Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II
Price: $750
Avg. Score: 
4.46
Based on 39 reviews
4.46Based on 39 reviews
Avg. Durability:
4.63
Avg. Ease of use:
4.25
Long time
July 06, 2012
Well time do fly for us older BC/ers its already been three years and were
still kicking with our SH2's hey why the heck not. With the way the economy
has been last 3 + years well we all decided to chuck our individual rented
apartments, condos and just hit the cottonpicking road BC-ing ,,, enjoying
we lay low few weeks at a time out San Bernardino, county with the two old
moto homes. .. relax also we hit the mountain streams, even dry beds
with the Mark2's as well as other detects.. . now none of us has had to
send in his own m2 only me one time and that was like couple years ago, so
that tells us good old garrett do know and make a fine P. I. well as to
finds OH MY !!!!!! no not tons of nuggets etc but hell bells we did
pretty good on the California beaches, parks all the way to mountain /
desert areas.. . we have a trip planned once it be lil cooler for imperial
county, Ca around 3rd week of October this year.. All have been holding disc to Number 1 max and so far so good.. .. . wish silver were up say to $50. 00 as we got a lot f 925 rings some small chains. bracelets yet holding till the price gets back up ( we hope ) to 50$ and above . .. gold rings mostly not as many as it seems others are finding but BIG one is 18KT rest be 14KT and lowly 12 and 10 kt ,, coins anyone want cleaned pennies 5 for 4 cents
Only kidding well all have a great summer and keep on finding what others lose, a little hint with the M2 we been doing is buddy teaming in the waist to chest deep area one snorkels down to help scoop the find a tap on the leg lets old Dave or me etc know the find is now in the web bag if not start all over again.. now no kidding but we have found a heck of a lot of cell phones . . especially if there be a neg tide.. must be the sand fleas calling each other.. a lil hint if you see folks carrying in those heavy coolers filled with ICE.. . remember to make a mental note where they sit down as most will take out any leftover drinks etc then dump melted water and leftover ice we like to see thos lil ice piles oh yes as folks dig down for their favorite cold drink and maybe just maybe between the suntan lotion sweat cold ice wbeen lucky a few times over years. . so check out those melted ice / water spots on the dry sand.. . we do.. .. .
Overall Rating
Bill Heyman from
Southern Ca
3136
Good, solid machine
May 02, 2012
I recently added the Garrett Sea Hunter MKII as a second water machine, not
so much a backup to my White's BHID 300 but for areas where the black sands
are a problem. The detector is a no nonsense, solid and well built unit that does what a PI should. . . punch down deep for the gold (and iron trash).
Don't think about a PI if your area is thick with iron junk as you can be digging every few meters or so. It is best suited for open and clean sites or where mineralization is a problem.
The big coil is quite hard to pinpoint with (especially in murky water or in the surf) but is covers a greater area for sure.
The only minor problem so far is the armcuff loosens very quickly. I cured this but replacing with and adding stainless steel bolts with wing-nuts. It is now rock-solid.
Run in Standard Trash and use the Elimination very carefully. . . no more than about 1-2 to help knock out the response from salt water.
The audio can be a bit much sometimes, especially if you are digging plenty of targets. I use a neoprene headband to help block some of the audio volume.
I choose to ignore all double-beeps and some signals that sound harsh, or have a tinny sound to them. Good signals that must be dug include all coins, pulltabs, bottlecaps and some iron targets such as washers. I have an ear for PI's as I have used many of the years and you will develop a certain level of "discrimination" from your brain but not the machine.
Good signals are crisp and symmetrical and always repeatable. To my hearing they appear to start and finish with a pleasing "click/pip" sound, whereas most irregular shaped junk iron will form a brash sound and will cover a larger signal area relative to it's size.
I really like this detector and the headphones are much more comfortable than those attached to my White's detector. All in all, a very simple to use machine with set and forget controls.
I would buy another without hesitation.
Overall Rating
Tony from
Perth, Australia
6123
Hunter keeps on finding
December 09, 2011
It has been a while since we have been on this site. The year ( 2011 ) has
been pretty good for the team as such we may have a profit after all the
expense,, No matter what the seahunters came
through as always.. We hit the water with our new dive suits, and the hunters did all the hard work for us... NO matter what the minelab hot shots keep on talking about... The Garrett seahunter IS by far the best around for the California beach and parks,
all have a Great Holiday Season as we will be sending in our S.H 2's for update and be ready for 2012..Take care bill and the team.
Overall Rating
Bill, rene,gary,brad and 745 team from
Valley and total CA. coast
3428
Garret sea hunter hk 11
November 12, 2011
This is one awesome machine. Yes you have to leave disc on normal and dig
everything but it will find the gold. I have dug a thread of a fishing
leader at 12 inches deep. You have to learn the proper use and it will
produce..PS!!! FREE VLF DETECTOR NEEDS good home...Replaced by Garrett.
Also if you don't wanna dig pull tabs and nails you will not find
gold!!!!!!!!!!!!A VLF Detector is only good for coins.
Overall Rating
Barefootin68 from
Florida / Bahamas
2637
PI good for salt or fresh water
September 14, 2011
I like my seahunter2 I get a double beep for hairpins I get a solid beep
for bottle caps. Better yet I can disc them out at about 3 or 4 on the
threshold. Cant disc out Iron. The discreet elim doesn't seem to work? I
get a solid beep for quarters.
Overall Rating
Joe from
Ca
1826
Very good
May 14, 2011
Love it
Overall Rating
Tony from
Oregon
850
Aaron has it exactly right
April 24, 2011
I began detecting in the early 80s with both a Garrett PI and VLF. The PI
detects every metal and you must dig everything you hear if you expect to
dig gold rings. Forget about hunting in a high trash area with lots of
iron. The VLF detector was my favorite because it rejects iron.
Unfortunately Garrett quit making that model.
Overall Rating
Anonymous from
Palmetto, FL, USA
1730
Great machine... Know what you are doing
March 20, 2011
To call this machine rubbish or junk is just ignorant. I've used PI
machines for years in many places and I know them well, so I will try and
help some people out with this review. The SHM11 is a machine for diggers. Period. If you don't like to dig nails, or bottle caps, or fish hooks, sinkers, etc... Don't get this machine, but you will miss the pleasant surprises that come from hearing a very faint, sometimes almost imperceptible tone, taking a scoop, getting louder, another scoop, blowing your ears out , and BAM! A nice gold ring in the scoop that the VLF guys went right over.
There is a phenomenon with PI detectors that causes them to detect objects deeper in salt water and wet salt sand than in air alone, so air tests are not accurate. Because it is a PI machine, iron reads as a good conductor, so there is NO WAY you can discriminate iron, and any amount of an attempt at discrimination will cost you depth.
This is what you have to do... Run on zero discrimination on standard mode and forget discreet mode, It costs you depth. There will be a natural wavering of the tone, and in highly mineralized sand you will get a false signal if you touch the coil to the sand, but you will get a slight, or loud, sharp, REPEATABLE increase in volume when you go over a target.
No matter what Garrett tells you, or anyone tells you, you can NOT eliminate an aluminum pop top and still pick up a gold ring. It is the science of metal, not my opinion.
Gold is lower in conductivity than aluminum and the size an karat amount will determine how hard it is to detect. Gold is a POOR conductor. It is used in electronics for it's high corrosion resistance, not conductivity. You may get lucky and pick up large, thick men's rings with disc. set higher, but you will miss a lot.
If you live on the Texas Gulf coast where there are lots of nails and junk in the water, you either dig until you are sore, or try a VLF detector that will discriminate iron. High trash areas will be frustrating and discouraging.
Here is a good way to find out if you will find gold rings... No nickels dug, No pull tabs dug = No gold rings dug. It is that simple. As far as quality of the machine... It is built like a tank. Very durable and leak proof.
The volume is loud because it is a DIVING detector. Divers need the loud volume to hear targets over their bubbles. As far as Garrett goes, I don't think anyone can dispute that their customer service is the best in the business. If you have a problem, just call them and they will make it right by you, without fail.
Brand bashing is irresponsible and I have tried a lot of the leading brands. They all have pros and cons, features that I liked, and some I disliked. No machine is perfect for all applications. It is unreasonable to think anyone can build a machine that is, because it is impossible. Detecting successfully is a science, you don't learn it all in a week, a year, or ever. It is a never-ending learning process.
If you do decide on the Sea Hunter... Read some books, turn your disc. down to zero, be persistent, learn your machine, slow down and enjoy being outside and getting some exercise. You will be rewarded over time...
I hope I helped some of you with facts I learned the hard way and from men who knew a lot more than I.
Overall Rating
Aaron from
Maui, HI USA
28833
Good for ocean, bad for dirty beaches
February 20, 2011
I just bought this unit one month ago. My area is a salt wet sand on the
beaches and salt water in the ocean. Of course, my goal-the Spanish gold
from the ocean, but now I have a LOT of trash. I'm not sure about all PI machines, but this one has no discrimination. The same sound for penny, for nail, for beer`s cup, for everything. The difference is-if the item is big-the signal stronger.
I try to use this unit with max. position for discrim.-some beer cups `gone`. But another trash-no. The good news is-this unit works great in salt water and salt wet sand. No leaks, no noise, the sensitivity is fine.(My coil is 8") Just one problem-no golden rings! But I still hope!
Overall Rating
Nicolas from
Hollywood, FL
2437
Sea hunter 2
January 11, 2011
I bought one and a 14 inch coil too, I was hoping for great depth but this
machine cant hardly detect a quarter at 8 inches.I want to sell
it!Other than that it has been good. I haven't seen any difference between standard and discreet modes.
Overall Rating
Paul from
North California
2545