What is the advantage and disadvantage of one over the other? If I'm planning to hunt the beach, wet sand, and shallow surf with no intention of scuba diving, just what I can walk, what would be the best for me? Would it be better to get the bigger coil right from the start? Thanks to the advice this board has already given me! dan in so cal
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Question on Tiger Shark VS Sand Shark
- Thread starter sandtrout
- Start date
Sandtrout,
If by beach you mean a freshwater beach, the Tiger Shark is probably the way to go. The Tiger is a VLF detector and runs at a high kHz so it should it should be great on small gold. In fact, most Tiger users love it for that reason.
However, if you are talking about a salt water beach, the Tiger would not be the best choice. It would do fine in the dry sand, but once you hit the wet sand or the surf, that single frequency VLF will run into trouble, even with the Salt mode.
For salt water beaches you're better off with the Sand Shark, which is a pulse induction (PI) detector. Completely different animal. It will beat the Tiger in depth and will be unaffected by the salt water. However, you will get no discrimination. I mean none at all. If its metal, the Sand Shark will find it. Every bobby pin, every coin, every tie wrap, every ring, every pull tab,...get the picture?
PI detectors are less popular on land or at fresh water areas because of this. Salt beaches tend to dissolve a lot of that junk metal over several months. But at fresh water beaches, that junk metal can last for years! Some discrimination is really important.
As to coils, 6"-8" will give you good depth and pinpointing accuracy. A bigger 10"-12" coil will give you more depth on larger targets (often that means junk), and pinpointing becomes a lot more difficult. I guess you know where my suggestion lies.
If you want some discrimination at salt water beaches, you may want to look into some other brands. And I say that as someone who really likes Tesoro. Dual frequency VLF detectors offer the best function in salt water, but they can cost over $1000. That's the tough part about beach machines. By and large they're not cheap.
Good luck to you on your final choice.
If by beach you mean a freshwater beach, the Tiger Shark is probably the way to go. The Tiger is a VLF detector and runs at a high kHz so it should it should be great on small gold. In fact, most Tiger users love it for that reason.
However, if you are talking about a salt water beach, the Tiger would not be the best choice. It would do fine in the dry sand, but once you hit the wet sand or the surf, that single frequency VLF will run into trouble, even with the Salt mode.
For salt water beaches you're better off with the Sand Shark, which is a pulse induction (PI) detector. Completely different animal. It will beat the Tiger in depth and will be unaffected by the salt water. However, you will get no discrimination. I mean none at all. If its metal, the Sand Shark will find it. Every bobby pin, every coin, every tie wrap, every ring, every pull tab,...get the picture?
PI detectors are less popular on land or at fresh water areas because of this. Salt beaches tend to dissolve a lot of that junk metal over several months. But at fresh water beaches, that junk metal can last for years! Some discrimination is really important.
As to coils, 6"-8" will give you good depth and pinpointing accuracy. A bigger 10"-12" coil will give you more depth on larger targets (often that means junk), and pinpointing becomes a lot more difficult. I guess you know where my suggestion lies.
If you want some discrimination at salt water beaches, you may want to look into some other brands. And I say that as someone who really likes Tesoro. Dual frequency VLF detectors offer the best function in salt water, but they can cost over $1000. That's the tough part about beach machines. By and large they're not cheap.
Good luck to you on your final choice.
Generally agree with Smudge. Couple of slight differences of opinion though.
I have not used a Tiger Shark. I have read about some who have done well in salt water environments with it, but most who have used it in the salt water environment indicate it looses depth. It is widely considered one of the best, if not the best, in fresh water.
Sand Shark does have different audio signatures for iron nails, bolts, wire and bobby pins than it does for other targets. You get a distinct double blip on iron that is longer in one direction than the other. You can greatly reduce the trash dug by ignoring the double blips. Not completely fool proof, as I did dig a thin silver chain that also double blipped similar to a bobby pin; but a bobby pin definitely has an axis and the chain double blipped from multiple swing directions. I enjoy swinging a Sand Shark in the water and over the wet sand on the salt water beaches (when I get a chance). I don't use it so much over the dry sand because, like Smudge indicates, not much of the iron has dissolved there.
Cheers,
tvr
Smudge said:
I have not used a Tiger Shark. I have read about some who have done well in salt water environments with it, but most who have used it in the salt water environment indicate it looses depth. It is widely considered one of the best, if not the best, in fresh water.
Smudge said:
Sand Shark does have different audio signatures for iron nails, bolts, wire and bobby pins than it does for other targets. You get a distinct double blip on iron that is longer in one direction than the other. You can greatly reduce the trash dug by ignoring the double blips. Not completely fool proof, as I did dig a thin silver chain that also double blipped similar to a bobby pin; but a bobby pin definitely has an axis and the chain double blipped from multiple swing directions. I enjoy swinging a Sand Shark in the water and over the wet sand on the salt water beaches (when I get a chance). I don't use it so much over the dry sand because, like Smudge indicates, not much of the iron has dissolved there.
Cheers,
tvr
sandtrout said:
I used to have a stingray II which I think is similar to the Tiger Shark, it worked great in saltwater in low mineralized sand such as most of the caribbean, but here in S. California we have more black sand to contend with and it didn't do very well. That is why I use a CZ20 and a minelab sovereign on the local beaches. i did find a lot of gold rings with the Tesoro though, but not in SoCal.