person doing underwater minning
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Underwater Mining 101: The Ultimate Underwater Metal Detector Buying Guide

Prospecting for gold and other precious metals can be an enjoyable experience. Nothing beats the feeling of investigating a signal only to discover it is a gold nugget. If you want to add an extra thrill to the experience, consider underwater metal detecting. This will allow you to dive down and fully investigate a waterway. Keep reading to learn more about this hobby and some of the equipment you will need to get started.

Types

underwater metal detector
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Discover the perks of underwater mining with a first-rate underwater metal detector. Underwater metal detectors are nowadays available in a wide range of options, so finding the ideal type might take time. Undoubtedly, the most crucial feature of a good beach or under water metal detector is its capacity to see through salt water as if it were not present. 

Many new detectorists are surprised to learn that salt water is one of the greatest challenges to overcome whether detecting on the beach or underwater. Why? Because seawater, like metal, is electrically conductive, so many metal detectors will activate when in or near salt water. This is because they detect conductive salt water in the same way that they detect any type of conductive metal.

The best diving metal detector uses one of two types of specialist circuitry that ignores saltwater signals while yet delivering excellent detecting depth on coins and rings, as well as sensitivity to smaller objects such as earrings and gold chains. They typically accomplish this without requiring the user to adjust many settings, making them quite simple to operate. 

It is important to note, however, that even some of the greatest seawater metal detectors will lose depth and sensitivity when exposed to moist salty sand, and even more when completely submerged in saltwater. Both Pulse Induction and Multi-Frequency metal detectors can completely cancel out the noises from salt signals and make underwater mining a lot easier.

Water is much harder to travel through than air, thus underwater metal detectors are often designed to be as small and streamlined as possible to avoid drag from the water. There are types of underwater metal detector with an optional short/diving shaft, although hand-held versions are already quite short and cut through the water easily. 

Reducing drag on your underwater gold detector is one of the most overlooked aspects of metal detecting. Reducing drag increases swinging and detecting speed. Faster swing speed means more ground covered, more targets found, and more treasure!

Waterproofness Level

If you want to find underwater treasure like the pros, you must use a real underwater metal detector with a deep waterproof rating. Underwater metal detectors are waterproof up to 60 metres (200 feet). This 60 metre rating may appear to be overkill given that most of us don’t go deeper than 3m with our detectors, but the reality of underwater metal detecting is that the higher the depth rating, the higher the level of reliability you’ll experience in an underwater environment over time. 

A depth of 60m underwater is well above what most professionals are likely to go, especially considering that most individuals swimming at beaches only swim out to an area with a top depth of roughly 3 metres. Of course, detector makers are well aware of this, but there is a very solid reason why they build detectors with such high ratings. 

Because of the nature of underwater metal detecting, all components are subjected to far more stress than other waterproof devices such as watches or cameras, making water ingress more likely. It is feasible to use waterproof metal detectors with a lower rating of 3m+ for some underwater detecting, but the true purpose of this type of waterproofing is to withstand the occasional dunk and keep rogue waves from drowning your detector. 

For extended use underwater, we recommend a metal detector with a greater waterproof rating, such as 60m (200ft); in the end, it will last much longer, be much more reliable, and you will not be caught off guard without a functional detector on your next day of treasure hunting.

Controls

Underwater metal detectors must deal with extremely hostile environments. Because of the high-pressure salt environment, these detectors rely on specific, highly waterproof sealed controls that are extremely reliable and resilient. Knob-type controls are the most popular controls used in underwater gold detectors, and they provide a simple, watertight tuning option. 

Knob-type controls, on the other hand, are prone to breaking off if bumped hard enough, necessitating the inspection and replacement of O-rings every few years. The only existing alternative controls for underwater detectors are stiffer membrane buttons, which are more difficult to push in and thus less easily pressed, and are forced in by deeper water pressure.

Underwater detectors employ stronger membrane-style buttons that will not be pressed unless they’re more than 10m under water. These days, manufacturers also include a creative function dubbed “Dive Mode”. This mode enables deep divers to lock the buttons so that they do not operate at all. The user can then manipulate the detector by adjusting its orientation. For example, if the detector is upside down, it will be turned off; if it is right side up, it will be turned back on.