comparing brands

[101numlock]

I bought a whites dfx when they first hit the market, before that i owned a QXT and i loved them bother esp. the DFX until my dad bought a tesoro Vaquero detector and i used it while he was driving an eighteen wheeler. I find the tesoro is way more stable and much deeper than my dfx to the point that i don't even use it anymore. Do i have a bad unit or is this par. Like i said i have owned whites machines for approx 6 years, but until now i didn't have anything else to compare to. I would like to hear others opinions on there experiences with other brands. Please everyone be nice i am not here to start a brand war. Thanks for your time

 

[au4greg]

Both Detectors are Deep, when properly operated.

The Tesoro Vaquero has a Pre-Set All Metal Pin Point that has been set on the high side with a very fast auto-tune assist.

The DFX has a variable gain component in the All Metal Mode where you can raise the DC up to produce higher Signal Levels and control the Auto Tune Assist to ZERO or Vary it Faster for the ground/environmental conditions.

Your All Metal Mode in general is your deepest mode.

At Golden Gate Park, SF, MT-Big Rec, Tom in Salinas located a 7" Wheatback..... I ran the Tesoro Vaquero over the target and could not hear it in the Discrimination Mode, even at the lowest Disc Setting and highest gain.... NADA. Tom was using his silver magnet Explorer XS. The next target Tom found was a silver dime at 8". Before he dug that out, I again tried to hear it with the Vaquero... Nothing in the Discrimination Mode, but in the All Metal Mode, no problem.

A guy came over with his Sovereign.... couldn't hear it.
Justin and another came over with their MXTs and initially couldn't hear the time until I 're-tuned' both their detectors using a combination of lowered discrimination level and raised the gain back up to the preset.... ONLY then could they hear the elusive silver dime, and get a dancing target ID. Later, Tom found another silver dime at about 8"... this time I was using a Tesoro Cortes and could hear it with an occasional weak but periodic signal.

The Cortes operates at 10 kHz so its lowered frequency does handle the ground slightly better and produced a slightly stronger signal on your high conductive silver.

So, mineralization has a big part in whether a detector is going to signal on a deep dime size target or just miss it entirely.

At Sun Fish Park, where i do most of my testing, the Vaquero has no problem hearing a 9+" dime I planted last year. BUT, the mineralization is from 15 to 20% lower than Big Rec.

My definition of depth is Signal (Target) to Noise (Ground). Other factors are coil size and shape, proper tuning (too much sensitivity when in appropriate can cost your 'depth'.)

Also Frequency is a big part..... Lower Frequency Detectors have a relatively better signal on High Conductive Silver and Copper. Higher Frequency Detectors have a relatively better signal on Low Conductive Gold, Lead, Brass etc.

I won't even get into Ferrous Reactivity which can cause additional confusion and target masking.