I thought I would give a review on the Deeptech Vista X here since I am new to the forum.
I bought the Vista X and used it last year in the fields and some in the parks. Just for reference purposed I've now owned about 10 machines over the last 12 years and 4 currently at the moment. I've probably sold some too soon and others not soon enough. First I'll start with what I like about the Vista X.
Pros:
- Tesoro Tejon Capabilities - In terms of both Depth and Separation * However the Octagon coil although it looks super cool is a DD coil and the tried and true concentric coils many of us were used to on the Tesoro's would surprise you with their unmasking capabilities in the iron. I also have the 6" concentric and it performs very well in trashy parks.
- Dual Discrimination knobs are excellent and I actually prefer the notches and feel over the Tesoro brand - I like to set my primary up to just above a penny and my secondary knob to just a little over a pull tab. If you get this dialed in right a pull tab will give a broken tone and a nickel a solid tone. If you have a tone and you flip your switch on the bottom for 2nd discrimination you can be sure your digging something good like a dime or quarter. If you have a good clean tone
- Iron audio - This is where the machine really excels over the Tejon. The Tejon did not have iron audio and some would argue didn't really need it but if your hunting an old site or field its nice to find the hot spot of activity and slow down in those areas
- 6 AA batteries over 9v - This is a bit of a wash but I find AA batteries to be cheaper and last longer in the field.
- Extremely well built / Family Owned - I've spoken to the owners at Deeptech was very impressed with their desire to make quality Analog machines. There is still a place in almost everyone's arsenal to own one of these and you can learn a lot by forcing yourself to listen only and not use the VDI at all sites.
- Easy to ground balance - When I was new to using the Tesoro's I would struggle with the ground balance but not so with the Deeptech. For me personally I think the ability to ground balance in the all metal mode makes dialing in the coil much easier.
- Depth - You can expect the same depth the Tejon/Vaguero's could perform so at least in my soil at quarter at 12" isn't out of the question. In comparison my go to machine is the XP ORX and it will hit targets at the same depth in air test but rarely in the field do I find targets as deep as I do with the Vista X. This primarily why I like to swing it as a relic machine.
Cons:
- Audio - The audio on these machines takes a bit of getting used to for me it is either too high or too low. Since the Audio is modulated meaning deeper targets produce weaker signals ideally you would want the audio at a comfortable volume for deep targets at all times, however this machine hits shallow targets very hard and will blow your ears off. I would recommend a good set of headphones with secondary audio controls.
- Hot Rocks - We don't have lots of hot rocks in my field in Indiana but occasionally I would swear I had a great target only to dig a rock that sounded clean on the Vista X. I actually ran this same field recently with the XP ORX and those same kind of rocks would also sound similar on the ORX but the audio was distinguishable from a clean target. The ORX also has a mineralization meter that is a dead giveaway for these types of scenarios.
- Price - You have to really want a Analog machine in the U.S. to justify the price on one of these machines I picked up 2 used units on a deal and still payed $500 for each machine.
** At one time I was talking to Deeptech about becoming a U.S. Dealer but they just couldn't get their pricing down to a level that I thought I could be competitive at. I think these machines at $350 would move all day long but at $599 that at the very high end of analog machine pricing. However with the Tejons becoming harder and harder to find so pricing may not be too bad for you Tesoro fans. They also had never heard of the "Bigfoot" coil and where trying to make one last I spoke with them. I told them they release a version of the "Bigfoot" coil and they would move fast!
Additional thoughts on dual discrimination machines - some fun things to do are set your discrimination to hone in on specific targets like Nickels for example so if you set your 1st knob at just about pull tab and your second discrimination knob just above Nickel if you get a tone and flip your switch and still have a tone you can be sure you have a Nickels. You can also do this for Gold rings but your bound to dig some trash it's just part of the deal.
Hope this helps anyone who is interested in going the Analog route.
Regards,
Eman
I bought the Vista X and used it last year in the fields and some in the parks. Just for reference purposed I've now owned about 10 machines over the last 12 years and 4 currently at the moment. I've probably sold some too soon and others not soon enough. First I'll start with what I like about the Vista X.
Pros:
- Tesoro Tejon Capabilities - In terms of both Depth and Separation * However the Octagon coil although it looks super cool is a DD coil and the tried and true concentric coils many of us were used to on the Tesoro's would surprise you with their unmasking capabilities in the iron. I also have the 6" concentric and it performs very well in trashy parks.
- Dual Discrimination knobs are excellent and I actually prefer the notches and feel over the Tesoro brand - I like to set my primary up to just above a penny and my secondary knob to just a little over a pull tab. If you get this dialed in right a pull tab will give a broken tone and a nickel a solid tone. If you have a tone and you flip your switch on the bottom for 2nd discrimination you can be sure your digging something good like a dime or quarter. If you have a good clean tone
- Iron audio - This is where the machine really excels over the Tejon. The Tejon did not have iron audio and some would argue didn't really need it but if your hunting an old site or field its nice to find the hot spot of activity and slow down in those areas
- 6 AA batteries over 9v - This is a bit of a wash but I find AA batteries to be cheaper and last longer in the field.
- Extremely well built / Family Owned - I've spoken to the owners at Deeptech was very impressed with their desire to make quality Analog machines. There is still a place in almost everyone's arsenal to own one of these and you can learn a lot by forcing yourself to listen only and not use the VDI at all sites.
- Easy to ground balance - When I was new to using the Tesoro's I would struggle with the ground balance but not so with the Deeptech. For me personally I think the ability to ground balance in the all metal mode makes dialing in the coil much easier.
- Depth - You can expect the same depth the Tejon/Vaguero's could perform so at least in my soil at quarter at 12" isn't out of the question. In comparison my go to machine is the XP ORX and it will hit targets at the same depth in air test but rarely in the field do I find targets as deep as I do with the Vista X. This primarily why I like to swing it as a relic machine.
Cons:
- Audio - The audio on these machines takes a bit of getting used to for me it is either too high or too low. Since the Audio is modulated meaning deeper targets produce weaker signals ideally you would want the audio at a comfortable volume for deep targets at all times, however this machine hits shallow targets very hard and will blow your ears off. I would recommend a good set of headphones with secondary audio controls.
- Hot Rocks - We don't have lots of hot rocks in my field in Indiana but occasionally I would swear I had a great target only to dig a rock that sounded clean on the Vista X. I actually ran this same field recently with the XP ORX and those same kind of rocks would also sound similar on the ORX but the audio was distinguishable from a clean target. The ORX also has a mineralization meter that is a dead giveaway for these types of scenarios.
- Price - You have to really want a Analog machine in the U.S. to justify the price on one of these machines I picked up 2 used units on a deal and still payed $500 for each machine.
** At one time I was talking to Deeptech about becoming a U.S. Dealer but they just couldn't get their pricing down to a level that I thought I could be competitive at. I think these machines at $350 would move all day long but at $599 that at the very high end of analog machine pricing. However with the Tejons becoming harder and harder to find so pricing may not be too bad for you Tesoro fans. They also had never heard of the "Bigfoot" coil and where trying to make one last I spoke with them. I told them they release a version of the "Bigfoot" coil and they would move fast!
Additional thoughts on dual discrimination machines - some fun things to do are set your discrimination to hone in on specific targets like Nickels for example so if you set your 1st knob at just about pull tab and your second discrimination knob just above Nickel if you get a tone and flip your switch and still have a tone you can be sure you have a Nickels. You can also do this for Gold rings but your bound to dig some trash it's just part of the deal.
Hope this helps anyone who is interested in going the Analog route.
Regards,
Eman
