Minelab Safari

Anybody got a Safari?
Do you find it to be a bit chirpy and false's over fairly ordinary Aussie ground and fresh water river rocks but good on salt beaches?

gday Adrian


wtf is a safari


cheers the speciman

adrian ss wrote:Anybody got a Safari?
Do you find it to be a bit chirpy and false's over fairly ordinary Aussie ground and fresh water river rocks but good on salt beaches?

My explorer SE, is a bit like that.

the speciman wrote:gday Adrian  


wtf   is a Safari


cheers the speciman

Safari Is:
http://www.minelab.com/metal-detectors/treasure-detectors/safari

After having messed with the safari for about 5 months now I can say that for normal use over quiet inland ground that the sensitivity is best set to 9 or 10 (approx 50% of max). At this setting the tecta runs quiet but lacks serious depth on coins and ring size items. You can run it at whatever sensitivity you like but above 10 it becomes a bit chatty.
Over salt beach sand the sens can be run at near on max where excellent depth is achieved.
The Sov XS is much better for general purpose detecting because it handles normal iron mineralisation better than the safari plus it runs great at the beach.
On the other hand the safari has lots of bells and whistles and has a nice TID display..

Just an opinion, not Gospel.

I put this in the Beach detecting section but nobody goes there these days so I stuck it here as well....Just to be annoying.

Just back from 4 days at Merimbula beach detecting with the safari and the TDI OZ Pro.
     Found plenty of long lost coin in the wet sand at the low tide line. All were between 10 and 19 inches deep, plus one sil chain with pearl pendant at approx 6 inches deep. (Safari found that one)
The TDI and the safari are near on equal for depth on coins in the water and wet sand. The safari fired off several false signals with gain at 19 but target detecting was clear and positive. TID was unreliable and it was best to dig all signals.
Running the detector in Auto gave quiet operation but at the loss of significant depth.

The TDI is a piece of cake to use and will find bobby pins at 2 foot.
It has to be run in dual mode if you want to find sil, au and plat and any chains.
   The TDI was more stable than the Safari in the shallow water. I was only able to run the TDI at approx 50% gain due to quite a bit of EMI from the local airfield and aircraft.
You are not going to miss many targets with either of these detectors.

This little fella kept us company in our apartment. We let him stay and I think he had fun watching what we were doing.
Pic is slightly larger than actual size but not by much. Depends on the size of your comp screen.  

G/day Self. Ow yer going? Argh not bad mate can't complain.... Ow you going?... Pretty good mate.
     Hey Self! I hear that you did a a bit of tecting at Merimbula main beach over the past 4 or five days?..Yeah that's right mate; had the entire beach to myself so to speak. Didja find much? Yeah did ok, plenty of old coin and a nice sil chain and pendant.I reckon I know why I am the only DH talking to myself on this topic. Why is that mate? Ut's coz all th coin and jewellery hunters are dead. Even the bloke at the camping shop in town doesn't get people come in the shop asking about tecting very often these days. That is ok though, all the more goodies fer th three of us to  ta find. Whaddaya mean The three of yez?....Bloody hell mat yer slippin in yer old age....Me Myself & I.

Hey Adrian,
Don't know about Merimbula area, but up here in SEQLD there are that many people have gone and bought an Equinox (souped up Safari), digging every target,  that the beaches are as clean as a whistle.
I think a lot of people have put their  detectors in the back of their cupboards after discovering that beach detecting isn't the path to riches and glory that had been sold to them

You may be right but  for myself I don't detect the beaches to get rich. I like to find stuff of some notable value  sentimental or otherwise and return it to the owner whenever possible.
    That has not actually happened very often and I still have every thing I have found with a few exceptions. It is nice to see the reaction from people when you hand them back their lost engagement ring or set of earrings or necklace etc.....I have even received a kiss from a rather spunky lady; I quite like that kind of glory.   who contacted me after collecting her lost item from a local police station.

Have thought about getting an Equinox but what with my Safari, Sov XS, (Old Faithful),The Infinium, TDI ,Sand Shark and the GB 2 DP I have all bases covered for beach work. As a matter of interest , The GB 2 DP and the 19 khz op frequency has surprised me the most with its ability to get down deep and dirty in the wet sand (All Met Mode only)
    I am unsure weather the Equinox would replace all of those tectas at the beach. It would be interesting to hear what EQ operators have to say??.
Ivanll! What is your opinion of the Equinox's?

I do a lot of beach detecting here in Tasmania
the equinox 800 has performed well for me on dry/wet sand,extremely quiet operation and easy to use
cannot find a fault with it to be honest sturdy,lightweight,uncomplicated set up,good battery life ect
also search parks and reserves,do some gold detecting here also
always looking for that bit extra in a metal detector but you cant own them all so do yourself a favour and get one..........mark

G/day Mark.
Does it respond well to light weight gold and sil chain, I mean the chain not the clasps.
My gold bug pro dp is excellent on chain in All Met Mode from the dry to the water line and the TDI is not far behind. The SDC 2300 is also good on gold chain but not as hot as the gold bug.

Adrian,
The reason I got the Equinox was I'd used the Safari on the wet sand and was impressed with its performance. CHecking out the specs at the time, the Equinox was an improvement in all areas.
It was waterproof to 3M, Safari only the coil
Bluetooth, wireless or wired connectivity to headset.
Lighter weight than safari
Integral Lithium battery with capacity to run all day, Safari had to change or charge battery pack.
Charged from USB port, so can be easily charged from car.
3 coil sizes available

along with the above, the new technology inside the Nox promised to be a significant improvement.... and has shown to be so.

WRT to chains, it is better than the Safari and at least as good as the 3030.

I haven't used the other detectors you mention on the beach, I cant comment