I Just Assembled My New Sand Shark

TheInspector

Sr. Member
Jul 22, 2012
284
245
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.
 

Upvote 0
Jun 28, 2008
191
35
Florida
Detector(s) used
Minelab Excalibur II 10", Excalibur Sword 8", Sovereign XS2a Pro, Equinox 800, Equinox 900
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
I look forward to seeing what you find with your new machine!
 

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TheInspector

TheInspector

Sr. Member
Jul 22, 2012
284
245
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
Thanks John,

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

Good Hunting To You.
 

OP
OP
TheInspector

TheInspector

Sr. Member
Jul 22, 2012
284
245
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

Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
19,422
30,105
White Plains, New York
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Legend// Pulsedive// Minelab GPZ 7000// Vanquish 540// Minelab Pro Find 35// Dune Kraken Sandscoop// Grave Digger Tools Tombstone shovel & Sidekick digger// Bunk's Hermit Pick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
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.
 

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TheInspector

TheInspector

Sr. Member
Jul 22, 2012
284
245
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
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.
 

Last edited:

bn81159

Jr. Member
Jul 2, 2012
50
20
Boca Raton
Detector(s) used
Garrett ATX Pro, Minelab CTX 3030, Minelab Excalibur 1000,Tesoro Sand Shark
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
I got both the excalibur and sand shark and alternate them both under certain conditions.
 

Scottyboy

Jr. Member
May 15, 2012
37
20
Northwest Florida
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Whites Spectra V3I, Whites Prizm III, Tesoro Sand Shark, Fisher 1280-x, Fisher CZ-21
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
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?
 

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TheInspector

TheInspector

Sr. Member
Jul 22, 2012
284
245
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
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.
 

Fletch88

Silver Member
Mar 7, 2013
4,841
2,367
Valdosta, GA
Detector(s) used
Garrett ATPro- 8.5x11, 5x8, CORS Fotune 5.5x9.5
Tesoro Silver microMax- 8 donut, 8x11 RSD, 3x18 Cleansweep
Minelab Excalibur ll- 10" Tornado
Minelab CTX 3030
Minelab Xterra 305
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Will be assembling mine Thursday! Now do I go to the Atlantic or Gulf to test her out?

Sent from my iPhone using TreasureNet
 

Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
19,422
30,105
White Plains, New York
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Legend// Pulsedive// Minelab GPZ 7000// Vanquish 540// Minelab Pro Find 35// Dune Kraken Sandscoop// Grave Digger Tools Tombstone shovel & Sidekick digger// Bunk's Hermit Pick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
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:
 

Fletch88

Silver Member
Mar 7, 2013
4,841
2,367
Valdosta, GA
Detector(s) used
Garrett ATPro- 8.5x11, 5x8, CORS Fotune 5.5x9.5
Tesoro Silver microMax- 8 donut, 8x11 RSD, 3x18 Cleansweep
Minelab Excalibur ll- 10" Tornado
Minelab CTX 3030
Minelab Xterra 305
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I don't know the gulf side sure is prettier!
image-622681133.jpg



image-3300340769.jpg

Sent from my iPhone using TreasureNet
 

Scottyboy

Jr. Member
May 15, 2012
37
20
Northwest Florida
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Whites Spectra V3I, Whites Prizm III, Tesoro Sand Shark, Fisher 1280-x, Fisher CZ-21
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
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.
 

Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
19,422
30,105
White Plains, New York
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Legend// Pulsedive// Minelab GPZ 7000// Vanquish 540// Minelab Pro Find 35// Dune Kraken Sandscoop// Grave Digger Tools Tombstone shovel & Sidekick digger// Bunk's Hermit Pick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
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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TheInspector

TheInspector

Sr. Member
Jul 22, 2012
284
245
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
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,
 

lookindown

Gold Member
Mar 11, 2010
7,089
4,936
Florida
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
ACE 250,AT PRO, CZ21...RTG pro scoop...Stealth 720
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
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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