waterproof detectors for river hunting

[chantalpoole]

im looking to buy a second detector to use for river detecting this summer.I live very rural and there are many small old bridges down my way with rivers which are maybe knee deep .
As i use a safari for my day to day detecting i think i will need to get another detector or one slip and it will be very costly.
i would like to have some discrimination so would prefer not a pi machine.
i was looking at the tesoro shark or at pro
i was wondering if anyone has any advice .
cost is a bit of an issue at the moment for ''luxury items'' like a second detector so a minelab 3030 and suchlike are out 

[Chef Geoff]

I think the Garrett AT-Pro is the one to go for for the price, the Minelab Excalibur is the ultimate underwater VLF machine and they do crop up at reasonable prices but you could be waiting some time for one

[trojan]

the garrett  Sea Hunter Mark II would be one of the best machines to use for rivers and beach, it has some incredible depth 100% waterproof
although i have both etrac and ctx3030 my son has the sea hunter mkII and ive used it a few times, its an incredible machine.

All metal Deepseeking mode
Adjustable Audio Threshold
Full range discrimination
Submersible headphone jack
Hip mountable control box
Salt elimination mode
Sensitivity / depth adjustment
Surface mount PC board technology

[Chef Geoff]

But it's a Pi and in a river with the normal amount of habitation wast the lack of disc would drive you mad, I used one for 4 years and while it's a good underwater machine (you don't want good depth when diving)  and will find some tiny items on the beach this would be a minus point in a river as although it say's "full range discrimination" it doesn't as it's a Pi and so only alters it's timings to be less sensitive to sizes of targets.
As you say VLF is the way to go for rivers

[dances with badgers]

head hunter 

[Chef Geoff]

Yep nice little machines, no depth to speak of as only running at 2.4 kHz so the same as fisher aquanauts great little diving machine though.

[celticspikey]

im looking to buy a second detector to use for river detecting this summer.I live very rural and there are many small old bridges down my way with rivers which are maybe knee deep .
As i use a safari for my day to day detecting i think i will need to get another detector or one slip and it will be very costly.
i would like to have some discrimination so would prefer not a pi machine.
i was looking at the tesoro shark or at pro
i was wondering if anyone has any advice .
cost is a bit of an issue at the moment for ''luxury items'' like a second detector so a minelab 3030 and suchlike are out  :

Only one machine in my opinion Geoff had it covered, EXCAIBUR but as Geoff said you got to find one, do not go for pulse machine you will only end up throwing it in the river good luck and look forward to those river finds an area in most cases untapped 

[Da Monkey]

Whites beachmaster ID is basically a dfx in a box that's totally waterproof and has ID as well. If you can get hold of one.... Outherwise I'd go for the Garrett ATpro.

[grego]

Nothing wrong with the AT Pro , in the water or on land Can be fully submerged no problem,But not the headphones.

[chantalpoole]

thanks for the advice i think ill go for the excalibur, they seem to be around the same price as the at pro on ebay and maybe one will come up for sale on dw .
theres one bridge in particular i really want to go check out its only a mile from me in a tiny village that is  associated with the mabinogion (ancient welsh manuscripts). i think i know the owner of both sides of the land so ill ask him today.I might find something i might not .im not sure of the legalities as i guess the highways own the bridge but the river below it is prob owned by whoever owns the bank (its not national trust or forestry etc

[Chef Geoff]

Good choice Chantal and good luck if you get some finds they are usually in immaculate condition, copper and bronze coins for instance are as good as the day they went in and that includes Roman, fords are the best places and though you might have a bridge you may have an older or "summer" ford close by, remember bridges are built at the narrowest part of a river a ford is at the shallowest so study your map and just see if the road leading to the bridge has any little kinks in it to put it on course and if so where would the road go without the kink. also any tracks leading towards the river for no apparent reason.
As Paul says it's an untapped resource for someone

[Da Monkey]

Land owner owns half way across the river bed I think, so walk straight down the centre... 

[chantalpoole]

i asked him and he was fine with it so ill be checking out the river and under the bridge. the ''village '' (4 houses) is mentioned in a series of celtic poems written between 1100 and 1200 .i think the stone hump bridge is very old and before that it would have been a ford it would not be too deep for carts or cattle.the water is only knee deep at most and in the hot weather its prob welly deep.its quite fast flowing though.

[trojan]

chantal if you are still coming on Sunday, hold off buying anything till we meet up, i detect the beach and rivers all the time, and ill show you my setup with the etrac first, as you use a safari, you should manage ok with some setting changes.

[jonnietaz1995]

You could just buy a gt, or elite and chest mount a waterproof box, not to hard to make.