Water Detector help please!

[JD-GA]

Im finally ready to pull the trigger and add a water detector to my arsenal. It will be 75% freshwater but it will have its days in saltwater as well. So the questions Ive come up with that I need some help with before I make a great, or costly decision are.....

1) Is the SandShark a good choice for both fresh and salt? (I like this one due to the lifetime warranty)

2) Is there a better water detector for both fresh and salt than the Tesoro? And which one?

3) VLF or PI incase some feel the Sandshark isnt the best?

4) Please add any input. I will be a complete newb to water hunting but I want to start on the right foot and learn instead of getting a cheap "just try it out" detector.

Thanks so much for yalls expertise and input its invaluable.

 

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[Sandman]

As good as the Sand Shark is, it is not the detector of choice for freshwater only because there is so much trash and hairpins in freshwater which take decades to rust away. The Tiger Shark, a VLF is a great one for freshwater but not the best for saltwater wet sand or in the water.

What works very well in both locations is the Minelab Excal II. But this has no lifetime warranty. It is almost as deep as the Excal too and I do very well with it. Good luck on your choice. Best option would be to buy the Tiger and the Sand Shark.

The Excal will null on small iron and still report on a gold ring on top of it as it won't be masked out unlike all PI's and VLF detectors. This detector will cover all your bases except warranty.

 

[Hangingfor8]

Go with the excal. It will pay for its self in the first season.

 

[JD-GA]

So Excal = Minelab Excalibur II?

Im going to look up what I can find out about it now. Im guessing it does what the tiger and sand do but can do both fresh and salt and discriminate?

 

[JD-GA]

As good as the Sand Shark is, it is not the detector of choice for freshwater only because there is so much trash and hairpins in freshwater which take decades to rust away. The Tiger Shark, a VLF is a great one for freshwater but not the best for saltwater wet sand or in the water.

What works very well in both locations is the Minelab Excal II. But this has no lifetime warranty. It is almost as deep as the Excal too and I do very well with it. Good luck on your choice. Best option would be to buy the Tiger and the Sand Shark.

The Excal will null on small iron and still report on a gold ring on top of it as it won't be masked out unlike all PI's and VLF detectors. This detector will cover all your bases except warranty.

Sandman, did I read wrong where you said somewhere in april here on the forums the excal 2 has problems and you would own one? Maybe im remembering wrong but that is the only thing that threw me off the minelab products early on was the poor warranty, the poor customer service, the high price, and the machines have problems. Has something changed for the better?

 

[Can Slaw]

For all around water hunting, and maybe some dry sand hunting with just a touch of discrimination for tiny junk, I would also go with the Excalibur. I also have a Sea Hunter PI but only use that on super clean beaches.

Chuck

 

[OBN]

Excalibur II or a CZ 20/21 which ruled the east coast beachs & fresh water before the excal came along....

 

[jyt2017]

You can buy a 3 year extended warranty with squaretrade for the excal II and add accidental for 280 bucks. I also got home owners insurance and they have pictures and receipts of everything...including my new excal II. This covers theft from your vehicle too. I did a lotta research on insuring the thing. HH -Joe

As good as the Sand Shark is, it is not the detector of choice for freshwater only because there is so much trash and hairpins in freshwater which take decades to rust away. The Tiger Shark, a VLF is a great one for freshwater but not the best for saltwater wet sand or in the water.

What works very well in both locations is the Minelab Excal II. But this has no lifetime warranty. It is almost as deep as the Excal too and I do very well with it. Good luck on your choice. Best option would be to buy the Tiger and the Sand Shark.

The Excal will null on small iron and still report on a gold ring on top of it as it won't be masked out unlike all PI's and VLF detectors. This detector will cover all your bases except warranty.

 

[Smudge]

Hi JD.

1. No the Sand Shark is not best for fresh water, unless you want to dig every single metal target you hit. Pi units make you do this. The Sand Shark is great for wet salt sand and surf. I use it on the dry sand as well, but as there tends to be a lot more trash in dry sand, I do a lot of digging. But that's ok, dry sand digging is way easier than digging in the dirt.

2. Can't answer the "better" question. It's all about personal preferences. I had the Excalibur and hated it. Never could get used to the tones and just couldn't connect with it. I like Tesoro units. You may get the Excal and love it, making it a "better" unit for you. It's all about the individual hunter.

3. The Sand Shark is a PI unit, the Tiger Shark is VLF. The Tiger Shark is perfect for the fresh water and dry beach, but doesn't do so hot in wet salt. The Sand Shark is a beast in the wet salt sand, but some people don't like it on dry beaches because it can't discriminate metals (and all that extra digging).

4. Since 75% of your hunting is going to be fresh water, get yourself a fresh water unit for now. The Tiger Shark is a first rate choice and bangs on small gold beautifully. Get yourself the Sand Shark later. You can take the Tiger Shark to the salt beach and do great in the dry sand and crank your sensitivity down in the wet. You'll lose a lot of depth, but it will manage.

 

[search and recovery]

Great replies from everybody. OK...I guess I'll put in my two cents worth.I was torn between the whites duel frequency and the excalibur. Went with the whites for the extra depth of a PI unit and I did not like some of the service repair issues that I had heard about on the excalibur. Excalibur is a great machine for salt water, but it is a minelab sovergn locked into a salt mode. This will cost you depth in fresh water on detecting targets. It would need to be like my fisher CZ6a land machine, which has a normal/salt switch on it. Works great in either environment. I am not sure if the CZ20/CZ21 have that switch on them. If they do then that machine would possibly be the best for your situation. It's a tough choice. No one machine does everything well. If money isn't the deciding factor, then you should buy two machines. One for fresh water one for salt water. I personally went with a PI unit because I was going to hunt salt water much more than fresh and I did not mind digging the extra trash knowing I did not miss any of the good targets. I hope this helps. At least you get some information that can help you to decide what is best for you.

 

[JD-GA]

Thanks a ton folks. I think im gonna stick with the sand shark. Digging to much trash should decrease over time and that appears to be the only negative. Lifetime warranty. Less than half the cost of an excalibur without as many negative customer service reviews. The PI should get really deep even if im digging to much maybe I will get some missed targets.

I appreciate the info and suggestions a ton folks.

 

[Smudge]

Ok JD, but before you can join the PI club, you must make the following oath:

Oh my honor, I do solemnly swear:

*that I will not complain about digging up ANOTHER pulltab.
*that I will not complain about digging up ANOTHER bobby pin.
*that I will not complain about digging up ANOTHER sparkler wire.
*that I understand nearly all those -explitive- signals sound the same.
*that I will properly and carefully seal the unit when I change my batteries.
*that I will not blame God, the manufacturer, the dog, or anyone else if I fail to do the above and flood my unit.
*that I understand my trash to treasure ratio will be about 20:1 on a decent day.

Bless you and welcome.

 

[JD-GA]

Arg you are killing me. If I dont take that oath and go with the Excalibur wont there be an oath about

Swearing that it breaks.
Swearing that it takes 5 to 6 weeks to get it back from Minelab...if they dont forget entirely
Digging a ton of trash with different trashy signals
etc etc haha?

 

[Beachhunternh]

Took my new PI to a place that I have been hunting for awhile now, its also a place where others hit it real hard, found several earrings, lots of pulltabs some square nails, many many hair pins and a no date merc dime. The water was a bit cold so I only lasted about an hour. Looking forward to staying longer to see what else I (and others) have missed.
I have taken the PI pledge and am happy that I did.

 

[birdman]

Just my two cents,I would go with the tigershark since you are going to be 75% fresh water just for the discrimination.They do have a salt mode also but on the beach I used one at it was still a bit noisy. I have read reviews where some people did well with them at the beach so maybe for just 25% of the detecting time it would be worth it. Check out metaldetectorreviews.net if you have not already done so.Good site for reviews.

 

[marinemike72]

MineLab,MineLab,MineLab...the best in my opinion....

Mike

 

[Tony in FL]

Excalibur is a great machine for salt water, but it is a minelab sovergn locked into a salt mode. This will cost you depth in fresh water on detecting targets.

The Excalibur is basically a waterproof Sovereign GT and can be used in salt water, fresh water, dry/wet sand, fields, etc. I have never heard that the Excalibur is any less capable in fresh water as opposed to salt water.

 

[JD-GA]

I swear you guys got me feeling like my wife in a chocolate store with only one stomach.

I want to be able to detect lakes and streams where folks swim here in Georgia.Maybe even creek hopping for a little nugget hunting after a good flood. I also usually take 2 trips to Florida every year as well and will want something I can use in the water on the coast but granted only those 2 weeks an entire year.

The minelab sounds really good when people who love the machine talk about it. But a lot of folks say you will still dig a lot of trash with the minelab, and if you discriminate those deep iron targets you will miss some good targets as well. Then you add in the huge cost, the customer service issues, and the mediocre machine longevity reports and it just isnt adding up. This coming from a water detector newb though I admit.

Is there ANY reason other than digging to many targets not to buy the Sand Shark? Is the minelabs so much better that the cost and negatives are worth over looking?

 

[stevemc]

I own 3 PI detectors, and did not buy an Excal until earlier this year. I felt it was an easy learn, and it is a very old Excal, a New York blue sword. Mainly because you can tell what is iron. You know when you pass over iron, because the threshold goes silent. But you do know it is there, so if you want to dig it up, you can. It is nice, swinging along and null on iron, and finally hit non-ferrous, and yes it can be a pull tab. But when you dig hair pins, stick pins, crab trap wire, nails, it gets tiring. Yes you will still find condom wrappers, foil from gum, pull tabs, zinc pennies, but you will find more things that are good with an Excal, than with a PI, because you are not digging all the iron stuff. An Excal does not go as deep as a PI, but most gold jewelry wont hit past 6-8" anyway, unless its a huge one. I will still use my PIs, 2 of them are very good on jewelry gold, even real tiny gold. But they are real good on everything else too, too good. I will use my PIs underwater while diving on wrecks, since I want to find anything, and at deeper depths, and at beaches that are not well worked. PIs do go deeper, but when it is trash and stuff, it gets old. And it keeps you from finding the good stuff. I should have listened to some of the guys that have Excals way back, but I didnt.

 

[Smudge]

You will dig trash with the Excal. No detector is made that will give that kind of discrimination. The beauty of the Excal is that once you understand the language, or so I am told, you will get a better indication of what is under your coil. The Excal also lets you discriminate out iron which is a plus.

However, the Excal is an extremely expensive unit. Some will say you can get all that back with one good find but heck, that's true of any detector, including the PI.

Personally, I want all the depth I can get at the beach, and for me, that means getting a PI machine. Yes, I dig lots more trash, but I don't get frustrated. It's good exercise, I'm ridding the beach of some really nasty stuff (found a syringe once with God knows what in it and the needle bent upwards), and again, with the right sand scoop, digging sand is a piece of cake compared to land digging.

I've always been nervous about discrimination. I don't want to miss anything. That's why I like the PI for my beach hunting. Yes, it's likely garbage, but you never know.