Some early Mojave test results from the West Coast.

[Ivan]

Got a phone call from a friend who has been doing some fairly intensive tests comparing his Compadre vs. the new Mojave. In his back yard testing on planted coins that have been in the ground for about ten years................the Compadre was slightly deeper than the Mojave in it's regular mode.Probably because of the larger coil...............also the audio was stronger than on the Mojave.And the Compadre would pinpoint better on deeper targets. This was also true on the low mineralized dry sand beaches......... Compadre wins here. But in the dry sand/black sand mix of matrix the Mojave in it's bad ground mode did better than the Compadre. The Compadre was raspy.....and intermittent in it's signals......here the Mojave audio was much more definite and signals were stable. He came to the conclusion that the trade off in depth was worth the better performance in the more mineralized areas.....which we have lots of out here.If on the East coast beaches such as Florida I'd go with the Compadre for the extra depth. Still early but time will tell........wonder if Tesoro will stop the production of the Compadres?? Could be a possibility!!

 

[amberjack]

they will probably go on sales after a certain time frame if they stop making any lower modals compadre, silver.. time will tell as they say and for me what I get selling a compadre isn't worth packing it for so will keep mine.

AJ

 

[marcomo]

Ivan, I wonder if something is off with your friend's Mojave? A lot of the Mojave users here have Compadres also and I haven't heard anybody else say the Compadre is deeper.

 

[Electricfrontporch]

I guess it varies with the soil.
A friend and myself have compared a 5.75 and an 8 inch compadre
and there was no difference in depth.
Neither one will hit the 8 inch quarter I have buried unless
the disc is at minimum and then it's barely a whisper.
With the disc at foil 6 inch is about max depth for the compadre here.
My Mojave on the other hand still hits the 8 inch quarter with the disc at zinc.
Guess it's all relative to soil and the individual machine.

Noah

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

I don't think they'll stop production on the compadre. Maybe the silver umax because it's the same price as the Mojave, but the compadre still fits in the low end of price at 160 so I don't see them stopping that one, but who knows.

 

[Welgund]

I agree something must be wrong with his Mojave. In my soil here in southwest colorado which is some of the nastiest 4 bar f75, alkali crap soil you can imagine and the Mojave is clearly deeper and more stable than my compadres.

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

I agree something must be wrong with his Mojave. In my soil here in southwest colorado which is some of the nastiest 4 bar f75, alkali crap soil you can imagine and the Mojave is clearly deeper and more stable than my compadres.

He was saying that in mild soil it looks like the compadre wins, but in bad soil the Mojave wins.

Still off though. Even in mild would I can't see the Mojave beating the compadre. It has a slightly larger coil but still.... Very contrary to other reports. But all report are good reports to me. The more info the better.

On a side not I like when people are debating between two machines and everyone starts saying the best of both. Those are the days I'm glad I have both haha.

The compadre is still budget king for mild soil at 160.

 

[Zinc Penny]

I agree something must be wrong with his Mojave. In my soil here in southwest colorado which is some of the nastiest 4 bar f75, alkali crap soil you can imagine and the Mojave is clearly deeper and more stable than my compadres.

He was saying that in mild soil it looks like the compadre wins, but in bad soil the Mojave wins.

Still off though. Even in mild would I can't see the Mojave beating the compadre. It has a slightly larger coil but still.... Very contrary to other reports. But all report are good reports to me. The more info the better.

On a side not I like when people are debating between two machines and everyone starts saying the best of both. Those are the days I'm glad I have both haha.

The compadre is still budget king for mild soil at 160.

Mojave is a quiet machine and a great machine I used it at my last club hunt because I can swing it really fast and it works pretty much anywhere and it Was getting good depth and the only machine that set it off was a nearby I think it was a Cibola. I don't remember.

Its a great machine. I really enjoy using it.

 

[Ivan]

Mojave guys ..........................do this ........do some air tests on the detector with brand new fresh batteries and save the results. Then when your batteries test at 50% down.......do air tests again. You will notice a depth drop off. Mojaves do best with "real" non rechargable batteries!! If you look at any so called rechargeable 9volt battery ..........fully charged it is nowhere near 9 volts. It is simply a 9 volt "size". On the 9 volt rechargeable I just got rid of....they are marked 7.2 Volt..................that's their real voltage. And after six months ...my electrician friend said they tested at 5.2 volts. Time is money and the only place in our world where money can buy time is in the battery world. Do yourselves a favour and stick with real non rechargable batteries..............more detecting time equals more finds. Also detecting in hot enviroments really hard on rechargeables. Just keepin it real!!!

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Very true. But powerex sells a true 9 volt battery that when it settles after charging is between 9.6-10v

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

But I agree Ivan.
I use my rechargeables sometimes in my pro pointer and have settled on using Duracell's in my detectors.
But my AA rechargeables perform phenomenally in my Deleon, racer2 and fors relic.

 

[Ivan]

Sounds good.....but test that battery after six months and see if it is anywhere near 9 volts....................I'll stay tuned!!!!

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Well I've read reviews on them and seem to do really well.
You're right many are 7.2 volt but that's because there are there are 6, 1.2 volt cells in them.the powerex ones have 8 cells so they are 9.6. when you freshly charge them they are higher.
But my buddy uses them for his microphones and he's been using them for 2 years and said he's had no issue.
I don't have them yet but was considering them. Only issue is size. Even my Lowe's alkalines are a bit big.

 

[slingshot]

The Mojave may have a voltage regulator, but one of the Tesoro guys (can't remember which one) said NOT to use the Powerex or other 9.6 initial high voltage batteries in the Compadre!

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Oh ok.
Yeah my Duracell's read 9.8 new

 

[pinenut]

Oh ok.
Yeah my Duracell's read 9.8 new

Duracells are all I use in my Tesoros. They fit well and seem to last a while. I get 'em at Costco - $15.99 for 8 of 'em. Not the cheapest, but they're good.

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Oh ok.
Yeah my Duracell's read 9.8 new

Duracells are all I use in my Tesoros. They fit well and seem to last a while. I get 'em at Costco - $15.99 for 8 of 'em. Not the cheapest, but they're good.

Yeah I get mine for $15 for 8 on Amazon. So not bad really

 

[marcomo]

Ivan, you know your stuff so I'm sorry to hear you say this.

I've never had any gradual performance drop off using AA Eneloops in my AT Pro as opposed to alkalines.

So after seeing a lot of good reviews I just put out $22 for 4 EBL 9V rechargeables and a charger to use in my CZ-3D, Silver Sabre UMax, Eurotek and pinpointer that all take 9V batteries.

Everything I've heard about detectors says that the voltage regulator means that performance doesn't slowly drop off as you've described with the Mojave. If I have to replace the 9V rechargeables more often than alkalines I can live with that at a few pennies per battery compared to around $2 for an alkaline. But a slow performance drop off is another story. I'll post my results down the road.