Cibola Mod

[TN Mike]

Anyone know if the Cibola with a ground balance mod, will run as deep as a Vaqero?

 

[deathhare]

Cibola and Vaquero are the same detector except the Cibola has no GB.
Id just buy a Vaq so you have a warranty. Modding a Cibola will definitely void the warranty.

 

[POLEWAGGER]

I found one with no warranty and hacked the crap out of it.
Had everything planned before it was in my hands.
Mine has external 10 turn GB, trigger AM, butt mounted volume control and waterproofed PCB.
Would like to hear the bottom line truth about the rumors that say the Cibola chip is different than the V.
My C hits almost as hard on clad dimes as is does clad quarters at equal depth.
Really likes little round things and soft metal. Lead, bullet shells, even BB's get picked up if they're not too deep. Just wish it could disc out aluminum and leave the good stuff. REALLY likes aluminum is my only complaint.
If you can find one cheap with no warranty, hack away! I'm liking mine a bunch!

 

[slingshot]

I found one with no warranty and hacked the crap out of it.
Had everything planned before it was in my hands.
Mine has external 10 turn GB, trigger AM, butt mounted volume control and waterproofed PCB.
Would like to hear the bottom line truth about the rumors that say the Cibola chip is different than the V.
My C hits almost as hard on clad dimes as is does clad quarters at equal depth.
Really likes little round things and soft metal. Lead, bullet shells, even BB's get picked up if they're not too deep. Just wish it could disc out aluminum and leave the good stuff. REALLY likes aluminum is my only complaint.
If you can find one cheap with no warranty, hack away! I'm liking mine a bunch!

I'm considering getting one and adding a "tab check" switch and eliminating most of the aluminum tab problem for some areas. I guess I will call it my Tejola. It works pretty good on my Silver umax. I've been told that the Cibola is TRULY a couple of inches deeper than the Silver.

 

[TN Mike]

I found one with no warranty and hacked the crap out of it.
Had everything planned before it was in my hands.
Mine has external 10 turn GB, trigger AM, butt mounted volume control and waterproofed PCB.
Would like to hear the bottom line truth about the rumors that say the Cibola chip is different than the V.
My C hits almost as hard on clad dimes as is does clad quarters at equal depth.
Really likes little round things and soft metal. Lead, bullet shells, even BB's get picked up if they're not too deep. Just wish it could disc out aluminum and leave the good stuff. REALLY likes aluminum is my only complaint.
If you can find one cheap with no warranty, hack away! I'm liking mine a bunch!

I'm considering getting one and adding a "tab check" switch and eliminating most of the aluminum tab problem for some areas. I guess I will call it my Tejola. It works pretty good on my Silver umax. I've been told that the Cibola is TRULY a couple of inches deeper than the Silver.

Tejola! Ha great name. I hear the V has the means of being set to full disc+sens with very little to no depth loss, and little chatter. Could the same be said of the Cibola? If so, a cheap used Cibola is the way Im gonna go. To add to that, waterproof PCB? and a tab checker? What are you using to waterproof the PCB and how are you hooking up the tab checker? Also, dose the V have trouble with aluminium?

Thanks for the insight.

 

[POLEWAGGER]

Don't think you will ever successfully disc out aluminum with the V or C. Some tabs and caps will disc out to the end of the dial. Perhaps just a trade off for how well they work on coins and jewelry. With practice, you should just about always tell a zinc penny from a copper, and cans from silver dollars. The more I learn how I can be fooled, however, the more tabs I dig. That's how I snagged a 1904 V nickel..."should" have been a tab.
Got the PCB waterproofing from my bro who works with high tech electronics. Don't know the brand or where to get it but I'm sure you can find it at an electronics supply place.
It's a quick drying, brush on liquid, made for PCB's. The unit is not completely waterproof, but if I drop it in water, it should give me time to yank the battery before the chips self destruct. NO concerns about condensation or a stray droplet screwing things up either.

 

[slingshot]

As far as the "tab check" switch goes, it's nothing more than a simple spdt toggle or momentary push-button. The key is a mini-variable resistor pot. I merely tac-solder it on the appropriate terminals of the regular disc. pot-it sorta rides piggy-back on the switch and it should be the same value in ohms as the detector's. The key to switching is the white wire (on the Silver it's white) which is the center post of the pot. By hooking it to the center post of the toggle and running the two end post wires (one to the regular pot and the other to the soldered mini pot) to the center posts of the others, you can essentially turn "off" one or the other pots electronically. Without the center post, the pot is essentially "out" of the circuit. Just think of all the possibilities with other brands that may be your favorite.

 

[tvr]

My C hits almost as hard on clad dimes as is does clad quarters at equal depth.
Really likes little round things and soft metal. Lead, bullet shells, even BB's get picked up if they're not too deep. Just wish it could disc out aluminum and leave the good stuff. REALLY likes aluminum is my only complaint.

Thing about liking aluminum is that nearly all the small aluminum scraps fall in the range gold does. Air test on Cibola (and Tejon and I presume the Vaquero too; haven't had a Vaquero yet) is deeper on nickle than on quarter, dime or penny. The H.O.T. series designs appear to be more optimized for mid conductors. Makes them very good on lead, foil and gold. No slouch on silver or iron either, but really hammer the mid-range. They are sensitive to pretty small targets too (think small, fine link chains) that some very good detectors just do not see unless there is a sizable clasp that can be detected.

I'm considering getting one and adding a "tab check" switch and eliminating most of the aluminum tab problem for some areas.

Every time I think about not digging that perfect tab signal I remind myself that my wife's wedding band, when measured with a target ID detector I have with a 0 to 99 scale, comes in at 32 and bounces to 33. The most prevalent type of pull tab I dig is right at 33 with variance up or down a couple numbers. I can pretty well tell, thumbing the disc on the Cibola or with the response on the second discriminator on the Tejon, that a target is a likely tab. Had son put the ring and some tabs about an inch down in the dirt and with this blind testing, I could not tell that ring from a tab. I like to tell myself that the aluminum really squeals in the vco pinpoint, but that ring does too. Melt value on that ring is about $200 today; so I dig a lot of tabs and occasionally get some gold.
Cheers,
tvr