Tesoros in bad ground....

DiggerinVA

Bronze Member
Sep 16, 2013
1,669
1,661
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
Detector(s) used
GPX5000, AT Gold, AT Pro, Whites TDI, Bandido 2 umax, Tejon, Vaquero, Deus 2, ORX and Legend
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Tesoro's in bad ground....

Is it true that Tesoro's dont handle bad, or highly mineralized soil well? Mainlt talking about the Tejon and Vaquero.....In videos i have watched Tejon seems to do better in bad ground with DD coils???
 

Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
19,421
30,104
White Plains, New York
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Legend// Pulsedive// Minelab GPZ 7000// Vanquish 540// Minelab Pro Find 35// Dune Kraken Sandscoop// Grave Digger Tools Tombstone shovel & Sidekick digger// Bunk's Hermit Pick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Is it true that Tesoro's dont handle bad, or highly mineralized soil well? Mainlt talking about the Tejon and Vaquero.....In videos i have watched Tejon seems to do better in bad ground with DD coils???

The Tejon, Lobo Super Traq, and Vaquero are very good in hot soils.
 

luvsdux

Bronze Member
May 16, 2007
1,767
690
Lewiston, Idaho
Detector(s) used
Multiple Tesoros and Whites
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Any of the manual ground control detectors do well in nearly all ground.
luvsdux
 

digger27

Bronze Member
May 18, 2011
1,506
3,225
In Birmingham Ala. we had the same issues with heavy mineralization that most of the south has with an extra twist that the rest of the state and most of the south didn't have...veins of naturally occurring iron ore and tiny nodules of iron mixed in with about 90% of the soil that you could actually pick up with a magnet if you ran one through that devil dirt.
Birmingham does not have the nickname "The Steel City", for nothing.
Even my Vaq with manual GB and a DD coil got about the same depth as my Compadre, my F2, a friends E Trac, all the White's units that the club guys used and everything else in the VLF type of detectors available, and just about everyone was on an even playing field no matter what you swung because of it.
Maybe PI units could work better but very few seemed to use them in that area of the country from what I could gather.
The depth was pitiful, but it still didn't stop me from finding coins galore and a large amount of other treasure including silver and gold.

When you move out of that immediate area the ground was still extremely hot but better, and I do know of many relic hunters in Georgia, other parts of Alabama, Missisippi and Tennessee that used Vaquero's with great success despite the still challenging soil issues.
 

Last edited:
OP
OP
DiggerinVA

DiggerinVA

Bronze Member
Sep 16, 2013
1,669
1,661
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
Detector(s) used
GPX5000, AT Gold, AT Pro, Whites TDI, Bandido 2 umax, Tejon, Vaquero, Deus 2, ORX and Legend
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Luvsdux....I know that any manual GB machine will do better in tough ground than a auto or fixed GB machine. But all manual GB machines are not equal in bad ground. Most of my ground is very mild here but i have a few rough places, and they just happen to be old, civil war and earlier spots. So targets are deep! In normal, good ground my ATP seems a little deeper than the Outlaw; however, in bad ground i think it is the opposite with the Outlaw having the edge. So i know the Vaquero is quite a bit deeper than the Outlaw, and if it handles bad ground as good.....the Vaquero might be just what i am looking for and same with the Tejon...
 

razerback408

Jr. Member
Dec 9, 2013
43
24
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Luvsdux....I know that any manual GB machine will do better in tough ground than a auto or fixed GB machine. But all manual GB machines are not equal in bad ground. Most of my ground is very mild here but i have a few rough places, and they just happen to be old, civil war and earlier spots. So targets are deep! In normal, good ground my ATP seems a little deeper than the Outlaw; however, in bad ground i think it is the opposite with the Outlaw having the edge. So i know the Vaquero is quite a bit deeper than the Outlaw, and if it handles bad ground as good.....the Vaquero might be just what i am looking for and same with the Tejon...
So i know the Vaquero is quite a bit deeper than the Outlaw this is not true they are very close in depth
 

OP
OP
DiggerinVA

DiggerinVA

Bronze Member
Sep 16, 2013
1,669
1,661
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
Detector(s) used
GPX5000, AT Gold, AT Pro, Whites TDI, Bandido 2 umax, Tejon, Vaquero, Deus 2, ORX and Legend
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
That is the thing about this site....15 people tell you something on a post so you take it for the truth; only to have 15 different people tell you the opposite the next week! I DO KNOW that the outlaw with the big DD coil is very comparable in depth to the ATPro because i have had them on the same targets several times and on any given day/ situation one could out do the other. And i have always heard about the amazing depth of the Vaquero and Tejon. So if the Vaq is no deeper or very little deeper than the Outlaw; i just aswell keep my ATpro and my money in my pocket! I have two posts going right now with one side saying the Tesoros(Tejon & Vaquero) are near worthless in mineralized soil and the other side saying they work great! I can use my ATP in the nasty dirt but i only get around 6 inch targets.....so if im not going to get atleast around 3 inches deeper theres no point. Do people just run their mouths about topics they know nothing about or do some people even know what mineralized dirt is??? When an ATPro wont hit an eagle coat button at 5 inches in the red clay of some of our civil war camp areas; THATS MINERALIZED DIRT!
 

Last edited:

luvsdux

Bronze Member
May 16, 2007
1,767
690
Lewiston, Idaho
Detector(s) used
Multiple Tesoros and Whites
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I guess I'm fortunate to hunt mostly in areas with reasonable, if not mild, soils most of the time. I haven't personally hunted an area where my Eldorado umax or Vaquero couldn't handle the mineralization pretty well so what some of you describe is out of my experience. I have hunted some river beaches with several preset machines that chatter some due to black sand mixed with the beach sand, but turning back the sensitivity and turning up the disc helped a bit, but at a loss of depth.
luvsdux
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top