First report on Tesoro Sand Shark

As you may know the Sand shark is a PI machine that uses pulses of RF rather than a continuous emission as do VLF machines. What that means in practical terms is that the advantages and disadvantages of VLF are gone. The penalty is PI machines don't discriminate between metal types. They do not give information as to shape or size or depth readily as do VLF machines. What they do well is ignore subtle changes in the ground characteristics thus making for a quite, and smooth metal detecting operation over a wide variety of ground types. The one place where this is especially advantageous is in salt water where VLF machines loose sensitivity rapidly in an effort to accommodate the extreme and changing conductivity of the medium the machine is operating in. While the PI machine is also effected by the high conductivity of the sea water, the circuitry deals with it better giving a deeper and quieter detection capability in salt water. That is why PI is generally preferred for surf hunting.

This week I made three 2 hour hunts on Clearwater Beach on the Gulf Coast of Florida. These hunts were confined to the surf from 2" to 4' depths of water. The weather was cool in the early morning  and waves were about 1 foot high all three days. Beach attendence was over a thousand on the weekend and in the hundreds each week day. I observed 40 people in the water on the weekend and about 10 on week days.  The section of beach I worked was about 1/8 mile long in front of the main life guard station.

I've heard 'the best place to find treasure is where it is lost and that most treasure is found where the people lose it.'  Which is almost like saying 'gold is where you find it"   Except for the occasional Rolex or wedding band people don't generally carry treasure to the beach. That fact is offset by the fact that when they do go in the water, there is a good probability they will lose it. Fingers shrink from the salt water exposure. Waves will break chains and bathing suite pockets turn inside out.  So this is why detectors go to the beach.

The notable finds for these three days were as follows:  18 bobby pins, 4 large hoop earrings, 2 smaller earrings, $1.06 in clad including 2 quarters, 3 nickles and 2 dimes, 3 matchbox cars,  several fish hooks, 2 lead sinkers. I spent most of the time digging bobby pins which were everywhere. I gradually became able to distinguish bobby pins / fish hooks from larger targets and ignored them. (bobby pins and fishhooks usually go through the scoop holes on the first attempt to dig them out)

No Rolex, no gold rings. Which is not surprising for only 6 hours of hunting. The good news was I found no bottle caps and almost no other trash. The bad news is I spent most of my time digging bobby pins and fish hooks, something I didn't expect. I figured the hunts would be plagued with bottle caps and foil but it wasn't. : The maximum depth of any dig was about 4 inches which was for a 2 oz fishing weight. 

The Tesoro Sand Shark performed as advertised, It found all targets iron and lead etc. It operated spooky quite compared to my other machines and it handled beautifully in water from 6" to 4 feet. With the controls on my belt and out of the way around back, the coil and staff was extremely light and easy to handle in the water. In water less than 6 inches, waves tended to cause the flat coil to come off the bottom and a heavier coil would have been an advantage, but in deeper water the thin coil slid over the bottom and my arm did not get tired so long as I didn't try to force the swing. All in all the sand shark is a good choice for hunting in salt water 1 to 4 feet in depth where there are few iron trash targets. The controls which seem heavy and bulky on land are light and out of the way in the water and on your belt. The headphones were knocked off by a wave or two that caught me off guard but were comfortable and light weight and can be worn continuously for at least 2 hours. 

I'm looking forward to going back to this beach next week for another 6 hours of hunting. Maybe I will find a Rolex then. 

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,37422.msg230260.html#msg230260

    Thanks for the rundown.  I think its great when someone will take the time to review thier thunting experiance.  Your review really helps us all to make an accurate assesment of what we are able to do with our machines and gives us an idea of what the Sand Shark can do.  I think its good entertaining reading too.

Thanks again and keep swingin.

 

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,37422.msg230686.html#msg230686

Keep Swingin

		Quote:			Posted by gambol1
	I've got nothing much else to do than metal detecting and sharing the results with you people.

Then you need to do more so we can live vicariously through your experiences

HEHE

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,37422.msg230949.html#msg230949

Keep Swingin

		Quote:			Posted by homefire
	o we want to know what a Double Eagle sounds like.

I second that

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,37422.msg230953.html#msg230953

Keep Swingin

I really like this machine and my Tiger Shark, too.

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,37422.msg231121.html#msg231121