Looking To Buy Scoop

[moose57]

Hello everyone. I live in ohio. I metal detect in rivers & creaks and ponds
which name brand name scoop would you say I should buy for hunting
in these places.

 

[Sand Sifter]

Hello everyone. I live in ohio. I metal detect in rivers & creaks and ponds
which name brand name scoop would you say I should buy for hunting
in these places.

Oh boy Moose, get ready for a lot of different opinions, lol. There's no other topic on all of the forums that generates more debate, arguments, recommendations, etc. But I'll be happy to give you mine. You didn't mention your budget, but I'm concentrating of my recommendation based on the type of hunting you do and the locations you hunt in, which appear to be freshwater.

One thing to keep in mind, here in the Beach and Water sub-forum, the vast majority of us are detecting on saltwater ocean beaches and in saltwater. So, a lot of the scoop recommendations you might get will come from beach hunters that use large & expensive scoops, such as Stainless Steel or Titanium, to dig as much sand as they can, as quickly as possible. That's because when we're out in the saltwater ocean, we have to deal with very strong currents, rushing water, and crashing waves. If you're detecting in freshwater rivers, creeks, and ponds, you're in much calmer water, possibly even still water, so you really don't require a large honking expensive scoop to beat the waves and rushing water, as you'll have much calmer water with probably more time to dig. Also, some of the larger SS & Titanium scoops designed for saltwater beaches can cost up to $700 or more.

I've attached pics of the scoop that I've been using on saltwater beaches for the last 15 years, in all areas of the beach, dry sand, wet sand, under water, etc. The scoop I use is an RTG (Reilly's Treasured Gold) aluminum scoop with Stainless Steel Tip. The aluminum is light, the SS tip adds strength for digging through rocks, gravel, densely packed sand, the welds are extremely robust, and the circular design is very strong, just like arch's used in buildings, bridges, coliseum's etc. IMHO, it's a perfect combination of strength, lightness, resistance to rust, and lower cost. And as you can see by the pics, my scoop still looks new and doesn't have any dings or bends in the metal even though I've dug thousands of holes with it over the last 15 years. That said, I do flush my scoop with fresh water after every beach hunt to remove any traces of sand, saltwater, dirt, etc. I forget what I paid for the scoop 15 years ago, but today, I think they're priced around $170 or so. Just make sure you add the Stainless-Steel Tip option, it's only about $15 more, but trust me, it's well worth it and will help your scoop last a long time.

BTW, the black you see at the bottom of the handle and on the top of the bucket is from black Plasti-Dip spray. It started pealing after many years of use, so I recently resprayed the entire shaft. The aluminum shaft is smooth and can be a bit slippery when hunting in water and it gets wet. Spraying the shaft with a few coats of Plasti-Dip will give you a much better grip when pulling up a bucket full of heavier wet sand.

 

[tvr]

Here is what I posted a couple of years back. Nothing has changed, still using the same scoops.

Best water scoop

What is the best water scoop Is there a break down model, ( screw together, detachable ) for easier traveling ?

www.findmall.com

My RTG scoop has truck bed liner sprayed on the handle. It provides a better grip, prevents hand staining from the bare aluminum shaft and the handle does not heat up in the sun like it does with the bare aluminum handle. The hybrid back on the stealth scoop has smaller holes so small things like earring backs get caught in the scoop preventing digging the same target many times. Some people put some screening material in the back of their scoops that have larger holes to accomplish the same thing.

 

[Sand Sifter]

Some people put some screening material in the back of their scoops that have larger holes to accomplish the same thing.

TVR, thanks for reminding me about the back of the scoop. I forgot to mention to moose57 that in the 3rd pic, the one showing the SS tip, he'll be able to see at the back of the scoop that I've attached 4 magnets, which he may or may not want to do.

Moose, I attached those magnets to the back of the scoop to attract little bits of iron that might be in the sand, such as bobby pins. But most coins except nickels (copper, gold, silver, zinc), aren't magnetic so they won't stick. Other metals that also won't stick to the magnets include Lead, Bronze, Brass, and Aluminum.

 

[fwcrawford]

If you are planning to detect in creeks and rivers, forget the scoop.. waste of time and money in my opinion.
I started river detecting about three years ago and only use prospectors picks.
Targets are normally not too deep, but impacted in gravel and rocks making a scoop useless.
As far as ponds or lakes, a scoop would be OK.