Tesoro Sand Shark PI over other Types?...Ever use one? Comment here PLZ

[Dig]

Hey Everyone! I have an opportunity to buy a slightly used Tesoro Sand Shark at a decent price and I was wondering if some of you PI detectorists could spare some advice. I use the Excal II but wouldn't mind adding a PI to the arsenal. I'd really like to hear every ones opinion about depth,stability,etc... Just how deep is a PI and are some makes deeper than another? I would also consider a Whites DF or an Infinium, but I know so little about PI I dont know why some are $1100 dollars and some are $550? Do some have more features or better tones? It's funny the more questions I ask about metal detecting the more I realize I don't know jack still....hahaha. Thanks in advance for your opinions.

 

[VBDave]

I love my sand shark. It's deep, hits on everything including small chains, is very light especially comapred to the Excal, and gets great battery life (20 hours). And it's about the only waterproof rig that allows coil changes. If you're looking for a PI, I don't think you can do better.

 

[VBDave]

I should have added that I've also run an Excal on the beach. It has nothing on depth compared to the Shark.

 

[Gerry]

Guys, I am curious, does the sand shark handle salt water and black sand well?

Gerry

 

[VBDave]

All PI's are in their element in salt water. Here in Virginia Beach, we have an abundance of black sand, escecially after storms. I can generally run my sensitivity wide open, giving max depth, except in really heavy black sand deposits. The I back it off to about 3:00 and it runs smooth.

 

[harvdog42]

I use a Sand Shark as my main detector for the beach. I hunt with an eight inch coil and it is very light and easy to swing. I tried the ten inch coil but went back to the eight inch. The Sand Shark gives very crisp, clean, fast signals on targets. I set the threshold so that I can just barely hear a click every once in awhile which lets me know it is still working. I've found that the very low threshold allows me to hear deeper targets. Black sand will make it sound off once in awhile but it is a distinct drawn out sound and good targets can be distinguished and pulled out from the black sand sound. Slowing down your sweep speed will usually take care of most black sand falsing.

I've found very tiny gold and silver rings with it but have yet to find a small gold chain with it or a large gold chain for that matter. I've been using the Sand Shark for about two years now and have no intention of changing machines. As you probably already know...you will be digging a lot of fish hooks with a PI.

Battery life is good and the batteries are easy to change. I use recharge-ables.

Harvdog

 

[tvr]

I've been happy with mine. I think VBDave and Harvdog give good accounts of the Sand Shark. It is now my most used water detector. I use the 10 inch coil mostly. It sweeps through the waves with less effort than the 8 inch coil on my CZ20. The thin coil profile helps. It does like to flip up if it is not just slicing through the water. I need to make a brace to hold it in position.
tvr

 

[rehless]

I have a SandShark, a TigerShark and a Dual Field, A Surf PI and a Fisher Impulse. Got the SandShark with the 7 and 8 inch coils to use in nail infested water.
I do not wade, I dive and snorkel, so heavy or light weight doesn't matter to me. Nor does negative or positive on the flotation of the coil. I had a Surf PI Pro
for a long time and used it almost exclusively, till I got the Dual Field. Simply put, the dual Field is a lot deeper seeking than the SandShark. But I do not use
the Dual Field every where, goes too deep and the large coil would be a pita in trashy water. So there you go, depends on how you hunt and how deep you are
trying to get.