Who Uses A Pinpointer On The Beach?

[Bill (S. CA)]

Just curious how many of you use pinpointers on the beach.

I've been a beach hunter for over 40 years and have never used one on the beach.  But nowadays I see a lot of hunters using them to pinpoint coins which I think is pretty silly.  I can find any coin with my sand scoop no problem.

I get it if you are hunting for micro gold on the dry but otherwise to me it's unnecessary. 

What do you folks think?

Bill

[phrunt]

I do, with the depths some of these modern detectors can achieve I find it easier to dig the hole and use a pinpointer to narrow it down, I kept getting trouble with pinpointers on the wet sand so moved onto the Fisher F-Pulse which works well for it.  In saying that I'm not a big beach hunter and only do it a few times a year.

[Skull diver]

25 minutes ago, Bill (S. CA) said:

Just curious how many of you use pinpointers on the beach.

I've been a beach hunter for over 40 years and have never used one on the beach.  But nowadays I see a lot of hunters using them to pinpoint coins which I think is pretty silly.  I can find any coin with my sand scoop no problem.

I get it if you are hunting for micro gold on the dry but otherwise to me it's unnecessary. 

What do you folks think?

Bill

I recently bought another one (this time cheaper) to use it on the wetsand cause years ago it flooded underwater.

You're right about coins but really thin pieces of foil and crappy bits drive me crazy meanwhile trying to locate them out of the hole.

I think it helps a lot to don't burn useful time.

No matter how small the coil, there are things too small to be seen.

[F350Platinum]

Sometimes the sand just won't sift through the scoop, so I try to keep one with me, and regret it when  I forget it.

It's all about target retrieval time for me.

[Bill (S. CA)]

I appreciate the responses.  Different strokes as they say.  Target recovery for me on a beach is so fast and easy I have no need of a pinpointer.  Even the tiny bits are easy to sort out.  Maybe it's due to the 250,000 pulltabs I've dug (probably a low estimate) over the years...

[matt]

I bought one but never used it. After detecting for placer gold for so many years I still just tilt up my coil and use the edge to pinpoint the target when it's out of the hole in a spread out pile of sand. Takes a few seconds to retrieve. Maybe I'll try the pinpointer next time out, but I hate taking more things with me to lose. I usually hunt in a t-shirt and swim suit though.

[Joe Beechnut OBN]

Hunting the dry and wet sand I tried it but found the edge of the coil worked just as well. 

Now in the water using a floating sifter, and I come into a clay bottom area the PP'er is a life saver. Sand, rocks, gravel, shells the edge of the coil works great (Excal & the AQ PI) but dig out a few big chunks of clay and have that in the sifter?.. it takes forever to find a small target buried in that stuff. That is the only time the PP'er is needed.

[OCBeepDigger]

I always have a pinpointer with me on beach hunts but rarely use it. Maybe occasionally on very small targets when a bit of target location frustration sets in and I just want to find it and move on. 😉 

[kac]

They help me locate a can 3' down 🙂

[midalake]

Pin pointer>Never.