This is day two of hunting with the 15x12 on the end of my Vaquero. I chose to break it in on some clad hotspots so I'm not really sure if I got any increase in depth, but I will say that it makes clad-hunting very fast. I'm digging a dime about every third or fourth minute with this whopper.
There are some problems, though, just in case you're thinking about buying one. I knew going in that Tesoro doesn't recommend the coil because you lose some of the discrimination capacity of the Tesoro unit. Steel bottlecaps about broke my eardrums. Coins, like they do with the stock coil, make a sweet buzz that lasts in duration. It became very easy to know the difference between a coin and a junk target. Junk crackles like normal. I had the disc maxed out as a test to see how much clad I could collect in 2 hours, but I was surprised to be hearing rusty steel bits and pieces coming through on that high disc setting. It was generally not a problem for me today, but it will be if you're hunting an area that has lot of steel or iron. I heard no aluminum, except for a few round twistoffs, which is normal even for the stock coil.
Of the two places I hunted, a park and a soccer field, the soccer field gave me problems getting the coil ground balanced. I just could not get the threshold to equalize. The park was no problem for GB-ing. Settled right down. The soccer field has a very sticky clay to it and the park is a sandy loam (not sure if the textures have much effect on GB).
I was hoping for more depth in the soccer field, which has been converted from an 1800's farm field. I have found a few 1950s wheats and silver dimes here, but I was hoping this coil would get me deeper. I'm not sure if it didn't, or if there are just no deep high-conductivity targets. Just the same old 3 inch deep quarters and whatnot.
I like the coil. I bought it knowing of some depth complaints, but was willing to try it out and it's too soon to make a conclusion, myself, about lack of depth. It was a no-lose decision for me because I can actually walk at good pace while sweeping now. I actually was getting tired of digging coins! I did great for such a short hunt and ended up with 9 quarters, 21 dimes, and 12 copper pennies.... a land-speed record for me. I can't imagine going 8-10 hours with this thing.
There are some problems, though, just in case you're thinking about buying one. I knew going in that Tesoro doesn't recommend the coil because you lose some of the discrimination capacity of the Tesoro unit. Steel bottlecaps about broke my eardrums. Coins, like they do with the stock coil, make a sweet buzz that lasts in duration. It became very easy to know the difference between a coin and a junk target. Junk crackles like normal. I had the disc maxed out as a test to see how much clad I could collect in 2 hours, but I was surprised to be hearing rusty steel bits and pieces coming through on that high disc setting. It was generally not a problem for me today, but it will be if you're hunting an area that has lot of steel or iron. I heard no aluminum, except for a few round twistoffs, which is normal even for the stock coil.
Of the two places I hunted, a park and a soccer field, the soccer field gave me problems getting the coil ground balanced. I just could not get the threshold to equalize. The park was no problem for GB-ing. Settled right down. The soccer field has a very sticky clay to it and the park is a sandy loam (not sure if the textures have much effect on GB).
I was hoping for more depth in the soccer field, which has been converted from an 1800's farm field. I have found a few 1950s wheats and silver dimes here, but I was hoping this coil would get me deeper. I'm not sure if it didn't, or if there are just no deep high-conductivity targets. Just the same old 3 inch deep quarters and whatnot.
I like the coil. I bought it knowing of some depth complaints, but was willing to try it out and it's too soon to make a conclusion, myself, about lack of depth. It was a no-lose decision for me because I can actually walk at good pace while sweeping now. I actually was getting tired of digging coins! I did great for such a short hunt and ended up with 9 quarters, 21 dimes, and 12 copper pennies.... a land-speed record for me. I can't imagine going 8-10 hours with this thing.
