Sea Hunter Vs Equinox

[Mada]

Greetings everyone 

If you take diving depth out of the equation and happy to stick to snorkel depths, what are the pros and cons of the pi Sea Hunter versus something like the Equinox 600 for salt water and beach?

Cheers

[kac]

I can only comment on the SeaHunter.

SeaHunter is immune to the salt and is pretty much a dig all machine. It will pick up the tiniest bit of lobster trap and you would think you had something good where a VLF you can disc those out. The stock coil is 8" which is great in the surf and water as it is easy to swing. If you plan on covering ground on the shore you may want to consider the larger 10x14 coil.

Seahunter is a heavy machine (weighted for neutral buoyancy) so if you plan on hitting on land the hip mount is really nice.

Lastly I know you don't want to hear about depth but in the wet sand on the small 8" coil it hits a penny at 12" deep very loud. I just got my larger coil and wanted the extra depth because there is a lot of washed out sand I want to punch through. I heard the larger coil will hit coins at 18" or so , will find out if that is true or not this weekend (if there are any coins there).

I have 2 VLF's and though they work fine on the dry to damp sand and they are not beach machines or have beach modes I found them to get chattery. Depth 8" tops in the wet. Was annoying to constantly fiddle with GB and try to listen through the chatter. I really love the Pi, so quiet and only picks up on targets, seems immune to hot rocks and yes I dig a lot of trash, lots of nails, screws, lobster traps, car keys, pocket knives etc. Even welcome the occasional square tab just to mix things up a bit.

Snorkeling would a Pulse Dive work better?

[Steve Herschbach]

The Sea Hunter is a Pulse Induction (PI) detector that detects all metals. You dig everything. A VLF or multifrequency detector like the Equinox offers discrimination that allows you to not dig near as much trash, items like bottle caps and hair pins.

In white sand low mineral beaches derived from coral reefs there is not a lot of benefit to using a PI detector though you might get a little extra depth, especially if the PI employs larger coils. The real benefit in a PI comes on beaches derived from volcanic material or other mineralized rock, such as in the northwestern U.S. or the Hawaiian Islands, to name a couple examples. These mineralized beaches severely impede the depth of the discrimination type detectors while PI detectors are much less affected.

So for sheer power but dig everything you use a PI. To help eliminate excessive digging of trash targets use a VLF or multifrequency type detector.

[Mada]

Thanks Kac and Steve

I've already got the Sea Hunter but saw Eq 600 on special near me. I'm in the fortunate position of living near the beach and also having a block of land in the Golden triangle. Got my eye on the qed for the GT but wondering whether to keep the Mk2 and grab a Vanquish for parks, coins etc or sell the Sea hunter and getting the nox to do beach, water, parks etc

[Erik Oostra]

Mada, your post has sparked an interest in the Sea Hunter.. i was also thinking about upgrading to an Eq 600 (or maybe Eq 800).. I'm also near beaches and from reading Steve's post above they derive from volcanic material or other mineralized rocks.. trouble is, i'm also near old gold diggings and i wonder what the Sea Hunter would be like for gold.. it seems a relatively cheap way to get a hold of a PI detector.. i just saw one on the dreaded ebay for A$735.. although its probably a knock-off.

[Mada]

Hi Erik

I've half heartedly used the Sea hunter in the goldfields but was more killing time while my partner was using her Gold bug 2.

Don't know if you have them in Qld but a certain outdoors chain beginning and ending in A have the Eq600 for A$799 on their website 

 

[Erik Oostra]

Phrunt, this is what i've learned of the island's geology for a report i had to write for uni: The island was born 275 million years ago when volcanic forces pushed molten granite to the earth’s surface, overtime this volcanic rock shield weathered away creating a hilly landscape dominated by rounded granite domes and tors (the island’s highest point is Mount Cook, elevation 497 metres above sea-level). From my understanding the island is on the edge of a volcanic-rim system which stretches up the coast to Cairns.. The Chinese GBP's FeO readings are usually 1-2 bars on the beach.. (as you say this could be sand from the Coral Sea) but this changes dramatically once you go inland up creeks.. then it sits anywhere between 3-5 bars.. at the old goldmine sites in the hills it often goes even higher.. 

Thanks again for your advice..       

[Erik Oostra]

[Erik Oostra]

I hope this aerial photo shows a bit better what i was trying to explain.. you can see the beaches and the hilly granite landscape..

 

[Steve Herschbach]

The Sea Hunter has no ground balance control and being tuned to ignore saltwater means it has poor sensitivity to small gold nuggets. It is therefore not recommended as a gold prospecting detector.