Will Tesoro Compadre Work For Nugget Hunting.

[Ralphyk]

Hi. I am new to metal Detecting. I want to look for nuggets in the hills and forest of the Southern Oregon area. I live in Gold Hill a town known for its gold.
Would a Tesoro Compadre be a waste of my time. I have that and a Bounty Hunter Tracker 4. I know about the expensive Models made for that purpose but I cant afford those.

 

[rmptr]

Ralph, congrats on a great machine !
It is vastly under-rated.

It could find nuggets, yet is not designed for that purpose.
IMO, the Compadre would not be capable of rejecting interference from black sands and other mineralization that commonly run with Au in it's natural state.
Chances are you could find the BIG ONE, but pass over many other smaller targets in that environment.

Lobo Super Track is better design for that sort of task.

Good luck !

 

[Ralphyk]

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking The Compadre would give me my best chance at finding nugs for 150 dollars. Some day I would like to get a better model Tesoro but I really wanted a Tesoro so I got the Compadre. I read that they mostly have trouble with wet sand so I was hoping it would find nugs in dry dirt.

 

[slingshot]

I would really like for someone who has tried it to answer-my feeling is that the Compadre CAN be lowered enough to deal with small quantities of black sand. Here's what I DID discover by accident. While adjusting the ground balance pot, I went too far and started picking up some rocks. Turns out that TRUE a/m detectors nulled on them. So I had to reset it to where it just rejected it and depth was great without all the noise. So, it could be possible, maybe? to get closer to black sand mineralization but if you couldn't do it without opening up the detector, you stand a slim chance of breaking the pot if not careful and voiding the warranty. I have read several articles where some were found with the Compadre-and last week I got a signal on the metal ball in an ink pen refill and couldn't hardly believe it. They are tiny. This was in a totlot with mineralized pea gravel, also.

 

[Diggler]

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking The Compadre would give me my best chance at finding nugs for 150 dollars. Some day I would like to get a better model Tesoro but I really wanted a Tesoro so I got the Compadre. I read that they mostly have trouble with wet sand so I was hoping it would find nugs in dry dirt.

I think you are right!

 

[slingshot]

[attachment 184461 Jan10107.JPG]And it also does well otherwise!
Found these this am at a tot lot.

 

[Killer]

Gave my Compadre a run in the Victorian Aust goldfields, was very surprised how well it ran in very mineralised ground. The detector is unmodified with the 7 1/2" coil and while i didnt find any gold nuggetts it pulled some interesting relics from an old home site. Wont replace my Minelab PI in the goldfields but could become my backup machine. Killer

 

[Ralphyk]

These are some inspiring reply's. I feel like I made a good choice on what to get with my measly budget.
Selecting a detector can be quite confusing. I will be saving for a Cibola or a Vaquero to better suit my quest for gold.
I have a feeling the Compadre will be with me to stay though. People seem to regret it when they sale their Compadre.

 

[Ism]

Ralph,

Your question got me curious about small gold nuggets so I did a test on my Vaq. Using a 1/2 gram 14k nugget, my Vaq airtested it at 5+ inches in AM mode. The moment I switched to disc mode the depth dropped to an inch on both the stock coil and my DD coil. The same happened with a 1/2 gram lead nugget which may be a closer reaction to naturally occuring gold. If you plan on discing out iron, the Vaq may not suit your needs. While I like Tesoro detectors, there are other detectors that are priced little more than the Vaq and specifically designed for nugget hunting.

 

[trueblue]

. People seem to regret it when they sale their Compadre.

yeah sold mine and yep I reget it soon as I can afford I will buy another

 

[Ralphyk]

Im thinking am mode will be fine for prospecting. The country around here is not heavy in traffic. I don't expect to find as much trash. The Vaq seems suitable with that 14 khz and manual ground balance option. Im not interested in finding nuggets I will need a magnifier Glass to find and tweezers to pick it up.