As a fairly new beach hunter I was faced with spending a considerable amount of money on an underwater unit based on the info here and other forums. Didn't have anybody local to check with, so sorting through the written info took some time.
Immediate thoughts would be to get the deepest unit available but at one time or another almost all units available were described as "deeper". Occasionally, a load of finds was posted that supposedly removed all doubt about the unit mentioned. Talk about confusing.
Decided to ignore the hype and get a unit that would do what I needed it to do. But what did I need the unit to do? During one on my pre-sleep episodes, the thought came to me that what is important is how much sand you check when hunting. I'm talking volume in cubic inches. If you thoroughly cover an area of (500ft.or 6000 in) X (500 ft.or 6000 in) X (12 in deep) you get 432 million cubic inches checked If, on the other hand, you thoroughly cover an area of (100 ft or 1200 in) X (100 ft or 1200 in) X (16 in deep) you get around 23 million cubic inches checked. That's like an 18 or 19 to one chance you'll find something good by checking more cubic inches of sand.
Sooooo..... it became obvious that I wanted a unit that covered the beach quickly instead of one where I stood in one area hammering the hard pan. Although I've never had any experience with P.I.'s or other touted units, the common threads were that you needed to go slow with these units or dig most everything. If I were younger, it might be fun to give the DF PI a go. When I was in Galveston, the only iron I dug was I.D 'd by my unit as such but I just wanted to confirmed that my md was doing its job. Also, the 14K gold bracelet was recovered in the first scoop, so not all the good stuff is deeper. I'm a firm believer in what's written at the Golden Olde that, when prime areas open up for a short period, you need to move quickly before things close down.
That's my take on the subject. Most of the experienced hunters have spent much time with various units, and P.I's and such are within their ability to make good finds. Your average Joe (Jane) needs to have their efforts rewarded or they'll probably never join the ranks of the experienced.
Ron
Immediate thoughts would be to get the deepest unit available but at one time or another almost all units available were described as "deeper". Occasionally, a load of finds was posted that supposedly removed all doubt about the unit mentioned. Talk about confusing.
Decided to ignore the hype and get a unit that would do what I needed it to do. But what did I need the unit to do? During one on my pre-sleep episodes, the thought came to me that what is important is how much sand you check when hunting. I'm talking volume in cubic inches. If you thoroughly cover an area of (500ft.or 6000 in) X (500 ft.or 6000 in) X (12 in deep) you get 432 million cubic inches checked If, on the other hand, you thoroughly cover an area of (100 ft or 1200 in) X (100 ft or 1200 in) X (16 in deep) you get around 23 million cubic inches checked. That's like an 18 or 19 to one chance you'll find something good by checking more cubic inches of sand.
Sooooo..... it became obvious that I wanted a unit that covered the beach quickly instead of one where I stood in one area hammering the hard pan. Although I've never had any experience with P.I.'s or other touted units, the common threads were that you needed to go slow with these units or dig most everything. If I were younger, it might be fun to give the DF PI a go. When I was in Galveston, the only iron I dug was I.D 'd by my unit as such but I just wanted to confirmed that my md was doing its job. Also, the 14K gold bracelet was recovered in the first scoop, so not all the good stuff is deeper. I'm a firm believer in what's written at the Golden Olde that, when prime areas open up for a short period, you need to move quickly before things close down.
That's my take on the subject. Most of the experienced hunters have spent much time with various units, and P.I's and such are within their ability to make good finds. Your average Joe (Jane) needs to have their efforts rewarded or they'll probably never join the ranks of the experienced.
Ron