Fisher 1280-X Aquanaut

Brand: Fisher CZ-21

Fisher's 1280-X Aquanaut is an old design that refuses to disappear, sealed to 250 feet and sold with an 8 or 10 inch coil. Operation is deliberately plain: switch on, set the discrimination knob, sweep. A low single operating frequency and turn on and go tuning let it work salt water, fresh water and land without the operator fiddling, and battery life is quoted at up to 75 hours on alkaline cells, which is unusual generosity.

Divers and surf hunters who value simplicity and depth over data keep this one in the kit. There is no screen, no target ID and no notch discrimination, so every promising tone means a dig. Sweep speed must stay slow. Anyone who wants numbers, tones by conductivity and modern recovery speed should look at the multi frequency machines instead.