Long-Handled Sand Scoop Question

[hibby]

I'm soon going to have my first water detector. I will be doing mainly sandy beaches in freshwater. I have been looking at all the extended scoops out on the market and some fetch as much as $190. Is there any really justification in getting such an expensive scoop? Are the $50 variety found on Ebay and Kellyco acceptable? Please share your thoughts and experiences.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[PaPa-Joe-Fla.]

Chris, I have a two piece travel scoop from Babb's Pro. scoops ( one of the sponsor of this forum) it was like 125.00, it is very well built and strong. It breaks down to 24" so it will fit in a travel bag for airplane trips or cruises. I had a cheap scoop made of the wire mesh and it didn't hold up well. MDing is like most things in life. you get what you pay for, a little extra spent now will save you in the long run. Nothing worse than getting to a beach and have your scoop break. HH

 

[Chi Town Bruce]

This is no time to cheap-out and one scoop for everything condition and everyone, isn't made. Most hunters have a verity of scoops and are open minded to new designs. Are you only going to hunt sugar sand? how about wet sand? and you may try the mine. Do you need to spend $200. for a good scoop? Absolutely not,
at the moment I have 3 scoops and I will add 2 more this season. All stainless steel and averaging $125. BTW, What water detector are ya getting?

 

[hibby]

pretty sure it will be a surfmaster II

all wet sand

thanks for the scoop info

 

[Bobbie]

A good detector and a good STAINLESS STEEL scoop go hand and hand...........don't whimp out and buy something that will not withstand the abuse of wet sand.

 

[Martin(Qc)]

It's a bit like a tool you want to use often. If you buy cheap, dont ask it to last too long. The scoops are taking a lot of beating and work very hard. Dont expect a wire mesh scoop to last very long.

 

[Chi Town Bruce]

n/t

 

[Martin(Qc)]

I'm waiting for Luke to bend and weld them... Since spring is so far away, we dont feel mutch pressure to go ahead. But, once it get's on the warser side, i'm pretty sure things will pick up !

 

[gold-digger]

Hibby-- As the others stated, a good scoop is worth it. The last thing a hunter wants is to have their scoop break on them mid-hunt. I've had 2 that went that way, one that was used to dry and wet sand and another for the surf. Neither could stand up to rigorous digging and some tough deep targets. Now I have 2 long handle steel scoops, that both weigh about 5+ pounds and should last quite some time. My next will be a 2 part travel from Babbs.

 

[mattockman]

YES! They are way over priced.....but, if you don;t pay you can't play....1 company starts out and sets the price....then the others follow ...then as they improve the price rises and the others follow...I wonder myself what the profit margin is for a $190 scoop....My first scoop was stainless steel....it had a flat top and oval bottom. Not very wide opening. I bent that handle till it weakend and is not good for deep targets or tough rock anymore....pretty much useless....$110 down the drain. Then I bought a used one for $140 but much better handle and totally round/oval opening and much wider and not flat top....this was the cats meow....rugged....but then I noticed a crack at the weld in top front.....now I am on borrowed time till it breaks cause I can't find a welder to fix it. So now I am faced with deciding if I should get the highest priced scoop thinking it will last my type of digging and forces I put on it, and listen to all the hype the manf. gives you......or just buy a stinking shovel and make a floating screen and dump the shovel full in screen.....I am not sure what I am going to do.....but don't have much confidense in any scoop yet...but they are a necessary high priced evil.

 

[jim/wpb]

Look at Babbs (Proscoops).com or Kevin Reilly's (RTG) aluminum scoops. They both make an excellent product and are very honest. Both have huge amounts of experience in beach and water detecting


Please keep in mind that building a scoop is a very labor intensive project. The scoops themselves are cut by CNC equipment and carefully rolled to get the diameter necessary. The welding, grinding, deburring, and other processes are very time consuming and TLC is needed throughout the process. The total hours in each scoop is ....lots.


From a business aspect, we are very very much blessed to have manufacturers like these. Both warrant their work, so if there is ever a problem, they will stand behind the product 100%.

Look em up.....you won't go wrong with either.

 

[CC2_IN_CA]

I bought one similiar to this a couple of years ago for $75 new on ebay.
This looks like same design, but price is up and handle is wooden.
Guess the chinese have pushed the price of stainless up.

Anyway, this thing will last longer than me.
Aluminum is lighter, but I think they crack eventually.

 

[CC2_IN_CA]

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Stainless-Steel-Beach-Sand-Scoop-43-Handle_W0QQitemZ120235399562QQihZ002QQcategoryZ58056QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[nugget]

I've been looking at a lot of scoops, I like the look of the Beach Brute Pro from kellyco, looks very strong and robust. Although they are a bit expensive (aren't they all) I reckon on a few years out of them at least. HH regards Nugget.

 

[therick]

n/t

 

[mtpockets]

[quote nugget]I've been looking at a lot of scoops, I like the look of the Beach Brute Pro from kellyco, looks very strong and robust.
Although they are a bit expensive (aren't they all) I reckon on a few years out of them at least. HH regards Nugget.[/quote]


I can attest to that.. I wanted to buy the 6061 scoop from kellyco.. but they were sold out So I got with Nathan and he gave me a Great deal on the
Beach Brute II Pro.. And with thanks to my friends who send me Kellyco gift cards

It sure is a Beast.. But Worth it... I've used it a couple times now and It paid for itself already... Now if I can only get out to use it more..

 

[Mat in MA]

You can see pictures of it on my web site at http://beachgold.net/forsale

Thanks.

 

[kaptainkosmic]

you say mostly sandy freshwater beaches. here in michigan the mostly sand ends only a few inches deep on the inland lakes and then is replaced with sand gravel and clay. if indeed its mostly dry sand then you want to look at the wire mesh type scoops, it is important to remember that the handle on these scoops is strictly for length so you don't have to bend over and not prying. if you use them to pry they will not last long. these scoops are generally pretty light weight wise and sift dry sand very good. they won't sift wet sand well without water. and digging in wet sand or anything other than sugar sand is pretty uneffective and tuff on the scoop

here is an example:

[attachment 84748 5inchresized.jpg]

if you want to hunt in the water, wetsand, gravel, marl etc then you want a sturdier scoop. they weigh more but can stand up to more vigorous digging.
they usually are not as good at sifting dry sand, however they will. i would recogmend a larger scoop because i like making target recovery with the least attempts possible. however size has a penalty of weight.

here is an example:

[attachment 84749 rightsidescoopsized.jpg]

there is atleast one scoop that would probably function in both realms fairly well but i would consider it heavy to dry sand with but as a one scoop does it all i would give it a good look.

here it is:

[attachment 84750 GoodSideView.JPG]

of course these are just my thoughts, i hope they help. there are as many opinions on scoops as there are scoop makers.

hh steve

 

[deerman]

Save up your cash till you can get a really heavy duty scoop ,i got one of the s/steel scoops and its built like a tank and should last longer then i do, do a search in this fourm and look up scoops so you can get some idea

 

[Big Jim]

Hi kaptainkosmic I am totaly new to this forum type stuff hopefully I don't do something inapproprate.On march the 4th. 2008 you showed 3 pictures of sand scoops.The last of the 3 was a heavy reinforced one you described as follows. "There is at least on scoop that would probably function in both realms fairly well" etc.etc. Can you tell me the maker,model,and the supplier of this exact scoop,it is exactly what I have been looking for.Thanks Jim