how good really is the compadre

[amcjavelin]

looking for anyones reviews on the compadre just trying to sum up if its just a childs detector or more, looking for a cheap detector for father inlaw and how loud the tones are? he's on the hard of hearing side so want something fairly loud.

 

[kd8hf]

Mine should be arriving on Monday, but it should have an earpnone jack on the device.
That should help with hearing issues.

I'm excited about it's arrival.

HH

Gary

 

[jabbo]

There is lots of reviews of the Compadre on this forum.

 

[tvr]

Compadre is much better than I expected. Not a child's toy. It performs very well. The Compadre is a little gem of a detector.

If I read your posts right, I think you had a Silver Umax or maybe still do. The Compadre does the battery test a little different, but should run the discriminator pretty much like the Silver. Sensitivity is preset and should be able to handle most all conditions ... just can't tweek that last little bit of maximum sensitivity like you could with the Silver ... so you loose a little depth but not a whole lot.

I think a good set of headphones are needed. The Compadre beeps reasonably well through the speaker, but headphones with volume adjust will let you quiet the surrounding background sounds and to turn up the volume so it can be heard more clearly.
tvr

 

[Uncle Willy]

It's far from a child's detector. Many old pros use one including me with 44 years of detecting, field testing, and writing about it in the Treasure magazines, under my belt. It's a dandy machine and will hold its own with much more expensive machines.

Bill

 

[tabdog]

Hay Amcjavelin,

I am a Compadre lover.

I have 5 Tesoro'es and 2 of them are Compadre's.

I even named mine MrSpeedy and MsSpeedy.

She has a 5.75 coil and he has a 7" coil.

The Compadre has decent depth. That may be
fine with your dad in law.

It has a really good analog discriminator. It is
my favorite tot lot detector. I call it king of tha
tot lots.

I find a lot of gold. I have a Vaquero, Euro Sabre,
and a Silver Sabre uMax. Tha Compadre finds
tha most gold.

That's because most of tha gold I find is in tot
lots.

The Compadre is an excelent metal detector
for trashy sites. The deeper machines have
trouble if they can not cut back tha big elec
field, causing too many targets under tha coil
at one time.

It is tha lightest metal detector out there.
<>THAT MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING<>
on an old guy. No joke. Unless he has a body
like a young guy.

It is a really good starter detector with a life
time warranty.

But.

I must be blunt. I do good with it because I am
experienced. Your dad in law will need to like
metal detecting and be determined to have much
sucsess.

The Compadre does not have a pin point or all
metal mode. No display. Most people think they
need a display. I like tone.

Tha Compadre only has a single tone. Many people
think that is not good.

But I love single tone Tesoro'es. That's my bag. I
can find tiny gold jewlery and I have even done it in
heavy trash with tha Compadre.

It will find coins and relics also.

It is one of tha best deals on a new detector that
can be found, considering tha price and tha fact
that it does some things real well.

See.... I told ya I was a Compadre lover....

Tabdog

 

[tab-nabit]

Looks like a toy (at first to me) - built and works like a real detector. It's a fun serious little machine.
Take some time and review post's on it. You won't find a bunch of negative comments. It's simplicity in a light package.
Tabdog has loads of Compadre time.
It won't go deep like the big boys, but it don't cost like them either. I have areas where the targets are within the Compadre's reach.
It took me awhile to use silent search as I was used to a threshold hum. But if the area is loaded with junk and targets, the Compadre will let you know.
For the price - it actually has quality. I find myself grabbing it more than I would have ever thought. Just plain simple fun.

 

[tab-nabit]

TD

"It is one of tha best deals on a new detector that
can be found, considering tha price and tha fact
that it does some things real well."

You got that right

 

[amcjavelin]

thanks for the info there tab dog and uncle willy, another question is, has anyone tried it on the beach just to sea how it would act? now you got me currious just how good this thing is, really like the idea that it hits hard on gold like it does, and does it have the 1/4" jack for earphones? and what would you say max depth is on it? I really appreciate the info, its kind of funny how i got into metal detecting, i remember as a kid my grandfather wanted to try metal detecting but we were poorer than church mice so it never really happened until the last several years where my father inlaw had this cheapo radio shack metered thing and reminded me wow i can actually afford to this now so the last three years i've experimented with three, four other models as well but i have to say my silver umax the least expensive of all has found me the most finds and firsts of any other detector i've owned, i"ve learned as well simplicity is key with these machines and thats what makes them awsome.

 

[tabdog]

Hay Amcjavelin,

It does great in any fresh water or dry sand beaches.

But There are deeper targets in tha sand at tha beach.

I have used tha Compadre at fresh water beaches and

did just fine.

But I prefer to use tha Vaquero because it gets tha

best depth on small gold, of tha machines I have.

Tha Compadre can do about 6" on a penny. But It may

not. It could maybe get a little more.

Depth on a penny doesn't mean a whole lot to me anyway.

There are no known depth in unknown ground and conditions.

But I can say it is just behind tha Silver in depth in most

conditions. I believe that, under some conditions and targets

it can actually get a little deeper than tha Silver.

That's because there are too many variables to claim

consistant depths.

That's tha best I can do on depth.

Happy Huntin,

Tabdog

 

[marcomo]

The Compadre is a fine machine, and you can bet that Tabdog works it like a master violinist with a Stradivarius.

I sure wouldn't argue with the assertion that it's the king of the tot lots.

It is not as deep as many other detectors, but it pretty much does everything reasonably well or better and does it for a great low price.

The small coil is hardwired, so it would not be the ideal detector for a larger less trashy area since you can't change coils.

It does not have a volume control, heck it only has one control - the knob that turns it on and off and controls the discrimination level - but with headphones I think it would be plenty loud even for someone hard of hearing.

To top it off it has Tesoro's lifetime warranty and also has good resale value if you decide not to keep it.

 

[BarberBill]

You can't beat the bang for the buck with a Compadre. It's definitely not a toy.
BB

 

[tabdog]

n/t

 

[amcjavelin]

Well i appreciate everyones input for sure, did'nt realize for a $150.00 you can get a decent detector, I really thought this was just for kids or entry level, ok thanks again.

 

[Gunnar of bradford MN]

whithout headphones it will wake up the neborhood whith headphones i have mine turned down very low its a great trash picker depth on a dime 3.5" to 4" crushed pop can *8" horse shoe 6" *--and 8" if you want to cover lots of ground NO it will take 4 sweeps per foot and moor for deeper items but it is a high quality machine

 

[Adrian SS]

HI Amcjavelin,
The compadre is a good little detector, much better than most would think. At saltwater beaches it would be better to stay on the dry sand, it will be a bit chirpy in the wet and depth will suffer.
I have been detecting for 45 years and have used a lot of detectors from Dick Smith specials to multi thousand dollar units. If the opportunity came up I would not knock back a Compadre.

Cheers,
Adrian SS

 

[amcjavelin]

hey thanks thats great to know, i'm very impressed with the results i'm recieving.

 

[tab-nabit]

Well i appreciate everyones input for sure, did'nt realize for a $150.00 you can get a decent detector, I really thought this was just for kids or entry level, ok thanks again.

I had bought several detectors from local dealer who had Tesoro's on the wall right there in eyeball view. Yeah I looked at the Compadre on the wall every time I walked in there, and every time walked by. It just didn't look right. I didn't take any interest as I was into bigger machines. After several months of visiting the dealer and getting to know him, I started to find out that the Tesoro was a good seller to folks who knew about them. Sure there was some others that sold well, but I didn't pay much attention to what he was saying about the Tesoro's the few times he started to speak about them.
Well in addition to displaying the detectors he sells, he also rented out some detectors. I was there one time when a customer showed up to return a detector he had rented for the weekend. As he handed the detector over, he also opened his other hand to show a ring. Turns out the guy's wife lost her ring and they couldn't find it. However it came about, he went to this dealer to rent a detector and of course a dealer will spend time showing the customers, and would probably would have gone himself to assist if the customer asked. He is just that type a person. Well I guess decided to rent and give himself a try with the little knowledge the dealer had time for. It all worked out and the guy found the ring his wife lost. I caught most of the story as I was there. I thought that was nice and could tell the guy was really happy of the ring find.
A little later on another visit to the dealer, he was cleaning up a Tesoro that had been rented/returned earlier, getting it ready for his rent section. I had noticed where he put it I thought were used machines for sale, but he corrected me. I also noticed several times in a lonely corner a group of detectors, and some so dirty most times. He corrected me (I thought they were rentals) saying they were his personal detectors. Well a conversation over coffee got going, and when it came to rentals, he tells me how he tries to get someone who has never used a detector, how he goes about the rental business. One of the Tesoro's he recommends is the Compadre for simplicity among some other Tesoro's, but many 1st time users are lured to the display screen on some of the other machines. Well I noticed among his personal detectors, there were machines of course over a grand down to a few Tesoro's including the Compadre.
Well I got to thinking about it one day and decided to look into some info on Tesoro's and asked a few people who swing them. I read on this forum, others, and just on line here and there. Hummmm maybe I'll try one. It just came to a point that there was not a load of negatives about the Tesoro. So I figure I'll try one and start in the middle somewhere. So off to the dealer again. He knew my machines, we hunted together before, and was a bit surprised that I was going for the Cibola. Well I figured start somewhere in the middle and go preset GB so my son can try it also. He wasn't into manual and I have no problem with it myself, but I wanted him in on the use.
First time out, the weight, recovery time, pinpoint was easy without use of the pinpointing button, just X over the targets, the depth, the audio - just didn't take long and within a half hour I liked it. It usually takes me longer on other machines for an opinion, but this was nice.
Well more questions and answers, more reading, and next thing I know more Tesoro's. All the way till I finally grabbed the Compadre off that wall one day and had a little discussion with the dealer about. Like some of the other Tesoro's, I didn't let him put it back on the display wall. It went home with me. Well it doesn't just sit in the corner and collect dust. I have a couple machines that are collecting a little dust, and yeah I need to pet them a little here and there.
I just don't have to go to the dealer and look at the Compadre on the wall and walk by anymore not knowing it's capacity. I know enough now that mine doesn't sit at home collecting dust. I grab and use it more than I would have ever thought. Turn on and go simplicity, effective within it's capacity, swing for hours, quality, now I'm back to all that again - and still to this day - fun to use & no regrets

 

[JB(MS)]

When Tesoro first started selling the Compadres we were hunting an old stagestop and inn site that dated to 1834. My main hunting buddy, Jim, was a die hard Fisher user. He was a master of his 1266 and wouldn't consider using any other detector. He asked me what detector I would recommend for his 10 year old son and I suggested the Compadre. He had me order one, but he was kind of leery of it because, like you, he thought it was a toy. It came on a Friday afternoon, we had a trip to the stagestop site scheduled for the next day so I suggested he take it and give it a try. There had been a huge two story inn, a trading post,a couple of houses and a blacksmith shop there but by the early 1950's they had fallen down and the owner burned what was left of the buildings, then plowed what was left under, including all the old square nails and blacksmith shop iron, and made two garden spots. There's more iron in the ground there than anywhere I've hunted, every swing gave multiple iron hits, but I knew the Amigo II worked well in iron and suggested he use the Compadre.

He had hunted there twice with his Fisher and came up empty so he gave it a try. The first thing he found was an 1831 dime, then a few old buttons and assorted pieces of copper, brass and lead. We went back the next weekend and the first signal he got was a 1776 half reale, then more buttons, bullets, lead, brass and copper. On later hunts he found four or five indian head pennies, a half dime, a shield nickel, two or three early V nickels and also a couple of early Barber dimes and quarters. That was 8 or 9 years ago, Jim still has the Compadre, has found enough to pay for probably 10 detectors with it and his son is grown and still hasn't got to use it. Photo shows some of his finds from the first two hunts there, in maybe four hours of hunting as we talked to the eldery man who owned the site as much as we detected. Besides Jim and I, four other guys hunted there and collectively we used several Tesoros including two Shadow X2's, four Fishers, two or three Garrets, two Shadow X5's, a Minelab Sovereign, a Newforce CS-5ZX , a Nautilus DMC IIb and a Gold Mountain GMT 1650. In addition to a lot of relics, including a U.S. Civil War era belt plate I got with the Newforce, as a group we found about 70 coins there, at least 80 percent of which were found with the Compadre and GMT 1650.

 

[Adrian SS]

Jeez you blokes, you have almost convinced me to go an get a compadre, but no,...... I have my Supa Traq and that is enough Tesoro for me, it does it all.
I reckon a good clue as to how well a detector functions is how well it sells and how long it has been on the market un changed.
.

Adrian SS