About to buy a Silver Umax

[HelpMeIT]

Hi all. I decided on getting into Metal Detecting and looked into different companies and seems that Tesoro seems to be a really good company with great support. I work as a Computer support specialist so support is really important to me. I support about 750 computers in 2 cities so nice to see this company is in the US. Anyhow I decided on the Silver Umax. I live on the Central Oregon coast and only 2 blocks from the beach so as long as I stay out of the wet sand I think I would be fine with the stock unit.

One issue is I have a Jack Russell so I do like the light weight unit. Not sure if I will be able to move slow with my side kick. Will do my best though. ;-)

Now does anyone have a suggestion as where to make a purchase. I have looked on Ebay but the used units are going for about 180 bucks with shipping and I figure for around 60 bucks more I can get a new unit. Would hate to get one and then have to send it back to get fixed. ;-) No local dealers here so was not sure who would be the best to buy from. So looking for any suggestions.

Thanks
James

 

[amcjavelin]

sweet little machine found alot of stuff with mine that's for sure

 

[Monte]

Suggestion #1: Contact Bob at the site I sent you and ask for his price. Keep in mid that he is here in Oregon, and his customers get to attend a seminar, FREE, to help them get to know their detector and learn about metal detecting. He has a seminar coming up the weekend after labor Day weekend.

Suggestion #2: Consider a good used Tesoro that might let you enjoy more versatility than the Silver

 

[HelpMeIT]

Cool thanks. I will keep an eye out for a Bandido. Not sure if I could find one around here. My options seem to be Ebay and CL. Though next week I might try the pawn shops.
Never got a link for a website so do not know who Bob is.

So maybe I should bypass the silver and look for one with a Ground Balance. From what I have seen on the Silver it seems to be holding it's value. Used ones almost go for what new ones are going for. Check out Ebay well only difference is about 60 bucks. Maybe I will get lucky at a pawn shop.

Edit: Ebay- Just saw a used Silver Umax sell for 184.49 + 12 Ship. Not a bad deal when a used electronic item can hold it's value like that. A new one can be purchased for just under 240

Thanks for the tips
James

 

[slingshot]

I'm sure Monte's right, but I love my Silver. Then again, I'm just an avid day to day coinshooter whose primary search areas are parks, schools, tot lots, and ball fields. To be on the fair side, though, I have power ground balanced mine and I have slowed down my sweep speed-I used to be a speed hunter and won several sponsored speed hunts-and sometimes it is hard to break habits. I also find the a/m mode sufficient on the Silver and switching back and forth in some areas works wonders. But the main mode is minimum disc. If I were a more serious hunter, I would definitely get WHATEVER Monte recommended.

 

[Monte]

MonteVB@comcast.net

 

[BarberBill]

Monte will steer you right. The Silver is a nice little machine for what it is and costs, but a Bandido, Eldorado umax and most others with a manual ground balance will give you more versatility when hunting mineralized ground and salt beach areas. In some areas and soils one won't miss manual or true auto ground balance, but it never hurts, either. My two bits.
HH
BB

 

[tvr]

OK tried to PM but forgot you now need more posts before you can receive a PM.

If you haven't already done so, contact Monte. He will steer you straight. Very experienced, straight shooter, wants people to have great experiences detecting. The ground balance will help at the wet beach and with the varying mineral content of soil. Take a break from the auction search and see what Monte has.

 

[HelpMeIT]

So just ordered a Vaquero. Monte was great and gave me some really good advise. I got a new one for 378.00 with s/h even. I think that is a really good deal. It was on a 10% sale Very excited to get back into this. Thanks for all your help. Hope to post some pictures of what I get soon.

Many thanks
James

 

[Gunnar MN]

you better se how minearalized the beach is or you may not get much depth , i heard origon has lots of black sand and if it does you may want a pulse detector that can cut right thru it . can you at least take it out for a test whear you plan to hunt ?

 

[HelpMeIT]

Never seen too much Black sand in Oregon. It is a very nice area so I have other options as well as mountains. The beaches here are pretty quiet many times you can be the only one on the beach. I got the GB so it would help out. If not then I can do mountains. ;-)

Thanks
James

 

[tvr]

Congrats on the Vaquero!
Looking forward to seeing what you start finding.
Looking forward to hearing how you progress in learning it and what observations you make that will present a new perspective.
tvr

 

[ToddB64]

Hi James ! Good Luck with your new Tesoro Vaquero ! That little dog in your first post would make a great Avatar ! Either that pose or let your creativity go wild ! Take a look at what "Tabdog" did with his doggy at Treasure Hunter Forums. When you get there, look at titles on horizontal gold bars and scroll down to Metal Detector Forums, then > Tesoro Forum > Top of page #1 > A Rattler Got My Fanger! < > Gold Ring Ten! Just a suggestion. If you're interested, this website (findmall) has the following guidelines on Avatars : No larger than 25KB , 100 x 100 pixels , only file types gif, jpg and png and at most 5 Avatars can be stored.

HH !......Todd

My Avatar > See cartoon metal detecting dog below.

 

[HelpMeIT]

Sweet deal! Thanks Todd I will look into it. I am excited to be getting a Tesoro. From what everyone says they are a great company.
Will post updates as I can. Nice to see how active this Message Board is. Plus nice not to see spammers all over as well.

Thanks
James

 

[Pookybear]

Be Carefull,if you buy used.I recently bought a used Silver Umax from a guy on E-bay for 143 Dollars.It looked good in the pictures, but when I got it in the mail I was shocked to find out that it had been realy abused and the poles were realy chewed up even on the inside where the two aluminum poles hook together.On top of that one of the rubber coil washers was missing. The pictures he had posted hid all of the damage.The loop and the control box were in good shape though.Luckily I had a complete upper and lower pair of aluminum rods that came from a stingray but were in excellent shape and the same paint color with a tesoro arm strap to boot. I had aquired the stingray poles several weeks before whem they were included in a deal I made when I bought two new lower plastic poles.Initialy I had no idea what I was going to use the stingray poles for until the Silver Umax arrived in such sad shape.It now looks realy nice and the detector works flawlessly.I just had to remove the 4 extra spring clips that were for mounting the stingray control box,so I think that the pole is a bit lighter than the original pole,So what it comes down to is buyer beware. Ask for more pictures so that you are satisfied of its condition, and if possible get the persons phone number and talk to them about the detector.If you feel from talking with the seller that they are good people then you are probably going to get a pretty decent machine.A while back i bought aTroy shadow X-3 on E-bay ,most of the pictures looked good,but the picture of the face of the detector was slightly blurred.when i received it i found out why.The outer edges of the control box face had some nice deep scratches that the seller didnt want the buyer to see.There are some realy good used machines out there and most sellers are honest.P.S. be sure to check the sellers feedback.I hope this helps.Good luck and may all your treasures be golden.Pookybear

 

[HelpMeIT]

Too late on this post. If you read above that I purchased a new unit. Thanks for the reply though