Tesoro Sand Shark

[BC/MS]

Just received my new to me Sand Shark this evening after getting home from work this evening. (thanks Mr. Bill). Our Florida vacation is looking better now. I'm excited to learn this PI machine and all that it can do. So please, if anyone has suggestions on settings, technique or anything helpful to ease the learning curve I'm interested. Thank you in advance.
Bert

 

[Fishers Ghost]

The shark is a good beach machine but lacks sensitivity to small gold chain and can be noisy when there is a bit of EMI about.
For myself I achieve good results by setting the Pulse Width at the Preferred mark, setting the volume at max and Threshold to just audible. It will be a bit jittery at those settings but will get good depth on most coin and ring size items.
If you set the volume too low the threshold will have to be wound up a bit to bring the tone to an audible level and it will be a smoother tone but sensitivity will be not as good as when the vol is at max and the threshold re set to a lower position to compensate.The VCO or normal mode is your choice to make.... I like the VCO mode.

 

[Ron Lord]

Better buy you a big water scoop ,your going to need it !

 

[BC/MS]

Fishers Ghost, thanks, I will certainly try the settings you use. What is your average battery life for the Sand Shark?

 

[Nauti]

Better buy you a big water scoop ,your going to need it !

And some patience.

 

[BC/MS]

junklord3139, large scoop taken care of

 

[BC/MS]

Nauti Neil, excitement mixed with patience is in order for me and the Sand Shark!

 

[tvr]

Agree with Fishers Ghost with a caveat: where you get interference; mostly with strong signals from hotels and resorts or around some piers, turn the volume down slightly from full until you aren't getting the interference coming through the headset and readjust threshold a little if needed. Doesn't normally take much of an adjustment to get rid of the noise.

Been a while since I actually measured battery life. I think I was between 20 and 25 hours when it got down to one beep with alkaline batteries.

 

[BC/MS]

tvr, Thank you! I'm making notes of all your suggestions and looking forward to posting our Sand Shark finds
Bert

 

[Nauti]

Nauti Neil, excitement mixed with patience is in order for me and the Sand Shark!

You'll definately get the excitement........you wont miss anything thats for sure.
I bought a pi machine a while ago and enjoyed using it.The really exciting thing with a pi,for me anyway,was listening for the really feint signals......you know then that there is something down there that has likely been missed by other detectorists.Most of the tiime it's junk,but occasionally it can be really deep jewellry......it happened to me on numerous occasions.
If you are the type that can put up with digging every signal,a pi will give the best return over time......good luck with it.

 

[BC/MS]

Nauti Neil, Yeah I've only hunted with silent machines, so learning this threshold language is new and exciting. Just playing around in the yard I'm amazed at the target hits and the coil is dead on.
Bert

 

[Fishers Ghost]

Fishers Ghost, thanks, I will certainly try the settings you use. What is your average battery life for the Sand Shark?

Battery life goes down a bit if you set the Pulse Width past the preferred mark but on average I think 20 to 25 is doable.
I have never let them go dead flat and change them at around the 20 hour mark.
If you use NIMH rechargeables the time will be less than with alkalines but in the long term rechargeables are the cheaper way to go but for myself I feel that I get better performance in depth and stability using alkalines. The detector seems to like 1.5 volts over 1.2 volt NIMH.