What will a Vaquero do

[Rebel1]

that a Silver UMax won't? What i mean is, is the Vaq. really that much better in most circumstances that it would be worth spending that much more for it for the average person? I know it has manual ground balance which could be of use in some areas, but here where i hunt i haven't had any problems with the factory set GB on the Ace 250. Which brings up another question. Would the Vaq. be any better than the Ace 250 which i just ordered the 10x14" Excelerator coil for? Thanks for any input on this.

 

[amcjavelin]

a true all metal mode plus you can super tune for greater depths

 

[Dertnc]

The vaq. is a good bit deeper than the silver and the Ace 250 isn't even close . IMHO . The Vaq. is a great all around detector , it's a good relic machine amd it will work in the wet sand at the beach , don't get me wrong it's no Minelab GT but it will work .

 

[bhcarl]

The ace 250 is not in the same class as the Vaq. Try one, think you will like it better. Just my thoughts.

 

[tvr]

The VCO pinpoint, even when not just running in all metal, provides a wealth of information ... that and the ground balance are, in my humble opinion, worth the difference in price.

 

[Rebel1]

So how much better would the Vaq be than the Cibola?

 

[tvr]

I modified my Cibola to add ground balance ... love the Cibola. Had I known when I bought the Cibola what I know now, would have gone the extra money for the Vaquero ... and then maybe added a switch to the Vaquero to lock in all metal without changing the discriminator setting.

 

[AUDuke]

Any Tesoro is better than the Ace 250, The Vaq is way better. If I could own only one detector it would be the Vaq.

 

[petersv]

I have had both and I preferred the Vaq. It is a much deeper unit. You don't appreciate how much GB adjustment can affect your hunting until you don't set it right.....I found the Vaq to be very fussy about battery energy levels. I ended up buying a super battery that was usually used in paintball guns. The Vaq could have benefitted from a battery case like the Tejon, someone out of England was selling a retro fit kit to do just that. With the 5.75 coil the unit was a monster park hunter. It did a great job hunting the fresh water beaches around here, there are crazy amounts of hot sand that are laced with these black strips of mineralisation. The disc knob was really crisp, with practise you could twiddle and be quite confident in IDing your target by the cutoff spot on the dial. All metal, supertuned was crazy deep. It did a great job on smaller gold like earring backings and anything but the thinest chain would comethrough. I vbelieve Tesoro calls it a multi purpose type machine, coin, prospecting, relic....It truly is just that. Tough as nails to boot. Just check inside the coil cover of the spider coil for bits of whatever that can give you false reading, on a regular basis.

I never cared for how the 250 pinpointed. It did however pull out some good/obscured goins that other machines walked by.

 

[Monte]

First a comment on the Ace 250. no, it isn't my favorite detector. No, it is not my regular-use detector. Yes, it has some glitches that annoy me, mainly the fact that I can't easily adjust the ground balance, as well as the delayed response.

However, I DoO like the Ace 250 with the 4

 

[downeaster]

I agree with Monte, plus the Bandido II uMax can be purchased for less than half the price of a used Vaquero. The wide array of coils is also a big plus. I have both the Vaquero and the Bandido II uMax and really like the Bandido. It's a keeper for me.

 

[David]

Monte, you always give great insight and advice. You said shop for a Bandido II uMAX, which is one of the very best Tesoro's for sure BUT going back to the discussion we had about 2 weeks ago about which machines were best at iron handling and which had the least iron falsing. You helped us out alot on that subject, thank you. I do not want to revisit that subject too much but just very brielfy pointing something out here.

You said some of the pre-uMAX models handled (oxidized?) iron better than the uMAX and HOT models. Meaning the Bandido II handled iron better than the Bandido II uMAX, so wouldn't it be better to buy a Bandido II instead of a Bandido II uMAX ??

The present day Tesoro machines still available new now, that knock out iron the very best are the Compadre and Lobo ST(in disc. mode). Oh yes I forgot to add and Edited this, some say the Tiger Shark also.

HOT vs non-HOT and behavior around iron
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?17,1010874,page=1

Neil
Its amazing with all the raving about the compadre, why wouldnt tesoro come out with one with a sens control, all metal/disc toggle,
They sort of have, but they should have perfected what they had. 'DEPTH' is what brought them to lose iron rejection performance. The Compadre has the ED-180 discriminate circuitry adjustment range and it will generally knock out iron more cleanly than the H.O.T. or most

 

[petersv]

Oh, since it has been brought up, I do have a Bandido II non uMax, I love it. Agreed it doesn't go as deep as the Vaq but depth aint everything and I do like its audio response better. The standard Vaq was a little flat toned for me.

 

[AUDuke]

Banditos IIs are hard to find and while they are a good detector they don't have the depth or the sensitivity to small gold that a Vaq. has. My V will detect a piece of gold as small as a grain and my Bandito cannot. I have some hearing loss due to a lifetime of noise and I can't hear hi tones as well as the low so I prefer the low tone on the V. That being said I plan to keep my Bandito. JMO

 

[Monte]

I've been detecting since my fist "metal/mineral locator" I built in the spring of '65. In my 45th year of enjoying the hobby I periodically get to use an older model that served me well in those yearly years. Some of the BFO's and TR's and VLF/TR-Disc. models before we got our motion-based Discriminators. A small number of them featured a variable tone control which, sadly, isn't found on too many detectors these days. The detectors that did serve me the best were then ones that produced the best audio response for me. Back in '82 thru '87 I tried to get a full-time civilian job at Hill Field Air Force Base in Utah, but every year the audiologists told me that I was deaf. I don't and never have worn hearing aides. In the woods during hunting season, I can hear most game and small critters as well as my younger sons. In daily life, however, things are a bit different.

There are certain frequency (pitch) ranges that I have trouble with, and ANY ambient sounds mask a good sound I want to hear more than a few iron nails can mask a nearby coin. For ME, a good audio frequency is NOT some of the lower-pitches designs that Tesoro has used in some models ... such as the Cibola and Vaquero. I need /want a higher-pitched, audio frequency and that's why I have favored the Bandido's and some other Tesoro models. Now, to you post:

Monte, you always give great insight and advice.

Thank You" for the kind words. I've tried to do my best since I got on various forums in '96, and I appreciate some of the helpful posts offered up by others. Enjoying the hobby is #1, and to me that is best achieved by better understanding various metal detector strengths and weaknesses. Education is important, and then applying what we learn.

You said shop for a Bandido II uMAX, which is one of the very best Tesoro's for sure BUT going back to the discussion we had about 2 weeks ago about which machines were best at iron handling and which had the least iron falsing. You helped us out alot on that subject, thank you. I do not want to revisit that subject too much but just very brielfy pointing something out here.

Yes, I said shop for a Bandido II

 

[AUDuke]

Monte ; I too have been swinging a detector since the 1960s (62 I started with a Detectron,) and while I do agree with you concerning the Bandito's iron handling capability's, I still prefer the Vaq over the Bandito most of the time. I guess its just a matter of opinion.
I currently own;
Whites GM4
Whites TDI
Compadre
Bandito
Vaquero
Sting Ray
original Golden Saber
F75
Fisher 1212
2 ML Explorers

2 or 3 of them I am planning to sell

 

[Rebel1]

Monte and others. i appreciate all the replies and info. It is all helpful. Thanks.

 

[Monte]

it can be so tough to offer some help to individuals with legitimate questions. While there are some clear and simple facts that apply in many cases, there are those where the responder opinions are going to over-ride their reply.

For me, I am now done with work for the day.

I had a good start of the day at a Gun Show.

It's 6:07 PM and I am headed out for some late-day detecting with the Labs.

My Bandido II

 

[Neil]

I believe the cibola and vaquero can be sent in and have the pitch changed up or down for a small fee so its an easy fix if someone liked either detector but preferred a different pitch.

Neil

 

[David]

Thanks Monte, I DO appreciate that! And also everyone else!

I found more treasure with my Compass Gold Scanner back in 1990 than any unit I've owned. It was a very good unit but I was in the right place at the right time mainly. There was also a Gold Scanner PRO with a meter. I also had a Compass Judge I Automatic back in about 1975-6 and did well with it. My Bounty Hunter III BFO back in about 1973 or so was my first and it picked up trash but not any treaures that I remember.

On my future shopping list is a Minelab E-Trac, Whites MXT with Detech EXcelerator SEF coil(s) for it, a Vaquero or Lobo ST, a Fisher Gold Bug II or Whites GMT, and a Tiger Shark or Excalibur II. I have honestly lost so much money in the stock market in the last 2 years that it set me back alot to afford to buy anything new.

I now have a Minelab X-Terra 70, Musketeer Advantage, and GP 3000, and now I am feeling around for Tesoro and Whites to which ones I want to purchase in the future, God Bless to all here!

The magnetometer is an excellent tool to add to your treasure hunting arsenal.
http://www.geotech1.com/cgi-bin/pages/common/index.pl?page=mag&file=main.dat

But be careful of Long Range Locator scams.
http://www.geotech1.com/cgi-bin/pages/common/index.pl?page=lrl&file=main.dat