Best water PI detector for tiny gold jewelry

[AlexP]

Hi,

Is the Tesoro Sand Shark the water detector out of the bunch (Garrett Sea Hunter Mark II, White's Surf PI DF, Garrett Infinium) that will pick up tiny gold jewelry best? I tried an old White's Surf PI and it will not sound off on small gold (chains and small earrings) at all. Same with my White's TDI which seems to have the same coil as the White's Surf PI Dual Field, so I suppose that the Surf PI DF will not be sensitive to very small gold either. And I have read that the Garrett Infinium is not sensitive to very small gold also. So the Tesoro Sand Shark is best for that purpose then (I haven't tried one) and from what I have read about it, it has a good depth - comparable to the Surf PI DF, but not as deep as the Infinium - is this correct?

 

[goodmore]

I have not tried them all. I am no expert. But from reading the forums on this issue many times I know a few things. Finding small gold in salt water is a very tough task for any detector. The detector has to avoid sounding off on the conductivity of salt water, but still hit the small gold which is a small window on the conductivity scale.

I also know from reading that a detector that works well on one beach at this task might not work as well on the next beach.

I was a little surprised at the TDI. I would think ground balance would allow for finer adjustment to hit the window.

Good luck on your quest. I personally think that no such detector exists.

Small gold at any depth in salt water belongs to Davey Jones.

 

[AlexP]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't mean in the water. I meant in air tests. My TDI, my Lorenz, my Sovereign GT and the older White's Surfmaster PI that I tested won't sound off at all on a small gold earring and a tiny gold chain. Even if I scrub the bottom of the coil with them. I had a Minelab Explorer SE Pro before and it was even worse. My Garrett AT Pro and some of my other VLF detectors pick them up fine, from about 1.5" to 3". I am not sure if the Tesoro Sand Shark will detect them (probably not), but I have heard that it is the most sensitive PI detector for tiny gold out of all the water PI detectors on the market.

 

[Rob in (Ca)]

Look into the detector pro pulse with the 8 inch coil........ it's been said to hit hard on the chains and small jewelry ........ when it comes to the VLF detectors on the small stuff my GT will not hit on small chains

my V3i hits super hard on small thin chains (with no charms attached) when hunting inland........ when hunting in a wet salt sand environment things go down hill fast .....good luck

 

[AlexP]

Thanks for the suggestion. I can't buy the Detector Pro PI here (they are not being sold in Bulgaria). And I have a feeling that it will not go very deep since the electronics is in the headphones and the battery must be small also. I think I will get the Tesoro Sand Shark with the 10.5" coil and I hope that it will be at least a bit more sensitive to small gold than my other PI detectors. That's for the water. I don't think that any of the dedicated water detectors can come close to the depth I am getting with my TDI with the 18" Commander mono coil with the GB Off. It takes me a lot of time to hunt just a small patch of the beach. Signals are everywhere, while the other guys with the VLF detectors say the beach is hunted out and move on to another beach.

 

[thevacantface]

I get plenty of little stud earrings and tiny pieces of iron at moderate depth with the dual field all the time. I doubt any detector will do significantly better at finding any small gold.

 

[Digger 45]

I'm convinced that the Sand Shark is one of if not the best PI out there. I have one of the new units with a 10 coil. Last week i dug a small chain at about 10 inches, with volume high and thresh hold about medium i could just hear a small rise in volume, after digging down about 5 inches it was louder and more define. They run so smooth that any rise in sound will be a target.

I have owned a garrett infinium but got a lot of false signals if swung too fast or at the end of the swing. The Sand Shark can be swung faster and seems to just work better, you will have to dig everything so it is mainly used where there is not a lot of junk, i use it in wet sand most of the time.

 

[AlexP]

I have decided - I will get the Tesoro Sand Shark with a 10.5" coil. A very big plus for me is that it has a volume control. The only thing I don't like about it is that the coil of the latest units is hardwared, but I think I can live with that. I guess I can look for a second hand unit with interchangeable coils, but it may leak or may not have the same performance as the newer hardwared units.

 

[AlexP]

I just bought an used Tesoro Sand Shark with an 8" coil. It is one of the older units where the coil is not hardwired. The 8" coil is very small, but should be OK for the water. I won't be using it for the sand anyway as I have much deeper detectors for land hunting.

 

[rarysgaard]

Don't be fooled by the electronics being in the headphones on the Detector Pro PI. I own one with the interchangeable 8" & 11" coils and both are extremely deep. I find boobie pins at some ridiculous depths, so I firmly believe that it would be sensitive to small gold as well. I found 2 silver & gold rings the same day my hunting buddy was getting almost no signals on his Fishers cz20. I've also heard excellent things about the Dual Field.

 

[Craig-PI]

I'm convinced that the Sand Shark is one of if not the best PI out there. I have one of the new units with a 10 coil. Last week i dug a small chain at about 10 inches, with volume high and thresh hold about medium i could just hear a small rise in volume, after digging down about 5 inches it was louder and more define. They run so smooth that any rise in sound will be a target.

I have owned a garrett infinium but got a lot of false signals if swung too fast or at the end of the swing. The Sand Shark can be swung faster and seems to just work better, you will have to dig everything so it is mainly used where there is not a lot of junk, i use it in wet sand most of the time.

The Garrett Infinium has a pulse delay that can be set down to 10uS making it very good for hunting in heavy black sand.. its a deep machine with a learning curve more than others...

the Detector Pro Headhunter and White Dual Field are both very sensitive to small deep gold rings... their pulse delay is set at 15uS.... I use the Dual Field.


The Sandsharks pulse delay is set at 22uS which means its will not be as sensitive to smaller deeper gold... but a good hunter will squeeze out of it quite a bit of depth...


Metal detectors in general don't see a whole gold chain they see a link or the clasp if the links are tiny they may not see them at all... I have personally found 2 gold chains and both had either a ring attached or a pendant... but where I hunt I will not find many chains anyway

 

[Dig]

You should also ask yourself how far you want to dig and how long you want to spend to dig .035 grams of gold when you might be better to keep it moving and find that big ring waiting on down the line. Just my humble....