compadre vs silver umax

rainyday101

Hero Member
Dec 1, 2012
779
346
Peshtigo, Wisconsin
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Tejon, Tesoro Silver uMax, Tesoro Tiger Shark
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I have a few Tesoro's, but the compadre is not one of them. My favorite though is the Silver. I have no problems with it finding silver coins. Last season on a freshwater beach I found an extremely thin small kids ring about 4" deep in the sand. It was so small my pinpointer had a hard time finding it. I personally don't believe the 2khz difference between the two detectors is enough to really matter. The Tiger Shark is like a Silver on Steroids, also at 10 KHz, and it loves gold. I will probably try a 10 x 12 coil on the Silver this year if I can ever get out of the water with the Tiger Shark.

If I already had a Compadre though I would step up to a Cibola, Deleon, Vaq, or Tejon.
 

OP
OP
W

woodknack

Full Member
Feb 2, 2015
170
42
Detector(s) used
USING-Tesoro DeLeon, Vaquero, Compadre

OWNED-Bounty Hunter Platinum, Whites Classic II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Ya I think there is a little more to it then the 2 kHz difference. I found this on another site.

Just FYI, and this is from Monte, the Compadre is a different circuit design without the low-noise, high gain circuitry of the Silver and has a retuning feature and enables the Compadre to find targets other detectors, including the Silver, can't find because of iron or mineral infestation in certain areas.
 

luvsdux

Bronze Member
May 16, 2007
1,767
690
Lewiston, Idaho
Detector(s) used
Multiple Tesoros and Whites
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
So then the all metal switch really is not that important then. If your cherry picking you wont need it because your going to have the discrimination cranked to get just coins. And when your not your going to thumb the knob anyway. So all metals on the discriminaton knob would work the same for you As the switch on the silver.
To the best of my knowledge, All metal is the deepest setting on all detectors, plus all metal will respond to a target that is masked where the masking nail or whatever does not respond as it is disced out and therefore you also miss the desirable target next to or under it. To me, the all metal switch is always a plus.
A better way to put it is if the disc setting ignores the nail and the desirable target is too close, you'll get no response at all, but in all metal you'll get a response to the masking material so that you know something is there.

luvsdux
 

Last edited:
OP
OP
W

woodknack

Full Member
Feb 2, 2015
170
42
Detector(s) used
USING-Tesoro DeLeon, Vaquero, Compadre

OWNED-Bounty Hunter Platinum, Whites Classic II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
To the best of my knowledge, All metal is the deepest setting on all detectors, plus all metal will respond to a target that is masked where the masking nail or whatever does not respond as it is disced out and therefore you also miss the desirable target next to or under it. To me, the all metal switch is always a plus.
luvsdux

I agree and the compadre has one too. It's just on the knob not a switch.
 

OP
OP
W

woodknack

Full Member
Feb 2, 2015
170
42
Detector(s) used
USING-Tesoro DeLeon, Vaquero, Compadre

OWNED-Bounty Hunter Platinum, Whites Classic II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I have a few Tesoro's, but the compadre is not one of them. My favorite though is the Silver. I have no problems with it finding silver coins. Last season on a freshwater beach I found an extremely thin small kids ring about 4" deep in the sand. It was so small my pinpointer had a hard time finding it.

Imagine what you might have missed that a compadre would have picked up.

Just a thought that's all.
 

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
I actually tried a 10x12 coil on my Silver and was disappointed with results. It only gained between half inch and one inch on any target I tried and the audio was distorted or "rough" sounding. Even on silver coins. I called Tesoro after my test and was told this was normal and shouldnt expect much more depth with any coil over the 8". And that the machine would need to be sent in to be tuned to the big coil to get good audio. Smaller coils seem to give good audio on good targets.
 

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
Kinda takes away from the changeable coil benefit. ..doesnt it.
 

OP
OP
W

woodknack

Full Member
Feb 2, 2015
170
42
Detector(s) used
USING-Tesoro DeLeon, Vaquero, Compadre

OWNED-Bounty Hunter Platinum, Whites Classic II
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Kinda takes away from the changeable coil benefit. ..doesnt it.

I agree!
unless they are 8"or smaller.
But if you don't already own the coils ,I don't believe it's worth the extra money for the coils. If your going to do that you would be better off with a more expensive tesoro.

That's why I was wondering what the difference between the two minus the extras on the silver. which one picked out more targets. I think we all know both are real close and both are great detectors. Knowing what I know now, I'm glad I got the compadre For the money Though.
 

Last edited:

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
Yep...I agree. But if they put a manual GB on the Silver Umax I will buy another.
 

jld66

Sr. Member
Oct 28, 2014
250
234
Maine
Detector(s) used
Vaquero with 8x11, 8x9, 5.75 concentric coils.
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Yep...I agree. But if they put a manual GB on the Silver Umax I will buy another.

i seen on another forum recently that someone had a manual GB with a toggle to switch between manual and fixed GB put on his silver Umax. says he likes it a lot. another forum member did it for him. dont think it cost him all that much. just loose the warranty of course.
 

atomicscott

Bronze Member
Aug 18, 2011
1,564
1,055
Riverside CA
Detector(s) used
Current: Nokta Makro Simplex+, Teknetics Patriot, Fisher Gold Bug (original), GP Pinpointer (Garrett Clone) Lesche. Owned: Omega 8000, Minelab X-Terra 505, Fisher F2, Tesoro Vaquero, & Compadre, Whit
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Other than being able to adjust sensitivity, in the case of interference or such, probably nothing. I've seen it posted that the Compadre has some different circuitry than the Silver. Good, bad or indifferent I couldn't say.

I a full feature guy in case you couldn't tell by my choice of detectors LOL. Tesoro just never fit my needs. I tried the Compadre thinking it would make a killer tot lot detector being so small and light. The depth just wasn't to my needs.

I was able to get an inch more depth by adjusting the internal sens trimmer (I think its VR2?) counter-clockwise a bit. Still as great as the Compadre disc was, I have to agree that I always felt I was missing the deeper stuff. And after swinging the F2 in the same sites, I found I was pulling deeper coins the Comp just could not reach.
 

luvsdux

Bronze Member
May 16, 2007
1,767
690
Lewiston, Idaho
Detector(s) used
Multiple Tesoros and Whites
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Somewhere in this thread the question was posted as to why Tesoro doesn't offer the sensitivity, coil swapping etc. on the Compadre. If they did, It would no longer be a very basic, one knob detector for $160 or so. Bottom line, in my opinion and many others, it's a pretty capable detector for the price even though you can't expect it to be a depth demon, all things considered.
luvsdux
 

atomicscott

Bronze Member
Aug 18, 2011
1,564
1,055
Riverside CA
Detector(s) used
Current: Nokta Makro Simplex+, Teknetics Patriot, Fisher Gold Bug (original), GP Pinpointer (Garrett Clone) Lesche. Owned: Omega 8000, Minelab X-Terra 505, Fisher F2, Tesoro Vaquero, & Compadre, Whit
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Somewhere in this thread the question was posted as to why Tesoro doesn't offer the sensitivity, coil swapping etc. on the Compadre. If they did, It would no longer be a very basic, one knob detector for $160 or so. Bottom line, in my opinion and many others, it's a pretty capable detector for the price even though you can't expect it to be a depth demon, all things considered.
luvsdux

Yep, I agree. For the money you cannot expect any more features. It does perform much better than one would expect for $160.
 

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
It has been said before but.....The Compadre is another tool in the toolbox. Not the best machine for every task, but at $160 brand new it is a tool worth having! I love using mine. I wouldnt grab it to hunt civil war relics; but newer parks and such it is great! The best thing about this machine is any age or any experience level can use it successfully.
 

jld66

Sr. Member
Oct 28, 2014
250
234
Maine
Detector(s) used
Vaquero with 8x11, 8x9, 5.75 concentric coils.
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
i would mind trying out one of those modded out compadres that sometimes you see on these forums though.
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Top