I'm brand new to this exciting hobby and really need help choosing a detector!! It's probably between the Minelab x-terra 505 or the Tesoro tiger shark!! I don't live anywhere near salt water so it would only be fresh water but most of my searching would be on beaches or land!!! Thanks f
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- Thread starter Corson24
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Frankn
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You left out important info, like how much do you want to spend, what will you look for; like coins,jewelry,relics,caches etc. Now on the beach, will you just hunt the sand, or will you get your feet wet. Will you dig every target or do you intend to be selective. Do you want turn on and go, or do you like like the technical aspect of detecting? Frank
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lost items recovery
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- Nov 29, 2012
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Hey just a heads up! I've hunted with a Whites beach hunter id 300 (vlf) machine great to discriminate out trash and iron but too many false signals for the surf. Now I bought a Whites surf master dual field pi machine and I dig all metals the same trash included and am going nuts. People have great success with them as they detect deep but it sucks when your digging deep for iron, I mean really deep! vlf's kind of suck so I wouldn't recommend one. Pi yes but then your cursed with iron!
Don't know about the tiger shark but my buddy hunts with a tosoro sand shark and he smokes me everytime out. He hunts in VCO mode and kicks butt! The problem I'm having is he's finding tons of small items such as charms and earings constantly along with the good stuff. Today he found a 14k gold loop earing so I asked if I could wave my Detector over it and did so on top of the sand and buried it 6 inches then again at 2 inches and cannot pick it up at all!!!!
I am so pissed that my $800 Detector can't pic up a gold earing but his can and not only pick it up his machine will start making a noise from roughly 10-12 inches away! Strongly considering bringing my surf master back and getting a sand shark plus the difference in cash! If I had to decide I'd get a sand shark and nothing else! I see his finds and I go home with coins. Makes me think how much else I've missed. Good luck in your decision.
Don't know about the tiger shark but my buddy hunts with a tosoro sand shark and he smokes me everytime out. He hunts in VCO mode and kicks butt! The problem I'm having is he's finding tons of small items such as charms and earings constantly along with the good stuff. Today he found a 14k gold loop earing so I asked if I could wave my Detector over it and did so on top of the sand and buried it 6 inches then again at 2 inches and cannot pick it up at all!!!!
I am so pissed that my $800 Detector can't pic up a gold earing but his can and not only pick it up his machine will start making a noise from roughly 10-12 inches away! Strongly considering bringing my surf master back and getting a sand shark plus the difference in cash! If I had to decide I'd get a sand shark and nothing else! I see his finds and I go home with coins. Makes me think how much else I've missed. Good luck in your decision.
lost items recovery
Bronze Member
- Nov 29, 2012
- 1,295
- 644
- Primary Interest:
- Other
Took my surf master dual field back and got a sand shark with an 8" coil picks up small gold in bench test.the same gold earing my dual field wouldn't pick up. Hunting in vco mode couldn't be happier! Doesn't miss a thing! Looks kind of 1980's but smokes all the three other machines I've owned! Get a sand shark spend $600 and pocket the other $200! People are going to think I'm nuts but what good is a machine that can pick up gold rings super deep that misses gold earings and small gold chains at the surface? Hunted along side my buddies sand shark for months while he brings home small jewelry and bigger while I brought home coins and once and a while a ring if I happened to be over one. I sure as hell found iron super deep but missed small gold without a doubt. Tested his 1.8 gram 14k loop earing he found and my surf master dual field didn't even know it was there! Good luck!
