I am planning to upgrade from a BH Tracker IV that I have used for 5 years and have pretty much decided on a Tesoro. I live in central NC with clay soil but ocassionally do hunt in some other areas with sandy soil and shallow streams in the mountains. I am a weekend hunter maybe twice a month. I was looking at the Vaquero, DeLeon, Tejon, and the GoldMax. I would appreciate any advice on which model to choose and why? I still consider myself a novice. Thanks for your help.
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Which Tesoro to buy?
- Thread starter homebre
- Start date
.Oh boy. Are you going to get a bunch of opinions!
If you need a manual ground balance, then the Vaquero is the way to go.
But if preset ground balance is fine for you, then I would suggest the Golden uMax.
The Golden offers notching discrimination that will allow you to weed out a lot of junk. Not all of it, mind you, but alot. You can also turn the notch discrimination off if you want to. The tones on this machine are very helpful. If you dig the mid tones, you will dig nickels, "zincolns", gold jewelry, and pulltabs. Dig only the high tones, and you'll get copper pennies, and all the other silver and clad coins in the ground. The only trash that hits at a high tone I have found is crushed aluminum cans.
This way, you can cherry pick as much or as little as you want, which is a nice option to have if your time is limited and you can onyl hunt a couple of times a month.
If you need a manual ground balance, then the Vaquero is the way to go.
But if preset ground balance is fine for you, then I would suggest the Golden uMax.
The Golden offers notching discrimination that will allow you to weed out a lot of junk. Not all of it, mind you, but alot. You can also turn the notch discrimination off if you want to. The tones on this machine are very helpful. If you dig the mid tones, you will dig nickels, "zincolns", gold jewelry, and pulltabs. Dig only the high tones, and you'll get copper pennies, and all the other silver and clad coins in the ground. The only trash that hits at a high tone I have found is crushed aluminum cans.
This way, you can cherry pick as much or as little as you want, which is a nice option to have if your time is limited and you can onyl hunt a couple of times a month.
Wooden Nickel
New member
Andy - FYI, I just went through this on another thread.
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?17,1617543 (Vaquero vs. Tejon - for those of you who have both.)
I'm new at this hobby, but I believe I'll go with the Tejon, mostly because it lets you vary the audio character, a plus for us older geezers. Also, If I decide to change and go with the Vaquero later, I already have the investment to make the change. Money-wise, it's always easier to downgrade than upgrade.
The Vaquero gets high praise, indeed. It would be my next choice by the slimmest of margins.
My advice is to search the forum, look at the features available on the different models, and read all the reviews you can find. There you can find out what features people like and what they don't like.........Then flip a coin!!! No, seriously, research your butt off and decide.
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?17,1617543 (Vaquero vs. Tejon - for those of you who have both.)
I'm new at this hobby, but I believe I'll go with the Tejon, mostly because it lets you vary the audio character, a plus for us older geezers. Also, If I decide to change and go with the Vaquero later, I already have the investment to make the change. Money-wise, it's always easier to downgrade than upgrade.
The Vaquero gets high praise, indeed. It would be my next choice by the slimmest of margins.
My advice is to search the forum, look at the features available on the different models, and read all the reviews you can find. There you can find out what features people like and what they don't like.........Then flip a coin!!! No, seriously, research your butt off and decide.
Agreed, and all great advice. I live in an area in Virginia where having ground balance is pretty much required. I've even had it change from one side of a house to another, and by a considerable amount. My preset MD's work really well in fairly stable ground, and I take advantage of the extra options, i.e., notch, which is really helpful in sites heavy with a lot of trash. When the ground get's hot however, they can lose substantial depth, become a little eratic, forcing me to 'tune down' just to be usable. GB let's you work through that.
I was looking at both, Tejon and Vaquero, and decided on the Vaq. Assuming they pretty much have the had depth capability. ...and I'm confident that's close . . .other than variable tone control, there wasn't any incentive to reach up to the Tejon. Multiple disc with a trigger was clever, but doesn't really do anything more than I can rolling the disc knob with my thumb to determine where a signal falls off. The Vaq balances quickly, and is extremely stable regardless of how I push the settings. ..both a real plus. Short of a 15 second ground balance set up, pretty much turn on and go.
Smudge makes a great point. If you're soil is fairly consistant and normal in mineralization, the Golden is sweet. Not only does it have notch, but tone ID which I find much more valuable than Visual ID's, and I have both. That's a nice combination, and very affective when hunting in areas where trash is abundant. Set correctly, and after a little practice, you can get very good at eliminating most of the targets you don't want to dig.
It's a question of what you'll 'really' use. After 35 years, I've graduated 'down' to beep and dig, and the Vaq in all it's simplicity and great depth, really fills the bill. That it's a Tesoro only makes it that much more appealing.
Now. . . . .if we can just talk Tesoro into putting tone ID on a Vaq. ......
-Ric
I was looking at both, Tejon and Vaquero, and decided on the Vaq. Assuming they pretty much have the had depth capability. ...and I'm confident that's close . . .other than variable tone control, there wasn't any incentive to reach up to the Tejon. Multiple disc with a trigger was clever, but doesn't really do anything more than I can rolling the disc knob with my thumb to determine where a signal falls off. The Vaq balances quickly, and is extremely stable regardless of how I push the settings. ..both a real plus. Short of a 15 second ground balance set up, pretty much turn on and go.
Smudge makes a great point. If you're soil is fairly consistant and normal in mineralization, the Golden is sweet. Not only does it have notch, but tone ID which I find much more valuable than Visual ID's, and I have both. That's a nice combination, and very affective when hunting in areas where trash is abundant. Set correctly, and after a little practice, you can get very good at eliminating most of the targets you don't want to dig.
It's a question of what you'll 'really' use. After 35 years, I've graduated 'down' to beep and dig, and the Vaq in all it's simplicity and great depth, really fills the bill. That it's a Tesoro only makes it that much more appealing.
Now. . . . .if we can just talk Tesoro into putting tone ID on a Vaq. ......
-Ric
hardrockminer
New member
homebre,
With three differant types of soil conditions or areas, GB is a must ...............So its a Vaquero or a Tejon (from your list).
Vaquero is lighter (1 nine volt battery) where the Tejon has a separate battery compartment & 8 AA batteries.
Lighter means you can usully swing longer, for us old folks. Research them both under the search function here on the forum & or toss a coin.
Question: Why not list a Super LOBO ?
HaRM
With three differant types of soil conditions or areas, GB is a must ...............So its a Vaquero or a Tejon (from your list).
Vaquero is lighter (1 nine volt battery) where the Tejon has a separate battery compartment & 8 AA batteries.
Lighter means you can usully swing longer, for us old folks. Research them both under the search function here on the forum & or toss a coin.
Question: Why not list a Super LOBO ?
HaRM
If the good folks @ Tesoro are listening and do this, lets hope that they have a some sort of switch to be able to turn the tone ID (multi-tone) on or off because personally I do not like a multi-tone detector & if I had the $$$ to buy a Vaquero that was only multi-tone I would have to pass on it. I might be an odd duck, but I will take a single tone beep & dig any day.RicS said:
cedarswamp
Active member
I'm with you WV62 make mine a super lobo traq and track the ground, put a 8x9 coil on not as deep as a tejon or veq. but how much and under what conditions.I wont miss to much at nine inches if it has been buried a while.I would be interested in an air test between lobo and tejon and veq all having the 8x9 inch coil anyone up for the challenge,,,,,,,,CEDAR P.S. Holes look deeper than they are so I measure the target:::
88junior
Well-known member
Andy - FYI, I just went through this on another thread.
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?17,1617543 (Vaquero vs. Tejon - for those of you who have both.)
I'm new at this hobby, but I believe I'll go with the Tejon, mostly because it lets you vary the audio character, a plus for us older geezers. Also, If I decide to change and go with the Vaquero later, I already have the investment to make the change. Money-wise, it's always easier to downgrade than upgrade.
The Vaquero gets high praise, indeed. It would be my next choice by the slimmest of margins.
My advice is to search the forum, look at the features available on the different models, and read all the reviews you can find. There you can find out what features people like and what they don't like.........Then flip a coin!!! No, seriously, research your butt off and decide.
Reply Quote Report
Just my two cents worth woodennickel they make high tone Vaqueros and Cibolas that help people with hearing loss. Even though the Tejons is adjustable and you can set it where it's comfortable for the user.
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?17,1617543 (Vaquero vs. Tejon - for those of you who have both.)
I'm new at this hobby, but I believe I'll go with the Tejon, mostly because it lets you vary the audio character, a plus for us older geezers. Also, If I decide to change and go with the Vaquero later, I already have the investment to make the change. Money-wise, it's always easier to downgrade than upgrade.
The Vaquero gets high praise, indeed. It would be my next choice by the slimmest of margins.
My advice is to search the forum, look at the features available on the different models, and read all the reviews you can find. There you can find out what features people like and what they don't like.........Then flip a coin!!! No, seriously, research your butt off and decide.
Reply Quote Report
Just my two cents worth woodennickel they make high tone Vaqueros and Cibolas that help people with hearing loss. Even though the Tejons is adjustable and you can set it where it's comfortable for the user.
johnnywayne
New member
Your a weekend hunter why fork out alot of money, go get a used or almost new El Dorado and save a ton of money and get just as good or better (in my opinion) machine.
WV62
Well-known member
88junior said:
That's good to know, I haven't seen anything about that. After I master the Tejon I may look at the Vaquero or Cibola to compliment my other detectors. I was just over to the website and didn't see anything on high tone, is that like a special order thing or you buy a stock machine and send it back to Tesoro and have them adjust the tone? Just curious, gun fire and aircraft engine noise have just about done my hearing in.
Ron in WV
hardrockminer
New member
pkrska said:
pkrska,
It will find very small targets. When prospecting like coinshooting you can find lots of trash.
The old miners were'nt tree huggers & you find alot of trash out there in the gold fields.
Some people do use the LOBO for parks/schools, but because it is so sensitive (to small stuff) some people find it annoying, expecully nubies.
First most people need to define what they want to hunt (coins-joulury-gold-relics ????), where (parks-schools-fresh water beaches-salt water beaches-gold fields-ghost towns-old battle fields-buried treasure ????) they want to hunt now & in the future.
No detector does it all & they all have +'s & minus's. That is why most of the pro's have more than one MDer in his arsonal.
HaRM