Salt Water Beaches...

[JKPK1]

Wife and I own two detectors. An Ace250 and a Sand Shark, obviously two way different machines. We did some beach stuff the other day and it's obvious we need another machine for wet sand / salt water. The little Ace was having a tough time even in dry sand. It found stuff but we want to enjoy this together and the beach from dry to wet is a little too wide.

Anyone ever owned a Minelabs ExcaliberII and a Sand Shark? If so how did they compare performance wise?

I spoil this girl rotten, cost is important, but cost within reason enjoyment is key. We each used the different detectors. Honestly it was more fun being nearby her to watch her as the Sand Shark would find stuff.

If the Excaliber is better then so be it, or if it is the Sand Shark that's fine also. My initial thoughts were to get a Sand Shark and Tiger Shark, but even that seems to have issues with salt water.

I want this girl finding stuff even if I am just a participating spectator.

If there is a place where these have been compared before I'd love to read about.

PK

 

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[Sandman]

You can't compare these as they are like apples and oranges. Some beaches can make the Tiger Shark chatter and it is mainly because everyone turns up the sensitivity inside thinking they will get max depth when all they do is mess up the detector. Tesoro calibrates each detector to the coil that comes with it. Naturally some beaches also have more saltwater concentrations and minerals to also mess things up. This is why even Excal's can chatter. Add to this the extra electrical interference from cell phones, etc and any detector can have a problem if you want to run them to hot.

The Excal is a great addition to the Pulse. The Excal is not quite as deep, but it also ignores small iron which the Sand Shark does not. You won't be digging to China only to find a bobby pin. If the Excal has one fault it is the lack of a battery check. You just have to make sure it is charged up, but once charged it lasts a couple long hunts.

I like to hang my Excal from my neck but also use a straight shaft just because it is longer. If you aren't going in the water a better choice would be a Sovereign GT. It is the land version and has some extra features like freq shift control, silent search or threshold, All metal and disc. Pinpoint mode and you can change coils just like with the Tesoro. You also have the option of using premium headphones like Black Widow's. The Sov GT has no trouble in wet or dry sand.

Your lucky to have a mate that likes to detect with you. It is easy to convince her you both need new detectors.

 

[GibH]

My Tiger Shark doesn't have any issues with salt water. It works just fine in the gulf.

 

[JKPK1]

My Tiger Shark doesn't have any issues with salt water. It works just fine in the gulf.

Yes, it seems many folks use Tiger Sharks in salt water and get decent results. Overall though, most of the information I have read or heard puts the Tiger Shark a bit out of its better elements when in salt water.

Being very new to all of this, my reply is solely based on information from others. There's a pretty good chance our next machine will be a Tiger Shark when they are available again.

PK

 

[AUDuke]

There is a difference between gulf coast salt water beaches and So Cal beaches, The So Cal beaches have black magnetic sand, some areas have heavy concentrations of it. It can raise havoc with single freq vlf detectors. Multi freq detectors handle it better than single freq. machines. Pi,s handle it even better.

 

[JOE(USA)]

In my humble opinion the Sand Shark and the Excal. make a fine pair. They are both excellent top of the line detectors and both have specific advantages. As I have said many times before, Individual choice in a metal detector is as varied as the number of people you talk to. As long as you stick with a name brand and the detector is suited for YOUR type of hunting you'll make the right choice. Joe