Compadre settings and battery life

[JMC]

With only one knob yes it's fairly simple. But I was wondering from the more experienced users where you set your machine on the discrimination dial. I've been hunting with mine set right past pull tabs. So far quarters, dimes, pennies plus plenty of those tokens. If I go lower it the trash starts to filter in and there is loads of it. Especially iron in the form of nails by the pound both round and square. I've gotten used to the sound the machine makes on a coin which is a much cleaner hit than the scratchy sounds of less desirable items. Battery life seems OK right around 10 or 12 hours but I would like to know if that's normal. Hopefully I can get a little time digging today even though the Florida outside temps right now are around 32 degrees, for us that's nasty. If there were a market for rusty iron nails I could have paid for this Compare by now. Coin and token wise I can fill maybe three soda cans right now. Metal trash almost two five gallon buckets. So far this has been fun and the Compadre was absolutely the machine to go with.

 

[REVIER]

With only one knob yes it's fairly simple. But I was wondering from the more experienced users where you set your machine on the discrimination dial. I've been hunting with mine set right past pull tabs. So far quarters, dimes, pennies plus plenty of those tokens. If I go lower it the trash starts to filter in and there is loads of it. Especially iron in the form of nails by the pound both round and square. I've gotten used to the sound the machine makes on a coin which is a much cleaner hit than the scratchy sounds of less desirable items. Battery life seems OK right around 10 or 12 hours but I would like to know if that's normal. Hopefully I can get a little time digging today even though the Florida outside temps right now are around 32 degrees, for us that's nasty. If there were a market for rusty iron nails I could have paid for this Compare by now. Coin and token wise I can fill maybe three soda cans right now. Metal trash almost two five gallon buckets. So far this has been fun and the Compadre was absolutely the machine to go with.

Hunt the way you want but with settings like that you are missing chains of all kinds, many older coins like nickels, a bunch of other great targets and a huge amount of gold rings that come in at foil, nickel and tabs.
Most gold rings will come in at foil, nickel and tabs by the way, only the largest ones like big class rings will come in at about the 3:00 zinc area.
Silver chains, I have found many, but only one would have come in at your settings at that same zinc area...the rest all came in from iron to nickel depending on the size.
The Compadre is the best chain hunter I have ever swung, but you have to set it to let you know it sees one to dig them.

This is what I do when I use the Compadre and it helps me dig tons of great targets and as much or as little trash as I feel like doing at the time.
I still dig lots of trash because I choose to, some very great targets are disguised as trash, but if you care to practice and do it my way you will open up your horizons and find much more treasure than you can ever do now your way.

I never set the knob on one level and dig everything that beeps.
Never did, never will because hunting like that would drive me insane.
I do what we call "thumbing the knob" on every signal to figure each one out, and NOT the way the Tesoro manuals say to do it either by turning the knob to the area where the target fades out.
Instead I hunt with the knob somewhere down at iron, usually, and when I acquire a target I make quick short side to side passes and thumb that knob up till the target fades out and then slowly turn it back till the target "comes in".
I have found this is a much more accurate way to figure out targets then the way Tesoro says to do it.
The important part is to listen closely to the way the target comes in.
Is it scratchy, crackly or noisy in any way, even just a few clicks, or does it just appear clear and solid when you reach any area on that dial?
Anything can happen out there, good targets can come in with noise, bad targets can come in good and clear with no noise, but after digging thousands upon thousands of targets I firmly believe that this will not be the case 99% of the time.
At least it is that way on my older 7" coil Compadre.
I messed around a bit with a new 8" coil model last summer and that one seemed to be a little less precise and razor sharp on a few more targets than mine, but it is still close.

I have come to the realization that most good targets, coins, rings, tokens, other jewelry and most everything else we want to dig up will come in pretty darn clean with very little noise at all, while much of the trash out there will come in with a bunch of noise and I rarely dig those signals anymore.
Used to, and I still check myself from time to time but I have dug enough trash and great targets to this point to be pretty confident in this ability to know good targets from trash.
Irregular shaped trash will come in noisy most of the time when you dial down...targets like foil and can slaw and tabs that are at an angle in the ground, but not all trash will do this.
Lots of tabs that are flat in the soil, compressed and coin shaped foil, coin shaped can slaw and a few other things will present themselves as good targets and come in clean from time to time, and some good targets could come in with some noise and clicks and I have experienced this on some good targets such as nickels.
Again, these rules are not in stone and anything can happen out there and it is very true that you will never know what you are swinging over till to hold it in your hand, but I had to figure out ways to dig less trash and more great targets and this is the way I do it...my line in the sand, if you will.

This way does not take me much time at all, either, because I have practiced and done it this way for awhile and usually dig way more targets than anyone else I hunt with.

Tesoros are not anywhere close to beep and dig machines as many state, they are extremely good at beep, figure out the target and then dig once you learn the little tips and techniques to give you an edge and push the percentages a little more over to your side when looking for good targets to dig.
The Compadre is one of the best at doing this with a razor sharp disc ability once you learn to manipulate that knob to your advantage.

I have figured out from some of your other posts that you have quite a different mindset than hunters like myself.
You seem to be bothered when you hunt sites with signals every foot or so, especially trash signals, something that is so alien to me and the type of sites I hunt that are loaded with trash almost like a solid carpet.
I think you are looking for a more "quiet" experience where you get signals and only the good ones, or at least only want to dig good targets close to 100% of the time.
Lofty goals and guess what, we all have the same one, but in this hobby this is just not ever going to happen and we all dig trash...some more some less, but we all do it.
You just miss so much if you don't dig at least some and that is a fact.

If you want to hunt this way with your disc high you will definitely dig less trash than if you lowered that knob and still find good targets but you will be limited.
Very limited to what you have been finding so far and you might be happy with that but since you asked this question about discrimination I think you know you are missing much.

That trick I posted about thumbing the knob might work for you if you try it.
It sure has worked for me.
It will work on those nails that plague you, maybe not all but a lot of them, lots of the trash you come across, too, and then you might want to consider moving that knob a little further down each time you hunt.
It's a process, and like all things something you learn as you get more experience and practice.

Also if you are getting that amount of hours on your battery you are evidently not using headphones.
Get a pair and give them a try.
Not only will they enable you to hear signals better and use this technique to your advantage but your battery life will come close to doubling.

 

[tabman]

Revier great info!

tabman

 

[jerrym663]

I just got the compadre, and have been having some great fun with it. I really enjoyed the post Revier. I have noticed that if the air has a lot of moisture that it will start to 'chatter' quite a bit. Ever run into this?

 

[ken ward]

JMC,,,, Read what REVIER just posted. I don't think anyone else could have explained it any better. Read it again and read it again to get in to your head. Remember the thumb trick. You will get good at it. I think all of us the thumb trick. Another point on nails. One direction you will get a double beep,, The other direction you will get only one beep. The reason for the double beep is that when your coil goes across the nail the long way, It will beep at one end of the nail,, As you pass on past the nail you will get the second beep. One beep at each end. Now,, sometimes if a coin is on an angel in the ground, you can get that double beep .. The reason is because one side of the coin is higher than the other side. You will get a beep on the high side and a beep on the low side. I hope all this helps. Just go slow and listen to every beep you get. Try to remember just how that beep sounds.. Than dig and see what you get.. Good luck... KEN

 

[REVIER]

I just got the compadre, and have been having some great fun with it. I really enjoyed the post Revier. I have noticed that if the air has a lot of moisture that it will start to 'chatter' quite a bit. Ever run into this?

I have not noticed this so much but it could be.
One theory about this is any high tension power lines could actually kick out a little more EMI in humid conditions.
Not sure if this is true but could be.

On the other hand a very knowledgeable and scientific hunter wrote that one of the best times to hunt is right after a rain.
Not only will the damp soil let you hear some deeper or at the least clearer signals, but the rain actually washes salt off those power lines so it affects the amount of EMI that they emit...evidently salt will amplify this EMI emitting range.
Again, not sure about this at all but this guy knows his stuff and it sounds plausible.

 

[jerrym663]

Thanks for the info, I will monitor this and see. I'm not sure at this point if it was the location or the humidity, but will try these sites again under different conditions and see what happens.

 

[CaptEsteban]

With only one knob yes it's fairly simple. But I was wondering from the more experienced users where you set your machine on the discrimination dial. I've been hunting with mine set right past pull tabs. So far quarters, dimes, pennies plus plenty of those tokens. If I go lower it the trash starts to filter in and there is loads of it. Especially iron in the form of nails by the pound both round and square. I've gotten used to the sound the machine makes on a coin which is a much cleaner hit than the scratchy sounds of less desirable items. Battery life seems OK right around 10 or 12 hours but I would like to know if that's normal. Hopefully I can get a little time digging today even though the Florida outside temps right now are around 32 degrees, for us that's nasty. If there were a market for rusty iron nails I could have paid for this Compare by now. Coin and token wise I can fill maybe three soda cans right now. Metal trash almost two five gallon buckets. So far this has been fun and the Compadre was absolutely the machine to go with.

Hunt the way you want but with settings like that you are missing chains of all kinds, many older coins like nickels, a bunch of other great targets and a huge amount of gold rings that come in at foil, nickel and tabs.
Most gold rings will come in at foil, nickel and tabs by the way, only the largest ones like big class rings will come in at about the 3:00 zinc area.
Silver chains, I have found many, but only one would have come in at your settings at that same zinc area...the rest all came in from iron to nickel depending on the size.
The Compadre is the best chain hunter I have ever swung, but you have to set it to let you know it sees one to dig them.

This is what I do when I use the Compadre and it helps me dig tons of great targets and as much or as little trash as I feel like doing at the time.
I still dig lots of trash because I choose to, some very great targets are disguised as trash, but if you care to practice and do it my way you will open up your horizons and find much more treasure than you can ever do now your way.

I never set the knob on one level and dig everything that beeps.
Never did, never will because hunting like that would drive me insane.
I do what we call "thumbing the knob" on every signal to figure each one out, and NOT the way the Tesoro manuals say to do it either by turning the knob to the area where the target fades out.
Instead I hunt with the knob somewhere down at iron, usually, and when I acquire a target I make quick short side to side passes and thumb that knob up till the target fades out and then slowly turn it back till the target "comes in".
I have found this is a much more accurate way to figure out targets then the way Tesoro says to do it.
The important part is to listen closely to the way the target comes in.
Is it scratchy, crackly or noisy in any way, even just a few clicks, or does it just appear clear and solid when you reach any area on that dial?
Anything can happen out there, good targets can come in with noise, bad targets can come in good and clear with no noise, but after digging thousands upon thousands of targets I firmly believe that this will not be the case 99% of the time.
At least it is that way on my older 7" coil Compadre.
I messed around a bit with a new 8" coil model last summer and that one seemed to be a little less precise and razor sharp on a few more targets than mine, but it is still close.

I have come to the realization that most good targets, coins, rings, tokens, other jewelry and most everything else we want to dig up will come in pretty darn clean with very little noise at all, while much of the trash out there will come in with a bunch of noise and I rarely dig those signals anymore.
Used to, and I still check myself from time to time but I have dug enough trash and great targets to this point to be pretty confident in this ability to know good targets from trash.
Irregular shaped trash will come in noisy most of the time when you dial down...targets like foil and can slaw and tabs that are at an angle in the ground, but not all trash will do this.
Lots of tabs that are flat in the soil, compressed and coin shaped foil, coin shaped can slaw and a few other things will present themselves as good targets and come in clean from time to time, and some good targets could come in with some noise and clicks and I have experienced this on some good targets such as nickels.
Again, these rules are not in stone and anything can happen out there and it is very true that you will never know what you are swinging over till to hold it in your hand, but I had to figure out ways to dig less trash and more great targets and this is the way I do it...my line in the sand, if you will.

This way does not take me much time at all, either, because I have practiced and done it this way for awhile and usually dig way more targets than anyone else I hunt with.

Tesoros are not anywhere close to beep and dig machines as many state, they are extremely good at beep, figure out the target and then dig once you learn the little tips and techniques to give you an edge and push the percentages a little more over to your side when looking for good targets to dig.
The Compadre is one of the best at doing this with a razor sharp disc ability once you learn to manipulate that knob to your advantage.

I have figured out from some of your other posts that you have quite a different mindset than hunters like myself.
You seem to be bothered when you hunt sites with signals every foot or so, especially trash signals, something that is so alien to me and the type of sites I hunt that are loaded with trash almost like a solid carpet.
I think you are looking for a more "quiet" experience where you get signals and only the good ones, or at least only want to dig good targets close to 100% of the time.
Lofty goals and guess what, we all have the same one, but in this hobby this is just not ever going to happen and we all dig trash...some more some less, but we all do it.
You just miss so much if you don't dig at least some and that is a fact.

If you want to hunt this way with your disc high you will definitely dig less trash than if you lowered that knob and still find good targets but you will be limited.
Very limited to what you have been finding so far and you might be happy with that but since you asked this question about discrimination I think you know you are missing much.

That trick I posted about thumbing the knob might work for you if you try it.
It sure has worked for me.
It will work on those nails that plague you, maybe not all but a lot of them, lots of the trash you come across, too, and then you might want to consider moving that knob a little further down each time you hunt.
It's a process, and like all things something you learn as you get more experience and practice.

Also if you are getting that amount of hours on your battery you are evidently not using headphones.
Get a pair and give them a try.
Not only will they enable you to hear signals better and use this technique to your advantage but your battery life will come close to doubling.

GREAT TIPS for the Compadre.