Dual field disappointment!

[lost items recovery]

Took my surf master dual field back and got a sand shark with an 8" coil picks up small gold in bench test.the same gold earing my dual field wouldn't pick up. Hunting in VCO mode couldn't be happier! Doesn't miss a thing! Looks kind of 1980's but smokes all the three other machines I've owned! People are going to think I'm nuts but what good is a machine that can pick up gold rings super deep that misses gold earings and small gold chains at the surface? Hunted along side my buddies sand shark for months while he brings home small jewelry and bigger while I brought home coins and once and a while a ring if I happened to be over one. I sure as hell found iron super deep but missed small gold without a doubt. Tested his 1.8 gram 14k loop earing he found and my surf master dual field didn't even know it was there!
When discussing this incident with my dealer all they could tell me was "earing's are tough"!
Well if I'm paying $800 for a machine it better not miss any gold not even an earing or chain! Left to wonder what other small gold I've missed the past few months! Being the awesome dealer they are they allowed me to bring the machine back against store policy and exchange it for the sand shark, plus sweetened the deal a little. Bigger coil deeper targets but not sensitive to small jewelry! Small coil better small jewelry plus picks up rings and what have you. Mainly Drawn towards the tesoro S.S. for the VCO mode and love it as it draws you in to the target. You can keep your lime green and canary yellow over priced machine's im home with a pi machine with an extra ability in my opinion.

 

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[bigscoop]

Small gold chains are a tough hit for any detector. Having said that, I played with a few PI machines last summer and I have to say I was as impressed with the Sand Shark as any of them and for various reasons. I have not tried the Infinium so can't make that comparison. But for the money, lifetime warranty, I can see why so many PI users are sold on them.

 

[hamiddetecting]

I think so, too. If i were you, i buy Sov GT and Excalibur, they are both detect any jewlry. In other hand detecting if you need PI and VLF(BBS)
Hamid

 

[dewcon4414]

Hummm the DF is a 15uS and the SS about 22uS. Did you ever send it in to see if you had a problem? Because the DF should be more sensitivity unless you adjusted the Pulse Delay.

Dew

 

[snooksion]

yep something wrong. even a df that didnt work right should put a ss to shame. maybe wrong settings. no way on this planet a ss can go deeper than a df

 

[dewcon4414]

Hes not talking depth here, but sensitivity to small targets. I cant say about depth, but it most definitely should be as sensitive to smaller targets.

Dew

 

[Crispin]

I have a 10.5 inch coil on my and I seriously doubt I am missing much. A couple of weeks ago I found a tiny, intricate laced 14K earing weighing .9gm. It was six inches down. If you go slow with the ss and dig every whisper then you will not miss. Of course, I also have a pile of tiny pieces of metal as well. You could easily fit ten of them on your thumb nail.

 

[DrJoePrime]

I have high praise for the Sand Shark and was amazed at how sensitive it was to small gold. BUT I learned my PI skills with a White's and when I upgraded to a Dual Field I was amazed at how sensitive it also was to small gold. Much better to my older White's. I tried to get comfortable with the Sand Shark but was unable to have the machine "click" for me and so I went to a Dual Field and am very happy at it's performance.

I suspect your Dual Field had calibration problems. It's a moot point now but your Dual Field was definitely NOT typical.

Here's my first month's finds with my new Dual Field. Notice the sub 1 gram ring. It sounded off loud and clear: http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/beach-shallow-water/319682-gold-dual-field-one-months-worth.html

 

[Terry Soloman]

I find the Dual Field and the Sand Shark to have exactly the same capabilities. The difference between the two machines are cosmetic, and of course the price and warranty. The Sand Shark is as good or better than every other Saltwater machine on the market today, selling for $1,200.00 or less.

 

[dewcon4414]

Guess you are right ... its kind of immaterial at this point since its sold but you had a problem. Congrats on your new machine. Hope you enjoy it better ..... if not Terry will buy it back.... cause he loveeees his Ts.

Dew

 

[lost items recovery]

Thank you for clarifying on the sensitivity not depth issue Dew! I also appreciate your input into this matter Terry! You are sort of a sand shark role model to me and I value your opinion sir. Great to hear from you! I understand that some of you are in disbelief on this matter but I understand how to use the dual field and ran the machine with the pulse down not up as to not discriminate out any metals and buried the above mentioned objects at different depths from air testing to surface scrubbing, on the surface 2"-6"-10"12" and multiple setting combinations gain up and down and it made no difference! Faulty machine possible! Why did the machine ignore gold hoops white and yellow but sound off on copper previously plated earrings? Same question I asked whites via phone call. Their response was I don't know sir!!! I was told small objects were tuff to detect ,white gold was hard for the machine to magnetize and small gold links can't be detected because the machine see's individual links not a small chain! They mentioned a small ring is a continuous circle and an earring is not so therefore can not be recognized. They said the bigger coil is not sensitive to small jewelry but the 6" in the dual field should have picked it up! Guess what!....it didn't! !!! Again as I mentioned earlier the junk metal hoops were detected just find and they said I don't know why. I asked what good is a machine that can find a staple 12 plus inches down but ignores a non complete circle of 14k yellow gold! She said I don't know what answers you are looking for sir! 3 whites machines later I bought a Tesoro SS with no regrets as I've hunted with my buddy for months watching him bring home small jewelry, gold and silver rings while I brought home coins and iron to the trash can and an occasional ring if I'm lucky to come across one. Depth you say today he pulled a 14k gold and ice ring from a depth of approximately 18 inches in the wet sand. Here are the earrings not detected by the dual field but picked up on the Sand shark.

 

[lost items recovery]

Undetected earrings continued



Isn't this a noncomplete circle earring just the same as the gold and white gold (which may I add is covered in diamonds )? I guess it's OK to miss out on digging these two gold items because the dual field would find a gold ring at great depths if the user was lucky enough to put his coil over one!
It's not OK with me that the machine I paid $800 for ignored God knows how many small gold items while I was looking for.....what a ring? How many of rose are going to be in your path per hunt? How many pieces of small gold earrings and chains are going to be out there also? One thing I know is my Dual Field can find deep rings but ignore small jewelry, and my sand shark can find all of the above! Don't take my word for it DF Hunters call whites ask if what I say is true. Grab small gold chains, gold hoops and do your own tests as I did! Adjust your settings and see if you find something that proves me wrong. If you can't, can you live with knowing you could have waved your Detector over some small gold that adds up just like the rest of it! That yellow 14k hoop weights 1.8 grams not much but who knows what else isn't detected!
I feel everything should be questioned and sometimes it just pays of to find out things people don't want you to know.
Good luck hunting people!
Those who continue to leave the scraps are helping feed the sharks!

 

[lost items recovery]

Crispin.
Thanks for your response!
You are hunting with as 10.5. S.S.?

 

[lost items recovery]

As far as sending it in and being without my machine until who knows how long, no thanks I paid $800 for it. It was new from the box and I was not going to pay even more money to ship it. Sometimes you only get one chance to make a first impression! This machine picked up plenty of items, iron small junk From deep and shallow in and out of the water on the same settings and I did find a 10k white gold wedding band but passed on the small gold and silver so therefore did not do the job I bought it for, finding gold reguardless of size.

 

[Buried Crap NJ]

Lot of information in this post both positive and negative about two machines. Both of which I have never hunter with.I have noted that lost items recovery came over from a BHID which is really a beep and dig machine. I have used this machine with great sucess! Its quite a set up to a Dual Field PI from the BHID. I need not go into the reasons.The longer we hunt with a machine the better we get to know them. The longer we hunt the worse habits we develope. Each machine has its own set of rules, limits and required techniques. Sometimes we need to adjust to the new machine this make take months or years, we need to grown with our new tools. I have posted this before in other arena's. My last two machines I was one with, was for a 16 year period. 1993 to 2009 the changes in that time was just stunning. I had a very hard learning cuve. Many times I went back to the older machine that were still finding gold! I just went through this all over when going to the Minelab CTX 3030 many times I wanted to throw the detector in the water. I stuck out the last 6 months + and have over 350 hours and am finally able to be comfortable with the machine. If this were easy everyone would buy a detector and go find gold.
Truth is its just not that easy and that's why we have a dozen machine (tools) to use for each type of hunting we want to do.Each will do what it is we want it too,but none will do it all!
BCNJ

 

[lost items recovery]

BCNJ

Valid points! This sand shark is my 4th machine now and I can honestly say that it is a great machine and is worth every dollar of $600! I am running it in VCO mode and am blown away by the sensitivity to a target this machine has. It doesn't have to be as close to a target as any other machine I've used before. The VCO hunting mode is awesome it really draws you in to a target from a pretty good distance away and has been picking up targets at very impressive depths and the amour of finds has tripled since I've started hunting with it.
If you've never trodes one you will not see the comparison. If you possibly have a buddy with one I strongly recommend asking to give it a try!
Anyone looking to start out in the hobby , then I would strongly recommend researching the Tesoro Sand shark not to be confused with the tiger shark.
I can honestly say this machine kicks butt and with a lifetime warranty how could you go wrong!
Good luck hunting!

 

[lost items recovery]

Sorry about the spelling! It's a word recommendation thing on this so called smart phone!

 

[Crispin]

Yup, I have the 10.5 coil ss. I have never hunted with the 8 inch coil but I just can't imagine I am missing anything. The one thing I have learned is that I have to slow down. The deep, small gold is usually a whisper or soft tone. I have found tiny pieces of silver, copper, and other non-iron metals that can't be more then 1cm by 1cm pretty deep. The louder the sound the less excited I am to dig (but I do anyway.) When it blows my ears off it is almost always a bottle cap. You would not believe how many bottle caps I find. Some of my good finds come when I hear a whisper and then brush off an inch or two of sand with my foot. If the whisper gets louder then I know it has a chance to be something good. Of course, the same thing happens with pull tabs, lol. Last time out I dug at least two dozen of the old school pull tabs at a heavily detected tourist beach in about 3 hours. They were an average of about a foot deep. That was where I found the .9g gold earring.

 

[lost items recovery]

Awesome thanks for the info! You hunt in VCO?

 

[dewcon4414]

I hear you about having to return a machine for repairs .... ive been there. But... i felt i had the best machine based on my research for what i was wanting to do. So... i bit the bullet and sent mine back during some pretty important sand movement times. So i can relate. You took a different route which worked for you it seems. I ... i decided to use the warranty that i paid for. Now mine hums like a new top. I guess im old school with the thought..... never sell a machine until its paid for its self. Then you know it and can say.... its not for me and not every machine is. Ive went thru that process a few times. In fact no two machines are quit alike.... quality control aint like it used to be with mixed and matched parts being made everywhere.

Dew