PI Metal Detectors
Published by Larry on Tagged Instuctional, Metal Detector Training, Detector Review
There is excitement in the air concerning Pulse Induction (PI) metal detectors. It is said that a revolutionary model is about to be released by several manufacturers. The main characteristic of PI detectors is their ability to ignore both conductive and nonconductive mineralization in the environment at the same time, while maintaining high sensitivity to all metal targets. Another positive feature is their detection range is not affected by the medium between the coil and the target. Performance for the most part is not hindered by water, sand, silt, solid coral and generally speaking, the air. Some PI’s I have used do not go as deep to locate a target in the air as they do for submerged or buried targets.
I dug a 1957 Roosevelt dime at eighteen inches with my Fisher Impulse. It took more than forty minutes to retrieve that coin in the shallow water at Sunset Beach in Tarpon Springs, FL and that is a primary reason I do not use PI’s for coin shooting. Another reason is the extreme sensitivity to all metal targets will mean digging about 30 junk items for every good target in most coin shooting environments. You will lirerally plow a field before you finish covering the ground. In doing a comparative test last year, I dug almost 300 junk items and retrieved only nine coins and three jewelry keepsakes. A third negative aspect of most PI’s is the difficulty of pinpointing targets. Pinpointing with a PI is a learned art. Most conventional detectors either the center of the coil or a pinpointing button or switch makes for an easy retrieval of finds. One PI I own the target centering point is to the left side of center and is very difficult to zero in on small targets. My primary uses for PI’s are gold prospecting, Civil War relic hunting and bottle digging ventures. They go very deep! I have dug shotgun casings at nearly two feet, nails at fifteen inches and as mentioned above a dime at eighteen inches. Here is my positive thought for using a PI for relic hunting. The P in Pulse Induction stands “Power”! I feel empowered when hunting fields and woods for relics and an occasional coin is a great bonus. However, as a coin-shooter the P stands for punishment in most of my environments. I cannot use one in hunting a burned-out property lot, or on a sports bleacher area or on a ball diamond to name a few areas where a conventional detector with a small three to five inch coil will produce far greater rewards and not destroy the back or shoulders.
I have listed some of the PI’s out there now and they are worth the time to go online and compare their specs and prices. Every serious treasure finder needs to have one as a part of their detecting arsenal. You might want to wait though and see what is coming soon before spending some serious cash. I cannot wait! Bring on those new PI’s.
C Scope 7 UMD (UK) - Underwater Pulse detector
C Scope 4PI (UK) - All purpose land detector
Minelab GPX - 4000 (Australia) - Gold Nugget/Prospecting detector
Minelab GP 3500 - (Australia) - Gold Nugget/Prospecting detector
Minelab SD 2100 - (Australia) - Gold Nugget/Prospecting detector
Minelab SD 2200v2 (Australia) - Gold Nugget/Prospecting detector
Aurora Aqua Pulse (Canada) - Wrist mount underwater detector
White’s Surfmaster PI Pro - Underwater/Surf/Beach detector
Tesoro Sand Shark - Underwater Detector
Garrett Infinium LS - Water/Land detector
Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II - Underwater detector
Fisher Impulse - Land/Sea detector
DetectorPro Headhunter Pulse - Underwater detector
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July 24th, 2008 at 1:43 am
can you recommend a good, friendly metal detectors club to join in the clearwater/duedin area. im 39 year old male who would like to learn the basic skills to be successful.. thanks ps. do you personally run a club yourself?
July 24th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Sam,
I did have a club for several years at Tarpon Springs High School where I taught for 31 years. I was a member for some years in two clubs in Tampa (both defunct). Go to Google and put in Treasure Hunting Clubs + Florida and you can find those nearby. There is a good club in the Largo area (Suncoast Club) and there is one in New Port Richey that I have not attended or checked out but they have both a contact phone # and email address. Thanks for visiting the blog. I am happy to share info in assisting fellow treasure finders.