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Recomendation For Very Specific Situation


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I am looking for the best edge I can get looking for $2.5 gold coin in the wet saltwater sand. The beach has a lot of magnetite and a few nails. This is not a diving situation. It is definitely a situation where the detector will get wet sometimes.

Currently I am using a CZ 21 with an 8" coil.

 

I sure appreciate the wisdom of the brain trust assembled here!

 

Thanks,

Tim

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Personally I am a fan of the CZ so I vote sticking with what you have unless you wanted to use a PI. The CZ in particular has a good ground balanced all metal mode that serves well anywhere the trash is such that you can get away with digging everything. As close to a PI as you will get in the water without buying one.

The Excalibur is probably the most mentioned alternative, but I don't think there is enough difference between the two, if any, to make it worth an additional purchase. Just my opinion though.

Waterproof Metal Detector Comparison Chart

fisher-cz-21-underwater-metal-detector-specifications.jpg

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Thanks Steve, I have never used a PI. In the situation I describe would there be a real world advantage to a PI? Would the 10" coil on the cz 21 be an advantage?.

I am looking for the needle in the haystack.

 

Fisher has been very good to me, every year I call them to order a new gasket for the battery cover before I begin the diving season and they just send me a new one. This year one of the potentiometer went bad on the 21, I was apprehensive at what that was going to cost to repair. When Felix called to go over the repair estimate it went something like this: new face plate $125, upgraded housing $400, upgraded battery cover $ 150, new coil cable and connectors $250, something about headphones and more c notes, etc. And he just keeps going! I interrupted him and said Jesus, Felix, your giving me a heart attack this is adding up to more than a new detector.. Felix says oh no, no, that's not what we are going to charge you, we are putting in all the new modification parts for free, the potentiometer repair, retune and pressure test is $90. Whew, that was much better.

When it came back it was a new detector,  not the well worn and much used one I sent in.

Tim

 

 

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A $2.5 gold coin is a small target so the larger coil on the CZ will not help any except for ground coverage. It could actually hurt depth in a magnetite mineralized beach. And CZ-20/21 coils are hardwired so not just something you swap out.

A PI can give you some more punch in mineralized beaches, but at the cost of having to dig everything. Hair pins you never knew existed with a VLF appear everywhere. A TDI for wading or in my case an ATX for submersed work are both ground balancing PI detectors that do well on mineralized beaches. The White’s Surf PI does not ground balance but can also do well as long as you can maintain an even coil height over the sand. Again, kind of hard to say you need to run out and get a PI though given the trade involved regarding discrimination.

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So true Steve, my SL has found more hair "bobby" pins than I knew existed.  And yes you will need to dig it all, but ever so often something real nice comes up.

:laugh:

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Thank you so much for the insight!!

Tim

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I would like to add one good point.  Believe it or not I can tell by sound, almost 100% of the time when it's a hair pin under the coil.

But to begin with it all sounded the same.  Now, if I could hear a difference between a beer pull tab and a ring, that would be fantastic.

:biggrin:

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As someone with no PI experience, I wondered about that. On the cz 21 it's easy to tell the nails by sound until they get pretty deep.

From a pure technical point of view it sounds like the ATX may best machine on this scenario.

 

Tim

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