VAQUERO ?

[TXPIRATE]

Just won one on ebay used 1 time can any one give me the finer points of this detector any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Bill in Texas]

If you did not get a manual, download one off the Tesoro web page. The best thing to do with a detector like a Vaquero is to practice to get to know what the detector is telling you. One way to do that is get a number of different items like coins, jewelry, nails and etc., put them where there is no other targets and learn how they sound at different depths and how close one can be read to another. A Vaquero takes some time learning, but is a very fine machine when you do. Oh and it is deep. It has become my favorite detector. Bill in Texas

 

[jabbo]

I had one a couple of years, good on gold. Smooth running machine. Except for iron, all metal targets sounded the same to me. Sold it because it didn't have a meter.

 

[tab-nabit]

That's a +1
A good place to start the digging is right in your own backyard.
And don't start off trying to knock out all the junk. Run it open and dig including what you think is a tab, a nail, know what the machine is indicating.
One thing (for me) is that I always use headphones, quality counts.
There are loads of good info on this forum and elsewhere on-line.

 

[dahut]

Just won one on ebay used 1 time can any one give me the finer points of this detector any help is greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the world of Tesoro.
The Vaquero is a very basic unit, what some call beep and dig. So let it be that, and exploit it's simplicity.

I rate all detectors by how they handle iron. So, I go right to the iron range of discrimination. I was hunting with mine just today in a rust laden field. Here's what sticks in my mind.
Large iron hits hard on the V., even at great depth. When shallow, it often has a sharp, clipped end to the response that gives the iron away. But many times, it does not. When deep, large iron softly responds, sounding like a good target. To be honest, the Vaquero is an iron hog. I'm of the opinion that my Fisher 1236-X2, not known for great iron reject abilities, does a better job.
Small iron is discriminated out very well, on the other hand. It only pops or chirps now and then, but mostly it is quiet over small iron. In fact, one thing about the Vaquero is it is quiet overall. I think this is what some people mean when they call it "smooth."
- You do not need to crank the sensitivity on the V, unless you have plenty of cean dirt below. In normal urban environments, 75% is more than enough.
- Ground balancing is dead simple - just follow the direction.
- Deep good targets will respond with soft, repeatable signals. Shallow good targets will sound off much louder, but remain tight.
Trash tends to be non-repeatable or raggedy sounding. Get to know the DISC break point associated with different types of junk targets.
- Mark the spot on the DISC control where nickels and screwcaps cut out. Now you have a DISC range ID unit!
- You can "hyper tune" the Vaquero. Ground balance as usual and then crank the threshold up a few notches. This sharpens response and will bring in deep targets clearer. It also maks the detector squirrely, so use it over clean ground with little closely spaced trash.
- Keep your sweeps close, as the Vaquero has a tight response bubble on small coin size targets. Learn to work at a moderate pace and overlap your sweeps.
- You'll hear some people prattle on about the subtleties of the tones on the Vaquero, but it takes a while to get to that. In the beginning, expect it to react like any monotone beeper. Thumb the DISC knob for some target ID info and try to put the tone nuance together with that once you recover. In time you'll beging to hear some of the subtlety.
- Use digital quality headphones.

 

[nad]

I bought Jabbo's Vaquero, and it was well trained to find gold......In spots where I went gold hunting, I spent between 4 and 7 hours total where gold.items could be found, and recovered 5 items......One piece eye-balled. four recovered at "depth", either in ground or air distance to coil. A half dollar nearly a foot in the ground(on a small buckle, solder reduced value from app $115 to $40 or so).... Ground is frozen and while I can search...,blasting powder is not allowed..No problem with iron. I run just a hair over small nails, and well under nickels... A 1 1/2 inch elbow, with 2 inch pipes in each end nearly canceled out...,And, at that setting, the hot rocks I went back for ,vanished. Before I bought my Silver UMax.I went over EVERY post in Tesoro...Am going to do the same watching for Vaquero comments...Right now 131 pages of reading, Everyone likes their whistles , bells ,meters, and lights. I like finding gold and old silver, even if the silver was soldered, and the BIG diamond cracked..I'll run the discrimination as low as possible, and set sensitivity as high as I can go..Smallest gold item, an ear ring post holder, both dimensions under 1/4, and 1/8 inch just blew me away. Another very sexpensive detector can't see it.....And, I listen and try everything you guys mention, Maybe by the end of next Summer, I'll have an idea of what to do. Got on photo bucket, will try posting pictures of my junk, Thank you all for reading this note...cordially Nad

 

[pulltab]

VERY GOOD advice Dahut I'm always looking to better understand my V.
I like this forum because most are willing to take the time to post long well thought out and informative post that help us newer users out.

My main machine is an XLT but I now have a compadre a Vaq in my arsenal ( the wife has an XLT and now a Silver and a compadre)

I'm still learning the "v" and I think I get better with every hunt Not as good with it as some of you guys but I'm getting there. I'm more confident with every hunt. Still have some problems with pinpointing but getting better

I would like to thank all of you that have posted tips and tricks about Tesoros on this site

 

[Sven]

Still have some problems with pinpointing but getting better

I had some trouble pinpointing with my Cibola first few times out in disc. mode. I was always off an inch or more. Unlike the MXT and several others where I could put my probe dead center on the object.

It has something to do with the faster re-tune speed. If you switch to all metal mode, it tightens up a little.

I have gotten much better at pinpointing now using the 5.75 coil to practice with. I found if you do the Minelab wiggle, my Cibola pinpoints more precisely. I'm getting pretty fond of that smaller coil.

 

[dahut]

It has something to do with the faster re-tune speed. If you switch to all metal mode, it tightens up a little.
I dont know whjat the deal is with Tesoro but their retune speeds have gotten way out of hand, if you ask me. When I first started using their detectors, they were what I would call normal. More like a true non-motion all metal mode.
Now, they retune into the target almost immediately, to point of being nearly unusable in pinpoint.

What's up with that?

 

[cjruger]

nice buy, I got mine on ebay also about 8 months ago. it is a good machine. I have some really good finds with it in the first couple months. It will take a little bit to get the hang of it but once you do you will like it a lot. by the way it is not a beep and dig like somebody posted, you will start to get a good Idea of the target and its depth based on the discrimination setting and repeatability of the beep.

 

[tabdog]

[size=medium]Tha V is a very good machine.

I guess I am not like most people.

I don't have any problem at all with

iron. I know when I got Iron under

my coil, almost always.

I love tha all metal on tha V. It tells

me stuff old David says tha V will not

tell you.

I hunt in all metal with tha V more than

any other machine I have ever had.

But I use tha disc mode when tha all

metal looses too much stability.

Around metal post or in big iron are

places where that will happen to me

tha most.

I have been a surveyor for 30 years.

I spent that time searching for metal

pins and monuments.

One thing I know is iron in tha ground.

Maybe that's why I don't seem to have

tha problems with it others have.

But tha V is a real good gold findin machine.

Today I found a woman's 14k diamond ring

with mine. That's gold ring # 16 this year.

Most of tha gold I find is small stuff though.

I don't find many gold rings in comparison

to tha pendants and ear rings I find.

Dig, Dig, Dig.

Get a set of high quality metal detectin

headphones, and maybe tha habby will

get cha.

Happy Huntin,

Tabdog[/size]

 

[dahut]

nice buy, I got mine on ebay also about 8 months ago. it is a good machine. I have some really good finds with it in the first couple months. It will take a little bit to get the hang of it but once you do you will like it a lot. by the way it is not a beep and dig like somebody posted, you will start to get a good Idea of the target and its depth based on the discrimination setting and repeatability of the beep.

I used the 'beep and dig' description, since for most people new to the Vaquero, that is precisely what it is. This is especially so when the user comes from one of the sophisticated programmable models.
These forums often carry posts where a new user wonders about the "tones" everyone talks about with the Vaquero - when all they can discern is a single tone. So for many, it reacts that way and should be recognized as such.

I also mentioned that with some experimentation and experience, the Vaquero expands into a functional TID detector. It does a fair job of discerning trash from good items, too. I say fair, because it likes largish iron, especially when it is deep. And since the pinpoint/all metal has such an infernally fast retune, it is near impossible sometimes to tell good from bad when iron is the target.

 

[tvr]

Some where on one of the findmall forums was a like to a video of masking when discriminating out a nail. It is a pretty good demonstration of why a faster retune will give you less masking of a good target when you are discriminating out nails. I did not find it with some searching ... but I think it was on one of the minelab forums.

I had some trouble with large iron when I ran in super tuned mode with my Cibola. Once I started turning the threshold down to where it is usable for pinpointing or running in allmetal, then I could usually tell if I was seeing big iron or a good target.

Congrats on picking up a Vaquero. Spend some time to get to know it. If you are like me with the Cibola, once you get to know it, it will become the detector that gets the most use because you can easily swing it all day and it finds the goodies.
tvr

 

[pulltab]

I'm still trying to figure out the "tones," and depth on mine. Some say they can even tell the size of an object.
I'm not that good yet but I get better with each hunt

 

[TXPIRATE]

n/t

 

[nad]

Yo Jabbo...Hey Dave, when you break down and buy another "V". I'll send you a meter and some duct tape.. A meter is just another part to break..The comments about head phones need to be tried out...From what I gather, high digital, with volume control, and upper end noise cut off, what brand, where to buy? About 45 minutes of hard sound and the phones will be in a tree. I can't take the high end noise...Cordially ..Larry

 

[jabbo]

Larry, I always use headphones, can hear signals better, but they do get in the way at times. Have 300 ohm Killer B with dual volume controls, but would get single vol control next time. Killer B has several models. Can turn volume down to no sound or turn up loud.Try google for info on them. $89, free shipping. Killer B is not the only good brand. Dave

 

[nad]

Thanks Dave, I need phones that cut. the blasts out....As a matter of note, I started searching for Vaquero in the Tesoro pages...first mention was about October 2004 around page 114...Going to scan a few more pages, and possibly start printing out the tests,comments, and see what four years of material boils down to...I did that with the Silver U Max, and the comments (when copied and compared) was a very superior detector in its price range..The "V" is giving the same indications...Cordially Nad

 

[blowfly1967]

i own three detectors,the vaquero,the compadre and an x terra 50 ,which i'm going to sell.at home it hangs on the wall.it was something i thought i needed.like tabdog once said,quote,you go to a meter for awhile,kick yourself and go back to the v.i put an eleven inch wide scan coil on the vaquero and it's really finding coins and jewellery for me.thanks trueblue. hh see ya! blowfly

 

[tabdog]

[size=medium]Don