Old Compadre or A new one?

[DiggerinVA]

Is the Old 7" Compadre's really better than the new 8" version? I have read this several places, but wondering if anyone has actually used both? You would think that thee 8" would be a shade deeper and have a shade better coverage......but I know some guys swear by that 7" concentric that Tesoro quit making. Tell me what you think guys.....

 

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[Terry Soloman]

I have both. The 8" is MUCH better!

 

[walnut]

I have both. The 8" is MUCH better!

Why do you say that?

I have a 5.75" that is about 2.5 years old and I like it quite a lot. It just does not cover much ground very fast.

 

[DiggerinVA]

Why do you say that?

I have a 5.75" that is about 2.5 years old and I like it quite a lot. It just does not cover much ground very fast.

Same situation here...bought my son the 5.75 about 3 years ago....now he wants a bigger coil, but the Compadre is great.

 

[Terry Soloman]

The 8" is deeper, just as good in trash, and covers more area.

 

[Crappies-n-Coins]

Why do you say that?

I have a 5.75" that is about 2.5 years old and I like it quite a lot. It just does not cover much ground very fast.

It wasn't designed to "cover ground". It was designed for smaller trashy areas.

Here's a quote directly from Tesoro:

Tesoro Metal Detectors - Official company web site with metal detector models for treasure hunting land or water.

There are many different sizes of coils available and each one may fine tune your hunting but only if you get the correct size. Larger coils go deeper than smaller coils but only on larger targets. When using a large coil, you may lose sensitivity to small targets. A large coil is also more susceptible to masking. Masking happens in the discriminate mode when a good target and junk target are both under the coil at the same time. If the targets are close enough together, the bad target will be discriminated out, and at the same time, the detector will not be able to pick up the good target. Masking is very common in junky playgrounds and in-and-around old house sites. Smaller coils will concentrate the signal and make the detector more sensitive to the little targets. Unfortunately, smaller coils tend to lose depth when compared to their larger cousins. Being that these coils don‘t have as wide a search pattern, they are also less likely to mask targets in trashy hunting situations.

Knowing where you are going to hunt and what you are hunting for goes a long way in choosing the right coil for your needs. A larger coil is used to hunt in a clean area and/or for relics that may tend to be deeper. A small coil will help to find the smaller targets such as gold nuggets or fine jewelry. Small coils can also be used to hunt for coins & jewelry in extremely trashy sites.

 

[ScubaDetector]

My opinion, buy new. You get a lifetime warranty from Tesoro if you have a new machine. They are not transferable. I have a Tiger Shark I bought second hand. Never again. Maybe because it is a water machine it cost a lot to repair. However I love being able to change the coils on it and you can't with the new ones.

 

[walnut]

Yeah, I understand that and have had success using the compadre in the way Tesoro intended. I am just trying to figure out the advantage of the 8". I guess that it is deeper but is still just as good in trash is it. I really like the compadre...

It wasn't designed to "cover ground". It was designed for smaller trashy areas.

Here's a quote directly from Tesoro:

Tesoro Metal Detectors - Official company web site with metal detector models for treasure hunting land or water.

 

[digger27]

I have a 7" coil version and have several hundred hours on it...found lots of silver and gold jewelry and plenty of coins.

A couple of years ago a very generous member of another forum ordered a new 8" model and sent it to me for a run through first so for 2 weeks I put it through its paces.
It was pretty much the same fantastic tool in just about every area I compared.
The target separation even in heavy trash was superb, recovery was just as fast, the 8" seemed a bit deeper although I never really came across any super deep target except for a few iron pieces.
I still think it beat out my 7" a little and that was a stock setting while mine has the sense turned up internally to almost max.
The most important super power in my opinion besides the extreme fun part, and a main reason I believe everyone should own one of these if just for this application, was exactly the same on both units.
That would be the ability to double beep, triple beep on shallow targets, on any metal near, close to or even leaning on large metal like big tot lot iron, fence poles or bench legs.
There is no other detector I own with any coil or combinations of settings I have ever used can find these type of close to other big metal coin sized targets as easily and effortlessly as the Compadre can...and believe me I have tried.

There is only one thing that I did find slightly different between the two, and this was not a deal-breaker by any means, was in the area of discrimination.
I am not sure why but I suspect it might be because of the donut coil, and the small coil model might just work exactly the same as my solid 7" coil model for all I know.
On my Compadre when it comes to zinc cents, not the ones that are eaten away but the ones that are still whole, every one of them disc out or in my case disc in because I always dial past the fade out point and then back down, they all end up with the disc knob in exactly the same place every time which would be dead on 3:00...every blasted one and I have dug thousands.
In this world I take everything with a grain of salt but there are a few things I consider in stone.
The sun will always rise in the east and set in the west, the government will attempt to collect what they believe is their fair share of taxes from me every April and full zincolns will disc in at exactly 3:00 every single time on my Compadre.
There actually might be a hairs difference on that disc knob position but if there is it is so close and such a tiny difference I can't tell.
When I used the 8" coil model I dug lots of zincolns and even though many behaved the same and came in at 3:00 several others came in a bit higher and others a bit lower...not much but enough that these differences I could see and I did notice.
Again not a huge deal and I wouldn't have noticed this at all if I hadn't dug so many of these with mine but I did have that experience so it was noticeable to me.
I can't tell you if this disc stuff would be different on any other target type.
Nickels are weird and come in different all the time for me so I would never consider calibrating that disc knob to that coin, trash and even tabs can and do come in at different places and of course high tone copper cents, dimes, quarters and the other bigger coins don't disc out so I have no data on those.
Zinc cents, however, are something I can consider a good target to calibrate to.
Even my Vaquero, as tight as the disc is on that great unit, is not as exact on zincolns as my Compadre is with a couple coming in a bit higher and lower too then at exactly that 3:00 position with 3 different coils.
My older Compadre is exact every time and I trust this, have confidence in this behavior and I hope it never changes.

Again not an earth shaking difference and it would not stop me from buying and hunting with other Compadres if I ever lost or destroyed mine, but once you get used to something and feel you can instinctual count on it it is hard to get comfortable with something else so I am glad I have the older model.

 

[wheatymike]

I have used all three Compadre's and currently have the 7" model. (my son's detector). I never really tested them back to back because I used them at different times. So, I can't speak to the performance differences with much authority. I will say that I did not notice a appreciable difference in the performance. i.e. disc, depth, seperation. However as far as "in use" goes. I will say that the 8" coil would probably be the one I would grab if I had all three sitting in my closet. The coverage of the smaller coils can be frustrating. That being said the small coils 7" and 5.75" sure do fell feather light and are nice hunting in thick under brush. Wow I'm talking in circles. LOL

 

[ToddB64]

I have a 7" coil version and have several hundred hours on it...found lots of silver and gold jewelry and plenty of coins.

A couple of years ago a very generous member of another forum ordered a new 8" model and sent it to me for a run through first so for 2 weeks I put it through its paces.
It was pretty much the same fantastic tool in just about every area I compared.
The target separation even in heavy trash was superb, recovery was just as fast, the 8" seemed a bit deeper although I never really came across any super deep target except for a few iron pieces.
I still think it beat out my 7" a little and that was a stock setting while mine has the sense turned up internally to almost max. The most important super power in my opinion besides the extreme fun part, and a main reason I believe everyone should own one of these if just for this application, was exactly the same on both units.
That would be the ability to double beep, triple beep on shallow targets, on any metal near, close to or even leaning on large metal like big tot lot iron, fence poles or bench legs.
There is no other detector I own with any coil or combinations of settings I have ever used can find these type of close to other big metal coin sized targets as easily and effortlessly as the Compadre can...and believe me I have tried.

There is only one thing that I did find slightly different between the two, and this was not a deal-breaker by any means, was in the area of discrimination.
I am not sure why but I suspect it might be because of the donut coil, and the small coil model might just work exactly the same as my solid 7" coil model for all I know.
On my Compadre when it comes to zinc cents, not the ones that are eaten away but the ones that are still whole, every one of them disc out or in my case disc in because I always dial past the fade out point and then back down, they all end up with the disc knob in exactly the same place every time which would be dead on 3:00...every blasted one and I have dug thousands.
In this world I take everything with a grain of salt but there are a few things I consider in stone.
The sun will always rise in the east and set in the west, the government will attempt to collect what they believe is their fair share of taxes from me every April and full zincolns will disc in at exactly 3:00 every single time on my Compadre.
There actually might be a hairs difference on that disc knob position but if there is it is so close and such a tiny difference I can't tell.
When I used the 8" coil model I dug lots of zincolns and even though many behaved the same and came in at 3:00 several others came in a bit higher and others a bit lower...not much but enough that these differences I could see and I did notice.
Again not a huge deal and I wouldn't have noticed this at all if I hadn't dug so many of these with mine but I did have that experience so it was noticeable to me.
I can't tell you if this disc stuff would be different on any other target type.
Nickels are weird and come in different all the time for me so I would never consider calibrating that disc knob to that coin, trash and even tabs can and do come in at different places and of course high tone copper cents, dimes, quarters and the other bigger coins don't disc out so I have no data on those.
Zinc cents, however, are something I can consider a good target to calibrate to.
Even my Vaquero, as tight as the disc is on that great unit, is not as exact on zincolns as my Compadre is with a couple coming in a bit higher and lower too then at exactly that 3:00 position with 3 different coils.
My older Compadre is exact every time and I trust this, have confidence in this behavior and I hope it never changes.

Again not an earth shaking difference and it would not stop me from buying and hunting with other Compadres if I ever lost or destroyed mine, but once you get used to something and feel you can instinctual count on it it is hard to get comfortable with something else so I am glad I have the older model.

Hi digger27 !

Re your above comment colored blue, do you think my Compadre with the 5.75" coil and standard factory-set sensitivity is giving me comparable (nearly as good) performance in finding coins and jewelry near the tot lot big metal, as your Compadre with the 7" coil and sensitivity turned up internally to almost max ? Add to this that I am maneuvering my coil around the big metal as you have suggested in previous posts.

Thanks,

ToddB64

 

[digger27]

Todd....
From what I have read over the years it appears that not all Tesoros are exactly the same out of the factory and might be calibrated slightly different probably due to human beings doing this calibration.
Very close but not exact.
This is not the only brand either, I have also noticed slight differences between many F2 owners when it comes to depth and VDI numbers.
Might be something to do with soil conditions in different states which will affect all detectors.

As far as Compadres from what I gather the average depth among all of the 7" and smaller coil units seems to be about 6"...that's average with some a bit shallower and some a bit deeper.
That is a pretty good area to reach as far as I am concerned because 95% of my older better coin targets seem to be hanging out there.
I think the 8" coil probably can get to at least 8" deep with stock factory settings but I never dug a coin that deep when I swung one which probably is because I never came across one that deep.
Even though I have my sense turned up internally I did run this thing over a freshly buried coin test garden once and I hit a 6" dime fine but had trouble with an 8" one even on all metal but like I said that's fine.
For deep hunting I use other units like my Vaq or F70, I use the Compadre for finesse, jewelry hunting, hunting near that big iron stuff as I mentioned and sometimes in heavy trash...and for the sheer fun.

As far as the ability to pick up targets near big iron I know the 7 and 8" coils seem to work exactly the same so I assume the smaller coil would be just as good no matter where the sense is set on any of them.

The ultra sensitivity to small, thin and jaw dropping tiny targets, the target separation ability to pick out good targets living in trash and also heavy iron and that super successful hunting near big iron stuff seems to be inherent in all Compadres no matter what coil souped up or on factory settings.
Why do you think I have stated over and over that every hunter should have a Compadre in their arsenal no matter which coil model and even if it is only used at specific sites?
All golfers have a putter in their bag...all hunters should have some kind of a Compadre close at hand.

 

[ToddB64]

Todd....
From what I have read over the years it appears that not all Tesoros are exactly the same out of the factory and might be calibrated slightly different probably due to human beings doing this calibration.
Very close but not exact.
This is not the only brand either, I have also noticed slight differences between many F2 owners when it comes to depth and VDI numbers.
Might be something to do with soil conditions in different states which will affect all detectors.

As far as Compadres from what I gather the average depth among all of the 7" and smaller coil units seems to be about 6"...that's average with some a bit shallower and some a bit deeper.
That is a pretty good area to reach as far as I am concerned because 95% of my older better coin targets seem to be hanging out there.
I think the 8" coil probably can get to at least 8" deep with stock factory settings but I never dug a coin that deep when I swung one which probably is because I never came across one that deep.
Even though I have my sense turned up internally I did run this thing over a freshly buried coin test garden once and I hit a 6" dime fine but had trouble with an 8" one even on all metal but like I said that's fine.
For deep hunting I use other units like my Vaq or F70, I use the Compadre for finesse, jewelry hunting, hunting near that big iron stuff as I mentioned and sometimes in heavy trash...and for the sheer fun.

As far as the ability to pick up targets near big iron I know the 7 and 8" coils seem to work exactly the same so I assume the smaller coil would be just as good no matter where the sense is set on any of them.

The ultra sensitivity to small, thin and jaw dropping tiny targets, the target separation ability to pick out good targets living in trash and also heavy iron and that super successful hunting near big iron stuff seems to be inherent in all Compadres no matter what coil souped up or on factory settings.
Why do you think I have stated over and over that every hunter should have a Compadre in their arsenal no matter which coil model and even if it is only used at specific sites?
All golfers have a putter in their bag...all hunters should have some kind of a Compadre close at hand.

Digger27 .........Thanks much ! I appreciate your taking time with the above reply. It makes me feel really good to know you think a Compadre w/5.75" coil will perform comparable to your Compadre w/7" coil and sense turned up internally when hunting around metal frames and big metal poles in tot lots searching for coins and jewelry !

ToddB64

 

[digger27]

Don't quote me, but I don't think the 7" coil is exactly a right on 7" scanning field.
From what I think I see swinging over a few targets mine does not tone until the edge of the coil is a little over the target...maybe about one half to three quarters of an inch.
Like the wires are not placed exactly near the end but positioned a bit inside the diameter to protect them or whatever.
If this is the case and you lose a half inch all around that would made the 7" coil pretty much a 6" coil in a bigger body.
If those wires are 3/4's" inside the edge my 7" coil would actually be just like your 5.75" coil if your wires are located at the edge.

All I know is it is not heavy, it is fun to use and it works.

I have heard some say, (Keith Southern for one), that certain 7" coil models were a bit hotter than the newest generation but if they were it was probably due to a slightly different configuration on the circuit board and nothing to do with the coils.