Fish N Chips
New member
I got my new (to me) Eldorado the other day. I went out last night for a park hunt to give it a test. Here are my impressions so far.
I really like the layout, it is very similar to my Silver Umax. It feels a tad heavier, but may just be due to the 9x8 coil. It is still very light and swings well. The knobs are easy to turn, so easy I can see why some add a rubber O ring under the knobs. I will likely get one to put under the ground balance knob as I bumped it setting the detector down a few times while digging.
I ground balanced the machine. This is my first manual ground balance and I need to practice with it. I checked it several times through the park and was surprised to see that the balance varied through the park. It did not take much of an adjustment to re-balance, but I was surprised to see it change in such a short distance.
The all metal no motion is just fantastic! I really did not need it for pinpointing as I am used to Xing the Silver Umax. However for sizing up targets, wow! It was much easier to rule out the large iron and tin cans. It will be a great feature for hunting relics around brush and trees where it is hard to swing.
The Eldorado likes a bit slower swing to get the good hit on targets than my Silver. Not much slower, but noticeable. Also Xing targets it liked a bit larger sweep to ring out, but I attribute that to the larger coil.
The tone is the same as my Silver, but it does talk a little different. I notice that the sound was more 'descriptive' than my silver. I was able to hear the crackle of trash, the discrimination break up, iron static, and off size targets more than my silver. This surprised me as I figured both detectors were very similar in circuitry. With this I found it much easier to judge targets, and was 90% accurate when I dug them up after guessing what it would be. My Silver really rings on a larger range of targets and I do get fooled a bit more with it. The Eldorado really talks and the audio is great. Trash really sounded like trash. Coins yelled dig me!
Unfortunately the deepest targets in the park run about 6-7". The Eldorado had no trouble with these depths, but neither does my Silver. I will not be able to judge the depth until I get it out into the hills and around older sites.
I ended up finding some clad, a pewter key ring, a dog tag, some pop tops and pull tabs, and a bit of trash. I was digging almost all my hits to learn the detector. I knew the pull tabs well before digging, but kept hoping for that gold ring! I did get fooled by a 1966 penny. It rang up almost to Silver. Once out of the ground I could not get it to ring that high again. I checked the hole but it was the only target. Always something there to fool you!
I really need to spend some time with the detector to see how it likes to work, and how it talks. So far I am very pleased with it. I think it will make a great relic detector and work well in mineralized soil. I may order some different coils for it later on. Maybe a sniper coil and a DD/Widescan. All in all it is a great detector. I do wonder how it compares to a Vaquero. If I can hit 8+ inches with it I will be very happy.
I really like the layout, it is very similar to my Silver Umax. It feels a tad heavier, but may just be due to the 9x8 coil. It is still very light and swings well. The knobs are easy to turn, so easy I can see why some add a rubber O ring under the knobs. I will likely get one to put under the ground balance knob as I bumped it setting the detector down a few times while digging.
I ground balanced the machine. This is my first manual ground balance and I need to practice with it. I checked it several times through the park and was surprised to see that the balance varied through the park. It did not take much of an adjustment to re-balance, but I was surprised to see it change in such a short distance.
The all metal no motion is just fantastic! I really did not need it for pinpointing as I am used to Xing the Silver Umax. However for sizing up targets, wow! It was much easier to rule out the large iron and tin cans. It will be a great feature for hunting relics around brush and trees where it is hard to swing.
The Eldorado likes a bit slower swing to get the good hit on targets than my Silver. Not much slower, but noticeable. Also Xing targets it liked a bit larger sweep to ring out, but I attribute that to the larger coil.
The tone is the same as my Silver, but it does talk a little different. I notice that the sound was more 'descriptive' than my silver. I was able to hear the crackle of trash, the discrimination break up, iron static, and off size targets more than my silver. This surprised me as I figured both detectors were very similar in circuitry. With this I found it much easier to judge targets, and was 90% accurate when I dug them up after guessing what it would be. My Silver really rings on a larger range of targets and I do get fooled a bit more with it. The Eldorado really talks and the audio is great. Trash really sounded like trash. Coins yelled dig me!
Unfortunately the deepest targets in the park run about 6-7". The Eldorado had no trouble with these depths, but neither does my Silver. I will not be able to judge the depth until I get it out into the hills and around older sites.
I ended up finding some clad, a pewter key ring, a dog tag, some pop tops and pull tabs, and a bit of trash. I was digging almost all my hits to learn the detector. I knew the pull tabs well before digging, but kept hoping for that gold ring! I did get fooled by a 1966 penny. It rang up almost to Silver. Once out of the ground I could not get it to ring that high again. I checked the hole but it was the only target. Always something there to fool you!
I really need to spend some time with the detector to see how it likes to work, and how it talks. So far I am very pleased with it. I think it will make a great relic detector and work well in mineralized soil. I may order some different coils for it later on. Maybe a sniper coil and a DD/Widescan. All in all it is a great detector. I do wonder how it compares to a Vaquero. If I can hit 8+ inches with it I will be very happy.
Thanks for sharing.