There are 2 major differences between the Compadre and silver, not counting that extra knob or the ability to change coils on the Silver.
The Compadre has older style retro circuitry and it is not the low noise-high gain variety that many detectors seem to have nowadays because the manufacturers believe this is what most hunters prefer.
The Compadre is a TRUE 180 degree ED, (Expanded Discrimination) unit, the Silver is 120 ED.
For those that don't know what this is, take a protractor and look at it with the flat side on the bottom.
All metal will show up on the different areas of this top arc from iron all the way on the bottom or left side, to all high conductors on the other end, right side, and everything in between.
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Because of this ability to "see" the objects in this low iron range it can easily pick up not only that real low end stuff but also the targets that come in at iron but a little higher in that range.
Targets like super small earring studs, extremely small and thin clasps on chains, and many other targets that would probably be invisible to the Silver and most other detectors.
The small coil on the Compadre probably has something to do with this extreme sensitivity, also, I know that by adding smaller sniper coils to my other detectors I can get signals on these type of targets that I can't with the bigger coils, and also that different circuitry the Compadre uses might factor in here, too.
I did have a chance to try a new Compadre with the 8" coil and it seems to work and be just as sensitive to most targets as my older 7" coil model which amazes me with the things it will pick up with a loud repeating signal, although I never did have a chance to see if that larger coil will pick up these tiny can-hardly-be-seen type of objects...but I suspect it might.
As far as iron and that new 8" coil Compadre, I can tell you it found a few iron objects so deep that I just gave up digging them because I didn't have a shovel.
I believe as a relic hunter this thing might be able to keep up with the big boys.
Not that I am suggesting anyone do this, but in highly mineralized relic hunting soil like in the southeast I suspect that by internally tweaking the internal pre-set Ground Balance to give you optimum depth at specific hot soil sites like these, I think the larger coil Compadre would be able to surprise people on what it could find and almost match and compete with anyone except maybe the PI land hunting units.
These are the reasons why the Compadre is such a good jewelry hunter, it just has a larger range that is not compressed in that lower end and gets a chance to actually see more and sense more so it can find more.
I have never seen any detector as sensitive as my Compadre, my own or in any videos or posts about other detectors.
I once found a single ball from a nail clipper chain with a loud and clear repeating signal with my Compadre, so small even the Propointer had trouble zeroing in on this thing in my hand, and Slingshot has said several times that his once found a nub from a ball point pen.
Not the whole tip assembly...just the tiny round nub ball.
Slingshot has also stated that in experimenting, as much as he loves his silver, there were a few small chains that were pretty much invisible to the Silver even when he scrapped them on the bottom of the coil that his Compadre picked up easily.
Because of this great sensitivity and large iron range that truly is Expanded Discrimination, the Tesoro's in general that are all pretty good about picking up iron usually can't exactly match the way the Compadre can do it.
Come across some different size or type of tiny nails that might be separated by only a few degrees on that protractor, most detectors that can pick these similar but slightly different targets up at all would probably show them as the same thing and come in at exactly the same place using the disc knob, where the Compadre would be able to actually perceive these as the two different entities that they really are, and you might just have to move that disc knob ever so slightly to pick up each one separately
As much as I love my Vaq, and also my F2 which is pretty darn sensitive in its own right with the sniper coil mounted, I have never found as many super tiny mico sized targets or more importantly chains than I have with that Compadre.
Using a combination of My Vaq for extreme depth and great sensitivity even with, and especially, using. my new sniper coil, the Compadre for other worldly sensitivity to chains and most other targets, and my F2 which gives me a little of both depending on the coils I use and a screen just for a change of pace once in awhile, I truly believe I have the best of all worlds.
Using both the Compadre and the Silver would be a similar experience I would think.
I would love to have the variety.
As I think on these things at 3 am instead of counting sheep.... sometimes it comes together. Will have a lot of experimenting to do when I finally get those two machines together. I certainly appreciate the time and effort here.... I'm sure it helps others as well.