Tesoro Sand Shark 8" or 10.5" coil?

[1treasurehunter1]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to buy a Tesoro Sand Shark for salt water beach detecting.

I'm stuck on whether I should get the 8 inch coil or the 10.5 inch coil. I have read that pinpointing is easier with the 8" and that the coil doesn't flip as easily as the 10.5 inch when in the water. I've also read that the 10.5 inch gives off weird tones and that the 8 inch has better tones. I've also read that the 10.5 inch might give about 1-2 inches more in depth and that it’s easier to cover more area with. Another thing I read about the 8" is that it’s more sensitive to smaller targets.

I will be travelling with the detector via plane whenever I go on my once a year weekly vacation.

Is there a tremendous difference between the 8" and 10.5"? Will I regret getting the 8"? Or should I go with the 10.5"? I'm a Whites M6 user and this will be my first PI water detector.

If you recommend the 10.5 inch over the 8" can you please explain why? and vice versa.

Thanks for your advice!

 

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[Sir Gala Clad]

I am not a PI Man, but let me give it a try.

I would go with the 8 inch coil because it is easier to pin point with, has less drag in the water, and is
easier to use in rocky areas.

The advantage of the 10.5 inch coil is that you will be able to search a larger area
on a given hunt:
The surface area searched under an 8 coil is 50.352 square inches
The Surface area searched under a 10.5 inch coil is 86.73919 square inches
In other words the 10.5 inch search coil sees and has to process 1.722625 times as much
which is roughly twice.

I do not believe that there will be much difference in depth for either coil as they are
both printed spiral coils which like monopulse and concentric coils have a cone shaped search pattern.
Since the coil only senses a very small area at maximum depth, you will need to overlap your coil
swings 75%, to keep from missing targets, further slowing you down.

If I was mostly shallow water hunting/ diving I would Purchase a Garrett Sea Hunter Mark ll
with a Gray Ghost Amphibian UW head phone, with the standard 8 inch Garrett monopulse coil for the water
and the 10 X 14" Garret DD Pulse induction Search coil (only requires 25% overlap of search coil) for the Sea Hunter Mark 11 for wet and dry sand hunting. I would also order an additional lower shaft for ease of swapping coils on a hunt.

If I mostly hunted calm lagoons and wet sand and some dry sand, I would purchase the Whites Surf PI Dual Field which
penetrates deep and is very sensitive to small gold. The outer large 12" search coil gives you the depth and more ground coverage. It can be quickly or slowly swept across wet, salty sand, and water as well as highly mineralized ground.
The inner 6" coil is very sensitive to small gold and accurately pin points.

If I also hunted nuggets as well as coin and jewelry on the beach (diving, shallow water, wet and dry sand), or land, I would purchase the Garrett Infinium LS. Like the Sea Hunter Mark ll, you can change head phones and coils as needed plus it can be ground balanced and has the greatest depth. The downside is that it has a long learning curve.

Or do me a favor, and purchase the recently released all terrain Garrett ATX Extreme PI, which is appears easy to use, beautifully packaged, has newer friendlier and more capable technology but is EXPENSIVE.
When you get thrown out of the house by your wife, or tire of it, I would be glad to buy it from you
as it would then be at a price I could afford.
I might even survive at home if I both a used one, saying "I just got this terrific deal,which I could not afford to turn down. I can even make money on it when I resell it. Yah Sure - Dream On!
Hope not many wives read this forum, especially mine (lol).

Oh bye the way, I have nothing against the sand shark.
I hear it is easy to use and a great detector.
Unfortunately, a life time warranty is no value to me as it costs me more than seventy dollars
to return a detector for repair- I get rid of any detector which becomes problematic.
Also, and don't liked to be locked (warranty is not transferrable) as performance can degrade but still be within spec.

 

[Fletch88]

I was a PI man briefly and the short answer is go with the 8". You'll get plenty of depth and it's much easier to use in the water. As for weird tones I never heard anything other than a single tone with the 10.5" Sand Shark.

 

[tiderider]

The 10" would be hard to control in the surf , I do have a SH and I like it very well easy to use in the surf!

 

[sponge]

I have the SS with the 8". It works great in the water and out. Yes it has a single tone but the pitches are different on certain objects. Ill get breaking tones on bobby pins and a blasting knock your headphones off sound when I hit pulltabs. I dig all so it dosent matter. When u hit gold after u thought it was a pultab u will dig everything

 

[DewGuru]

I use both and prefer the 10.5 inch specifically for the additional ground coverage. I've had no problems with swing speed, drag, or pin point issues. Depth is about the same with each coil. Lifetime warranty, none other can compare. Additionally, unlike other manufacturers mentioned here, you'll not get the "we dont have parts for this machine any longer, let us sell you this new unit" speech when you do send it in. Just my .02 - It and $5 buck will cop a pack of smokes.

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

I use both and prefer the 10.5 inch specifically for the additional ground coverage. I've had no problems with swing speed, drag, or pin point issues. Depth is about the same with each coil. Lifetime warranty, none other can compare. Additionally, unlike other manufacturers mentioned here, you'll not get the "we dont have parts for this machine any longer, let us sell you this new unit" speech when you do send it in. Just my .02 - It and $5 buck will cop a pack of smokes.

Is this true for all Tesoro detectors, including detectors which are obsolete as they are no longer in production such as the earlier Sand Shark with
changable coil(s) and headphone(s)? I heard that Tesoro does not replace or upgrade detectors which are obsolete/no longer supportable.

 

[lookindown]

With the 10.5 you gain 2.5 inches every time you make a swing. That doesn't sound like much but in ten swipes you've covered 25 inches more ground...that's 3 more swings you would have to take with the 8 inch to cover the same ground. In an all day hunt that's a lot of extra ground covered.

 

[ron lord]

Get the 8", It's go deeper than H#ll

 

[Terry Soloman]

You can't go wrong with either - Buy one and get to swinging!

 

[DewGuru]

Is this true for all Tesoro detectors, including detectors which are obsolete as they are no longer in production such as the earlier Sand Shark with changable coil(s) and headphone(s)? I heard that Tesoro does not replace or upgrade detectors which are obsolete/no longer supportable.

Yes, they will replace / repair your broken machine. I had a dirt old Piranha they repaired, no problem. Course, they no longer offer interchangeable coils, but they'll be glad to send ya the hard wired. I'd had a number of horror experiences with Garrett however. Any time I ever sent in a machine out of warranty, it was either the we dont have parts speech and or the it will cost more to repair than its worth speech. Take for example a ADS Deepseeker. Send it in, no parts. However, send in a 20 year old tesoro machine and your good to go.

 

[wvdirtdigger]

I bought a SS w/ the 10" coil this year and I love it. I got two golds this year and scores of clad. It is a real good deal for the price.

 

[Hag730]

Save your money and buy an Excal. You'll get similar depth on gold rings, better depth on small gold.......and you'll dig 85% less junk.

 

[lost items recovery]

Save your money and buy an Excal. You'll get similar depth on gold rings, better depth on small gold.......and you'll dig 85% less junk.

LMAO!!

 

[captaindoug]

I started out with the ten and a half, after about a year i sent it in for repair and bought an eight inch to use till i got the other back. Now i use only the eight inch, i think pin pointing is much easier and much less drag in the water. However this is opposite of what DEWGURU says and Lord knows he finds a lot more stuff that I do. As long as you buy a SS you are in good shape. My buddy has an xcal and when we hunt together I can outhunt him two to one on the good stuff./

 

[ron lord]

Save your money and buy an Excal. You'll get similar depth on gold rings, better depth on small gold.......and you'll dig 85% less junk.

You might find less junk, but the sand shark will go a foot deeper than your excel !!!

 

[lost items recovery]

You might find less junk, but the sand shark will go a foot deeper than your excel !!!

I've owned the 8 and 10.5 sand shark, dual field, B.H. ID 300, and have an excal.
A food deeper then my excal? I beg to differ!
I admit I found a lot with my shark in VCO but a foot deeper... Don't think so!

 

[lost items recovery]

You might find less junk, but the sand shark will go a foot deeper than your excel !!!

 

[lost items recovery]

I'll take 15"-17" with no junk for a hundred Alex!
If I wanted depth with trash I'd just swing my dual field pi, it smokes a sand shark on depth!

 

[lookindown]

I'll take 15"-17" with no junk for a hundred Alex!
If I wanted depth with trash I'd just swing my dual field pi, it smokes a sand shark on depth!

What target is that depth on?