best underwater detector.

Could i pls have some advice if there a detector thats fully waterproof, and will still find small gold. I am thinking of putting on the mask and flippers in the fresh water creeks..
I know most will find a gold ring at the beach, but i want something thats gonna find subgrammers if possible..
And well built, and proven is a bonus also..
Cheers

Probably this one.
http://www.minelab.com/products/treasure-detectors/excalibur-ii

I have got one but minelab do make good detectors.

Infinium LS with 8 inch mono or small DDs will find sub gramers anywhere, Sea Hunter can be a little chirpy on hot rocks, Sand shark is good on small gold but doesn't like hot rocks, The Ex cal is not good on sub gramers and will generally give a low iron tone on these especially if the ground is iron mineralised. The garrett A T Pro is (VLF)and good on small gold and WP to 10 feet and can handle reasonable levels of iron mineralisation.
So I guess that leaves the Infinium standing alone and the only prob with this detector is that you have to work very slowly but when you are looking for small gold you go low and slow anyway so it is not realy a problem. The A T Pro will do a pretty fair job of sniffing out small nugs down in the bedrock cracks.
The A T Gold as yet unproven here is earmarked to be excellent on small gold and is also WP to 10 feet.

Just an opinion, "Not Set In Stone"

maka wrote:Could i pls have some advice if there a detector that's fully waterproof, and will still find small gold. I am thinking of putting on the mask and flippers in the fresh water creeks..
I know most will find a gold ring at the beach, but i want something that's gonna find subgrammers if possible..
And well built, and proven is a bonus also..
Cheers

There three underwater detectors for your consideration but note that NONE of these detectors was designed to find subgram nugget under water. They are coin & relic machines, NOT gold machines... even the Infinium LS though the manufacturer states otherwise:

Minelab Excalibur II. Price AUD$1725
Designed to be submerged to 200 feet - headphones included. Uses Minelab's unique Broad Band Spectrum (BBS).
Obtainable with either a 10" coil (the most popular) or a more sensitive 8" coil.
Whist this is the best of the three submersible units in terms of construction and reputation, it's not designed to find subgram nuggets.

Garrett AT-Pro (International Version). Price AUD$779
Designed to be submerged to 10 feet but only with the special headphone (not included). It's a VLF machine that was clearly designed and priced to compete directly with Minelab's X-Terra 705 but it's not sensitive enough with the supplied coil for the purpose of hunting small subgram nuggets in water.

Garrett Infinium LS(Land & Sea). Price AUD$1,339
Designed to be used under water to 200 feet but only with submersible headphone (not included).
Generally considered a very poor performer on subgrammers in water. At 2.5 kilos, it's heavy as it was designed to be neutrally buoyant in water so unless you use a Minelab Bungee cord to alleviate the weight, you may get a sore arm if out of the water with it. Though the conversation is polarized, most Australians find the Infinium struggles a bit on our goldfield soils as it was designed for use in North America where the nuggets are in neutral soil and have higher percentages of silver (and are therefore more conductive).
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X-Terra 705 with 6" HF DD coil. Designed to be used in the water for finding small gold nuggets.

You asked for a "fully submersible detector" that "finds subgrammer nuggets". Unfortunately, no such detector exists at this time.

However, if you want subgrammers and want a detector that can be used in creeks but also in rockpools or in the shallow waves along the beach, you should only be looking at the Minelab X-Terra 705 Gold with the optional 6" Double-D High frequency (18.75khz) coil (available separately).

I own the earlier model called the X-Terra 70 with this 6" DD HF coil and have fount it to be unbelievably exceptional on subgram gold - all the way down to stuff the size of the head of a pin. Unfortunately, the detector is not capable of being entirely submersible... which is what you seem to want. If you want subgram gold in creeks etc ... there's actually no other alternative. The 6" DD HF coil retails for $179. I also use this coil on beaches and for detecting small gold in mulloch heaps when detecting. It compares closely to a GPX with a 6" Coiltek Coil attached... only submersible. I've even picked up tiny bits of gold with it that were carried out of ant nests... about 0.06 of a gram!


X-Terra 705 with 6" HF DD coil. Ideal for exploring old mulloch heaps and the sites of old diggings.

Note also that it is a VERY good coil for the beach and is used for this purpose around the world (the 6" DD coil goes deeper than the 10x5" standard Gold coil). Note that in extreme mineralization, you may pick up on tiny bits of ironstone. I stopped to dig them every few feet before turning down the sensitivity of the detector. However, I later discovered that most of these tiny stones (about 3mm wide) were actually minute iron meteorites ... as I had left my detector in "All Metal" mode.

Thanks so much Nero you cleared that up for me and others very well.
Looks like the 705 is my best option, How small a piece would you think the others are capable is detecting?
If they are fully submersible and could sniff out 1 gram or more they still may be worth a shot to get to the un detected creeks west of Brisbane.
I do a lot of swimming in summer, so why not have a swing while i am swimming around.
I have a vision of laying on my stomache on my aqua duck ( its a bean bag) and drifting up and down in about 5 or 6 feet of water with my goggles and snorkel, swinging over some nice bedrock areas..
I have seen the 705 in action , next to my extreme, and i hate to say it but it blows my extreme away on signals from small stuff.
A 705 was going to be my choice for my daughter to use, as it looked reasonable light aswell.
I am thinking theres still a lot of gold in the creeks that hasnt been dredged in the past, and is too hard to find for the average prospector.
I would love to see some pics or stories on what people have found underwater, I dont expect to find the next Atocha in the local creeks but it may still be great fun and more than pay for itself if i am lucky..

nero_design

G/day mate,
Some fair comments there but I think maybe you have not used an A T Pro lately or an Infinium for quite a while. Certainly my Infinium has been able to handle all of the ground conditions I have thrown at it with ease.
As for it being good only in American neutral ground? Geez fair shake of the sauce bottle, that was in the very early days, today and for the past several years it has been set up for our ground conditions and in fact runs more quietly than most ML PIs, it just doesn't have the sensitivity to the small stuff.

The A T Pro although not intended as a gold detector in high mineralisation it is still very capable and will happily respond to smaller than 0.1gm nuggs within a few inches of the surface

Hey All, As far as good VLF for very small gold, sub grainers, I would not discount the GB Pro. If you go to Arizona Outback Forum and go to the gold prospecting forum look for my posts. They will be the threads started by TRINITYAU. I have been using the GB Pro all summer in a small creek which has alot of bedrock, I have gone over crevices as deep as I can reach, three feet deep, and then get the mask and snorkle out. This little machine is a very good gold unit. I have no problem hearing gold underwater that was covered by hematite and ironstone. Hope this helps, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Awsome feed back guys, keep em coming, its good to hear all reports good and bad, it gives my some models to do more research on. I would hate to buy the wrong machine for the purpose i intend to use it on.
So a good detector is the 705 but not waterproof, a GB pro is not submersible but very capable, and infinium LS would be my best choice for diving or an LT pro with if i have this all right....
More research to come.....

Hi guys,

Good timing for this topic. Just got my 6inch Coil today. Will give it a go soon and report
Its capability. I've managed to pick up a dozen lead nuggets last weekend and will cut up
Tiny bits to test it (the coil) out. I hear that lead gives out the same signal as Gold? I havent found colour
Yet so cant tell. All our jewelry are either white Gold or Platitum...Can someone spare a sample? Lol!

Cheers,

Paul