a good beach detector

[stickygreen]

Can you guys recommend a good but cheap beach detector please thanks

[handyman [Alan}]

dances with badges will search the beach for £20 .. is that cheap enough???

[Chef Geoff]

The best there is is probably a Minelab Sovereign (any model) which can be had for around the £250-300 mark. Other than that you are probably looking at a whites machine but the price is not going to be much cheaper. Unfortunately "Good" and "Cheap" are not two words that go together with metal detectors.

[Da Monkey]

dances with badges will search the beach for £20 .. is that cheap enough???

I'm sure he's been down the beach and come home with much less than £20 LOL...  

Minelabs are great for the beach, If you want a Whites for the beach forget the XLT for anything other than dry sand. I had both the DFX and XLT, DFX is great on the wet sand, but the XLT was no good at all, lots of falsing on the wet stuff.  V3i etc. should also be fine on the wet stuff but too expensive. They do make a nice "Beach Hunter ID" (since been upgraded a bit, but basically same machine) essentially a DFX in a fully waterproof box with waterproof headset so you can even dive with it.  You can find em cheap on times, but are harder to get hold of. My detecting buddy has one, seen it running on the beach but not in the water yet.   

So DFX or Minelab I guess....

[dances with badgers]

i will do it for nothing and most of the time i do lol

[Val Beechey]

No one mentioned the Whites M6. Thats what I've got and its great on everything, wet or dry, inland or on the beach.
Not often you see them 2nd hand but worth a look.

Val

[Chef Geoff]

Well I did say whites lol. But your right either the DFX, M6 or MXT are pretty good on the beach.

[peanut]

I'd agree about the Minelabs but even the older used Sovereigns seem to be going for big money these days.
If you want a good cheap detector that is very useable on the beach you could try the Minelab Musketeer /Advantage which often go for about £200 on fleabay. but they are a heavy machine with a 10" coil.

You might also look at the garrett AT Pro International. Its completly waterproof and can be completly submerged apparently but I don't know how good it is on mineralised black sand ? otherwise a Garrett Euroace can be had new for as little as £250 and they are certainly useable on the beach as can be attested by our Ferrett who has done very well off the beach with his.

If you intend to work the beaches predomininatly then you really should be considering a specialised detector but if like the rest of us you like to mix it a bit then one of the cheap Garretts will do you proud

[stickygreen]

Thanks for the replies it be for beach only as i have a new t2 which is quite good on the dry sand but not so on wet.

[banjo]

minelab soveriegn gt,it;s a pleasure to use on the beach and couldn't imagine using anything else

[Ferenco]

I use an Excalibur with an Anderson shaft. It's a biit pricey but an excellent beach machine

[Nugget]

Is a Garrett Ace 250 any good for the beach?

[dances with badgers]

the garret ace is good on the dry sand but u have to turn sensitivity down a lot on the wet sand so u lose depth.good machines for coins

[Whiteduke]

Not that much experience,I used to use my minelab on the beach,but since i got a cs4pi ,the minelab stays in the cupboard when I'm off to the beach,since using it my finds have improved for sure.

OK no discrimination ,but you soon learn what signals to dig,and its cheap compared to some,but IMHO its value.

If i had to gripe about the cs4pi the volume could do with a boost or maybe its me.

I lasted about 5 Min's with an ace 250 and that included the time it took to walk from the car to the beach.

[Nugget]

Thanks for the advice, I was advised the Cscope 4pi is a specialist beach machine and not a lot of use inland before I made my choice. Something about the operating system being different to the inland machines to overcome the wet sand ground effect.
As I live about 40 miles from the sea and considering the recent price hikes for fuel I chose the 3mxi. I suppose time will tell if I made the right choice.