Sunspot Stealth 720 Scoop?

[rainyday101]

I have a Tiger Shark and will be doing freshwater detecting in the great lakes, rivers, and local lakes. Is the Sunspot 720 stealth a good scoop? The 720 has a 20 degree angle the classic is a 90 degree handle. Is there an advantage to the 20 degree handle on the scoop? Is there a different scoop I should be looking at? Most of the areas I will be are sand, but some could get slightly gravely. I am a newbie at water detecting and any suggestions would be appreciated! I would like to only buy one scoop and get it right the first time.

 

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[Sir Gala Clad]

Rainy Day:

Have you hunted in the water, and not just on the beach where it is mostly sand?
I have read, there is a lot of clay, gravel to rock and shell on the great lakes bottoms.

The sunspot stealth 720 is designed to dig deep with its 15" long basket and drain fast with its open basket design with 1/2" holes. The stainless steel v ish euro tip allows you to punch thru clayish bottoms with less effort and to dig close to rocks.

The advantage of the 20 degree angle handle is that you can dig without having to put your face in the water when chest deep. If you are tall, I highly recommend that you purchase the 52" handle as you can use the extra length to push yourself back to shore if you step in a hole or start getting to deep. You should also be wearing a safety device which forces you to float with face above water.

The advantage of the 90 degree angle handle is it's greater strength as the handle goes all the way to the bottom of the bucket. This is important for rocky bottoms such as in Okinawa, where the basket is reinforced locally for extra strength.

If the area you hunt is truly sandy with some gravel, another great scoop to consider is the T Rex. You are able to catch smaller objects with the 1/4" square holes such as ear ring studs which fall through larger holes. This scoop as a more shovel/shield like point and allows you to dig 9" to 9.5" wide with each scoop verses 7" wide with the stealth 720.

In the water both scoops are easy to use as long as they drain. On wet sand, both scoops are very heavy when full. Most likely you will end up with several scoops as they are like golf clubs in that you have to use the right one for each location.

 

[rainyday101]

Thanks Sir Gala Clad, I will take a look at the T-Rex. Anyone else have an opinion? I would like to buy one scoop for use in the water and be done!

 

[KapHI808]

I love my 720i especially with the lift assist. A full scoop of wet sand is heavy. You also can't go wrong with a lifetime warranty.

 

[dirtdigger1581]

Sunspot stealth scoops are AWESOME! I have the 90 degree classic 8, and the 720i. They are rock solid, and come with a lifetime warranty...If they can't fix it, they'll replace it for free. They are a bit pricey but they are completely worth it. I would seriously consider the Stealth line. You won't regret it!

 

[rainyday101]

I have heard people say that the 720 has a tendency to rotate right or left if you don't step just right on it when getting it started in hard packed bottoms. Has anyone had this problem? Also any opinions on the T-Rex?

 

[Jdett411]

I tried my 720 for the first time today. It does tend to rotate if the pointed tip is on a rock or hard surface. But after awhile you tend to get the hang of it. It does dig pretty well tho. The down fall side to it for me was since it does hold alot of material, if your in a rocky area it's difficult to determine if your target is in along with the rocks.
Sure ill get used to it, my first scoop was smaller so I was able to see my target easier. Ill update you again after I have another time or 2 out with it.

 

[rainyday101]

Great Jdett411 and thanks for the update!

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

Rainy Day: if you click on yesterday's thread Grinding through the trash and digging Platinum!! Started by Surf digger, you will see Brian effectively using a T Rex stand up water scoop.

 

[TallTom]

I haven't used other long-handled scoops, just my relatively-new
(10 weeks) Stealth 720i, with the wood handle and lift assist.
I like it a lot, although it's not light weight. As long as I press
my foot in the center, more or less, it goes straight into the
sand and digs extremely well. No complaints. Great exercise.

--Tom

 

[DocBeav]

I have the 720i and I love it. It IS heavy when full of wet sand (a "young man's scoop" as Max calls it...) but an assist handle makes a big difference. The point on the end is sharp and narrow and is great for getting into the areas with lots of rocks....just a little pressure and back and forth motion gets it through the hard areas.

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

Rainy Day, You might better off with a smaller scoop than either the Sunspot Stealth 720 (L 15", W 7", H 6") or the DeGhetto T_Rex (L 12", W 9", H 6").

Sandman has a picture of such a smaller scoop, which he has fallen back on, I wish that I had followed his recommendation as not only is the lifting weight much lighter it has smaller holes in the bottom to catch ear ring studs. If I remember correctly it is the Sunspot Classic 6" sugar sand model.

Both of the standup water scoops I purchased have large baskets and are very very heavy when filled with wet sand. It is easy to hurt your finger / joints from jerking to pull the scoop out of the hole or repetitive lifting. I hurt my pinkie finger (swollen ) while repetitively retrieving with one hand, without gloves to cushion, the heavy weight. To prevent reoccurrence, I now use a sling on my Excalibur ll 1000 so that I can use both hands to retrieve and have installed a lift assist on the Stealth at about 48" high on the longer 54" handle so that I can distribute the heavy weight across my palm. I prefer this scoop for chest to chin deep shallow water hunting as it can be purchased with the longer 54" handle which I use to push back to shore whenever I get in too deep while shallow water hunting.

 

[rainyday101]

Sir Gala Clad, I am tending to agree with you. I used a home made scoop this last weekend and could not believe how heavy wet sand is. My arms were aching. The only thing that I don't like about the Sunspot Classic is the wooden handle is inside the scoop and it seems coins and stuff could get stuck behind there or just be a pain in the butt to get out. T-Rex makes an eight inch scoop that only weighs 3 pounds minus the handle. This is a definite possibility. The T-Rex looks like it would definitely drain quickly.

RTG makes this one I have been looking at: RTGbb6scr RTG PRO ALUMINUM-SCREEN BOTTOM 6" WATER SCOOP. Question is, is it heavy duty enough?

Is Stainless Steel a must for gravely rocky areas?

Will aluminum work okay in some gravely areas?

 

[Jdett411]

As far as the 720 tipping, it has a pointed metal tip. Sure it's gonna tip when against a hard surface/rock. But you'll quickly learn how to adjust for that with your hand that's on the wooden handle, really no big deal. I first used the RTGbig7 similar to the 6scr. RTG is lighter ( not by much) it drains decent, but the flat tip really makes it rough digging thru gravel/rock. You'll use alot of energy fighting its way down. I'm surprised no one stated the obvious about the 720 or classic weight scoop issue. Take smaller scoops of sand/gravel/rocks. That's what's the RTG or T-Rex does anyway. With the 720 it's just easier to dig. ( no experience with the trex).

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

RD: An aluminum tip is a poor choice for hard pack bottoms as it takes considerably more effort to penetrate the ground and push the blunt thick basket in. The tip will fatigue /become jagged from striking hard objects such as sharp gravel, small rocks, coral and over time wear away. You can get around this by riveting a stainless steel tip to the front of the basket, but it will still take more energy to push in than a thinner stainless steel basket of the same size.

An enclosed round bottom aluminum basket has the greatest tendency to roll as it is unstable to begin with. Further it diffficult to retrieve an object(s) lying close along side a rock. The blunt tip and compression forces from the enclosed basket tend to push target(s) away especially those lying on top of a hard flat bottom covered by sand such as parking lot(s)/dead coral reef(s)/ limestone formation(s).

A heavier scoop is best for shallow water hunting as the weight helps to stabilize it. Open faced stainless steel baskets drain better as more holes/squares can be drilled/punched in the stronger thinner stainless steel. Also, it is easier to see s target(s) in an open basket than an enclosed basket. Where as an enclosed aluminum basket tends to be corky and difficult to control when there are currents/surges in the water.

The sunspot classic is the best for working rocky areas as it is stronger and more stable since the wooden handle is attached insided and closer to the bottom of the basket. It is preferred by treasure hunters in Okinawa, who add additional reinforcement to the basket to pry rocks away when retrieving a target(s).

It requires a different retrieval technique since the handle is 90 degrees. According to Sandman, it is best to hop the basket straight up which automatically sifts the basket which becomes lighter with each skip as the sand/muck drains out. You might have to get your face in/near the water when retrieving in chest to chin deep water as the handle is not angled.

I doubt that objects being stuffed near the handle would be a problem as they can easily be seen and removed from an open faced basket.

In ankle to knee deep water and on wet sand, It is usually more efficient and safer to walk away from the water and dump the contents of the basket on higher ground above the water. Before dumping the basket the ground should be tested to be sure that there is no iron or other targets near.t. It is then easy to isolate the target by spreading out what you have dumped until you either see the target or are able to retrieve it with a small partial scoop which can easily be shaken to sift. Your hunting day will be short if you try to shake an entire basket full of wet or dry sand each time.

The screen bottom would be a marginal improvement for retrieving in fine dry sand over a fully enclosed round bottom scoop with 5/8 inch holes.

I recommend the T Rex where there are valuable targets such as ear ring studs and chains as these small pieces of jewlery easily fall though holes/patterns greater than 1/4 inch. Again, I recommend carefully watching Surf Diggers videos as it appears that he has mastered target retrieval with the least amount of effort based upon the expected depth of the target he is retrieving.

I agree with Jdett, that you can reduce the weight by simply taking smaller scoops. Unfortunately in most situations fear of loosing a target and excitement trump taking small scoops.