Whites Beach Hunter ID
Approximate price: $800
Number of Reviews: 23
on 3 pages.
Also in this price range:
Minelab Excalibur 800
Surfmaster
Ralph Genovese in new jersey -I was thinking of going the beach hunter id route. Reading reviews kind of made me think twice, I have a 12 inch coil surfmaster, yes its a dig all but works in salt water just as good as dry sand, its outstanding!!!!!
I also use an x terra 705, while great in the wet sand, it does the normal jumping around in the salt water, just have to go slow, the surfmaster, your discrimination is listen to your targets and listen well!! It will save on digging up trash! I know tendonitis in your elbow can wreck your day.
Nov 02, 2011
3 Yes
2 No
Okay, But Has Couple Issues
Treasure Hunter in Florida -
I bought a Whites Beach Hunter ID new in July 2006, it was repaired twice in 2007 by Whites for leaking gaskets.....Turned out black gasket had design flaw, but I still had to pay the shipping twice for repairs.
Whites switch to a orange gasket that does not leak, if you buy a used BH ID, be sure it has the orange gasket, not the black gasket.
The coil flots, it is an irritation, can't be call a flaw, but it just makes no sense why a detector built for underwater would have a coil that floats.
The LEDs are suppose to tell you good or bad target, but LEDs will report pull tabs, pieces of aluminum foil and bottle caps as good targets so you will still dig all. I also found small pieces of iron, that LED did not always report as iron.
I have followed other hunters on the wet sand and found targets behind them, but that can be said of all detectors as some hunters swing in a 180 degree arc and speed walk the beach..
Over all in the wet sand, dry sand, and regular ground it is a good detector, but I can not recommend it in the water, there are better detectors for that.
I own 2 Excals 1000s with WOT coils and 2 Sovereign GTs and feel they are much better detectors for the beach...
Dec 09, 2009
26 Yes
6 No
BEACH HUNTER ID
LUCKY in FLORIDA -This is a nice detector for coins when that green light goes on high pitch its a coin magnet if you have a aluminum can buried down about ten inches gives great coin tone to but most of the time its on the money. Iron discrimination works great red light, now yellow thats same old story could be pull tab, bottle cap, foil thats a dig all game my 3 tips for this detector here in Florida.
First and most important run sensitivity as high as you can and still be able to recognize a steady signal yes its a little bit noisy but you'll get way more finds second tip trust the machine if its chattering multiple lights red, yellow green so on most likely bottle top, toy ect but I have had yellow green mix that was ring, all in all great machine family user friendly. but I stress keep sensitivity high as you can with out it jumping of wall try a bench test with sens. on p setting run ring by it see how far you can get away from loop, then boost sens. to little less then 7/8 max thats were I like it, you will notice difference of inches. third tip if you get multiple color and tone alert signals going crazy stop you must make sure its not multiple items take your time try to separate each signal if you can because you have a big loop many items can be under there at one time try to pick them apart separate them, its worth the time. I hit an area it went nuts green red yellow red but how you tell the difference is if you take time seperate them with center loop you will get a steady signal green green green then your in the money. This machine is well worth the money, well good luck lucky.
Jul 31, 2009
23 Yes
0 No
IF YOUR A DIG ALL HUNTER
chad in florida -
If your a dig all hunter this machine is fine, on 58 good signals with lights and tone I dug up 6 coins, rest pieces of foil, pull tabs, tin, lead, junk. Machine is very sensitive, ground balance works well, but expect to dig more then your share of junk.
Jun 12, 2009
7 Yes
3 No
Great out of the water,unhappy in the water
Joel-Winnipeg in Winnipeg Man. Canada -Have had great result hunting parks, soccer fields, baseball diamonds and generally out of water areas. It pinpoints well, and is well balanced. The water is where the problem starts. I have a hard time pinpointing the targets. I found that if the target is laying in the open under water no problem but if its buried problem starts.
I bought this unit in the spring and used it extetively out of water and very happy with the results. Maybe more time in the water will change my outlook. The coil in the water is also a concern. I've partly solved this problem by adding a PVC tube closed at both ends filled with sand attached to the lower shaft close to the coil with plastic twist ties (no metal) contact. Also bought a bracket to keep the coil from moving up or down. Other wise I think its a great detector,just hoping to master it in the water.
Jun 27, 2008
13 Yes
1 No
Good on land but frustrating to use in water.
Steve in Mayport, FL -I've had it for about two months and bought it to use in shallow water but it is completely useless. The coil floats and since it is one solid piece it gets kicked around by the current and is almost impossible to use in the water. Why they sold these as water machines is beyond me. At best they are a good land machine that can get wet.
Jun 24, 2008
14 Yes
4 No
My First Gold Coin.!!!!! White's Beach ID
Bill in Miami, Florida -I purchased this a few months ago on Ebay and it's taken me awhile to get used to detecting. I have been digging up a lot of trash/bottle caps with this thing but 2 weeks ago I found a Stainless steel and gold Rolex on the beach in Miami. Yesterday I got my first Gold Coin.... And an attached chain. It is a liberty $5 gold on bezel with very heavy chain. Found on Haulover beach at low tide. Feel sorry for the person who lost it but it more than pays for the hours looking and cost of the Detector ($500 used)... I now have the hunting fever.
Jun 09, 2008
15 Yes
4 No
Simply the best
mark,k in melborne,fl -I own 3 what can you say about perfection. I have gone directly over spots where excal's have gone and gold rings, diamond rings, and thousand's of dollars in silver and clad coins. And don't waste your money on high end junk detectors. The rating only goes to 5 stars I think the Beach Hunter I.D.deserves a few more stars. Good hunting.
Feb 25, 2008
23 Yes
9 No
Too sensitive
wes in long island ny -Its a great machine, its DFX unprogammable. The down side is hot rocks and purple sand, up side is that I've nailed silver dimes on land at 10 plus inches. Good on land and water could have been better. My toggle went bad and flooded the machine, but whites covered it 5 years later "didn't have to"
Jan 26, 2008
19 Yes
0 No
Close..... but not close enough
Steve in Columbus, MS -There's a lot to like about this machine, in particular the fact that the indicator lights function in all-metal mode the same as they do in discrimination. The machine goes deep and picks up targets easily, though pinpointing is not the easiest or quickest.
There's a lot to dislike, also. The buoyent coil is the worst feature of all, you really have to fight to keep the coil in contact with the bottom. It doesn't just slowly rise to the surface if you let it go, it bobs to the surface and requires a very concerted effort to hold it down. Most fixes for this involve weighing the coil down with something like a tube sock filled with wet sand, and you can imagine how ridiculous this looks. Not to mention that the machine is supposed to have been designed to use in the water as well as on land.
Another detraction is the comlete lack of any type of harness through White's that will allow you to chest mount the control box. They provide a nice pouch for that, just no harness to use it so you have to come up with your own. By the way, the pouch they include has two straps to secure the control box in the pouch, and one of the straps covers the red indicator light when in use. I found the lights very difficult to see in direct sunlight when you do find a way to chest mount it.
These would be very easy fixes. I don't particularly want a different coil, but a provided weight that's quickly and easily removed would be very nice, and would stop the guffaws from onlookers when you exit the water with a tube sock tied to your coil. This and a chest mount harness available as an accessory would go a long way towards a 4-5 star machine.
As far as I'm concerned White's missed the boat by not addressing these issues before they put the machine on the market. I have a Viper Trident ($350) that was going to be my backup machine to the Beach Hunter ID, but the Viper remains my primary since it's MUCH easier to use in the water. It's about as resounding a negative as I could give. I hope White's wakes up and realizes that with just a few tweaks they would have a really good, or even great machine.
Oct 03, 2007
33 Yes
4 No
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