Need A New Pi For Beach Detecting

[Bill (S. CA)]

If you don't need the detector to be waterproof you might consider the Axiom.  It performs very well in the wet salt.  I had a TDI Beach Hunter and the Axiom beats it hands down. 

 

Bill

[cudamark]

With the great SMF machines available today, there's very little need for a PI in the water IMO. Extreme depth in black sand is the only thing I can think of.

[Joe Beechnut OBN]

I've had a few water PI's, Sea Hunter, Infinium, White DF.. and the Fisher AQ. First, I love the AQ and I feel there is no deeper water production PI out there.... The bad I feel it has to many issues for me to recommend. The infinium, I never liked the Low/HIgh...High/Low signals, the Whites DF to much noise for me. I do like the Sea Hunter, simple like the Sand Shark..beep and dig. The only down side is the small coil, I know the excalibur in PP is deeper with it's 10 inch coil in All Metal. There is the OPp for the bigger coil on the Sea Hunter but I never liked any coil that was not round and its tuff in rushing water with those big coils. 

The New VLFs, and not the Nox line.. Or the D2 and the Manticore seem like nice machines but I'm old school, I like simple. And as noted,... don't think they can take the rougher waters or black sands..

Excalibur, Love it also ..sad is ...its big bucks, and cable quality is bad. Not great in black sand, it does take several mods to bring it up to standards to match today's VLF's and honestly I swear it sounds just like the sand shark in All metal if I remember correct. 

I guess my first choice would be the Sea Hunter, very much like the Sand Shark and its built like a tank. I feel both the Sand Shark and Sea Hunter are very close in performance.

 

[Tony]

7 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

The 8X is as old school as you can get, a basic PI circuit in a bulletproof box that has been in production for decades. Not unlike the Garrett Sea Hunter in that regard. I used to be a dealer for them, and while it is solid reliable gear I can't really recommend the 8X due to the $2400 price tag

Another major consideration is the JW Fisher Pulse 8 has a starting delay of 30uS to 40uS which is entirely the wrong tool for the job if you are beach or very shallow water hunting for jewellery.....the same applies to the Aquascan AQ1B. For deep salt water detecting they can't be beat if you're looking for larger items.....cannon balls come to mind !

[Joe D.]

I know of one or two on the forum that may have a Seahunter for sale, or possibly a Sand Shark!👍👍

[Tony]

Get 'em while you can........if this trend continues then the only PI detectors will be strictly for the gold fields. Beach PI detectors might be on their last legs......that would be a sad day.

I'd grab a new Sea Hunter and a couple of 8" coils for sure if Garrett decided to discontinue that line.

*** Be careful when plugging in the headphones. The male pins on the headphone side are a little delicate and I managed to break one. I was probably a little careless but just something to watch out for. They are also quite loud on land and I used to wear a flap hat for the headphones to fit over. This reduced the volume quite nicely ***

 

[Joe D.]

  I think there is still plenty of room for a waterproof PI in the marketplace, as Steve pointed out with the lack therein of! As someone who has both waterproof and non, I can tell you that I am much more relaxed using the waterproof versions at the tide line, and shallow surf! Especially when the surf is big, as that is when and where many of the items found are being dragged to, or churned up! I've been caught off guard with a rouge wave on more than one occasion, or stepped in a bowl, or off a shelf, with some depth!

  So many of the niches have been filled in other parts of the market; and diminishing finds, that any company without at least one saltwater worthy beast, should consider adding one to their lineup! There are large numbers of beach/surf hunters out there to support such a move! Jmo!

   Good luck 🍀 in the replacement hunt for your Sand Shark! But don't trash it, as the parts are still worth some cash!👍👍

[kac]

I have an MK2, very stable machine. 8" mono is ok but not very deep on small stuff but from what I have seen its similar to the Sand Shark. 10x14 is a beast but likes to rise up unless you mount the box in front of your hand.

I don't use mine much due to brutal undertoe we have here and all the lobster trap bits.

As for handling black sand and hot rocks its a champ.

Reason you need a pi other than black sand? Been using D2 24khz smf and smaller scoop here. More enjoyable not digging everything and having a light setup.

Do want to mention the D2 dive mode has crap depth, could probably modify the beach sensitive like I did and it does very well.

[TampaBayBrad]

On 12/25/2023 at 11:01 PM, Tony said:

If black sands (remember not all black sands are bad unless attracted to a magnet) aren't a problem then the PI detector may offer no real advantage to a decent multi frequency VLF machine.

 

 

On 12/26/2023 at 12:06 AM, Skull diver said:

 

I do not mention the difference with a digital instrument of today, which I think is exactly as deep and sensitive as a P.I.

 

On 12/26/2023 at 2:22 PM, cudamark said:

With the great SMF machines available today, there's very little need for a PI in the water IMO.

This^^^^ You guys already said what I would say....I have no interest in digging everything. Pull tabs, foil, iron....no thanks.

[Steve Herschbach]

Why do VLF guys have to drop in on every PI thread to declare it’s not what they would use? Don’t. Nobody is telling you that you should. You obviously have never been in a place where your VLF gets 50% depth and calls anything past that as ferrous. If SMF was so great every gold prospector would be swinging one but fact is they are lackluster second cousins for performance compared to a good PI. The OP was asking for advice on a PI, not about anyone’s opinion on whether a PI is worth using or not.