Whites Spectra v3i.
Here is a nice review of the Spectra. I'm not doing this to give Whites free advertising, even though they are getting it. And I'm not one that puts a lot of emphasis on having the very deepest or best detector. In my opinion, there is no best detector. Some detectors are better than others for specific purposes.
The Spectra is undoubtedly a very good detector, as are most detectors made by the major manufacturers. Just like the others, it has its strengths and weaknesses.
If you are narrowly focused on finding old Spanish shipwreck treasures on a beach, this detector might not be the best choice. All of the fancy target ID stuff would be a waste a lot of the time.
No detector is going to tell you that the big piece of iron you are detecting is a cannon ball or shipwreck spike. If you are hunting old shipwreck items, you usually will want to dig everything.
As the reviewer said, the target ID is not perfect. Target ID is never fool proof. And you simply can't expect a detector to recognized the wide variety of targets you might dig on a shipwreck treasure beach.
If it wasn't hard enough for a detector to correctly identify the wide variety of items, some items will be bent, broken or stuck to other items. That makes target ID very difficult.
For shipwreck treasure hunting, a waterproof detector can be helpful. You can get hit by an unexpected wave or caught in a rain storm. I've even known one person that lost their detector to the sea on a rough day.
Here is the link to the review I am talking about if you are interested.
http://doodlebugs.hubpages.com/hub/Review-Of-The-Whites-Spectra-V3i-Metal-Detector
I suspect this would be a great detector for picking through trashy areas such as urban grass parking lots or parks where you don't want to dig any more holes than necessary.
Don't waste your money unless you need the capabilities you are paying for. Select your detector according to what, where and how you want to hunt. Remember, all detectors have their own specific strengths and weaknesses and will be better suited to one type of detecting rather than another.
If you've ever dug up a piece of metal that looks something like melted aluminum on a Treasure Coast beach, it could be titanium from a rocket or maybe the space shuttle Challenger disaster.
Here is a link to a web site that tells how to identify titanium.
http://mrtitanium.info/2008/03/17/how-to-tell-if-a-piece-of-metal-is-really-titanium/
As you might know, titanium is also used to make inexpensive jewelry these days and is much less expensive than platinum, gold or silver.
By midnight 8/8/11 gold finished at over $1751 per ounce. It is up again today.
A 2000 plus year old sword, still in its hilt, was found with some other artifacts in a drainage channel in Jerusalem.
Here is the link if you want to read that story.
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early+History+-+Archaeology/Artifacts_destruction_Temple_8-Aug-2011.htm
Even small creeks and channels can conceal treasures.
Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.
Emily has developed again. This time though, she is out in the middle of the Atlantic and no apparent threat to return to the mainland US.
The wind is out of the west and the ocean is very calm. No change to detecting conditions on the Treasure Coast.
I took a quick look this morning and saw that there are till basically two types of beaches right now. Some have a low flat wide low tide zone, and some have a front beach with a mushy front that slopes steeply down to the waterline.
I would focus on those beaches with a wide flat low tide zone. Some still have a number of metal targets, especially if you walk a distance from the parking lots. Some beaches also have some nice shell piles where you might be able to find lighter targets, such as fossils, sea glass or pot shards, if you are interested in that sort of thing.
On some of the beaches you'll some find metal targets between the shell piles and the water line.
It seems that the wide low tide zones are composed of layers of shells covered by fine hard-packed sand. It doesn't make for easy digging.
I only did a quick sample where I stopped today and dug some pieces of copper sheeting. I left some targets simply because I didn't have time to dig them all.
Anyhow, there are still some shipwreck items to be found on the beaches even if they are scattered and are not high value targets. You never know what might pop up.
Use rocks and other stationary items to indicate where the sand is moving.
Happy Hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
