I Just Assembled My New Sand Shark

TheInspector

Sr. Member
Jul 22, 2012
299
282
Houston Texas
Detector(s) used
Minelab Manticore.....
Tesoro Sand Shark.......
Garrett AT Gold...............
Garrett Pro-Pointer AT - AKA The Carrot
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Last summer I discovered water hunting while working in Oklahoma. My AT Gold did me very well in the fresh water, but I found it to be almost useless when I took it to the beach in Galveston, after getting back to my Houston home. Even though my AT Gold paid for itself many times over, I could not get myself to spend the money on an Excal, and thus bought the Sand Shark. I anticipate digging all targets because it always seems the good stuff was found from questionable signals anyway. I will make it to the beach next weekend and I know the results will be alot of fun, if nothing else. As an added bonus, I love wade fishing in the same areas I will be detecting.

Good Luck To All.
 

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I look forward to seeing what you find with your new machine!
 

Thanks John,

Hopefully it will not take to long to have something to show.

Good Hunting To You.
 

Best of Luck and Big Gold! Now, some advice - FIRST, go back to page 12 in the manual and MAKE SURE you have set your tone frequency to match YOUR hearing the best. Do you hear high or low tones better? Next, set your pulse width to about 3/4 power (2-230pm position). Turn your threshold up to where you can barely hear it above the waves and wind noise - like a mosquito hum, and use the machine in NORMAL mode.

DO NOT just walk up or down the beach in one direction or the other! Pick yourself a 50-yard long beachfront, and start gridding it. You start at the wet sand high mark and detect right into the water thigh-deep, move over a step and detect right back up to the high wet sand mark.. Rinse and repeat until the whole 50-yards or 5-hours is done.
 

Best of Luck and Big Gold! Now, some advice - FIRST, go back to page 12 in the manual and MAKE SURE you have set your tone frequency to match YOUR hearing the best. Do you hear high or low tones better? Next, set your pulse width to about 3/4 power (2-230pm position). Turn your threshold up to where you can barely hear it above the waves and wind noise - like a mosquito hum, and use the machine in NORMAL mode.

DO NOT just walk up or down the beach in one direction or the other! Pick yourself a 50-yard long beachfront, and start gridding it. You start at the wet sand high mark and detect right into the water thigh-deep, move over a step and detect right back up to the high wet sand mark.. Rinse and repeat until the whole 50-yards or 5-hours is done.

Thanks Terry,
I will use your recommendations, but my intention is to almost strickly detect near chest deep, or as deep as I can manage depending on surf conditions, to the beach. I mostly intend to leave the dry sand to others, but you are correct in that I should go to high tide line.
 

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I got both the excalibur and sand shark and alternate them both under certain conditions.
 

Best of Luck and Big Gold! Now, some advice - FIRST, go back to page 12 in the manual and MAKE SURE you have set your tone frequency to match YOUR hearing the best. Do you hear high or low tones better? Next, set your pulse width to about 3/4 power (2-230pm position). Turn your threshold up to where you can barely hear it above the waves and wind noise - like a mosquito hum, and use the machine in NORMAL mode.

Not to Hijack anyone's thread, but I'd like to ask Terry:
What do you find to be the advantage of using normal vs. VCO, and what effect does the higher pulse width have.

The reason I ask is because I've done so well using the default recommended settings and VCO, so I've been very hesitant..even stubborn to try changes.
What are the pros and cons , in your opinion, using your settings vs. the fact settings?
 

Not to Hijack anyone's thread, but I'd like to ask Terry:
What do you find to be the advantage of using normal vs. VCO, and what effect does the higher pulse width have.

The reason I ask is because I've done so well using the default recommended settings and VCO, so I've been very hesitant..even stubborn to try changes.
What are the pros and cons , in your opinion, using your settings vs. the fact settings?

Hijack away.

I'm interested too.
 

Will be assembling mine Thursday! Now do I go to the Atlantic or Gulf to test her out?

Sent from my iPhone using TreasureNet
 

Not to Hijack anyone's thread, but I'd like to ask Terry:
What do you find to be the advantage of using normal vs. VCO, and what effect does the higher pulse width have.

The reason I ask is because I've done so well using the default recommended settings and VCO, so I've been very hesitant..even stubborn to try changes.
What are the pros and cons , in your opinion, using your settings vs. the fact settings?

Normal gets me DEEPER than VCO as I can hear the negative (threshold gets quieter or silent) and "Whisper" or slight positive breaks in the threshold much better (both equal a deep target on the edge of the machine's ability). I have over 500-hours in both VCO and Normal, and from my experience Normal Mode is DEEPER. If you don't "experiment" how are you ever going to learn your machine and its language? Higher pulse width is sending more power through the coil. Try it and stay with it for at least 50-hours. Let us know YOUR results. :icon_thumleft:
 

I don't know the gulf side sure is prettier!
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Sent from my iPhone using TreasureNet
 

Normal gets me DEEPER than VCO as I can hear the negative (threshold gets quieter or silent) and "Whisper" or slight positive breaks in the threshold much better (both equal a deep target on the edge of the machine's ability). I have over 500-hours in both VCO and Normal, and from my experience Normal Mode is DEEPER. If you don't "experiment" how are you ever going to learn your machine and its language? Higher pulse width is sending more power through the coil. Try it and stay with it for at least 50-hours. Let us know YOUR results. :icon_thumleft:

Interesting, I'll have to give Normal mode a whirl this weekend.Thanks for the information.
 

Lastly, do NOT wrap your coil cable as shown in the manual!! Run it straight up the lower shaft and wrap ABOVE the plastic lower shaft. This will increase your sensitivity!
 

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Lastly, do NOT wrap your coil cable as shown in the manual!! Run it straight up the lower shaft and wrap ABOVE the plastic lower shaft. This will increase your sensitivity!

I guess I need to re-wrap my coil cable.

Thanks,
 

Will be assembling mine Thursday! Now do I go to the Atlantic or Gulf to test her out?

Sent from my iPhone using TreasureNet
Gulf if you are a water hunter...Atlantic if you hunt wet sand.
 

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