Tiger Shark In Salt Water???

[Dave N Japan]

Some people have said that there is some chatter in salt?? Is this a big deal and does it still have some depth?? Does it pick up small gold as I have heard when a pulse may pass up, but maybe not go as deep as a pulse?? Thanks

 

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[Rusted_Iron]

I'd really like to know this too, because I'm thinking of buying one soon. I've lurked this forum for a while before registering, but now that I'm here I couldn't resist doing a "me too" post.

I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the TS before taking the plunge. :-)

I like the idea that it's a good detector on land as well. The interchangeable coil feature is nice.

I've gotten a little too reliant on having a depth finder and VDI, but now I'm getting a little more advanced and am willing to dig a lot of signals I might have left alone before... though I still want some discrimination, since I don't think I'm ready for a PI unit that just detects everything.

 

[petersra]

Don't take the following as bad mouthing the TS, because I still have high hopes for mine. I got it on 5 May and used it three times before it broke on the 13th of May and I had to send it back to the factory. If I had bought it locally, I would have taken it back to the dealer, but there are no dealers around here and I got it over the internet. I am told this rarely happens, but it happened to me. I bought mine to work the salt beaches and surf and discovered the following that may help to answer your questions. 1. My TS did chatter in the salt water, until I was advised by Sandman that I needed to turn the sensitivity down a little bit. He said that with the sensitivity turned completely down, it will still find the coins, but maybe not the back of an ear ring. I adjusted the sensitivity down just a bit and no more chatter. 2. As to finding small gold? I plan to but have not yet had the chance to take it prospecting. However, I did find several very small pieces of metal that kept sifting thru my sand scoop. One was the eye to a shoe lace and the other was a tiny shred of a pull tab. Both strong signals. Working on the beach I might actually consider turning the sensitivity down some more to avoid searching for stuff I can't keep in my scoop. Based on my very limited experience, I think it will be able to find a small nugget, although I am not sure and I don't know how deep. In the wet sand at the water's edge I did find a brass ring at least 8" down and some clad similarly deep. I don't have the TS back yet but I am anxious to use it again. Hopefully, the problem I had is not common. I also purchased a clean sweep coil for mine, (which was one of the primary reasons I chose this MD) in my ignorance, I discovered the coil was for a land unit (Tesoro no longer makes the one for the TS) and I then had to buy a connector cable to make it work with the TS. However, with this connector cable it will not be waterproof without some unofficial modifications which I will probably do once I determine that the modified set up actually works. Two possible disadvantages to the TS that I have found. 1. There is no tone or other distinction between metals for ID purposes. Tesoro suggests that finding a target and then discriminating it out will tell you what the target is. That may work, but I am not use to the unit enough yet to perform that function naturally and I will have to set up my own notches since the knob only has numbers on it. 2. No obvious indication of depth of a target. There may be a way to figure this out, but I am not there yet and I don't have it right here to work with. Not sure if this will help or hurt your decision. When I bought mine, I had every expectation that it was the right combination of features for beach hunting, coin shooting on land and gold prospecting that would work for me. Right now I am a little disappointed but I still have high hopes for it once I get it back and have the opportunity to really get use to it. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[petersra]

OK, I got my Tiger Shark back from the factory. The service tag said there was water in something and they replaced something. Sorry to be cryptic but I don't exactly know what they did to fix it. I may eventually email them back to get an explanation of the codes they used to describe the problem. However, there was no charge except the $8 it cost me to ship it back to them. I think this unit is going to work fine in the long run. I am still tweaking the sensitivity to maximize the depth. Right now on an air test with 8" coil I got 9" on a gold ring, 8" on a silver ring and 7" on a clad quarter. I feel like I wish it had a depth indication, but it is possible with practice that I will realize that a strong signal is less than 4" deep and weak signal is more than that, and maybe that is enough information. However, I did have a strong signal and it turned out to be an iron pipe over 12" deep. Hopefully that is the anomaly since I am not looking for pipes. I haven't had much time to use mine since I got it back and have only found a couple dollars in clad, nothing special.......... To answer your original question regarding chatter in salt water. There was chatter, but after turning the sensitivity down slightly, that stopped and I don't think I lost much depth turning the sensitivity down, but that is the price I may have to pay to work in the water. Hope this has helped.

 

[Rusted_Iron]

I took my Tiger Shark to an old freshwater beach and practiced with it. I found that deeper coins had a distinct signal. Smooth, but not loud. One of these faint signals was a 1928 wheat penny, two full scoops deep (and I use a big scoop!!) I don't know what actual depth that would have measured out to be, but it had to be at least 8 or 9 inches.

 

[Charles Miller]

Well, my new Tiger Shark is back in the shop in Arizona, as well, but I was able to use it for several days on dry land before I returned it.

One thing I noticed after a couple days of was that, using the discriminator, I could get the TS to "bark" or make a very sharp & abrupt noise on iron hits --- while gold, silver and copper gave me more of a "WOW" noise, fading in and out as I scanned. My problem was that it continued to "bark" at iron even when discrimination was turned all the way up, 7.5 and 8.5 and higher. The TS is supposed to filter out iron to 100% silence (according to the manual). So, back it went to Prescott, AZ.

Regarding depth determination, I found that my hit returns grew softer and wavered, almost like a rolling purr, on items about 6 inches and deeper. I tested it by re-burying items of different size at different depths. Large iron and brass (like old plumbing fixtures) gave me a nice, rolling purr at 12 inches deep. Same result with a solid gold coin (dime-size and flat orientation) at 8 inches deep. Iron, copper, silver or gold of any size gave me hard, steady hits at 5 inches or closer to the surface, which is why I seriously need my discrimination.

It really bugs me to hear that somebody else had to return the TS for service.

:P

 

[Rusted_Iron]

Now that I've had my new TS for a while and have got a good bit of time on it, I think it is one of the best I've ever used. My fiancee uses it a lot and has already been outdoing me with it (I also have a Tejon, which is what I mainly use on land, because I'm always trying to get that extra bit of detection depth.)

Some might disagree on this, but I've found that no machine I've tried (including a Minelab Explorer) can completely tune out large iron, especially if it's circular (such as a pipe section) and has been in the ground a long time. As Charles Miller points out, the Tesoros do have some difference in signal between a coin vs. deeply-buried large iron, but it's subtle. Once you get used to what a "coin" signal sounds like, you will probably be able to pass over most large iron without having to dig it... but there will always be some that will fool you.

I was not aware that the TS could tune out all iron to complete silence (even though the manual might say it). I would go with "most" but not "all". I did not know there were any machines that could completely blank out circular or large iron while still giving good signals on coins... that would be pretty impressive if it were true. The only thing I can think of that comes remotely close is an Explorer set to Iron Mask -16, where you just ignore the deep tones... only problem is, some of them break into high fluty tones and make you think there's a coin hiding in there... so you end up digging them anyway.

Keep us posted on what happens with your repairs. I'd like to know if it really is possible to null out all iron.

 

[dahut]

There are some harsh truths here.

1. No detector is fool proof and they can need servicing - even Tesoro. Fortunately, when they do, it's free! You can also call Tesoro and talk to Rusty or Heidi and ask about your unit, your problem etc. Once I called and got Jack Gifford himself (which tells you how long ago that might have been!)

2. I dont think there is a detector made that cannot be fooled by iron. I have been at this for almost 20 years and every unit but one I've tried is gulity of this. Tesoro, Fisher, Garrett, Whites - they all do it. My Fisher CZ was terrible about it. The only one that I have seen that at least warns you that it is iron is the XLT with the SignaGraph - as long as you have it on!

However, most detectors have a unique "voice" over iron, but it takes time to learn it. The "barking" and "mellow purr" described above are pretty good descriptions for the TS.

3. Most people are convinced that they need to max out the SENS all the time, too. This just isnt so. Making your receiver circuits more sensitive (which is what you are doing) also makes them noisier and susceptible to falsing. Normally, just a small reduction in SENS will solve this and stll leave you with good sensitivity. Here's the deal:

4. It will always be a trade off with a VLF unit in salt wetted sands. Even the much vaunted Excalibur takes some real learning and tweaking to get right and even then it isnt perfect. If all you want is raw depth, then get a PI unit - and give up any real discrimination. If you still want a bit of discrimination to help you in your search, then a VLF unit is in order - with it's limits. Either way its a compromise somewhere.

The sea is a difficult taskmistress and nothing is ever the same with her. The amazing thing is that these detectors have come as far as they have and work as well as they do.

5. But, if after reading all these posts, you still insist that all you need do is turn on your machine and it will eliminate all "junk" ** and produce only gold, silver and clean uncorroded coins - then you probably need to invest your money in mining futures.

** A detector doesn't know junk from Adam. It only locates and, hopefully, attempts to indentify what it finds. Now add the influence of salt or minerals and iron or hot rocks and corrosion and black sands (found in both fresh and salt waters) and who knows what else, and you start to see the scope of the matter. [/glow]

 

[FMarion2ndRegSC]

dahut, that is one of the best posts on detectors I have ever read. The Tigershark is one of, if not the best water machine made IMO (water detector for 20 yrs wading and diving) Here's something else some might not realize. When they tell you not to keep or put your detector in a hot vehicle...believe it. One of the bad things that can happen ,I discovered long ago, is the loop is sealed and when it gets real hot, the seal is broken. Result...the next time you use it in the water, it suddenly becomes very chattery. Water has leaked into the coil and you might as well throw it away or let it dry out and use in on dry land only. Great machine. If you learn to use it right (takes quite awhile) you will love it!

 

[Sandman]

** A detector doesn't know junk from Adam. It only locates and, hopefully, attempts to identify what it finds. Now add the influence of salt or minerals and iron or hot rocks and corrosion and black sands (found in both fresh and salt waters) and who knows what else, and you start to see the scope of the matter. [/glow]

Dahut, you spoke true here. What the others forgot to mention about the Tiger Shark chattering is it has a Salt Water Mode switch that you flop from NORMAL to Salt when in saltwater where you may also run into black sand. If this is the case you may turn down the Sensitivity a little. As was mentioned, a high sensitivity setting also means the coil is "seeing" more ground to ground balance. The changing of coils to suit the hunting conditions is great. I have the Clean Sweep Coil for mine that isn't made any more for the TS, it covers the ground fast, but it is only about seven inches deep on a yellow gold ring and alittle deeper on a quarter. But a lot depends on the ground under the sand too.

The turn around time is usually a couple weeks, and now with Fisher down the tubes, Tesoro is the only one with the lifetime warranty. Sorry, I just can't trust Fisher anymore from the repair prices they are charging.

I normally use my Excal and the TS when traveling to the beaches. I dive with the Excal since I have the short dive shaft for it.

HH,
Sandman