Thinking about a detector Change?

[cabochris]

Water hunting Brothers... oops, and Sisters... I mostly travel to the Caribbean to do my shallow water detecting. I live near Seattle, WA. When traveling, I take an Excalibur 800 and a 1000- 1 as back-up. Excaliburs do find the gold. But I'm always looking for better machines to travel with. I really do like Excaliburs but have to swing them very slow and listen intently for deep targets. Such daily concentration for hours at a time can take some of the fun away on such vacations. The shallow targets are always easy to hit with Excaliburs.

Lately I have the itch to try something different and perhaps leave my Excaliburs home next trip? That is if I dare to? My fellow detectorists will think I'm crazy if I do. But what if... I traveled only with a Whites BHID 9inch and a Whites PI Pro 9 inch? I could hunt a beach/water quickly with the BHID (because it is a faster responding machine than Excalibur) for fresh drops. Then later I could go back over same area with the PI Pro for the deeper gold the Excalibur might miss? On trashy beaches the 9 inch BHID coil might do better than the 300 coil? And if there is any black sand the PI would get the nod. Seems like a real good travel combo? Back at home I could even use the BHID on land, rain or shine?

I know the coils may float, but I'm OK with that. And I know about the BHID 300 and Whites DF 300. I just wonder if the smaller coils might make better all-rounders for travel than the pie plates? Also the BHID is simple to use. Just dig all yellow/blue-green, med/high tones and not waste time trying to figure out if it's a piece of foil or pull tab, like with Excalibur. And I know for certain the PI Pro is more sensitive to gold chains than Excaliburs. I tried a Pro once and found gold chains my 800 Excal could not even see!

As far as I'm concerned Excaliburs are the machines to beat for general beach/surf hunting. They do like gold. But I have heard the BHID and PI Pro also like gold too. So what do you guys think about all of this? Can the Whites PI and VLF compete with BBS technology? Thanks, CC.

 

[Joel-Winnipeg]

Surfmaster Dual Field and the BHID will do the job.
You can get the bracket from Whites to steady the coils about $10.00
I use the BHID which is good in separating the target vs the led lights.
Have a tendency of also digging the iron (red) that come on momentarily as most of our coins have iron in them.
I hear good things about the Dual field from the forums users but I don't own one. Good luck in your choices !

 

[downeaster]

Never used the dual field but can vouch for the capability of the BHID. Good discrimination, target separation, and great depth. Hard hitter on gold but so is my old Fisher 1280x, I prefer the 9.5 coil but that's just me.

 

[Toymad]

I would definitely go with Whites BHID. I took my BHID out yesterday for the first time, I can't believe what I found.

 

[briley59]

I have the combo you are considering and have had very good luck. My experience is limited to the two machines so I cannot offer you any advise as to the better emachines vs others. I use the BHID with the 12" coil and pick up very deep targets. I comb a very hit area for every machine out there and yet can go back over with either and find deeper targets. Does this mean the machine is better? No it means I listen and dig when it tells me there is something there.
Deep targets on the BHID are funny they can be a weak tone yet solid and either be aluminum foil shallow or coin(nickel) or ring deep. Dig and you will find out what it is. The difference in the two machines plainly is this. The BHID is a three tone machine and has various pitches for each tone depending on the target and they are low. lets say bass type tones. The DF is a one tone with a more mid to high range tone and for me is sometimes hard to hear. I have hunted exclusively with the DF 12" lately and have had good succes but dug a lot of targets. Some were deep and may not have been picked up by other machines I cannot answer this for sure but know areas I hunt have a lot of pressure put on them and it seems someone would have picked them up. They may have assumed it was trash and for the most part was but this week alone I have picked up seven junk rings in areas hit hard by other machines and it very well could be a coincidence.
As for the floatin head, In strong current it is an issue as I am sure it would be on any machine out there. On normal tidal and waves it is a pain in the backside and arm to use. I hunt 5-6 hours a day and at days end am pretty well whipped. But I walk in water and 5-6 hours later come out and am done.
I do want to use a Excal just to find out myself and have been invited to use an Infinium to give it a whirl and probably will one day.
Hope I did not confuse you with this info and do not want you to think I am an expert on the subject. I have been going for only six months and am still everyday learning something to use for future trips. I know there are a lot of Excal users having great success and there must be something to the machine for that many to be so loyal and have good results.
Current set up or considering set up you will probably have all you need. only difference is size of coil and evn that can be fixed on Excals
Good luck

 

[Jadesun]

my beach combo is the M6 on dry sand and the daulfield for wet sand and water.
What a combo!!!!
I am thinking about picking up another detector. (excal at the top of the list)

 

[cabochris]

Thanks all, I purchased 2 used Whites BHID's. One with 9.5 inch coil and the other with 12 inch/300. I'm looking forward to testing them on gold and seeing which coil I prefer. If they do as good or better than my Excaliburs I'll keep them. Plus I'll have to try one of them in the Caribbean. I have high in the field hopes with the BHID. But the proof will be with the gold finds and ease of use. Now turning my attention towards PI Pro or DF. But who knows, perhaps I just travel with 2 BHID's and forget a pulse? Kind of makes sense to maximize gold target potential while on short vacations. A PI would not do that? CC

 

[Prodigy]

I would definitely go with Whites BHID. I took my BHID out yesterday for the first time, I can't believe what I found.

so what'ye find??? Pics??? Ya can't just say something like that and leave us all hanging

 

[Toymad]

here are the photos of my first find with thr BHID.

 

[donlor4u]

i've only used a sand shark for the past 3 years. it is a pi detector. i love it + have picked plenty of gold with it . it goes deeper than you might want to dig. tesoro has a lifetime warranty and very very reasonable prices (the sand shark costs $543.20 new). tesoro also has fantastic service - i messed my shark up - had to send it in for repairs - will have it back in less than 2 weeks!
donald

 

[diggindirt]

Thanks all, I purchased 2 used Whites BHID's. One with 9.5 inch coil and the other with 12 inch/300. I'm looking forward to testing them on gold and seeing which coil I prefer. If they do as good or better than my Excaliburs I'll keep them. Plus I'll have to try one of them in the Caribbean. I have high in the field hopes with the BHID. But the proof will be with the gold finds and ease of use. Now turning my attention towards PI Pro or DF. But who knows, perhaps I just travel with 2 BHID's and forget a pulse? Kind of makes sense to maximize gold target potential while on short vacations. A PI would not do that? CC

Both excellent machines! I've paid for mine many times over with gold and silver finds in both fresh and salt water.

Hunt in "all metal" for max depth and use the lights to decide if you want to dig. You can also toggle to disc to see what type of tone you get.

I've found the sensitivity on the 300 needs to be turned back slightly from the settings compared to the BHID. The 300 runs a little hotter
which I believe is due to the size of that coil.

Gold on this machine gives a very smooth mid-tone that you'll learn to appreciate in no time. One thing you'll like is the fast recovery time and sweep possible with this detector
which lets you cover much more ground quickly!

Use the chest mount (light weight) or go with an after market straight shaft for nice balance.

Good luck with the machines!

 

[cabochris]

With the BHID and BHID 300, if ground mineralization is low, will one be able to achieve a ground balance in shallow saltwater? Once tried a CZ 20 in such conditions and was not able to GB. In such case, where should one set GB with BHID? Or do you think there was a problem with the CZ 20 I had at the time? Thanks, CC.

 

[diggindirt]

With the BHID and BHID 300, if ground mineralization is low, will one be able to achieve a ground balance in shallow saltwater? Once tried a CZ 20 in such conditions and was not able to GB. In such case, where should one set GB with BHID? Or do you think there was a problem with the CZ 20 I had at the time? Thanks, CC.

I can't say if there was an issue with the CZ20, but you should have no problems ground balancing the detector. If you do have any issues, just run it at the preset and go on detecting!

Thanks!