Welcome to under water metal detecting –After I tried it, I was hooked. Now it seems that when I dive I always wonder what I might find if I had brought my detector with on the dive. I enjoy wreck diving a lot but when I fan away some sand in 8 to 10 feet of water and catch a glint of gold or silver – there is a rush of excitement. Don’t mistake me, this is by no means a way of chipping out a living but it sure is fun. In fact I was out today – wanted to use a new wetsuit, booties & gloves but could not scratch up a dive group so I went metal detecting in 10 feet of fresh water. No real goodies but still, when I first see a kids costume earring – still a sudden rush but then it just goes into my collection to talk about some day. My daughter picks some of the good stuff to keep for herself too.
Now to your question: I use a Whites Dual Field with a dive shaft. It has taken me a long time to learn how to use it but it does work well and penetrates deep. This was the best I could afford at the time, still use it and love it more every time I use it. Got it from Kellyco as a demo model. White’s customer service is great if you need them – I know this for a fact.
For starting out; the Excalibur 2 seems to be the one of choice if you can afford it. This I learned from going to all the treasure hunter boards and researching like crazy before making my purchase.
There are typically three type of detectors out there: PI (pulse induction) VLF (don’t recall this acronym) and a third but do not remember that one at all. The VLF seems to be good for people just getting started – it has the discrimination people talk about and may save you from digging a ton of bobby pins!
PI is what I have – I have dug a ton of bobby pins during my learning curve that lasted a whole summer. Not at all good for dry sand – your back will get sore digging trash but when you get into the water where the trash thins out and the ADULT swimmers go to cool off - that is where you find watches, wedding rings, earrings, chains etc.. The shallower water has loose change the kids have lost from their pockets.
When you dive near a yacht club, many boat owners will ask you to look for things they have dropped over – this sort of thing makes you feel good.
Call Kellyco, they will be very happy to answer questions and give you selection pointers to think over.
hope this helps a bit....
