Vacation Beach Detecting Tools And Advice

[donP]

Hello all, going to Hawaii for vacation. I Want to take my Equinox 800, need a collapsible shaft or purchase a 900? . What's a really nice durable scoop to travel with and be able to put in my luggage? We typically take carry-on luggage. How do the hotels feel about metal detectorists on their beaches? Any other advice regarding airlines, laws, etc. will be greatly appreciated.

[Skull diver]

3 hours ago, donP said:

Hello all, going to Hawaii for vacation. I Want to take my Equinox 800, need a collapsible shaft or purchase a 900? . What's a really nice durable scoop to travel with and be able to put in my luggage? We typically take carry-on luggage. How do the hotels feel about metal detectorists on their beaches? Any other advice regarding airlines, laws, etc. will be greatly appreciated.

For a whole host of reasons, I have never flown my equipment in, but rather shipped to my destination days in advance.

Be prepared to have the detector in the hold, as lithium batteries, unless otherwise specified in the detector manual, are not allowed in the overhead compartment.

Silly as that sounds, since most cell phones use nothing but lithium.

Regarding the scoop, choose a two-piece carbon rod, and perhaps an aluminum sieve on purpose than steel.

If you still haven't confirmed a hotel reservation, play the beach search card as a constraint on the reservation itself.... It would really bother me to stray too far from my hotel if I already bear the expense of staying there.

At that point a B&B would be more suitable, but I think it's not a detectong-only voyage

[donP]

Thank you, great advice! Off to look for a scoop. Just hope I can be disciplined enough to get up early and detect while on vacation. LOL

[Steve Herschbach]

Sorry a couple posts got temporarily delayed. Due to the volume of airline related spam attacks any post with a variation of the word airlines is held aside for manual review and approval. This can take minutes or hours depending on when you post.

I've flown multiple times to Hawaii, Australia, the U.K. and more. I pack my gear carefully in checked luggage and have never had an issue. Any decent scoop with a two piece handle will suffice. But then I have never had a genuinely lost bag in 50 years of flying, and I fly quite a bit. A few delayed, yes, but never lost outright, so not something I worry about. I do use a good stout suitcase though, not the wimpy stuff generally sold these days.

[CPT_GhostLight]

I went to Hawaii for the first time in September and generally hit Florida once a year as well. Detecting rules vary a bit from island to island, but the general rule is it's okay to hunt public beaches, but stay away from private, state park, and historical site beaches.  We went to Oahu and stayed at the Disney Resort and there is no detecting allowed on any of the Ko Olina beaches or properties, so I just hit a few public beaches nearby. Just google metal detecting Hawaii and a buch of useful sites will pop up.

As far as collapsible shafts go, I like SteveG's 3-piece travel shaft for my EQ800. Just contact SteveG here or on his website and ask about the Equinox 600/800 travel shaft. He's a great guy and will hook you up with what ever you need. Just put the pod/controller in your carry-on and stow the coils and shaft parts in your checked bag. Note: pack tools to reassemble after you get there.

 https://www.stevesdetectorrods.com/index.php

I use a CKG travel scoop set up I got from Amazon:

https://a.co/d/6Of9HaY

They come in a variety of scoop sizes and stow in a checked bag but are a little too big for carry-on.

HTH 😎

[F350Platinum]

If you're used to the 800, buying and bringing a new detector might not be a good idea, considering the leaning curve between the 800 and 900.

Better and cheaper to accessorize your 800 unless you have time to learn a new machine.

The scoops the Cap'n suggested are just fine, you might want the smaller one unless you are ok with scooping a lot at one time. 👍

[midalake]

18 hours ago, donP said:

Hello all, going to Hawaii for vacation. I Want to take my Equinox 800, need a collapsible shaft or purchase a 900? . What's a really nice durable scoop to travel with and be able to put in my luggage? We typically take carry-on luggage. How do the hotels feel about metal detectorists on their beaches? Any other advice regarding airlines, laws, etc. will be greatly appreciated.

I would take the 800. Put the pod in your carry-on.

The rest can be put in checked baggage. RTG travel scoops are the way to go. They make several different versions.

GOOD LUCK!!!

[matt]

Most public beaches in Hawaii are open to metal detecting except as mentioned above. What island are you going to visit? One thing if going to Maui, the locals are not crazy about tourists in the Lahaina area right now due to the fire and they are actually camping on Kaanapali beach in protest. I was there 2 weeks ago and there were hardly any tourists in that area.

[Rattlehead]

19 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

you might want the smaller one unless you are ok with scooping a lot at one time. 👍

Scoop weight makes a big difference, that's for sure! My first time at the beach, I was using a 9.5" wide T-Rex that I had borrowed from a friend. It worked great, but man that thing was heavy! Had my shoulder hurting! Since I enjoyed beach detecting so much, I decided to go ahead and buy some equipment of my own. I noticed you mentioned the CooB scoops in a couple of threads so I picked up one of those. I think it's called the Monstrik V1? 6.25"X9" I believe. It weighs 1.75 lbs as comparted to the T-Rex's weight of 3.9 lbs (not including handle). I ordered a CF handle from steveg. 

[F350Platinum]

46 minutes ago, Rattlehead said:

Scoop weight makes a big difference, that's for sure! My first time at the beach, I was using a 9.5" wide T-Rex that I had borrowed from a friend. It worked great, but man that thing was heavy! Had my shoulder hurting! Since I enjoyed beach detecting so much, I decided to go ahead and buy some equipment of my own. I noticed you mentioned the CooB scoops in a couple of threads so I picked up one of those. I think it's called the Monstrik V1? 6.25"X9" I believe. It weighs 1.75 lbs as comparted to the T-Rex's weight of 3.9 lbs (not including handle). I ordered a CF handle from steveg. 

Last year I got a Dune Titanium 6" from Serious Detecting and a CF handle from Steve, when the beach isn't rocky or pebbly (ex. white sand) I use that one. The whole thing weighs less than 3 pounds! It was expensive but man I hardly know I'm carrying it compared to the ~5 pound CooB.

However, 1.5mm titanium is nowhere near as tough as 2mm stainless, so the 9" CooB Shark V10 gets used everywhere else. 😀

Steve's CF scoop handles (though I wish I could get a longer one) are par excellence. 👍