Is my Vaquero "cold"?

[flint]

Well, I just got my new Vaquero on Thursday, and took it down to the beach when we were visiting Monterey this past weekend (in California).

It seemed to work pretty well, as I was digging up clad at about 5-6" deep in the dry sand... however, I decided to give it an air test tonight to see what the maximum depth was on finding coins, and I'm not too pleased with the results.

Anyway, here's how the detector was set up:
Ground balanced for air test (two rotations clockwise then halfway between '-' and '+'
Sensitivity set at 10
Threshold set at 12'o-clock
Discrimination level set at iron.

Depth readings on air test:

Copper Penny: 6-1/2"
Zinc Penny: 6-1/2"
Dime: 6"
Quarter: 6-1/2"
Half Dollar: 7-1/2"

While the coins 'did' make a little noise at farther distances (depths), it was more of the staccato 'iron' sound, and nothing that would indicate a 'diggable' target... so I moved the coin closer until I got the nice rounded 'beep' that indicated that the target wasn't being discriminated out.

I've done some searching, and the depths people are getting are nuts compared to what I'm getting on this particular one, which is why I ask if this detector is cold or not... because it definitely doesn't appear to be a 'hot' one.

I tried 'super tuning', but even that didn't give any different results... all it did was turn the faint beep at the bottom end of the depth range into a louder beep, which eliminates any chance of gauging the depth of the find.

Also, the stock 9x8 coil doesn't appear to be made very well, as the gray bottom piece isn't even sealed and can be nearly taken off the bottom of the coil without much effort... should I put some silicone around the edges where the coil halves come together to make it more resistant to the elements? I already think I have a bunch of sand in it, though I was able to work the back edge loose and shook quite a bit of sand out of it. I guess I just expected a lot more quality-wise in this coil, since even my $30 Bounty Hunter had a completely sealed coil and I could submerge it in the water without having to worry about it.

Otherwise, It's been a great detector so far, and I even found my first half-dollar with it... a commemorative Kennedy half (1776-1976), though it's in pretty poor condition that I dug out at about 5".

Any help and/or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[colt]

Flint

Make sure you do your air test out side, away from elec interferance. My Vaquero goes nuts if I play with it inside the house.

My V is hot, it will air test a nickle at 10 to 11 inches, and hit coins 8 inches deep with no problem. Send it in to Tesoro for a check up, send the control box and the coil, could be the coil, or needs to be calibrated.

I had a Lobo ST about 5 years ago and I noticed it was acting strange, sent it to Tesoro on a monday and had it back by friday, it came back hot and ready to hunt.

colt

 

[Dig'n in Va.]

Flint,, your Vaquero definitely is not getting the depth it should. .. The bottom gray piece you spoke of is actually just the "scuff" cover. It should come off so you can clean out the sand. I don't know what type of dirt or sand is trapped in there but in my area we have red iron mineralized dirt that will kill a detector signal if it gets trapped between the coil & scuff cover. Remove the cover and see if you get better depth in your tests.. I agree about the poor build quality of the newer Tesoro coils. They don't use enough epoxy to fill in the bottoms of the coils and it leaves the edges exposed. Some of the wires are almost exposed in these coils .I have also had a couple of these coils actually seperate at the bottom edge where the plastic meets the epoxy after using them without a cover. Since I don't use coil covers on most detectors and with the Tesoro spoked coils I turn them upside down and finish filling them with epoxy so the bottom edges are not exposed. This way I don't have the hassle of cleaning out the cover and the extra epoxy gives you a good thick solid bottom . If this is not your problem then you may need to send it in for a check up....Dave

 

[flint]

Well, it appears that my detector is in need of a check-up, so I'll probably send it off within the next couple days...

I'm satisfied with the way it rejects non-diggable targets, just that it needs some more depth.

Oh, and thanks for the tip on the scuff cover... I feel like a ditz now.
I was afraid to pry it off any more after getting it to come off partway in case it was a warranty-voiding action.

The way I gauged the depth of the coins during the air test was to put the end of a plastic ruler up against the coil, then swipe the coin back and forth under the coil, working my way away from the coil until I barely got a reading, then I noted the depth on the ruler. Thankfully I don't have any noisy electrical appliances in my house, so I was able to do the test inside without any problem. I've pretty much replicated the test outdoors, though, by setting the coins on the ground and slowly lifting the coil as I sweep until I barely get a reading.

I also removed the scuff cover and checked for any stray particulates, and aside from a small bit of sand (I had gotten most of it previously, it appears), the rest of the coil was clean.

So, it looks like Tesoro will need to take a gander at the problem.

Oh, one other thing... my battery test is only at 3-4 beeps right now after a long weekend of hunting... could that have this adverse of an affect on it's depth? Tesoro says to replace the battery at 1-2 beeps, so I thought I'd toss that out in case it's affecting the test results.

Thanks again.

 

[rentasquid]

in a test bed? That way you are hunting in semi-realistic conditions...you are ground balancing to actual ground. It is possible to have your gb to negative or positive, which will affect your depth results. Monte showed me once, what can happen if you have a too positive gb on a silver dollar. Nothin! No bleep...nothin'! It might need a check up, but it might not either. I think that air-tests are sometimes made into something that they really arent...realistic! If you want a realistic test, plant a test garden. Hope this helps.

J.

 

[flint]

Thanks for the advice... I'll have to give that a try.

From my outing this past weekend, though, I'd say that the air test corresponds pretty well to hunting in dry sand. The deepest I was digging was about 6", which I guess is okay if you don't want to dig that much, but I was just hoping that this would be a deeper detector.

Also, from what I've read is that your depths actually go down quite a bit once you have a coin in the ground, so I'd probably see my depths decrease even more... but it's worth a shot, so I'll give it a try and see what happens.

Thanks again.

 

[tsb]

I would say there is definitely a problem somewhere. My Vaquero will detect a quarter at 13-15 inches and this is with it buried 4 inches deep in my test garden. With the sensitivity turned all the way down it will still pick up the quarter at 6 to 7 inches. I wonder if your sensitivity pot is working correctly? I am not sure about the pots that Tesoro uses but it is possible for some pots to be wired backwards from what was intended. Have you tried air testing with the pot turned down to 1 or so to see what kind of distance you get there? Hope you get it worked out.
Scott

 

[flint]

Thanks for the reply tsb. I tried playing with the sensitivity pot and the depth does actually reduce as you turn it down... with it set on '1' it'll detect a half-dollar at about 4".

I also tried playing with the ground balance, and when it's turned all the way down it makes no difference in detection depth.

I e-mailed Tesoro on Tuesday night, but have yet to hear from them. Hopefully I'll hear something today or I'll be on the phone with them tomorrow morning.

It just sucks because I hear how great of a machine it is, but it's only performing at half capacity right now. Thankfully Tesoro has a lifetime guarantee, so it'll be fixed soon enough.

Thanks again to all for your help and advice.

 

[Mike T]

I don't know if anyone mentioned it in the replies but I was looking at Garys detectors website in UK and a guy had similar problems he felt his Tejon was nothing special, then he took out the industrial batteries that come with Tesoro and put in Everreadies and it was like putting nitro in his gastank, Remarkable difference, apparently not all equal voltage batteries put out the same current or something. anyways my 2 sense. Mike

 

[tsb]

Mike is absolutely correct about the batteries so make sure to try a new alkaline before you go much further. Some batteries..even new ones..can break down under load and not supply enough current.

 

[flint]

Okay, I'll give that a try!
I'm using the stock Panasonic battery that came with the unit... so it might be the problem, although it is odd that a 'stock' battery would be a problem.

I'll report back if it made a difference, and if it didn't.

I still haven't heard back from Tesoro yet... they must answer e-mails once a week or something.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[flint]

Well, unfortunately that didn't make a difference.
Looks like I'll be on the horn with Tesoro before too long.

Thanks again.

 

[flint]

Well, I heard from Tesoro, and they claim that my depths fall within 'normal' range... they then recommend that I supertune the detector and then try again.

This is a real bummer, since I primarily bought this detector because of the claims that it has a 9-12" range.

Looks like I'll just have to call them.

The sad thing is that my Discovery 1100 that I bought from Radio Shack for $30 goes down 4-6", so I basically paid an extra $360 for a 1/2".

 

[Dig'n in Va.]

That's a real surprise to hear that Tesoro gave you that reply.. Down thru the years I've seen a bigger performance difference in like models of Tesoro's more than any other brand and I've always tried to keep the "hot" ones when I came across them. But you're talking 6 1/2" versus 12+" and that's way too big a difference to chalk up to hot & cold units. Don't look like it would be too good for business if a buyer didn't know whether he'd be getting a detector that could detect a foot deep or only half that much. It's just hard to not feel that something is not right with your unit. It looks like they would at least take a look at it ??..... Dave

 

[dfwdetector]

I purchased a used Cortes recently and after a few days I seemed to have a problem with it. I sent Tesoro an email and since they did not respond within 2 days I followed the instructions on the web site and returned the unit for service, providing the info requested.

On the 3rd day much to my surprise I received an email from James Gifford himself stating their would not be any charge for checking out the unit and to return it via the instructions posted on the web site. Of course by then they already had it in hand.

Anyway, if you think its not right then write a short letter describing the problem to them and request it be checked out. The only thing it will cost you is 1 way shipping since they pay return shipping on the unit.

I am anxiously awaiting the return of my Cortes but I am enjoying using and learning the animal(Tejon) which I purchased new and received a day after sending the Cortes to Tesoro for work. They have not called me so I assume they are either still working on it or their was no charges for the work completed that they did no the unit.

I can say these are the first 2 Tesoro units I have ever owned and I really am impressed with both of them! I found my first 2 silver rings, 1 with the Cortes and the other day 1 with the Tejon and I had never found a ring before and I have been detecting on and off for over 10 years.

Hang in there, let them look at it, most likely it will come back better than when you send it in, even if they say they did'nt do anything to it.

Wayne.

 

[flint]

Thanks for the replies Dig'n in Va and dfwdetector.

Yeah, I thought it was odd that I got that reply as well. I sent them a reply stating that even their 'field test' link on their website states that the author was finding bullets at 10-11", and a half-dollar coin (that I was testing with) is probably 2x the amount of metal yet my detector would only 'see' it at 7-1/2" maximum in air. When placed on the ground I lost about 3" of range.

Interestingly enough, my e-mail was also from James Gifford, so it appears that he must be the tech that checks the e-mail inquiries.

Thanks for the tip on submission for repairs from their website. I think I'll just go ahead and send the unit in and hope it's something they can fix, and won't just tell me that there was nothing wrong with it.

If worse comes to worst, I'll only be out the shipping cost to Tesoro... but it would be nice if it came back with a bit more depth.

Thanks again guys. I appreciate the input.

 

[Tinfoil]

and tell him your problem and he is supposed to make it right. You don't have to go thru all this crap for a machine that only gets 6 1/2"s on a coin target and I don't care what Tesoro says. IF you bought it new, the dealer is supposed to make it right not you. That don't sound right . Call Gifford himself and talk to him. If you bought it used then all I can say is buyer be ware. Send it to Tesoro anyway. If you bought the machine new and the dealer won't make it right then tell Tesoro who he is and he would not take care of you . Later Jerry aka Tinfoil.

 

[flint]

Thanks for the input Tinfoil.

Here's the scenario. This detector was a 'loaner' from Treasure Hut to a customer for a weekend hunt, and it had maybe 20 hours on it when I bought it in mint condition (only a few hairline scratches on the coil scuff guard).

So, 'technically' it was a used detector (and was slightly discounted from retail), but it was still purchased from a retail dealer with the full warranty, etc.

Since this was pretty much a 'one of a kind' item, I'd feel bad trying to get Chuck to cough up a different 'new' detector since the used one I purchased was defective. That's why I decided to take this up directly with Tesoro, since I didn't feel that I should put it back on Chuck after already receiving it at a discount (essentially being in 'new' condition without the new price).

Most of the time if you send it back to a dealer they just send it in to the manufacturer anyway to have them do the warranty work, so it would probably add additional time in shipment and delay it's return to me by a couple of days. I figure it'll only cost about $6-8 UPS from California to Arizona so it's really not that big of a deal to me. If that's all it costs to essentially double the depth I'm getting then I consider it money well-spent.

Thanks again for your input, it's much appreciated.

 

[jeff@middlesex]

n/t

 

[Tinfoil]

#2. Call Chuck and see what he says, it can't hurt. He is a good guy from all the posts that guys make around here. Me, My dealer would get it back so fast it would make your head swim. My dealer, Ron at Dixie Metal Detectors, who is a sponsor here, has always treated me right and has always done the right thing. I am more important and my satisfaction is more important then any metal detector. If you don't call Chuck he can't do anything about it. At least give him a chance as I know he is a good dealer. Let us know what happens. Later Jerry aka Tinfoil.