Best detectors
Best Waterproof Metal Detectors: Coil-Only, 10 Feet and 16 Feet Explained
Quick answer
The Minelab X-Terra Pro at $282.14 is the cheapest fully waterproof machine here, published as IP68 to 16 feet. The Garrett AT series is submersible to 10 feet, and the Garrett ACE series has a waterproof searchcoil with a control box Garrett states is not waterproof. Those are three different things.
More money is wasted on this specification than on any other in the hobby, because the word waterproof is doing at least three jobs. A waterproof searchcoil means you can sweep a wet shoreline or the edge of a stream with the coil under water and the control box dry. A submersible machine means the whole detector goes under to a published depth. A weatherproof machine means it survives rain and nothing more. Garrett is unusually clear about this on the Garrett ACE 200 listing, which says the searchcoil can be submerged in shallow water and that the control box is not waterproof.
Get this wrong in the direction of optimism and you drown a detector. The other thing almost nobody mentions until it is too late: wireless headphones do not work under water at all, so a submersible machine needs a wired waterproof set, which is a separate purchase. The headphone roundup covers which set matches which machine, and the scoop roundup covers the recovery tool you will need the moment you start hunting sand.
Top pick
Minelab X-Terra Pro
Minelab publishes full IP68 waterproofing to 16 feet at a price where most machines are merely rain-resistant, along with 30 discrimination segments, a control pod flashlight and handgrip vibration.
Price was accurate when this page was compiled and changes often.
On this page
- What is the difference between a waterproof coil and a waterproof detector?
- What does each machine actually let you do?
- What if you only ever hunt the shoreline?
- Which machine should you buy if you are getting in the water?
- What do you need for genuine diving and heavy surf?
- What happens to your headphones when the machine goes under?
What is the difference between a waterproof coil and a waterproof detector?
A searchcoil is a sealed winding on the end of a cable, and sealing it is straightforward, so nearly every machine sold today has one that tolerates immersion. The control box is a different problem: it has a screen, a battery compartment, a speaker and a headphone socket, and every one of those is a way in for water. That is why Garrett ACE 200 can offer a waterproof 6.5 by 9 inch PROformance coil while Garrett states plainly in the same listing that the control box is not waterproof.
The practical test is simple. If you will stand on wet sand, sweep the edge of a stream, or hunt in the rain, a waterproof coil is enough. If any part of the session involves the control box going under, even by accident in surf, you need a published submersion rating for the whole machine. And read the number: Garrett publishes 10 feet for the AT line, Minelab and Nokta publish 16 feet across the current waterproof range, and XP publishes 66 feet for the XP Deus II. Those numbers describe different activities.
What does each machine actually let you do?
The last column is the one to read. A rating is only useful translated into the activity it permits.
Published ratings in this catalog run from a waterproof searchcoil with an explicitly non-waterproof control box, through 10 feet on the Garrett AT line, to 16 feet across the current Minelab and Nokta range and 66 feet on the XP Deus II.
| Machine | Price | Published waterproof rating | What that actually allows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bounty Hunter Tracker IV | $120.76 | 8 inch waterproof coil, control box not rated | Wet sand, puddles and the very edge of a stream |
| Garrett ACE 200 | $149.99 | Waterproof searchcoil, control box explicitly not waterproof | Shallow water and damp shoreline sand, coil only |
| Minelab Vanquish 340 | $258.99 | Waterproof 10 by 7 coil, body not rated in this listing | Shoreline and damp ground, not immersion |
| Garrett AT Pro | $459.99 | Fully submersible to 10 ft | Wading to chest depth and shallow snorkelling |
| Garrett AT Gold | $640.99 | Fully submersible to 10 ft | Creek work and mineralised wet ground |
| Minelab X-Terra Pro | $282.14 | IP68 to 16 ft | Full submersion, wading and shallow diving |
| Nokta Simplex Ultra | $299.00 | Fully waterproof to 16 ft | Wading, surf and diving with a wired set |
| Nokta Double Score | $349.00 | IP68 to 16 ft | Beach and surf with multi-frequency |
| Garrett Vortex VX9 | $599.99 | Submersible to 16 ft | Rivers, lakes and ocean shallows |
| Minelab Equinox 700 | $749.00 | Fully waterproof to 16 ft | Salt beach, surf and shallow dives |
| Minelab Equinox 900 | $999.00 | Fully waterproof to 16 ft | The same, with a Gold mode and a second coil |
| Minelab Manticore | $1,499.00 | IP68 to 16 ft | Surf and black sand where power matters |
| XP Deus II | $1,299.00 | IP68 to 66 ft | Genuine diving, with the optional bone conduction headphones |
| Minelab Excalibur II | $1,699.00 | Built for diving and surf, no depth figure in this listing | Salt water diving, with a side-mount shaft sold separately |
Every rating is quoted from the maker listing or manual named in the sources. A published rating describes a new, undamaged, correctly sealed machine. Nothing here has been submerged by us.
What if you only ever hunt the shoreline?
Then you do not need a submersible machine and should not pay for one. Dry sand, the wet towel line and the first few inches of water are where most beach jewellery is found anyway, and a waterproof coil covers all of it. Garrett ACE 200 at $149.99 is explicit about what it offers, and Minelab Vanquish 340 at $258.99 adds simultaneous multi-frequency, which matters far more on a salt beach than another six feet of depth rating would.
Minelab Vanquish 340
$258.99Multi-IQ simultaneous multi-frequency with a 10 by 7 waterproof DD coil and three modes. On wet salt sand the salt itself is conductive, and multi-frequency is what separates the salt response from the target response, which no depth rating can do for you.
Best for: salt beaches worked from the sand rather than from the water
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Garrett ACE 200
$149.99A 6.5 by 9 inch waterproof PROformance concentric searchcoil with a 0 to 99 digital target ID, under 3 lb, made in the USA with a 3-year warranty. Garrett states in the listing that the coil can be submerged and the control box cannot, which is the honesty this category needs.
Best for: damp shoreline sand and shallow streams
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Bounty Hunter Tracker IV
$120.76An 8 inch waterproof coil on an analog body at 2.6 lb, with three modes and up to 25 hours of runtime. No screen and no target ID number, but the coil tolerates the shoreline and the price tolerates being dropped in the surf.
Best for: finding out whether beach detecting suits you
Check price on AmazonWhich machine should you buy if you are getting in the water?
Minelab X-Terra Pro at $282.14 if the budget is tight, because IP68 to 16 feet at that price is unusual and everything else it offers is a bonus. Nokta Simplex Ultra at $299.00 if weight matters, at 2.6 lb on a carbon fibre shaft that retracts to 25 inches. Nokta Double Score at $349.00 if you want multi-frequency and full submersion in one body. Garrett AT Pro at $459.99 if you want the audio that a generation of American water hunters learned on.
Minelab X-Terra Pro
$282.14IP68 to 16 ft, six preset modes across Park, Field and Beach, 30 discrimination segments, five audio modes, a control pod flashlight, handgrip vibration, 2.9 lb and a 25 inch packed length. Single frequency at any one moment, which is the compromise that funds the sealing.
Best for: wading and river work on a tight budget
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Nokta Simplex Ultra
$299.00Fully waterproof to 16 ft on a carbon fibre shaft retracting to 25 inches at 2.6 lb, with firmware updates over USB. Nokta states plainly that Bluetooth headphones are not included, and you will want a wired submersible set anyway once the machine goes under.
Best for: surf wading and long sessions where weight tells
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Nokta Double Score
$349.00Simultaneous multi-frequency with IP68 full submersion to 16 ft, a rechargeable 3250 mAh battery Nokta publishes at up to 12 hours, Bluetooth and USB firmware updates. Multi-frequency plus submersion in one body is the combination salt water actually wants.
Best for: salt beaches worked from in the water
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Garrett AT Pro
$459.99Submersible to 10 feet with proportional audio and tone roll, 40 levels of high-resolution iron discrimination and MS-2 headphones included. Ten feet is plenty for wading and shallow snorkelling, and the audio tells you about target size and depth in a way the screen does not.
Best for: wading, creeks and shallow snorkelling
Check price on AmazonWhat do you need for genuine diving and heavy surf?
A deeper rating, a wired submersible headphone set, and usually a machine designed around water rather than adapted to it. XP publishes IP68 to 66 feet for the XP Deus II, which is the deepest rating in the catalog. Minelab Excalibur II 1000 is the long-standing salt water reference, built around BBS broad-band-spectrum running 1.5 to 25.5 kHz with a NiMH pack Minelab publishes at up to 12 hours. Minelab Equinox 900 and Minelab Manticore both go to 16 feet and bring modern processing with them.
XP Deus II
$1,299.00IP68 to 66 feet with a shockproof underwater remote, fully wireless from coil to headphones, 12 simultaneous multi-frequency programs and 49 single frequencies from 4 to 45 kHz, with a 5 year warranty. XP lists the bone conduction headphones as optional rather than included, which is a real cost to add.
Best for: diving and anyone who wants the deepest rating available
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Minelab Excalibur II 1000
$1,699.00BBS multiple frequency technology from 1.5 to 25.5 kHz, with a rechargeable NiMH pack Minelab publishes at up to 12 hours and high-visibility bodywork. Minelab does not describe a numeric target ID display for this machine, so it is worked by audio, and the side-mount shaft for surf wading is an optional accessory.
Best for: salt water diving and heavy surf
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Minelab Equinox 900
$999.00Fully waterproof to 16 ft with Multi-IQ plus six single frequencies, four modes including Beach and Gold, 119 high-resolution target IDs, both the EQX 11 and EQX 6 coils and 2.8 lb. It hunts the beach on Saturday and the field on Sunday, which a dedicated water machine will not.
Best for: one machine for water and land
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Minelab Manticore
$1,499.00Multi-IQ+ published as 50 percent more power than traditional models, IP68 to 16 ft, 10 search modes including Beach for sand, surf and seawater zones, and a 2D target ID map. Black sand is where the extra transmit power is easiest to justify.
Best for: mineralised beaches and heavily worked surf lines
Check price on AmazonWho should not buy this tier: Do not buy a submersible flagship if you hunt dry land. A 16 foot rating costs money in sealing, connectors and case design, and none of it finds you a single extra coin in a park. Skip the Minelab Excalibur II 1000 unless you genuinely dive salt water, because it is a specialist with no numeric target ID described in its listing and it is a frustrating general machine. Skip the XP Deus II if the 66 foot rating is the reason you want it and you do not dive, because you are paying for a capability you will never use. And whatever you buy, do not submerge it on wireless audio: wireless does not work under water, and the wired submersible set is a separate purchase most people forget to budget for.
What happens to your headphones when the machine goes under?
They stop working, and this surprises people every season. Radio does not propagate usefully through water, so Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz sets are dry-land equipment regardless of how good they are. A submerged machine needs a wired set rated for immersion: Minelab Equinox Waterproof Headphones for the Equinox line, Garrett Submersible Headphones for the Garrett AT series, Thresher Submersible Headphones for Nokta for the Simplex and Legend, or Gray Ghost Amphibian Headphones for Minelab, which DetectorPro publishes as waterproof to 200 feet.
Budget for that at the same time as the machine, because a submersible detector with no submersible headphones is a wading machine. The headphone roundup sets out which set matches which body and why ordinary low-latency Bluetooth is not a substitute. While you are at it, add a Mesh Bottom Beach Finds Pouch with pinpointer holster: a mesh bottom drains sand and water instead of turning the pouch into a bag of wet grit.
How we chose
Nothing here has been submerged by us and we make no testing claim. Every rating on this page is the manufacturer's own published figure, taken from the listing or manual named in the sources, and where a maker publishes no depth the table says so rather than carrying an inferred number. Machines are grouped by what their published rating actually permits: shoreline work, wading, or full submersion. We have deliberately separated coil-only waterproofing from whole-machine submersibility, because conflating the two is the single most expensive mistake a buyer makes in this category.
Sources
- Minelab X-Terra Pro and Equinox 700 and 900 instruction manuals
- Nokta Simplex Ultra and Double Score user manuals
- Garrett AT Pro, AT Gold and ACE 200 owner manuals
- XP Deus II product specifications
- Minelab Excalibur II product specifications
Frequently asked questions
What is the best waterproof metal detector?
The Minelab X-Terra Pro at $282.14 for value, published as IP68 to 16 feet with 30 discrimination segments and handgrip vibration. For salt water where multi-frequency matters, the Minelab Equinox 700 at $749.00 adds Multi-IQ to the same 16 foot rating. For diving, XP publishes IP68 to 66 feet on the Deus II, which is the deepest rating in this catalog.
Can I put any metal detector in water?
No, and assuming so is how detectors die. Many machines have a waterproof searchcoil and a control box that is not waterproof, which Garrett states explicitly on the ACE 200 listing. Only submerge a machine that publishes a submersion rating for the whole detector, and treat weatherproof as meaning rain only. When in doubt, check the manual rather than the marketing copy.
Do I need a fully waterproof detector for beach hunting?
Not for dry sand and the wet towel line, which is where a great deal of beach jewellery is found. A waterproof coil covers the shoreline perfectly well. You need a submersible machine once you are working in the water, where waves can put the control box under without warning. On salt beaches, simultaneous multi-frequency usually matters more to your results than the depth rating does.
Do wireless headphones work underwater?
No. Radio does not travel usefully through water, so Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz sets stop working the moment they go under. A submersible detector needs a wired headphone set rated for immersion, such as the Minelab Equinox waterproof set or the Garrett submersible pair for the AT series. Budget for that separately, because almost no submersible machine ships with one.
How do I look after a detector used in salt water?
Rinse the whole machine in fresh water after every session, including the shaft, the coil ears and the cable, and pay particular attention to the headphone socket and any charging port. Dry it before storing. Salt left on connectors corrodes them quietly for weeks. A coil cover takes the abrasion from sand, and it costs a small fraction of the coil it is protecting.
Researched, not professional advice. This page is compiled from published specifications, manuals and owner-review consensus, not hands-on testing. Target ID numbers, depth figures and settings vary with soil chemistry, moisture, target size, depth, orientation and firmware version, so treat every figure here as a starting point and verify it against your own machine's manual and your own ground. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.