Tesoro water machines

[Hermit]

Does anyone have any real world experience with the Tesoro Sand shark
or Tiger shark models?I'm kind of drawn to the lifetime warranty and
interchangable coils.The prices seem fair enough also.I kinda wonder how
they stack up compared to other water machines.Will the sandshark pulse
as deep as the Whites,Garrett,headhunter,Fisher,others?Will the Tiger operate very well,deep,in salt water?I'm sure to hear buy Excal or CZ.
Thats great and all,I know they have rave reviews,but simply out of budjet.

[Cfmct]

I remember reading somewhere one of the two you mention really doesn't do well in the saltwater, don't quote me but I believe its the Sand Shark... Something about being noisy in the surf...

[Hermit]

I've read something to that nature also,but I think it was the TigerShark.
The SandShark is a PI machine.It should work in the salt.I've also read the Tiger works if it is ground balanced correctly.Thats why I'd like to hear from actual users before wasting money on something thats not what
it is claimed to be.Seems no matter the field test or the brand,each machine is the best thing since sliced bread.

[Cfmct]

Then I stand corrected

If you are going into the water go with a PI... Sure you will dig garbage but its worth it and you don't have to mortgage the dog to detect in the water...

[scott.f]

Hermit, I've had the Tigershark. In freshwater its a very very good machine. In salt..not. You have to run in Disc with the sensitivity reduced to hunt wet sand on a saltwater beach and it still falses, although a good target comes through fine. However reducing sens and raising disc means loss of depth. Mine ran fine on the west coast of Florida but could not handle the black sand of the west coast of BC worth a darn. So..unless you have relatively mild mineralization on your beaches this is not the machine for salt water. The sandshark I'm not familiar with as it is a pulse. That being so, I would imagine it would be fine on saltwater beaches. Hopefully someone can advise you that has used one.

If you are not diving..I'd recommend a Minelab Sov. They handle the beaches fine and get wonderful depth. Good for wet sand and shallow wading with it chest mounted.

I have a Detectorpro Diver now, great little machine and it ran fine in Costa Rica and on the BC beaches that drove my Tigershark nuts. Depth is average.

Hope that helps.

[Hermit]

Thanks for the info Scott!Now for the SandShark,Anyone,Anyone.

[TonyinCT]

I've used both.Good but not great.Get a White's surf PI if your're doing salt wet sand and water. Dollar for dollar it's the best i've used. Right after that is the Fisher1280X. The Excalibur is the best but like you said out of your price range. Let me know if you have any more questions.

[Hermit]

Tony,Thanks for the insight.What makes the Whites stand above the Tesoro?How much is the pro pi?What kind of warranty do they have?
I've heard they are good,but can not find any real details.Also what about
the beach hunter ID?

[Cfmct]

Hermit,

Here are some reviews:

http://metaldetectorreviews.net/

[TonyinCT]

The White's has better stability and depth. The retail is 699.95. There is a discount price. Youcan email me for it.The Beachunter ID is more of a fresh water detector but can be used on the salt beaches,It will perform but not as well as a PI will. PI's see right through the salt minerals whereas VLF's have to compensate for them. Since the beach is ever changing , it isn't like the dirt where it basically stays static.

[Hermit]

Thanks for the link.I've read those reviews and my others on the web.
In a way,they make things even more confusing.They all are just great.
I think I've narrowed the search to the SandSharkPI with changeable coils
and lifetime warranty,or the WhitesPIpro with rave reviews and???I'd really like to see test reviews,this vs that,type deal.Pros and cons,depth,
quality,support.Seems most reviews are:This is what I use and it's great.
Or,this is what sells best.(seller makes most profit on).The reviews that are the best are,I've had both.this one does this,that one does that,and
the difference is this.

[Hermit]

Thanks Tony.We were posting at the same time.Thats the kind of stuff
that is good to know!Thanks

[WThesing]

Based solely on what I've read, Craig had me sold on a Surf PI. I attended my 1st meeting of the South Jersey Metal Detecting Club last week. I was told by several members that a PI machine does not do well on Jersey beaches due to the amount of iron present, and the Minelab Excal was pretty much the only way to go. I am now back to square one on decision. Does anyone have anything further to add? BTW the members did concur that a PI machine would be good up there in New England. For my other friends on this forum, I am now with the understanding that the area of use is an imortant factor of choice. Tony, do you have any light to shed?

[Carol K]

Could be true. The South Jersey Metal Detecting Club's got a bunch of professionals there.If you decide to sell the White's PI let me know.

Best way to find out is go out and test it.

[Cfmct]

Originally Posted by Hermit

Thanks for the link.I've read those reviews and my others on the web.
In a way,they make things even more confusing.They all are just great.
I think I've narrowed the search to the SandSharkPI with changeable coils
and lifetime warranty,or the WhitesPIpro with rave reviews and???I'd really like to see test reviews,this vs that,type deal.Pros and cons,depth,
quality,support.Seems most reviews are:This is what I use and it's great.
Or,this is what sells best.(seller makes most profit on).The reviews that are the best are,I've had both.this one does this,that one does that,and
the difference is this.

Hi Hermit...

A little about me.. I don't care what machine you detect with or which one joe blow says is best, I do know which detector is best for me... I don't care that little johnny can notch out iron because I know I will leave that beach cleaner than he will...

I go to a lot of water boards and chuckle at the testostrone posts... mine is better than yours...whatever and thats just how I feel about it.

I research the beaches just as I research the land only with water hunting I look for cuts in the sand, washouts, I look for mounds where the sand has been pushed, I look for swales (small valleys) out in the water where the shells and pebbles are tightly packed and these are the spots you will do best... I keep my coil scrubbing the sand in the water... I rarely hunt the wet sand and never hunt the dry sand... personally I have no interest in it... The dry and wet sand gets hit hard and sure you will fine some stuff in it but I have a better chance of finding stuff in the water...

I am far from an expert at water hunting, I have only been doing it since July of 05 but I learned from the board owners here and Casper... I researched what machine would be best for me and I am glad I went with what I did... Everyone has their favorites... too each their own...

I am learning to tell by sound what my detector is over... But I still dig everything because as Casper has told me a good target might be next to a piece of junk.

Sorry for writing a book here and these are strictly my opinions... I don't care what these companies say about their machines or how deep they supposedly are..

I wanted a simple machine that I could use out of the box that I didn't have to modify in any way and I got it in what I use.

The proof is the pudding...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...t/P1010487.jpg

[TonyinCT]

Iron minerals can be a problem for PI's and VLF's should do better. Since I have never hunted a New Jersey beach , I really cannot comment on what would be best THERE. However , I will stick to my original comment of a PI being better onsalt water beaches overall. Bill , since you have access to the Jersey shore and the experience there is to go with an Excal , then that's what I would do. It is the best overall detector for most types of hunting beaches and can be used on dry land also.

[Hermit]

Yes you are correct!The proof is in the pudding,and it looks like you have
found the pudding!It's looking like the PI pro is the wat to go.Thanks for
all the replies.

[Chris_T]

I know everybody says to buy an Excal but I, too, can't swing it financially at this point in my life. I have a Tesoro Tiger Shark but have so far only taken it to the ocean once. It was a NJ beach, heavily mineralized and full of bits of rusted iron. This is what I found:

If you don't ground balance properly you will find the Tiger Shark almost unusable in the salt water. Every time a wave washes over the coil it will give a false signal. When the water is calm you can use it OK, however, but you have to move the coil slowly. Even moving the coil too fast or abruptly cause falsing, and some of them are pretty loud.

Once again, keep in mind this was done without proper ground balancing-- I'm talking straight out of the box and right down to the shore! I think I can make it more usable with proper balancing. I know for a fact I had the knob turned more to the "positive" side than negative, because I had no idea what I was doing.

In All Metal mode I got a lot of "waaaaaooooowww waaaaaaoooowwww" sounds in many places over the sand, wet or dry. They made me think there were a lot of very diffuse iron patches in the sand. I was looking for short quacks. (Sometimes when I was shaking out my sand scoop the detector would quack at me repeatedly as if to laugh that I wasn't going to find anything with my pitiful lack of skill. )

I hope to be able to get back to the beach with it in the next 2 weeks or so, at which time I'll ground balance it a lot more carefully and maybe have to turn down the sensitivity slightly. So I won't find deep rings with it, but I am not primarily a beach hunter anyway. I would be happy to find 1 or 2 pieces of jewelry on a given trip.

On dry and even wet sand the Tiger Shark was fine right out of the box, salt or not, until you got into the actual ocean with it. In the ocean, anywhere from ankle-deep up to over my head, it got constant falsing.... but I will need to go back and try properly ground balancing it, because I think this makes a big difference. I was never one for reading instruction manuals, but in this case I'd say you really need to follow what it says.

Jersey beaches are a mineralized nightmare to begin with. You can see the black in the sand; it's as fine as dust. To compound the problem, we hit an area that had huge amounts of iron debris probably from a shipwreck or other submerged structure. I was able to pick up a couple solid signals with the TS in the ocean; the key is looking for the signals that are consistent. If you swing the coil over a place and it doesn't give a signal each time, move on. Another problem was, a lot of the consistent signals out there seemed to be huge pieces of iron that I couldn't find even when I'd dug very deep, but wave action kept filling the holes in anyway.

Another weird thing I noticed: suppose you had a target in the wet sand that gave you a broken series of blips, like iron (in disc mode). It could be small, like a bolt or piece of wire. When your hole filled up with water, the signal would get amplified into a loud, solid tone. That might be because I didn't ground balance properly, I'm not sure. The sensitivity might be too high as well. I'm going to contact Tesoro and ask if someone there has used the Tiger in salt water, and if so, what the best setting is.

I was out in the ocean and did hit a number of consistent signals despite the constant chatter. I am still not used to being battered about by the ocean waves, and I think that's actually my main problem. Just when I'd be either getting a decent signal or digging on one, a wave would come along and knock me around. I don't care how heavy or tough you think you are, you are not as tough as the ocean. I weigh 210 and I still get pushed around by the waves.

Visibility was also a problem for me. I couldn't see the coil, so it was hard to get a feel for where to plant the scoop. Even looking underwater with my mask, I still couldn't see my detector coil in front of me- that's how murky the water was. A lot of it was the very fine sand (mineralized, of course) carried in the churning water.

I'll update or make a new post after I take the unit back to the ocean and try the proper ground balancing. Wish me luck. In the meantime, if somebody else has used the Tiger Shark in salt water and has more technical experience with it, please post here!

[poptop]

Hermit, you saw the PI in action by someone who had never used it and never beach hunted. It's a turn on and go and I was glad if that. I will really give it a work out the week of June 11. (and the 3rd if I can make it). My back gave out befor the PI. I think for the price, it can't be beat. I will later try it on deeeep relics inj a farm battle ground field.
pop
PS. I am not partial to Whites.

[Hermit]

Thats for sure Pop.That Whites is a bad moefoe.Come on down this weekend if you can.Carol and Vlad may be in the area also.