yrekadude
Elite Member
Tesoro Sand Shark Review - actual review on my website
Preface
I enjoyed metal detecting the Santa Cruz beaches with my White’s MXT metal detector but whenever I would get near the wet sand the MXT would chatter so much that It drove me mad, so much so that I gave up detecting the wet areas but I felt I was missing out!
I started to research which detector I should get for the wet sand and after reading many reviews on www.metaldetectorreviews.net and www.metaldetectingforum.com I decided to purchase a Tesoro Sand Shark Pulse Induction detector. My second choice in my price bracket was the Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II and if I had more cash it would have been the Garrett Infinium. I chose the Sand Shark for its price (about $570) and for its controls.
The Decision
When deciding on this metal detector I was concerned about the fact that the coil and headphones are hard-wired but I figured the price and other benefits outweighed the concern. I gathered up some gold and silver rings I had found with my MXT, plus a jar of clad coins and had to add a little cash, but I bought my Tesoro Sand Shark and waited for it to arrive in the mail with childhood anticipation.
It Arrives
I was happy when I received the detector in the mail. I received free batteries, free little packets of sealing grease, documentation and all the parts needed for my detector. I carefully assembled the detector and performed a few air tests and all was well. I've used it often with good results however my mixed review is seen below.
My Evaluation
Upon further examination I probably would have chosen the Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II instead had I known what I know now for a number of reasons.
The hard-wired coil and headphones turned out to be far more annoying than I had imagined. I enjoyed having different coil options on my MXT and it is easier to wrap the coil wire on the rod when it is not attached to the detector control box. Most of all I do not like the fact that I am stuck with the Piezo Headphones. I never plan to go underwater with this detector and it sure would be nice to be able to use my Grey Ghost headphones which are much more comfortable and stay on better. The lack of the option to change headphones is a big negative for me.
The 8” and 10” coils of the Sand Shark cause significant resistance to movement while in the water; this can be frustrating while in the surf. I would much prefer something like the stock coil provided with the Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II, or other such coils which have far less surface area. See Illustration below:
It is important to note that the Sand Shark coils work just fine on the beach. I would definitely recommend getting a coil cover for the bottom of the coil. Please note that I could not get a good picture of the coil so I used a picture I took of a Tesoro Piranha coil I had in the past (they are almost identical).
There are a number of other pro’s and cons about this detector that I would like to continue to spell out. I was somewhat disappointed at the appearance of my detector innards when I opened the unit to install the batteries. Being someone familiar with electronics, I was stricken by the fact that the main circuit board of the unit is very small, looks somewhat like the insides of a cheap AM radio in my opinion and the circuit board is held in with two generous globs of hot glue.
The battery pack slides into a small custom made housing that is also hot glued in with one squirt of glue. I do appreciate that the battery holder provided is standard and is something that you could easily replace for a few dollars at Fry’s Electronics, Radio Shack, Dick Smith’s or some other electronics store of your choosing. Take a look:
Maybe it’s just me, but looking inside at this doesn’t make me feel like I got $575 worth of metal detector! Perhaps Tesoro could cover the electronics better and totally rethink using hot glue to hold things together. It looks cheap, low-tech to me. The general look of the detector gives me a retro 60’s impression which might not be a good idea for a metal detector that is supposed to be high-tech and powerful. It makes me feel like I have older technology in my hands, but I guess some people might like that?
I do have to give good mention to the stainless steel latching system that holds the control panel “Lid” onto the main brown plastic box of the detector. It seems to be very durable and well made. I have heard stories that some people have had problems with the latch getting caught on their shorts pocket while in a thrashing surf, supposedly the latch came open and the electronics were exposed to saltwater which required a $150 circuit board replacement! I personally have had no problems.
I would like to see Tesoro experiment with applying some sort of plastic protective coating on the circuit board to both protect it from leakage and make it look more presentable if this is possible.
Final Opinion
I still use the Tesoro Sand Shark and find some good things, but I am generally not impressed with the quality of the unit. Technical Support and QA also needs to be worked on at Tesoro.
Technical Support / Warranty – Bad Experience
October 29th 2011 I ordered a Tesoro Sand Shark from Shasta County Gold prospector Supply in Anderson CA. and requested that it be shipped to me in Los Gatos CA. I was excited to receive it and carefully assembled it as per the instructions.
I had only had the detector about a week and took it out twice, found a few silver rings and coins and all of a sudden one of the headphone cups popped off and would not go back on. I called Tesoro Support and they told me to ship it to them. I shipped it without the rods, just the control housing, headphones and coil (all connected permanently) and awaited news.
I received a call from Tesoro who said that somehow the person who put the headphones together forgot to install the epoxy resin they use a filler which also helps keep the headphones connected. I had mentioned also that I was getting random blips and zzzip.. noises while detecting so he checked my coil and it failed their seal tests so they replaced the coil.
When I received the detector back, I was excited again to have my machine but quickly found that the coil had an obvious defect on the bottom.. it looked like it had been melted or improperly molded? I called Tesoro and they said for me to return it. I also noticed that this coil was terrible with black sands! I decided to keep it a few weeks and stubbornly went detecting on the weekends but the coil was acting weird so I sent it back like before.
I received the detector back in the mail this past Friday 3/23/2012 and it looked good! I put it all back together and just as I went to put the coil cover on I became disappointed once more… the damned coil is warped in such a way that the coil cover will NOT stay on.. previously the coil cover snapped very firmly onto the coils, in fact it was a real pain to remove! Now it won’t stay on.. also had a scratch when I received it.. the bottom hole seems extruded…
So.. I’ve written a letter to Tesoro asking them who is in charge of their quality control and how did I get a defective produce three times… I did not get responses that I expected, instead I got excuses and a general apathy from the tech support and management! I am sorely disappointed!
Edit - I forgot to add that after I sent an email to Tesoro expressing my frustration at what happened, I got a call back from someone in their repair department talking down to me, complaining to me that "If they had to reject all the coils that were not perfect they would have to get rid of 30% of their coils. Also at one point I was told that metal detectors are not "Museum Pieces" and that your supposed to use them for metal detecting and find treasure. I was quite offended at the fact I was being lectured by someone with a tone in their voice like some teacher or parent scolding me.. so I hung up.. I did get an apology from Tesoro regarding the call I received from that individual.
In general.. I really didn't have a good experience altogether - I am absolutely sure this is a FLUKE and doesn't happen regularly.. but if it's going to happen.. usually it happens to me!
- Yrekadude
P.S. Some of you are probably going to be mad at me.. but this is my opinion and honest experience.
More pictures at my website link at the top or here: Goldbuddies
Preface
I enjoyed metal detecting the Santa Cruz beaches with my White’s MXT metal detector but whenever I would get near the wet sand the MXT would chatter so much that It drove me mad, so much so that I gave up detecting the wet areas but I felt I was missing out!
I started to research which detector I should get for the wet sand and after reading many reviews on www.metaldetectorreviews.net and www.metaldetectingforum.com I decided to purchase a Tesoro Sand Shark Pulse Induction detector. My second choice in my price bracket was the Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II and if I had more cash it would have been the Garrett Infinium. I chose the Sand Shark for its price (about $570) and for its controls.
The Decision
When deciding on this metal detector I was concerned about the fact that the coil and headphones are hard-wired but I figured the price and other benefits outweighed the concern. I gathered up some gold and silver rings I had found with my MXT, plus a jar of clad coins and had to add a little cash, but I bought my Tesoro Sand Shark and waited for it to arrive in the mail with childhood anticipation.
It Arrives
I was happy when I received the detector in the mail. I received free batteries, free little packets of sealing grease, documentation and all the parts needed for my detector. I carefully assembled the detector and performed a few air tests and all was well. I've used it often with good results however my mixed review is seen below.
My Evaluation
Upon further examination I probably would have chosen the Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II instead had I known what I know now for a number of reasons.
The hard-wired coil and headphones turned out to be far more annoying than I had imagined. I enjoyed having different coil options on my MXT and it is easier to wrap the coil wire on the rod when it is not attached to the detector control box. Most of all I do not like the fact that I am stuck with the Piezo Headphones. I never plan to go underwater with this detector and it sure would be nice to be able to use my Grey Ghost headphones which are much more comfortable and stay on better. The lack of the option to change headphones is a big negative for me.
The 8” and 10” coils of the Sand Shark cause significant resistance to movement while in the water; this can be frustrating while in the surf. I would much prefer something like the stock coil provided with the Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II, or other such coils which have far less surface area. See Illustration below:
It is important to note that the Sand Shark coils work just fine on the beach. I would definitely recommend getting a coil cover for the bottom of the coil. Please note that I could not get a good picture of the coil so I used a picture I took of a Tesoro Piranha coil I had in the past (they are almost identical).
There are a number of other pro’s and cons about this detector that I would like to continue to spell out. I was somewhat disappointed at the appearance of my detector innards when I opened the unit to install the batteries. Being someone familiar with electronics, I was stricken by the fact that the main circuit board of the unit is very small, looks somewhat like the insides of a cheap AM radio in my opinion and the circuit board is held in with two generous globs of hot glue.
The battery pack slides into a small custom made housing that is also hot glued in with one squirt of glue. I do appreciate that the battery holder provided is standard and is something that you could easily replace for a few dollars at Fry’s Electronics, Radio Shack, Dick Smith’s or some other electronics store of your choosing. Take a look:
Maybe it’s just me, but looking inside at this doesn’t make me feel like I got $575 worth of metal detector! Perhaps Tesoro could cover the electronics better and totally rethink using hot glue to hold things together. It looks cheap, low-tech to me. The general look of the detector gives me a retro 60’s impression which might not be a good idea for a metal detector that is supposed to be high-tech and powerful. It makes me feel like I have older technology in my hands, but I guess some people might like that?
I do have to give good mention to the stainless steel latching system that holds the control panel “Lid” onto the main brown plastic box of the detector. It seems to be very durable and well made. I have heard stories that some people have had problems with the latch getting caught on their shorts pocket while in a thrashing surf, supposedly the latch came open and the electronics were exposed to saltwater which required a $150 circuit board replacement! I personally have had no problems.
I would like to see Tesoro experiment with applying some sort of plastic protective coating on the circuit board to both protect it from leakage and make it look more presentable if this is possible.
Final Opinion
I still use the Tesoro Sand Shark and find some good things, but I am generally not impressed with the quality of the unit. Technical Support and QA also needs to be worked on at Tesoro.
Technical Support / Warranty – Bad Experience
October 29th 2011 I ordered a Tesoro Sand Shark from Shasta County Gold prospector Supply in Anderson CA. and requested that it be shipped to me in Los Gatos CA. I was excited to receive it and carefully assembled it as per the instructions.
I had only had the detector about a week and took it out twice, found a few silver rings and coins and all of a sudden one of the headphone cups popped off and would not go back on. I called Tesoro Support and they told me to ship it to them. I shipped it without the rods, just the control housing, headphones and coil (all connected permanently) and awaited news.
I received a call from Tesoro who said that somehow the person who put the headphones together forgot to install the epoxy resin they use a filler which also helps keep the headphones connected. I had mentioned also that I was getting random blips and zzzip.. noises while detecting so he checked my coil and it failed their seal tests so they replaced the coil.
When I received the detector back, I was excited again to have my machine but quickly found that the coil had an obvious defect on the bottom.. it looked like it had been melted or improperly molded? I called Tesoro and they said for me to return it. I also noticed that this coil was terrible with black sands! I decided to keep it a few weeks and stubbornly went detecting on the weekends but the coil was acting weird so I sent it back like before.
I received the detector back in the mail this past Friday 3/23/2012 and it looked good! I put it all back together and just as I went to put the coil cover on I became disappointed once more… the damned coil is warped in such a way that the coil cover will NOT stay on.. previously the coil cover snapped very firmly onto the coils, in fact it was a real pain to remove! Now it won’t stay on.. also had a scratch when I received it.. the bottom hole seems extruded…
So.. I’ve written a letter to Tesoro asking them who is in charge of their quality control and how did I get a defective produce three times… I did not get responses that I expected, instead I got excuses and a general apathy from the tech support and management! I am sorely disappointed!
Edit - I forgot to add that after I sent an email to Tesoro expressing my frustration at what happened, I got a call back from someone in their repair department talking down to me, complaining to me that "If they had to reject all the coils that were not perfect they would have to get rid of 30% of their coils. Also at one point I was told that metal detectors are not "Museum Pieces" and that your supposed to use them for metal detecting and find treasure. I was quite offended at the fact I was being lectured by someone with a tone in their voice like some teacher or parent scolding me.. so I hung up.. I did get an apology from Tesoro regarding the call I received from that individual.
In general.. I really didn't have a good experience altogether - I am absolutely sure this is a FLUKE and doesn't happen regularly.. but if it's going to happen.. usually it happens to me!
- Yrekadude
P.S. Some of you are probably going to be mad at me.. but this is my opinion and honest experience.
More pictures at my website link at the top or here: Goldbuddies
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