Corroding Antenna Wire On Deus 2..

[midalake]

14 hours ago, wprandy said:

I see you have a carbon fiber shaft. Is that to reduce flex and weight?  Is it worth the $?

I am very tall so the D2 rod was never really long enough, and the flex was ridiculous. So, 100% worth it for me. 

6 hours ago, wprandy said:

There is no way my sister will want to purchase this detector if she has to do a DIY fix out of the box. She has been detecting daily since the 80's

For us seasoned beach hunters there is nothing out there that does not need some tweak to make it bullet-proof.  If companies were smart, they would consult beach hunters on their equipment standards. 

[Chase Goldman]

On 4/25/2024 at 7:24 PM, wprandy said:

The deepest this unit has been in the South Florida Saltwater is less than 24" inches, and the antenna wire is turning black at the bottom 😞    I spent $1,430 on the machine, and it is already having issues.

You never describe what issues you are having other than the antenna wire turning black.  If the unit is still working when you submerge it (i.e., the remote is still receiving a signal form the coil) then the discoloration on the antenna wire is a non-issue.  The warranty is 5 years and no Deus 2's are past warranty at this point.   Regardless, if the only problem you are having is the antenna and you don't get warranty relief if it has failed, an XP branded replacement wire costs about $20-$25 and there are descriptions online about how you can home brew one yourself from an even cheaper length of coax you can order online.

Yes this is not safety critical military-grade diving gear and I don't like having to use an antenna, so I understand your trepidation, but the rest of the unit is robustly designed for repeated dives to 60 feet (provided you insert the dive plug) and other than antenna corrosion and cable failures associated with the submersible hard-wired Bone Phones, I have not heard reports of water/dive related degradation of the key hardware (remote and coils).  So I would not paint the entire detector as a being unable to stand up to the rigors of water detecting. 

On the other hand, for daily salt water detector, I think investing in a fully carbon fiber shaft and stem system is worth it.  Here is the one I use:

https://www.stevesdetectorrods.com/product.php?id=XP.D2-01

Steve is a forum member here (@steveg) and I can vouch for his equipment quality and craftsmanship and, above all, his customer service.

I'm on the east coast, but I've heard good reports of it performing well on west coast beaches with black sand and appears to be a very popular detector amongst the west coast beach detectorists.  Though it seems to struggle with the black sand at @midalake's Mexican resort beaches.  Midalake is a hard core beach hunter and vouches for the D2, but also likes to use a couple other detector brand/models under certain circumstances.  I think you should stick with the D2, but I'm biased.  If it really doesn't sit well in your gut, then consider alternatives like the Minelab Manticore or Equinox or the Nokta Legend or Nokta Double Score which are great value detectors.  I've heard good things about the Garrett Apex on wet salt sand beaches, though it is only weather resistant, not submersible.  Good luck.

[F350Platinum]

I probably go through one of those waveguides a year, so I just keep an extra one on hand, preferably the new black one: 

https://seriousdetecting.com/products/xp-aerial-antenna-with-115cm-cable-for-deus-ii-metal-detector?_pos=1&_psq=115cm&_ss=e&_v=1.0

They're cheap, and the black ones seem to last longer. They're also shorter so they don't have to be wrapped as much.