Tesoro question

Hello all! Long time lurker...first post. I am primarily a CW relic hunter and in the past my favorite machine was the CZ-5 and various Tesoros. I don't see many posts here about Tesoros which is surprising to me as I have found them to be outstanding beep and dig machines. Anyways, the reason for my post. Currently I am using a Tek Omega and a Tesoro Vaquero. I think the Omega is a great machine for coins, but I have not been overly impressed with it's performance on lower conductors, so I will be selling it and getting a G2. For going deep...I love my Vaquero...it is the deepest detector I have ever used (especially when super-tuned) but I would like to go a bit deeper in pastures and fields. Does anybody have feedback on using the 10 X 12 widescan coil? Bill



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2011 01:33AM by sekypaleo.

I have given Tesoro many chances, but they simply do not perform in my California soil. I have owned the Vaquero, a ground-modded Cibola, an Eldorado, and a Silver Sabre uMax. The deepest they would go into the ground was 6-7 inches, which is unacceptable. I appreciate that they are lightweight and have a lifetime warranty, but I never understood why people talked about them as if they had any depth. They don't, at least not in my ground. YMMV.

Interesting, how bad is the mineralization in California? I have no problem pulling minie balls from the 10-11" range with my Vaquero, and the Tejon which goes just a tad deeper than the Vaquero is one of the top choices for many relic hunters here in the east.

Mineralization here is apparently pretty bad. That's why the only detector that seems to work for me is the Minelab Explorer that I had. My next one will probably be an e-trac, since those are supposed to be a bit better/faster. I just got tired of the weight and slow recovery speed, but the depth was great. I had an F75 LTD for a while too, and that wasn't quite as deep as the Explorer in my ground. I think it's because it was a VLF whereas the Explorer was multi frequency

Bill..................Depending how bad your mineralization is.........I would recommend you try a Minelab Explorer/E-Trac series........for educational purposes. Try to borrow one (saving the money)......or have someone demonstrate it's performance in your dirt. You can/should also perform a head-to-head comparison with your own detector(s)-of-choice...with these Minelabs. I do not know what State you live in......or how bad your mineralization is; but, it does not sound too severe ..... by virtue of you finding 11" deep Minie's. This would also prompt me to believe the F75 LTD would do very well in your dirt.............especially on low conductors.

I love my Tejon, but I live in Mississippi and the soil is apparently not very bad here. I have the stock coil and the 5" coil. The 5" coil is great in trashy areas, but you have to turn down the sensitivity to about 6 or so to help obtain better separation. The Tejon has been my primary relic machine for the last several years and have done quite well with it. I even fished out several 1/2 dimes in very trashy areas.

Also, I just bought the F70 and I am looking forward to trying it on my well hammered camp sites as soon as the deer hunters are out of the woods. (I love the weight of the F70 or lack there of).

Hello Tom, Actually I have tried out and Explorer...I found it to be a pretty impressive machine but with one serious drawback...the weight. When I relic hunt it is usually for 6-8 hours...even swinging my Omega or Vaquero for that long leaves my arm sore. I detected with the Explorer for 1 and 1/2 hours and couldn't take it anymore. To me in todays world it is almost inexcusable to have a machine that weighs that much. I read on another forum of a detectorist who suffered permanent damage to his elbow due to several years of swinging his Minelab E-trac. Were weight not a concern, I would likely be using a Nautilus.
Most of the places I hunt have low to moderate mineralization (the Omega usually balancing in those areas between 58 and 64). I have been considering a F75 LTD or T2 SE, but am concerned about the EMI issues. There are many places that my Omega is basically useless due to the fact that I have to set my sensitivity so low that I lose depth. In one instance the power lines were over a football field lengty away and I could not get sens above a setting of 50. I am pretty happy with the depth of my Vaquero but was curious if anybody could give me any input into the performance of the 10" X 12"" widescan coil.

sekypaleo Wrote:
I have been
> considering a F75 LTD or T2 SE, but am concerned
> about the EMI issues. There are many places that
> my Omega is basically useless due to the fact that
> I have to set my sensitivity so low that I lose
> depth. In one instance the power lines were over a
> football field lengty away and I could not get
> sens above a setting of 50. I am pretty happy with
> the depth of my Vaquero but was curious if anybody
> could give me any input into the performance of
> the 10" X 12"" widescan coil.

That's a legitimate concern. I know I couldn't even detect my backyard with the F75 LTD due to the EMI.

I have recently learned just HOW important it is to mitigate/eliminate EMI with F75, T2, F70.......and reported (in a nutshell) on this forum...the importance of F1 -F7 freq select......in concert with Disc and Sens adjustments as additional tools to reduce EMI. Yes, there are some places that nothing could be done to reduce EMI (buried cables are the worst offenders)......and I had to shut down my hunting intent.