. At least sand is easy digging.

Happy hunting

JW

bugga!

While were talking beach detecting have a look at this link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfdnEu-shYo


About a bloke who has severall detectors hooked up at the same time.