New / Used Beach/Salt/Fresh/Water Machine (Whites Surfmaster PI Pro -- or Garrett Sea hunter Mark II)

[Ba19]

So I have narrowed down the choice to these two Surfmaster PI Pro and the Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II. I ruled out the Sand Shark as I was reading a number of CS complaints and really do not want to deal with the chance of having to go through that.

So I will be using this in both fresh and salt water and I will be hunting the wet sand, dry sand and also water wading and scuba on the East Coast. I would appreciate any and all input that those with experience on these machines can offer. I went on Metaldetectorreviews and they both seem pretty close in the overall score. Was looking for some firsthand knowledge. Also if buying on the secondary market anything to look for or be on the lookout on these two models.


Thanks in advance
Bruce

 

[scubadetector]

If you think a PI machine will work in fresh water your sadly mistaken. Sure it will work but there is so much rusted metal and junk, you will soon be discouraged. I think you need to do more research on BOTH machines in fresh water and look at other options.

And if you look at the Sand Shark agian you will find it has a LIFETIME warranty, so even if it has a problem it will always be repaired. AGAIN though, its another PI machine.

THE ONLY good dual purpose machines I know of are the CTX 3030, Excal, CZ-20 /21 and BHID. But the choice is all up to you.

 

[Ba19]

scubadetector
Thanks for the info. I should have posted the majority will be salt water, I am in MA and have access to pretty good beaches and we travel to FLA and once in a while down to the Caribbean. I was kind of scared away from some of the posts on Metaldetectorreviews . com on the Tesoro machines even though they have a warranty seems like some people are getting billed for repairs and I was leaning towards the Tiger Shark. This was going to be a 4th machine for me so I was trying to keep a decent price as I have the V3I, F75 and I just got my son a Ace250, so getting the wife to sign off on a new detector was kind of tricky.

Based upon that the Garrett seems pretty decent but also have read (same review site as above) the whites looks to be good to, the fisher has the advantage of additional coils. Any more info on these would be great before I pull the trigger on my purchase.

I have to say I do like the Tiger Shark as well and it

 

[dadzjunk]

If you are going to be doing mostly beaches and salt water, you might want to seriously consider a Minelab Excalibur and if a new one is too expensive, check out a nice used one on eBay or Craigslist, after you get back home.. I don't think that you will be disappointed. If finances are no issue and you are only going to be wading, you might even want to consider the Minelab CTX 3030.I am fortunate enought to have both of them and love them both. By the way, I am assuming that you are a service man and I want to thank you for the service that you are providing to us, back here at home. We do appreciate you and your fellow service men.

 

[scubadetector]

I think your worried about nothing. I have a friend with a Tesoro and its been great for him. Although he has a Stingray 2. Tesoro is a good company and I have talked to them.