Tesoro Sand Shark

[TORRERO]

I bought a Sand Shark about 6 months ago and I was under the empression that this was going to be the "Beat all end all" machine for the beach...

I like it and have walked and walked with it... (well balanced, light weight)

I have been hunting for more than 30 years and can find my way around metel detectors no
problem, but there are some things with this that don't seem right and I want the opinion
of other "Sand Shark" users on this forum.

For one thing I was under the empression that these Pulse Induction machines went really deep.

I am using an 8 inch coil and after many different settings I settled on "Vol. all the way up, with the Threshold to where I could not hear it", so when I walk over something the threshould go's up and I can hear deeper targets.

But I have not seen much in the way of deep targets and most all coins have come in the
6 -8 inch range. Dimes on an air test are not much more than 6 inches, quarters are a bit better, but although I dug a fair amount of coins, non of them seemed very deep all all.
Almost all could be gotten with my hand. That said, I have dug a few nails pretty deep, and beer bottle caps can be dug rather deep, but these are bigger than coins...

Another problem I seem to be having is "Radio or electronic interferance"

Sometimes the threshold is silent as I walk the beach, but much more often than not
I can hear a constant "thrumming" sound in the back ground, sometimes real weak and sometimes real strong and there does not seem to be any rationality or consistancy to this noise, as I can hear it low on the beach (low wet sand area) and high on the beach (Dry sand area) I can walk out of it, one minute and the next
walk back in.... you can't tune the machine to block it, there is no sensativity switch.

Even turning the threshold down all the way does not block out this background noise, and many times with this chatter, it sounds like I am going over a target only to find no consistance to the noise and realize it's the interferance instead of a target.

Any one else experiance this with the Sand Shark ? And do I need to return it Tesoro
for them to do a "tune up" on my machine?

I bought it used, and it seems to work ok, just not as much depth as the people here
indicate a Pulse Induction machine should have.

Thanks
Richard

 

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[SneadsFerryMD]

Righ from the start, you need a constant humm on your thresh hold or you will be missing some of the changes in tone.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Set your pulse width at about the 230pm position. Your threshold around 12pm, and your volume so you hear a "mosquito hum" in your headphones. Use NORMAL mode. You may be getting EMI on the beach, or you may be overpowering the Pulse width. Air tests are worthless with a PI. I get quarters at 16" all day long. Good Luck!

 

[TORRERO]

Set your pulse width at about the 230pm position. Your threshold around 12pm, and your volume so you hear a "mosquito hum" in your headphones. Use NORMAL mode. You may be getting EMI on the beach, or you may be overpowering the Pulse width. Air tests are worthless with a PI. I get quarters at 16" all day long. Good Luck!

I don't know what the "230 pm position" is...
I tried all the different settings and there does not seem to be a differance...
It sounds a little different in the "Normal" mode" but I had been using it with a slight hum, but the sound fluctuates so
much that I can't hear the small signal changes...
That's why I went to the "no noise" threshold. I set it just to the point where I can't hear it constantly, but still may hear some differance and it seemed to work ok.
I tried setting the "pulse width" at different settings and can't tell any differance in sound or depth or anything.
You say to set the Pulse width at 230pm but there is no calibration on my machine... I was just setting it at MAX..
Is the interferance normal, do you all get that at the beach ?
I know that I did not dig any coins at 14 inches, I got a few cans real deep, I also dug a large tiffany earring pretty deep
in the wet sand, but it was big and made of silver....

 

[mike3366]

Look at your threshold knob and think of it as a clock , set threshold pointer between two and three o'clock . Reread your manual page twelve will help . I just got my sand shark and set it where Terry said , it's works you will need time and patience to learn your new machine . Don't get upset you will start to get your finds it's new .

 

[mike3366]

Look at your threshold knob and think of it as a clock , set threshold pointer between two and three o'clock . Reread your manual page twelve will help . I just got my sand shark and set it where Terry said , it's works you will need time and patience to learn your new machine . Don't get upset you will start to get your finds it's new .

Sorry retread Terrys post I got it backwards .DUH ! Look at your knobs as clocks and position them as terry said

 

[Hag730]

Im not an expert on the machine yet.....Ive only had it for a short time. I can tell you I dug a bobby pin at 13-14 inches yesterday in wet sand. It does seam to false when a wave hits it, havent quite figured that one out yet/

 

[G.I.B.]

Im not an expert on the machine yet.....Ive only had it for a short time. I can tell you I dug a bobby pin at 13-14 inches yesterday in wet sand. It does seam to false when a wave hits it, havent quite figured that one out yet/

Make sure your coil wire is set up along the shaft correctly and is not flopping in the surf as the wave washes over you. Make sure the coil connection on the bottom of the shark is clean and dry inside.

I dug an earring back, that teeny little gold thingy that holds a stud earring on, from about 14" deep in the sand while in the surf. It kept falling through the scoop. Drove me nuts for about 15 minutes. Never did find the earring that went with it.

 

[Hag730]

Make sure your coil wire is set up along the shaft correctly and is not flopping in the surf as the wave washes over you. Make sure the coil connection on the bottom of the shark is clean and dry inside.


I checked my coil wire and it was a little loose, I snugged it up. I hope that solves it.....thanks for the tip.

 

[Treasure finder]

Background hums are not that unusual if you are anywhere near civilization. PIs can easily pick up
EMI, and still detect targets at remarkable depths. Also air tests are worthless. I have a small nugget
that can be detected 5 inches deep, but just barely one inch in an air test. Something about charging
up the ground. No, I don't have a Sand Shark, I have a Garrett Infinium PI. The issues are the same
with both PIs.
Have fun.
RICH