Would I be better off Tiger vs Sand shark?

[MonsterTab]

I understand the basics, Sand shark is amazing in ocean water but will force me to dig everything in fresh. Tiger is amazing in fresh but chirps and falses and lacks depth in salt, but I dunno where I need it more...


I am only going to be near salt water once a year tops. Very rare occasion, and I can scroll the dry sand with my Vaq, so its not like I cant do any hunting there. But those golden goodies just off shore will be out of my reach. Also like the idea of being able to field hunt with a PI in areas where there isnt any shallow targets.

I live near a Lake and can get wet any weekend the weather permits with a Tiger, but seems that fresh water lakes wont have the same production that oceans will....Like the idea of having a VLF I can use in the rain though, since if I am not mistaken the Tiger can be used as a very heavy land unit.


I have thought of other options like grabbing a Excal or something but dont have the money to buy new and dont love the idea of buying used. Think I would rather just get a machine thats really good at one or the other, but dunno which negative is worse.


Reading my own posts it looks like I am just looking for someone to tell me to buy the tiger lol.

Sincerly,
Lost and Confused.

 

[DigDugNY]

I had this question myself. I only go to the beach once a year, but can only use my vaquero in the dry sand and that's about it. I have plenty of lakes around me and the Tiger seems to fit the bill. Don't think Lakes wont produce as much. I personally haven't detected in lakes with a water unit, but there is a person on another forum with a Tiger Shark that has found plenty of stuff. I would say get the Tiger. My plan is to get one when I can muster up the money

 

[Fishers Ghost]

It is not Tesoro but the ATPro might suit your needs as it will work on salt beaches and in freshwater lakes to 10 feet. I do not know how well it performs over black sand.
If you want Tesoro and waterproof and with some saltwater capability and discrimination then the only choice is the Tiger.
The Sand Shark will be somewhat noisy over iron mineral ground and no disc.
Outside of those you will have to look at other brands.

 

[Smudge]

Honestly, if you only go the beach once a year, there is little point buying a detector designed to function in wet salt sand environments.

I would opt for the Tiger Shark and keep to the drier sand.

Some people believe you only make good hits in the wet stuff. Not true.

Some of the biggest diamond rings others have found in my area over the last couple of years have come from the dry sand areas.

 

[pelanj]

I have read a recommendation for the Tiger Shark - turn the threshold almost fully up, use salt mode and disc between 2-3. This should somehow make it calmer in salt water. I have not tried with mine and I was not explained how that was possible - but it was reported to work like that in the Mediterranean sea.

 

[scott.f]

It depends a lot of where you would be hunting salt-water. My experiences with my Tiger Sharks varied considerably depending on the beach. On the west coast in British Columbia, California and in Costa Rica it was terrible due to a lot of black sand and mineralization. However, on the beaches near Tampa (Clearwater and others) it ran not too badly at all by simply reducing the sensitivity slightly, upping the disc to about 3 and ground balancing it on the dry sand before moving down to hunt wet sand. I did not hunt in the water that time though, so can't say how that would go. The Sand Shark of course runs on salt water beaches with no problems at all. I love that machine for deep sand salt water beaches. Easy to set up and run and gets great depth. But....you will dig every bit of junk there is..and there is a LOT of it.

Let me clarify about the Tiger Shark being terrible on west coast beaches. I don't mean it isn't usable, it is. You will get a lot of false signals and chatter BUT.. good targets are easily identified. Due to reducing the sensitivity and raising the discrimination you will lose a bit of depth, not a lot but some. Also the constant chatter is very annoying and means you have to pay close attention to signals, constantly re-checking to sort the repeatable good ones from false ones. You will find it usable with practice.

I have both the Sand Shark and Tiger Shark. The Sand Shark has become my favourite machine for both fresh and salt water but only because our lakes have been hunted so hard that there is very little trash left.

Don't discount lake hunting! I have hunted our local lakes here in Alberta for years and although they do not replenish the way popular sun destination beaches do, they still have produced a LOT of great finds over the years. Lots of gold and silver. The biggest problem with lake hunting is that once a lake has been pounded hard it takes years and years for it to produce significantly again. Especially here in Canada where our swimming season is so very very short. That isn't to say that good finds don't continue to turn up, they do and the Tiger Shark is fantastic for finding them amongst the junk.

When hunting fresh water with the Tiger Shark you should ground balance it in the water. I generally do this in about knee deep water before beginning to hunt. The Tiger Shark is a remarkable machine and has rewarded me with a lot of fun and great finds, and so has the Sand Shark. No matter which you choose, have fun!

Dunno if all this helps, hope so.

 

[Smudge]

Yes, beaches vary wildly, so your Tiger Shark;s performance will really depend on where you go. But understand that the Tiger Shark is a single frequency detector, and withor without a "SALT" mode, they will not perform as well as a PI detector of a dual/multi-frequency detector. Their performance will be inferior in this area.

 

[Fishers Ghost]

My understanding of the Tiger Shark is that it does have a Salt Mode and that this mode has a different Ground balancing capability to the normal mode. The salt mode should not be used when hunting other than salt beaches.

 

[allcav]

I will say that if there is minerals and salt, this is the wrong machine. If there is just salt like down in Florida, then this machine works great. It will take out either minerals, or salt but not both!

 

[MonsterTab]

Its only salt water duties will be East Coast beaches (Virginia, NC, SC, and Georgia). Almost exclusivly Myrtle Beach.

 

[scott.f]

I would check with local clubs if possible, see if anyone has run one on the beaches you mention. Allcav is right, the Tiger Shark can run ok on just a salt-water beach, but on a mineralized beach with salt it really reacts badly. As for the salt mode, I found it useless. I simply used normal disc mode and set the machine to adjust for salt. It actually ran better for me in that mode than in the salt-water mode. That said, if you are only going to use it on salt water once a year and the rest of the time hunt fresh-water, then the Tiger Shark may still be the best for you if you intend to use Tesoro.

 

[MonsterTab]

I would check with local clubs if possible, see if anyone has run one on the beaches you mention. Allcav is right, the Tiger Shark can run ok on just a salt-water beach, but on a mineralized beach with salt it really reacts badly. As for the salt mode, I found it useless. I simply used normal disc mode and set the machine to adjust for salt. It actually ran better for me in that mode than in the salt-water mode. That said, if you are only going to use it on salt water once a year and the rest of the time hunt fresh-water, then the Tiger Shark may still be the best for you if you intend to use Tesoro.

I would use anything but these seem to be the best option. AT Pro has been sputtering and breaking, only a 2 year warranty. I just dont see me investing into something thats going in the water without a good warranty, especially one that seems fragile.

DetectorPro Wader and MK Hunter seems to be the best alternatives, neither has the warranty, but both seem like well made machines.