Trying to love my Silver uMax

[Nestor Cerpa]

I bought a Sliver uMax and a wide range of coils for it, thinking that it would be my back up detector. My first detector was a Bounty Hunter 540, then in a couple weeks, I bought a Bounty Hunter RB-7. Dearly loved it. Found a lot, kept up with the Whites owners in teh club back in the '80's. My problem is, I find it hard to take the Silver uMax seriously. Both of my 8o's Bounty Hunters had meters, the uMax, does not. Some days, I feel like I am trying to make a toy do a big boy detector's job. I guess, the fault is mine, becuase others here and on YouTube praise the Silver uMax. Perhaps, if I found something significant with it, my confidence would grow. I keep thinking about that old RB-7. Traded it for an RB-10 with auto ground balance and that led to my eventually getting out of detecting in the late '80's.

Bought a Whites Eagle Spectrum in 1994, and again, felt like it wasn't finding what the Red Baron RB-7 did. Got out of detecting again, within the year due to work demands.

Bought a Minelab Safari. I feel that it is a detector that can do the job for me. While thus far, most of my hunting spots have been hunted for years by better than I, I have found some clad with the Safari and look forward to getting out with it this spring.


I do believe that it could be me and my preconceptions of the Silver uMax. I guess I need to take it along and try new areas with it while I hunt with the Safari. Maybe more YouTube videos, or, finds posts here would pump me up. Sure wish that it at least had a meter.

 

[thump7]

The silver was my first detector and I had a lot of fun with it. Unless I had an exeptional site, I only went over the same area a few times. The silver umax doesn't leave much behind, and definitly get out and try some new ground. For almost all the time I spent hunting with the silver, I left the disc on the "O" of foil sens as high as I could go without chatter or falsing and toggled back and forth between AM and disc comparing the audio sound. If it sounds as good in disc as it does in AM - Dig it. Doesn't hurt to dig the iffy signals either, found lots of neat stuff that way too. Once you learn the sounds of the silver, you will know a dig or not dig signal as well as how deep your target is. Here's a few pictures of my first year metal detecting with the silver umax.


By the way the tiny silver coins are the Canadian 'fishies' or 5c coins, smaller than a dime. With the exeption of 2 silver coins, all the coins came from farmer's fields with no research.

 

[Sven]

Just visualize your Silver as your Red Barons with large electronic components transformed into a modern miniaturized detector with micro SMT electronics components.
I found the pictured 14kt gold eagle pendant 2nd or 3rd nite out at the beach with my Silver. It paid for my Silver.
Use it and enjoy the lightweight and you'll be amazed what such a simple detector can do.

 

[slingshot]

You know, lots of detectorists have come along since the Red Baron days. I'm sure the deeper detectors may help find a few more coins-but the key is gonna be the locations. It takes more savvy these days and keeping up with the sites you intend to hunt. For a simple instance, just last week I went to a local tot lot and the schools have started an after-school affair where kids are kept til nearly 7:00 pm.! Needless to say, I was somewhat miffed. Then I saw the 300 yard field adjoining the school, went to the other end and just started detecting it. Coins were everywhere and I felt like a dufus 'cause I had been telling my wife that because of the weather the kids hadn't been getting out and pickin's were slim. I'm only 1/3 of the way hunting it this week.Close to$10 already.

 

[REVIER]

I do believe that it could be me and my preconceptions of the Silver uMax. I guess I need to take it along and try new areas with it while I hunt with the Safari. Maybe more YouTube videos, or, finds posts here would pump me up. Sure wish that it at least had a meter.

You don't need a meter or any kind of display once you learn the language of Tesoro machines.

I have a Vaquero, a goosed up Silver with more knobs, and a Compadre, a raw throwback with less knobs, and I have found plenty with both.

Need to be pumped up?
I have had my Compadre since last august, I have found tons of clad, and these are just a few of the other great things I have found.

 

[Elton]

I think what you are experiencing more than anything is lack of coins. It's a different day than the "good Ole days" of swinging the coil and every other coin was Silver..

Shoot we all used to get a pocket full of Silver in the 80's and even the 90's............ Now a two or three piece day is considered good.

Hang in there.........dig it all with the Tesoro....... you'll find an area where some silver still comes to light...

 

[tabman]

I think what you are experiencing more than anything is lack of coins. It's a different day than the "good Ole days" of swinging the coil and every other coin was Silver..

Shoot we all used to get a pocket full of Silver in the 80's and even the 90's............ Now a two or three piece day is considered good.

Hang in there.........dig it all with the Tesoro....... you'll find an area where some silver still comes to light...

Back in the good ole days you could find silver coins in your pockets.

beephead

 

[WV62]

I kind of thought the same thing about Tesoro, nobody was using them around here back in the old days that I knew, so I kind of thought they may be junk. Then I started reading this forum and the guy seem to really like them, so still the thought most likely junk but I would like to try one and I for sure wasn't doing a lot of good with the so called big boys I have. So not wanting to put a lot of money in junk, I started looking for used and I found a Tejon. They are not junk second time out in the local park and I got gold and it wasn't on top it was down about 4"

Ron in WV

 

[Sven]

I think what you are experiencing more than anything is lack of coins. It's a different day than the "good Ole days" of swinging the coil and every other coin was Silver..

Shoot we all used to get a pocket full of Silver in the 80's and even the 90's............ Now a two or three piece day is considered good.

Hang in there.........dig it all with the Tesoro....... you'll find an area where some silver still comes to light...

Back in the good ole days you could find silver coins in your pockets.

beephead

when I was 5, got a silver dime everytime I washed the dishes at home and spent it on two candy bars at the corner store

 

[allcav]

I kind of thought the same thing about Tesoro, nobody was using them around here back in the old days that I knew, so I kind of thought they may be junk. Then I started reading this forum and the guy seem to really like them, so still the thought most likely junk but I would like to try one and I for sure wasn't doing a lot of good with the so called big boys I have. So not wanting to put a lot of money in junk, I started looking for used and I found a Tejon. They are not junk second time out in the local park and I got gold and it wasn't on top it was down about 4"

Ron in WV

LOL Ron,
If they were junk, we wouldn't back it with the INDUSTRIES ONLY LIFETIME WARRANTY!

 

[WV62]

I kind of thought the same thing about Tesoro, nobody was using them around here back in the old days that I knew, so I kind of thought they may be junk. Then I started reading this forum and the guy seem to really like them, so still the thought most likely junk but I would like to try one and I for sure wasn't doing a lot of good with the so called big boys I have. So not wanting to put a lot of money in junk, I started looking for used and I found a Tejon. They are not junk second time out in the local park and I got gold and it wasn't on top it was down about 4"

Ron in WV

LOL Ron,
If they were junk, we wouldn't back it with the INDUSTRIES ONLY LIFETIME WARRANTY!

Robert,

I here you, but back before I seen the light, we didn't here much about Tesoro's so I was going with the crowd. It took a while but now I am a Tesoro fan.

No turning back now and tell the guys back at the office they are doing a good job.

Thanks

Ron in WV

 

[Shenandoah Digger]

It's not your preconceptions with the Silver, it's your lack of experience with it. Takes a lot of time on any machine to built up confidence with it.

 

[Wraytex]

When I got in a few years ago, I did the immersion reading method about all things MD, you seem to have several distinct groups. Guys that want the most $$$ equipment with all the bells and whistles, guys that love to just swap detectors like i do underwear, of that group there is a certain amount that have never stuck with a particular detector long enough to really learn what it is telling them, and then you have the brand specific fans, where i am now. Before I bought, I borrowed a whites XLT, a bounty hunter I don't remember, and then I ordered a Silver micromax. You cannot cheat the learning curve on what the detector is telling you. That being said, only having to learn tones makes for a quicker curve. After I had the silver for about a year and a half i got an AT pro and the pro pointer. The ATp is gone but the pp really made recoveries alot more fun and cut the time to a fraction. Now I split my time between the silver and a used Eldorado, love them both.

 

[Nestor Cerpa]

Guys, I can't say thank you enough for all the good comments and perspective that each one of you submitted. All very valid. True, I haven't been in the learning curve long enough to know what the tones are telling me, nor, have I gone to some really good prospective locations.

The posts that included pictures of your finds, those are inspiring. Yes, I will value it's light weight, as that is one reason that I bought it. I did get one heck of a deal on mine. A pawn shop had felt bad because they had sold another detector that I was on my way to buy, to someone that they had put on a "wanted" list, so, they called me the minute that this one came on their floor. Couldn't believe the price tag. $70. I ran to a wi fi location, cranked up my laptop, got a couple of glowing reviews and ran back and handed the owner of the pawn shop $70. I am at the age that I no longer could whip an Bounty Hunter RB-7 all day, no matter how much confidence I had in it.


I didn't disparage the Silver uMax here in my initial post, because after those reviews, I kind of had the feeling that the fault lay more with me than with the detector. I do agree that he days of picking up silver right and left is probably gone, unless I am blessed to find a virgin yard, or, similar location that had not seen a detector before me.

I may not be as good as you guys with the uMax, but I am certainly going to refer back to your posts above and as soon as I get my potatoes planted, get out there and give it an honest go.



Thank you all, again.

 

[Mike Hillis]

Nestor,
Its ok not to love a detector.

Just because others like it doesn't mean you have to. Reading about how others like it and looking at pictures of their finds will not make you like it better either. You either click with a unit and like/love it or you don't. Doesn't take long to figure it out either.

Can you learn to use it? Sure. Doesn't mean you'll grow to like it just because you learn to use it, though.

I cannot stand the single tone units myself. I can use them, but I don't like them, so I don't own them.

I say dump the thing and find something else that fits you better. Don't waste time on a unit that you don't enjoy using. The sooner you do, the sooner you could be happier with something else.

HH
Mike

 

[slingshot]

Good point, Mike. That's why I have 4 units. I can't use my Silver or Compadre in some locations without going batty. I love the tones on the Tracker IV and my Royal Sabre and for the life of me can't figure out why Tesoro wouldn't have the variable tone phase discrimination like they used to have on the Royal. I can put it in discriminate and turn the notch control to get three tones: low, mixed, and high-each for the three most common notch target areas. I also have the Ace/sniper coil combo and can get where others can't-or at least closer. For me, the perfect machine's gonna be the Tesoro Golden. I already have a 4" and 5.75" coil, so I can hardly wait.

 

[JerseyHunter]

Nester, Tried to pm you. I have a like new Bounty Hunter RB 7D. I'd be more than happy to trade with you or sell you outright. I have the Vaquero and love it.

 

[ds6191]

These(pics) were found with a silver umax. That and Thousands of dollars in clad and countless silvers. My brother fell in love with the machine and he has done so good with it that I gave it to him. It really is all about location. I just wish Tesoro would have a finds area on their web site. I think they would be happy to see everyone's finds.It would be their best commercial. Dan

 

[comcat]

Nestor,
Its ok not to love a detector.

Just because others like it doesn't mean you have to. Reading about how others like it and looking at pictures of their finds will not make you like it better either. You either click with a unit and like/love it or you don't. Doesn't take long to figure it out either.

Can you learn to use it? Sure. Doesn't mean you'll grow to like it just because you learn to use it, though.

I cannot stand the single tone units myself. I can use them, but I don't like them, so I don't own them.

I say dump the thing and find something else that fits you better. Don't waste time on a unit that you don't enjoy using. The sooner you do, the sooner you could be happier with something else.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,way to go Mike,,,

HH
Mike