limited budget thinking sandshark/cibola combination

[thadious]

Hello my fellow td'ers. This is a first time post for me on this forum. Just joined today. I am considering a tiger shark for land and beach and shallow water hunting in San Diego. ( I will be buying a new detector when I come back from Philippines in April.). After looking at the prices posted by some of the dealers on this site and also looking at the comparisons of the tiger shark versus sand shark for beach detecting I am wondering if I would be better off buying both a Sand shark and a cibola. I have permission to spend 1000 dollars from the boss/better half and want to get the best bang for my buck. Sorry for such a long post. thanks and happy hunting. Ted

 

[tabdog]

That's not a long post and welcome to the forum.

For $1020 you can get the you can get the Tiger Shark and the Vaquero. That's what I'd do.

If you want a PI machine the Sand Shark would be good, but most people prefer the Tiger Shark.

Tiger Shark runs about $600. Cibola is about $340. Vaquero $420

If you don't know the difference between PI and VLF descreminators I'd check it out because there's a lot of difference.

Hope you enjoy the forum.

Happy Hunting,

 

[thadious]

thanks tabdog for responding. I have been detecting for 2 years now primarily with a bh 505. the bh was a lot of fun but I mostly used the video screen to determine whether to dig. Since I have been reading this forum and others I have come to realize I probably missed a lot of targets, that is why I want to go with a machine with no readout. I have heard nothing but good things about tesoro's and I like that they are made here in the USA. I am concerned about the tigershark and salt water detecting as I have not seen any real good reviews on it in salt water in this forum. I haven't checked other forums to see if they agree. I guess what I am really trying to decide is should I buy the tiger shark as it can be used for land and water and spend the extra money on coils or should I buy the sand shark and either the cibola or maybe the vaquero to ensure I can cover both areas. thanks for your input and happy hunting. Ted

 

[willy]

If you're hunting saltwater beaches, I'd say to go for a Garrett Infinium (a seahunter MK II, cheaper, would also work). I'll say this for the Infinium, it's scary deep and will blow away any VLF (depth and ID at depth) in tough ground. You can still use your current detector for park/lawn hunting, but have a kicka$$ PI for places where you can really dig. The reason I recommend the Infinium is because it's a more flexible detector than the Sandshark.. there's a good coil selection too. It competes well with the high-end Minelab PI's, which also says something AND it's made in the US of A. ..Willy.

 

[kdc]

on saltwater a PI would be your best bet.never hunted the west coast, but everything i read the black sand and conditions at the beach can rapidly change. i would get the sand shark and the vaquero, and do it for under a $1000.00 and have the life time warranty. Willy suggestion is also a good one. but you will only have one detector, its been my experience that no two are alike and where one is weak the other is strong. having two gives you more versatility. but the infinium is also a very good choice, but if warranty is important to you it only has a two year warranty. best of luck with your decision. HH.

 

[tonyb]

I don't know about the sand shark because I have never used one but I love my vequero!
And welcome to the forum

 

[markg]

n/t

 

[North Georgia Relics]

In the Tesoro line, the Sand Shark is the salt water beach machine whereas the Tiger Shark is more for fresh water hunting. The Sand Shark is a PI so be prepared to dig a lot of stuff. PI machines will sound off on very small items that are very deep. What do you plan to hunt on land, other than at the beach? Remember that the beach machines are normally heavier than detectors designed for use on the land. The Sand Shark weighs in at 4.5 pounds which does not seem to be all that heavy until you realize that the Vaquero weighs only 2.2 pounds. That is a big difference when you are swinging all day.

If you intend to hunt for coinsin trashy areas and you only buy one detector, the PI might not be your best choice. How often you hunt the beach (in the water) vs. how often you hunt on land or dry sand should determine which machine you use as your primary unit. A land machine, such as the Vaquero with adjustable ground balance will do a good job for you in dry sand and an excellent job on land.

Ok, enough rambling. Think about the primary focus of your detecting and then decide on the machine that will do the best job for that application.
HH Don