Detecting On Wet Salt Water Beach Sand

[chieftain]

 Will a vlf detector with a frequency of 5.7 khz be less affected by wet salt water beach sand than a 10 khz machine?   

[Steve Herschbach]

It depends on more than just frequency. In general lower frequencies are better behaved around salt water. The Fisher 1280X was one of the earliest successful waterproof induction balance designs and it runs at 2.4 kHz. However, the transmit gain, ground balance range, and other things matter also. Some detectors like the 14 kHz White’s MXT have a special “salt mode” just for dealing with saltwater. The 14 kHz Makro Racers are noted for being well behaved around saltwater due to an extended ground balance range. The bottom line is most serious saltwater hunters would tell you single frequency machines are not the way to go, with multifrequency and PI being the choice of people who hunt the surf every day.

Comparing Waterproof VLF Detectors

[Nuke em]

Someone i know who detects my local beaches uses a Laser Rapier and i think it has a dual processor . He was using it in the salt water with no problem and found several coins with me watching . 

[ColonelDan]

I agree with Steve.  

I’ve done a lot of east coast Florida beach testing for Kellyco on quite a few detectors and single frequency machines are really hampered/limited in salt water and on wet salt sand compared to multi freq and PI detectors. 

Granted, you can quiet some of them down to a degree but you must adjust the ground balance and sensitivity to such a point that you lose significant depth performance.

Without question, the best choice for salty environments are the multi freq and PI machines.

Just the view from my salty foxhole...