HateTabs said:
Thanks Monte that makes sense. I noticed you have an Omega, I have often considered getting one to to try out as they have good reviews but I was wondering if they would do as well in the trash as the Tesoro's.
The Teknetics Omega reviews are generally pretty good, and if you consider the types if detecting most of the people are doing, I would say they are generally correct. The Omega was designed to be a versatile Coin Hunting detector, primarily, but is certainly a capable Relic Hunting detector, too. I have enjoyed the performance of the Tek. Omega since I got my first in March of 2010, so almost five years
I have used it for both typical day-to-day urban coin hunting, but have also grabbed it a good deal with I have hunted my favorite types of sites which are mainly ghost towns, homesteads, old campgrounds, railroad depot sites, stage stops, and all manner or challenging conditions. In most applications it has performed quite well. I mainly use the 8" Concentric coil in open areas, and sometimes the elliptical Concentric coil, but mount the little round 5" DD coil when hunting in brushier or building rubble sites, or places with dense iron ... mainly iron nails.
The tricky part in answering your question is that you said: "
was wondering if they would do as well in the trash as Tesoro's."
That would call for a definition or description of what is considered to be "trash" as well as the density of it at a site. If you are referring to hunting a local park near a picnic table area, and you are encountering modern-day trash like pull-tabs and pry-tabs, various sizes of foil, or other non-ferrous litter, then I would say they can compete quite well. There is no perfect detector so I grab which one works well for a site, and in that application I might grab the Omega because it can handle common non-ferrous trash just fine, and provides the extra element of visual TID and VDI information that might be useful.
Now, drive on over to a demolition site, or a vacant city lot where a structure from the late 1800's or early 1900's burned down decades ago leaving an ample scattering of iron nails, with many of them closely positioned, then you will see the Omega in the vehicle and an Outlaw or Bandido II µMAX in my hand, if I decide to grab a Tesoro. It could be a White's MXT All-Pro, MX5 or Nokta FORS CoRe, any of them also with a smaller-than-stock search coil, because all of them handle a dense iron nail environment better than the Omega.
All of the other brands can at least 'pass' my Nail Board Performance Test, which is what I consider to be a very challenging iron trash test. The Teknetics Omega, even with the 5" DD coil, can not reject the four iron nails and still produce at least 6, and preferably 7 or 8 out-of 8 possible hits in that test. It is a very versatile and decent Coin Hunting detector. I have used it successfully in several old ghost towns and other 'relic type' hunting sites and done well, unless I get into a very dense iron target situation.
And how do I learn and compare every make and model detector I evaluate, and search coils, for hunting up to my needs in iron nail infested sites? I compare detectors, all of them, with a Tesoro and White's Classic model. Why? Because these analog-based detectors handle dense iron nails exceptionally well, usually better than others. They set a standard for iron infested sites. Several of the former Tesoro models even deal with dense iron trash better than most of what is offered today, too.
So, if you are looking for another metal detector to try, just have an open mind about what it is YOU consider to be trash, and the density of trash at a site, then, if you like your Tesoro, ask yourself what features and performance you might want to complement what your Tesoro provides you. Even if you find one or two detectors from other makers that you like and work well for several types of hunting, I still encourage you to keep at least one good Tesoro, with a small coil, in your personal detector arsenal.
Monte
) I went to all metal and no difference in depth, with or without headphones. Is this normal? I thought 2-3 more inches from what others have said. Thanks for any feedback.