Compadre and the wet salt sand...

[TabGrabber]

... it works!


I picked up a Compadre the other day, as I've read tons of great stuff about them. I'm very new to the hobby, and picked up a White's TreasurePro to start. I had hoped to be able to use the TPro on the beaches here on Florida's Gulf Coast, as it has a beach setting, but it really isn't made for it, so I wasn't terribly surprised when it didn't fare well. In the back of my mind, I thought of getting an Excal or similar, but wasn't thrilled about dropping $1K + on a machine for a hobby I'm just starting.

Anyway, I saw a video of a guy in the Carolinas using a Compadre on wet salt sand, and it seemed to perform well enough to be usable, so I wanted to try it myself tonight. I left the TPro at home, and went down to the beach. Tide was coming in, so there wasn't a lot of wet beach, but enough. I found that setting the disc to just below foil, I got no chatter, so I went for it. First solid signal turned out to be a tiny (less then 1/2") heart shaped piece of bling with little diamonds (I'm sure they're fake) and a small white stone in the center. Next target was a penny, and the thrid was a small piece of iron (?). It only falsed on me twice, but I thought that was good all things considered. If I bumped up the disc a hair, those false signals disappeared.

Now I'm not saying that a Compadre will work in all salt beaches, and I understand that here in Florida the sand tends to be easier to deal with, but all I know is I've had success using a Compadre on the wet salt sand! I think that's pretty freaking awesome!

As for depth of the finds, I'll guess they were up to 4" down, but that's only a guess because of the scoop.

Here's a horrible pic of the bling -

 

[Old California]

Good job on the small piece of jewerly, that's alsome!

I heard the Mojave did well on West coast during testing, not sure if they were referring to wet sand but it was at least ocean sand using high mineral setting quieted down the Mojave. Tesoro puts out great products, looking forward to whats coming in the future.

Congrats!

Paul

 

[TN Mike]

Its funny to me how little attention this thread is getting. A detector that can run quietly over wet sand is a very good thing. A 160$ detector that can do this with decent depth is an awesome thing. I've been wanting to try my Compadre at the beach now for a year or so but haven't had a chance to make it out. Im hoping I can get some good results with a external ground balance mod and maybe a 9x8.

What size coil where you using?

 

[Neil]

I can only speak for around here in NJ but will say the wet sand at our ocean and inland are very different soils. Ive tried a Tejon, Vaquero and a few others and you can quiet them down some by using smaller widescan coils but they are still gonna chatter and your gonna have to recheck signals often. I would also note that 4" down in wet sand isn't much at all, here anyways.

If it works for you go for it.

 

[TabGrabber]

Its funny to me how little attention this thread is getting. A detector that can run quietly over wet sand is a very good thing. A 160$ detector that can do this with decent depth is an awesome thing. I've been wanting to try my Compadre at the beach now for a year or so but haven't had a chance to make it out. Im hoping I can get some good results with a external ground balance mod and maybe a 9x8.

What size coil where you using?

Mike, I've been thinking the same thing since I posted this.

Neil, I realize that 4" or so isn't very deep, but, it's better then not being able to get to the wet at all. Plus, I plan on going regularly, so my hope is that I'll get there fast enough where whatever is there doesn't get the time to go too deep. But like I said, I think the FL beach here is a lot more metal detector friendly then most areas of the country. Worst thing that you can do is give it a try, if it works, great, if not, nothing lost.

Like I said above, it's not an Excal, but it's a start. I probably should get myself an Excal or similar, but we'll see.

And I've got the 8" coil.

 

[Neil]

You wouldnt have to jump to an excal, plenty of detectors will exceed what the compadre will do.
HH
Neil

 

[TabGrabber]

Well, I went out again with the Compadre last night to a different beach (also salt), and again used it in the wet sand and the water (ankle deep).

Here's what I've been able to figure out so far. The Compadre does detect in the wet sand and water, without question. But, and this is a big but, it seems to only go about 1" to maybe 2" deep when in the wet/water. Paying closer attention to my setting, I have the dial at about midway of the word Foil, and that keeps it stable.

In the water last night, all I found were a tiny pieces of iron, and one earring back. I was getting two other hits within 2 feet of the earring back, convincing me the earring was somewhere nearby, but I couldn't seem to get it. One of those hits turned out to be a piece of iron, but couldn't find the other target. I think my problem was that I was scooping too deep, and the pinpointer (White's TRX) was falsing in the wet sand, and I just couldn't find it. It didn't help that the sand in the area had seagrass that was making it really difficult to pull apart and find things.

I finished up the evening on the dry sand, and found some clad (not totaled yet), a few pulltabs, a fishing sinker, and some random junk.

The thing I like the best about the Compadre is that I can go from the dry sand to the wet sand without any issues, and vice verse.

What I'm not understanding is with the discrimination set at mid-foil, shouldn't I not be getting signals for those tiny bits of iron?

 

[Neil]

Its falsing.
Did you test the earring back at that setting? If its silver you should get it at that setting but tiny gold should start getting disced out at a mid foil setting. Your talking pretty close to nickel right?

 

[Electricfrontporch]

I have a compadre that I water proofed but have only used it in freshwater.
It seems that a slower sweep speed in the water lets some of those
borderline discrimination targets get through. I notice it with bottle caps mostly
So I usually just run it in all metal/min discrimination. Mine has the small coil and
The light weight keeps it from moving through the water as fast as on land.
Not sure how that would translate to the salt but I'm sure it could contribute to some falling.
Either way make the most of what you have. I love my low budget water Compadre.

Dig It All

Noah

 

[TabGrabber]

Its falsing.
Did you test the earring back at that setting? If its silver you should get it at that setting but tiny gold should start getting disced out at a mid foil setting. Your talking pretty close to nickel right?

It was set around mid Foil. It doesn't appear to be silver or gold, it's pretty ratty. I'll take a photo later if it.

 

[TabGrabber]

Electricfrontporch - What case is that? I'm looking to do that to mine, but not sure what case would be the right size, etc.

 

[Electricfrontporch]

Plano guide series. Receipt says model 144900.