Sand Shark; Garrett Sea Hunter II

[Overkill Overkill]

So I guess it's absolutely impossible to get a Tesoro Sand Shark at this point, correct? Besides used ones, which I can't find either, does anyone know of anybody that is selling them now rather than 1 month from now?

Has anybody had any problems (leakage, etc.) with the Sea Hunter II?

I've noted some dealers have layaway options as well as 100% refund policies. Are these policies sometimes too good to be true, in your experience?

Finally, I thought I saw some discussion about another Garrett PI machine that is perhaps a bit better, but I can't find it at any of the dealers' websites I checked. Anybody have any clue (including me!) what I am talking about?

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

You can find used Sand sharks on Ebay as well as the various boards, and Craigslist, but you have to jumnp on it right away. I have seen several sold in the last month.

You will drive yourself crazy trying to find the "perfect detector" because there is no one "perfect detector". People favor brands, I am a Minelab man and I swear by the Excals and Sovereign GTs becuase they have been very good to me and have a very important feature to me, the ability to tell the difference between a piece of iron and gold. (Null on iron) I dig no iron at all at the beach, I am not wasting time digging iron targets. Excals and Sov GTs are the only Minelabs I have used so I can't say much about the other models, but know people who own and love different models..

I had a Whites Beach hunter ID and it was a good detector, but it made me mad when it leaked on me twice under warranty and I traded it in, but the BHID is still a good water detector....Aquasound, Tesors Sand and Shark are good, the Sea hunter is good, you just have to pull the trigger and buy a detector. If you buy a good detector and decide you don't like it or want a different detector, then sell it and buy another, most of the money is not lost on used, and almost none of the money is lost on used, its still there....I am down to 6 detectors, 2 Excals, 2 Sovereign GTs, a Whites 6000 SL Pro and a Fisher 1235x....A lot of money invested, but the money is still there, it is not lost, I can sell them and get my money back so it is just invested.....

Best advice I can give you is buy one of the top water detectors Tesoro, Minelab, Garrett, Whites or Fisher, new or used and learn to hunt....Pull the trigger so to speak.......Go hunting...........

 

[stitchlips]

I just sold my sand shark a little bit ago......

 

[Sandman]

The Sea Hunter Mark II does not leak, at least I have never herard of one. White's Beach Hunter ID 300 is a good dry sand detector but in the water it has leaked even with the orange O rings, but this could also be because of operator error. Worse is the BHID 300 has a floating coil which can wear you out trying to keep it down near the bottom. Other water detectors don't have this problem with their coils floating.

The Fisher's, are built like tanks and are very good. Tesoro's are hard to get now, but are excellent as are the Excal's and Sov GT.

The other Garett detector is the Infinium LS, a Pulse but a very good one.

 

[nuggetshooter]

Treasure Hunter is right - there is no perfect detector. Also, there is no perfect all purpose metal detector. I have 2 gold nugget detectors (one PI and one VLF for different conditions), 3 coin detectors (one I loan to friends, one I keep in my Willy's, and my Whites V3 I use all the time), and recently acquired a new Fisher CZ-21 for a great price. I purchased it because I had a CZ-5 a good number of years ago and I liked it. I also did not like all the sounds the Excaliburs make. And yet I hunt with my V3 in multi-tone ID - go figure! But I know the Excaliburs too are excellent detectors. I researched all the detectors I have for some time before I purchased. I went to local detector shops and listened to them and talked to other hunters at local parks, local detecting clubs, and in the gold fields before I purchased my various detectors. For a number of years I traded and bought detectors looking for the perfect all around detector. Finally I admitted to myself that it did not exist and then just focused on getting the one that fit my needs in certain conditions - that is why I have the number of detectors I have - a different one for each of the types of detecting I do. Pull the trigger and get one. Of you buy a good one and do not like it - it will sell quickly on the forums if you are reasonable. I have always sold all my detectors easily and have had good luck purchasing used ones as well. I have also purchased new ones. You are wasting valuable learning and enjoyment time by not buying one and getting out and hunting. You will not learn metal detecting overnight, and you will not learn how to do it by just posting on the forums. Forums are a great help, and there are lots of knowledgeable people on this forum, but you cannot substitute for actual experience. So the sooner you get started the better. You want to be familiar with you detector by the time the warm spring and summer weather rolls around. Good luck.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Detectors are like golf clubs, different detector for different situations, you don't tee-off with a puttter, and you don't putt with a driver.......

 

[davest]

as the proud owner of a seahunter for the past two years, I'm gonna recommend you don't even try it.......not because it's a bad machine, it's just that you wouldn't have the patience to work with it. No matter what anyone says about the double sound on steel or iron, they do not disc out anything and if you're like me, you'll be digging all of it, even down to those little bitty pieces of sparkler wire from 1976.

Trust me, I am beginning to appreciate mine more everytime I use it. But there were days I wanted to bust it upside a walkover post.

BTW, it doesn't leak.

 

[TheTreasureAddict]

Detectors are like golf clubs, different detector for different situations, you don't tee-off with a puttter, and you don't putt with a driver.......

Very well said brother!

I also many different, buy and sell many different detectors. Every detector has an upside and downside. It comes down to where your hunting and what your hunting. I personally think the Excal is overkill for dry sand on the beach so I use the etrac, 250 or GTI. But in the wet sand or water you cant beat it! On land I use a different combo too depending on if the area is trashy, then your looking at coils now but lets stay focused! I believe most detectors hold their value quite well especially minelabs. Get an Excal that my reccomendation if you want to get in the water, Etrac if wet sand and land!

Crackbadger

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Detectors are like golf clubs, different detector for different situations, you don't tee-off with a puttter, and you don't putt with a driver.......

Very well said brother!

I also many different, buy and sell many different detectors. Every detector has an upside and downside. It comes down to where your hunting and what your hunting. I personally think the Excal is overkill for dry sand on the beach so I use the etrac, 250 or GTI. But in the wet sand or water you cant beat it! On land I use a different combo too depending on if the area is trashy, then your looking at coils now but lets stay focused! I believe most detectors hold their value quite well especially minelabs. Get an Excal that my reccomendation if you want to get in the water, Etrac if wet sand and land!

Crackbadger