Low Tide - use the CTX?

Bklein

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2013
Messages
434
My detecting started with a surf pi. On low tides I’d find several rings on an outing to Laguna while getting up to my knees or so in the water. I progressed with a multitude of detectors since - like the CTX, DF, EQ800, EQ600, Excals, and GP Extreme.. Since the beginnings with the surf pi I have found less and less targets in the surf (years). Not unique to me - everyone is finding less. Over the years I’ve read people say they are a little disappointed with the CTX and Equinox in the water. The CTX has been my favorite all around detector but I wonder if I should use one of the other detectors, possibly the DF for this weekend. What do you think? I have a big scoop and am not going to be digging holes to China in our waves. In wet sand the CTX has performed well, just not sure about it in the water. I will not be intentionally getting the detector above the low shaft wet. I normally keep out of the waves - sometimes during a lull will run at the last wave break area to see if any targets and then hightail it back.
 
You probably will hear many arguments for other machines. This is mine...I love my Excals. I owned the CTX and found it heavy and too much for the beaches. After 2 times having the battery leak and sending it to repair I had enough and sold it with warranty. A month later the buyer of my CTX called me asking where to send it for repair. Another water leak. It is not a water machine. Read it again, the CTX is not a water machine. It just does not hold up and the shaft fails from sand. It is very hard to swing in the water with any waves or current. The Excals will go into the water and wet sand or dry sand. My setup is smooth and easy to cover ground without fatigue.

It is really hard to do better. I found more gold with my Excals than my CTX. It swings easier and you just dig anyway. Why waste time with a display and a heavy machine?
 
Its gonna be tough with 3-5' of extra sand out in that low tide waste land where you're going. But you never know...
 
Its gonna be tough with 3-5' of extra sand out in that low tide waste land where you're going. But you never know...

Yeah, but like I said, I used to find stuff in it... We’ve seen the waves take out the sand at least twice this year. The targets went with it. But you got most of them already... let me know how you do. I assume you vote for the DF...
 
You probably will hear many arguments for other machines. This is mine...I love my Excals. I owned the CTX and found it heavy and too much for the beaches. After 2 times having the battery leak and sending it to repair I had enough and sold it with warranty. A month later the buyer of my CTX called me asking where to send it for repair. Another water leak. It is not a water machine. Read it again, the CTX is not a water machine. It just does not hold up and the shaft fails from sand. It is very hard to swing in the water with any waves or current. The Excals will go into the water and wet sand or dry sand. My setup is smooth and easy to cover ground without fatigue.

It is really hard to do better. I found more gold with my Excals than my CTX. It swings easier and you just dig anyway. Why waste time with a display and a heavy machine?

I have become pretty experienced with repairing CTX’s with simple fixes. No component level stuff or flooding though. Was going to put CTX #2 on a CF shaft but chickened out. The weight is a killer - my right arm is trashed from it. I use the harness but its the swing mass that still gets me.

I have two excals I modded with all the mods, cf shafts etc. Much broader reach/swing so it will cover more area. I haven’t seriously hunted with them though. Maybe...
 
KOB was right. No targets. Found a dime and a cheap bracelet searching two beaches. Switched from Excal to DF same deal but like using the DF more. Will be selling the two Excals soon as I need to thin the herd.
 
My work had a lunch Xmas party today so I could go out again. This time another stretch of beach south of where I tried yesterday, with the CTX this time. Still no targets. My wife came with a good one - I’m not detecting, I’m taking my detector for a walk.
 
I think waiting for the right conditions is way more important than the machine.

Yes and no. I have been fortunate to hunt a productive beach for MANY years.

I have 20 years experience on this beach with very little competition.

Oh ya, there have been days I have totally been able to call it. Then there are days that completely surprise me to this day.

Tides, wind, water hydraulics, moon phase is a combination that is not 100% predictable.
 
On the CTX display you see the ferrous signature (lower right corner)but mostly hear a good target tone that makes you want to dig. After a bunch of these I give up and skip them. Discriminating them in a second user screen helps I guess but not enough. A lifeguard came up to me and asked if I could look for a guys wedding ring. He pointed out the general area. After digging most of the rusty screws in the area with this kind of target response I tried the masking, less sounds but still no ring. There were concrete curb blocks right near this area and I couldn’t get near without the iron bars in them overpowering the targets. An Equinox could have done better here (seen a guy find several rings near these kind of blocks) I think I would have been at a loss with an Excal. A guy posted a YouTube video of the excal with a gold ring held in a pair of pliers. I guess he was saying if you go too fast you miss the gold but slower you’ll hear it. Not convinced as he didn’t show the results with pliers alone. And I’d never work an area that slow unless I knew where the target was in the first place. I suspect someone got it before me as gold rings just sing on the CTX. Been a long time since hearing it though.
 
Back
Top Bottom