Erik Oostra

I've been making the most of some very low tides to hunt at the back of my local bays.. Amongst a load of crap, this is yesterday's haul from Alma Bay.. $32 and some cheap jewellery.. This haul really opened my eyes to the differences in success between scuba and beach detecting.. These coins and jewellery were found along a swimming/snorkelling zone where I usually dive (3 to 5 metres deep).. To my great and eternal shame, I missed them.. Although some are newly dropped, others have been there a long while.. Covering this zone on scuba takes a long time.. Visibility is not always what you'd expect for a tropical island.. Constant channel dredging for a nearby port and mangrove swamps along the coast keep our waters pretty murky.. Also, the smaller coils on the Deus II and PulseDive make it harder to cover large areas.. This compares to covering the same zone whilst beach detecting with larger coils: strolling along the beach, cherry-picking juicy targets and digging as deep as you like without the hole washing away.. You can see what you're doing and the target stays where it's supposed to be, all this makes the job much faster.. Although not necessarily more enjoyable as the challenge is gone.. On scuba the biggest haul along this zone in one morning was $6.50 and an silver earing.. In bays which have shark nets the scuba vs beach hunting ratio is usually the other way around, as people are herded together in one small space.. I'm lucky that on the island coins are still in everyday use, even in a mostly cashless society the island's busses still only accept cash.. As do all small businesses like the tourist stalls at markets along the beach, the 'tropical fruit juice lady' and the seafood van which sells straight from the island's trawlers.. This means there's a regular supply of coins dropped at our three main bays, all within 5 minutes from my house.. Yes, I know.. I'm a lucky son of a.. very nice lady!

I don't think you'll regret buying the PulseDive.. Although it's a bit chunky, it's a great pinpointer in its own right.. and it's got the bonus of coil options, turning your pinpoiter into a handy little detector..

Here's the replies from Detect-Ed and XP Australia.. No real response to my question if the antenna wire was covered under XP warranty.. Although Ed from Detect-Ed did confirm my original solution..

Sorry Chase and Steve, I didn't mean to offend you by my response to your suggestions of chasing yet an other warranty claim for the Deus 2.. I tend to have a short fuse when it comes to this detector.. I was being sarcastic about court and the responsibility heaved upon me.. They were the bits with a smiley face at the end.. What got to me was Chase's vague suggestion that I was some gutless wonder if I rolled over to XP's lawyerly warranty language.. I assumed that the wires and cables mentioned in the manual which were not covered under XP warranty included the antenna wire.. When Ghostlight suggested another solution, I thought I'd first explore that option before going through all the hassle and expense of getting another XP antenna wire which will most likely leak and corrode just like the old one.. I figured I could ditch the XP wiring and work out a better way myself.. I will follow up your suggestions.. I've send both the dealer and XP Australia an email asking if the antenna wire is covered under XP warranty.. I've send an email rather than calling them so I can post their replies.. But that's as far as I'll go on this, I really don't care about design flaws for something that was bound to fail.. Besides, it'll take far too long before XP fixes anything, in the meantime I'll wire up another bit of antenna wire.. I'm not yet thinking of selling the Deus 2.. Probably wouldn't get much for it as it's looking pretty thrashed.. The main reason it's been sitting on the shelf is that we've had a series of very low tides.. This opens up vast hunting grounds at the back of bays which are better covered with the large coils on the Equinox.. Also, very low tides mean there's no need to dive.. That's why I hadn't noticed the antenna wire going completely black (it just had patches before) or how thin it was getting.. Erik

Crikey Chase, that's too great a responsibility for one man..😆 Think of all those gold rings I'll lose out on whilst I take XP to court.. 😆 If someone else wants to take them on, good for them.. For me, it's not worth the drama over a little bit of antenna wire, my local hardware store sells it cheaply by the mile.. As for letting XP know how crap their products are, I think I've done enough of that on this forum.. I've never owned a detector where so much has gone wrong within the first 6 months.. As a result it's spending more and more time on the shelf, even as a scuba detector..

Unfortunately it's not.. the manual says 'breakage of cables and wires' and 'corrosion of electronic circuits due to water ingress' are NOT covered under warranty.. I guess that includes the antenna wire.. XP Australia sell them as spare parts for around $50 without postage.. That's just for the wire, with the fiddly plastic attachments it's $60.. I'll see what other wires I can use, Ghostlight's video was very useful here..

This was one of those coils that I didn't really need but have been lusting after for far too long.. I mainly hunt on beaches so my go to coils are the Equinox 15x12'' and the Coiltek 15''.. I knew that the new coil wasn't going to get me any greater depth or coverage but I was hoping it might be a bit lighter.. Coil weight has never worried me much before, but I'm finding I have to put the detector down and shake out my arm more and more often.. I figured a lighter coil would make life easier.. I know that I'm not a great reader of fine-print but in this case I excelled myself.. When I took the Coiltek 14x9 out of the box my first thought was: 'Well, it's a chunky beast, what does it weigh?'.. It's nearly twice as thick as the Equinox 15x12.. So I googled the weight of all my big coils and discovered that the Coiltek 14x9 weighs a whopping 790 grams! This compares to 674 grams for the Equinox 15x12 and 836 grams for the Coiltek 15.. On the beach this morning it did feel heavy to swing but it 'pinpoints' much better than the other big coils.. I hardly ever use the detector's pinpoint function, preferring to walk around the target instead.. After a few hours I didn't have any sore arms, I figure this is due to far more accurate digging.. I usually get on my knees with a small shovel and dig a mighty great big hole to make sure the target is out the first time.. Although this is easy going on a beach after a while the constant getting up and kneeling down to dig does wear you out.. I'm still young enough that my knees and back are still hanging in there, but the ability to work like a digging machine is definitely slowing down.. With the Coiltek 14x9 I noticed straightaway that I was digging right on top of the target each time, also the targets were often just as deep as the larger coils.. So, while it might be a chunky heavy beast to swing, I have a feeling that my latest coil will save a lot of digging.. I also think it'll be a good coil for in the surf and wading, it looks tough as hell.. This is also a chance for Minelab to get back in the ring after the flogging they're getting from Garrett.. I've said for a long time that Minelab's only chance to survive is to forget about keeping prospectors happy and instead focus on beach hunters.. Especially by creating a larger coil for the Equinox - like the 17x13'' coil made for the CTX 3030 but a lot lighter (it weighs 907 grams).. 😁

The antenna wire on my Deus II is corroding away, it's now completely black and getting thinner in places.. Salt water has leaked under the seal from both the coil end and the control box end.. So far I haven't noticed a drop in performance as a scuba detector but I've got a feeling it won't be long before I'm up for yet another Deus II replacement part.. Have any other beach or scuba detectorists noticed this as well? How long have I got before it'll stop transmitting signals?

My biggest reason for not wanting to see 'control box apps' become a reality too fast is that I leave my phone at home when detecting or prospecting.. Not just to avoid calls but mainly to avoid any distraction.. I like being far outside the 'real world' when I concentrate on the ground beneath my feet.. Besides my metal detector, I don't really need any other assist tools or clever phone apps to do that.. If anything they take away from the experience.. For me, checking GPS positions, logging finds, taking pictures/video, calling friends whilst detecting or even looking up information right there and then, all take away from the moment of the hunt.. They don't make the joy of finding something valuable any more joyful.. If anything the suspense of waiting until you get home to look up information is a great thing in itself, instant gratification is not always what it's made out to be..

Another Youtube channel worth a look is Vo-Gus Prospecting.. This dude is a good example of a prospecting enthusiast gone wild.. He uses everything from pans, sluices, crushers and detectors to get at the good stuff.. His enthusiasm is inspiring.. Unlike some wannabe prospectors with their own channels, Vo-Gus has been pumping out videos for years.. https://www.youtube.com/c/VoGusProspecting/videos

That's mainly because the remote keeps falling off the handle.. 😆

That's a real shame.. The company's other detecting accessories were really competitively priced.. I'm surprised they didn't do better, a glace at those prices made me think this was a high-end detector about to take on Minelab..

Steve's post on the merging of metal detectors and smart phones inspired this extremely witty response.. I can see why someone could easily mistake their smart phone for a control box.. 😁 I guess for people glued to their phones all day, nothing much will change when a 'control box app' on our phones becomes a reality.. Can't say I'm looking forward to that day..

Not exactly a favourite (that's Goldhounds by a mile) but more of a 'love to hate' Youtube channel is Metal Detecting with PJ.. He's as mesmerizing as a snake.. If you're easily offended or politically correct or not an Australian yobbo you'll cringe at his take on metal detecting.. To his credit he does find some good stuff and his videos do feature some very weird and wild metal detecting enthusiasts.. Here's one of his least offensive creations..

I wonder how quiet the 24K (48 kHz) would run on a salt water beach? I'm comparing it to my mate's Gold Monster (45 kHz) which runs like crap in this situation, especially wet sand.. I assume the 24K would handle any black sand to find jewellery but I'm wondering how it'll go with salt?

My first and biggest thank you goes to the main man: Steve.. God should call him God for all the encouragement, inspiration and warm fuzzy feelings he bestows on us all.. Without his undying love for newbies I doubt this post would ever have been possible.. Thank you Steve, you make life worth living! All my other thank yous go to everyone else, you know who you are.. There will be huge celebrations for my 500th post in every metal detecting community on Earth, so make sure you join the festivities.. When I can't be there in person, I'll be video linked to huge screens set up in all your favourite detecting spots.. Dancing girls and free beer will keep the party rocking until my 501th post, then it'll be time to wrap things up and get back to the digging.. Until then, thank you all very much for the daily giggles and shared knowledge.. It's been a heck of a ride..

Great idea! I know a few of the ladies at the island's history museum, they've helped me out before with dating the gold jewellery I found at the 'silver mine'.. But although they would like to display them, I'm keeping any old stuff I find.. Until the descendant of the rightful owner comes along to claim them, it's 'finders keepers, losers weepers'.. 😁

That's not counting the 7000 years that the Wulgurukaba (Canoe People) lived here.. Most were killed by the first settlers, not just by being shot but also through European diseases and being denied access to waterholes.. Those who survived were forced to live in a Catholic Mission on the nearby Palm Islands, along with many other Indigenous people rounded up from outback Queensland.. The first settlers were closely followed by goldminers, who also played their part in the genocide.. Although the island is a dream place to detect old coins and relics, its history is shameful..

It's a hardy beast compared to the XP Deus II, which despite its hefty price tag should be on top of any list comparing poor quality metal detectors..

Although this coin might not be very old by European or even American standards, it's old for this island.. Magnetic Island had only been settled for two years before it was dropped.. At that time there was only one settler family living on the island.. I hate to think how much of a ding losing this coin made in the family fortune.. What was a six-pence worth compared to today's money in those times? Or maybe some rich tourist dropped it? I always get caught up thinking about the lives of the coins I've found, for me it's half the fun of finding them..😁

It's a 1875 six-pence! Featuring a very youthful looking Queen Victoria.. There've been really high tides over the last few days and I noticed a huge amount of sand had been eroded from a place I call the 'Silver Mine'.. I thought I'd use the Deus II this time rather than the Equinox to see if it could sniff out some deep silver.. It did so in fine style.. Excluding the Chinese coin, this is the oldest coin I've found so far.. It's a bit rough looking but considering the amount of tide changes it has endured I'd say it's a charmer..

In my experience so far I've found that both the Equinox and Deus II lock onto the targets I'm after with 'solid' signals.. By this I mean that regardless of depth the target ID settles quickly on one number and tone, there's little jumping between them.. The target ID on crap like bottle tops and pull tabs nearly always jumps about whilst gold or silver rings (of any size) tend to quickly settle on one number and tone.. This has been the case with nearly every ring I've dug, I can usually tell it isn't crap because the hit is more 'solid' than an iffy signal.. This is highly subjective of course, but it's how I've learned to read both detectors.. I'm even starting to figure out aluminium foil signals from those of gold rings, even though they nearly always fall within the same range.. If you swing your coil over the target from all directions (do a little dance around it) you can eventually work out what it is.. Here my famous 'solid signal' theory often falls on its arse with the foil giving off a more solid signal than the ring.. As you can tell, it's not an exact science yet.. I'll still dig for curiosity's sake or just to be sure I'm not leaving a ring behind.. Also, after a while you get a feel of what is crap and what is good just by looking at the land around you.. On a tropical beach this might not sound very relevant but I've found that working out the best tides, surf conditions, current strength or even erosion patterns can help decide the best places to hunt.. These observations are often contrary to the famous 'towel or bikini lines' where all the gold jewellery is supposed to be.. That's not to say that I don't hunt these lines, the bikini line is always a favourite..😁

I've noticed this a few times, and usually end up sliding the plastic shaft out just far enough to stop the problem.. Or else I keep the shaft from laying flat on the coil, which can be done even if you're down on your stomach.. I fully agree that it's a design problem, but it's hard to see how to fix it without making the whole shaft even more wobbly.. Its wobbly shaft also makes it a pretty poor choice as a wading detector.. The aluminium of the shaft messing with the coil is also a problem when using the Equinox as a scuba detector, especially with large coils.. At least the Deus II shaft is not attached to the centre of the coil but a bit further back giving you a few more inches to shorten the plastic shaft.. This is one of the main reasons I'm diving again with a 11'' coil on the Equinox, I got sick off holding the shaft up and away from the back of the coil.. Great review by the way, although I dive in tropical seas and don't have to muck about with dry suits or hoods I agree with many things you say about the Deus II as a scuba detector.. I also agree that the bone-phone's stiff long plastic cable is a massive pain in the arse, it gets caught on everything when diving.. Many of your gripes were covered in one of my posts, where various other beach and scuba detectorists put in their thoughts as well..

I've worked out that relic hunting requires much more digging than beach hunting.. So I've brought in some bigger/better tools.. 🤨 This way I'll be a able to dig deeper into history..

I've circled my house just in case you're coming over for a hunt.. Should be easy to find.. All very welcome.. 😁