Joining the tesoro train...

[68kaiser]

Well I have been trying to decide on what detector to get to replace my F4. The F4 has been great. But I want more from a detector than it can give. It lacks depth and the vdi is poo after about 4" deap.
I have been torn between the vaquero and the at pro. I am pulling the trigger on the vaquero next week. Found a dealer close by that has the black V with the new wide scan DD coil at a good price.
I normally dig any signal above iron unless I am cherry picking. So why spend so much more money for a screen that lies to me. I do want a water proof metal detector maby the V will help fund the perchuse. I am sure I will be asking a lot of questions in the near future.
I figure on getting the 5.75 consentric coil next I think with it and the wide DD coil should cover most hunting that I do. This time next week I should be giggling like a school girl going over places I have dug all repeatable signals with my F4. Can't wait to report back with the finds..

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[Bill G]

The Vaquero is a sweet little detector and it works great with the 11x8 RSD widescan coil (pinpoints off the tip perfect with the wiggle method). The 5.75 concentric is a must have for your arsenal and it works great in trash. I also like the 4 pin 8" round concentric donut coil on the Vaquero for a hair more ground coverage than the 5.75 coil. The 8" concentric donut coil also works pretty darn good in trash and is one of my favorite size Tesoro coils.

The Vaquero rocks as an all purpose detector. I calibrated or reset my disc knob on my Vaquero to drop nickels right on the nickel mark. The knob was set off a little from the factory and was dropping nickels past the nickel mark, this is an easy fix or adjustment to do to any Tesoro. Now when I thumb the disc knob to help identify items and it's pretty much spot on throughout the target ranges.

In the pic's below I have my 5.75 DD/widescan on my Vaquero but I tend to use the 5.75 concentric more often. The concentric is great in trash as said and it discriminates very well much better on screw caps than the DD/Widescan does. But I do use the DD/widescan every now and then when needed in the more heavy mineralized areas.

Enjoy your new Vaquero and Happy Hunting,
Bill G

* Tesoro Black Tejon
* Tesoro Black Vaquero
* Tesoro Sand Shark
* White's M6

 

[DiggerinVA]

I have owned both the Vaquero and the AT pro....Like both pretty well. AT pro will be easier to learn and master quickly but screen will only be so much more accurate than the f4. Once mastered, the Vaquero will make finds that the AT pro cannot. It is deeper (same size coils) and has better "unmasking" abilities. Get a mid sized or small concentric coil for unmasking trashy areas. I like the 5.75 concentric. I sold my Vaquero but only because I never used it after getting the Tejon.....I love the Tejon! I don't use the AT pro anymore either but my son and wife do and is a good machine for water hunting. If you are in an area and just want raw depth, the Vaq can be super tuned and will get VERY impressive depth even on small targets. Disc accuracy will suffer a little but the depth you get when super tuned out of a machine powered by one 9v battery is something to see!

 

[smokeythecat]

I love my Vaquero. People keep asking me for information as to what I use, right after I show them a gold ring or some coins, and they are shocked as the low price I paid for the machine.

I have seen people waste hours trying to let the meter tell them what's in the ground when all they had to do was dig the hole and be done with it. Last time I thought it was a quarter close to the surface, it was a gold ring.

 

[doggoneitdignit]

Just thought I share my thoughts on this thread as well. I recently did purchase a digital display Garrett 300i and only 3 weeks later been reading alot on the analog Tesoro Vaquero beep and dig machine. Thought about the Tejon and almost picked one up Amazon for a really good price but made may decision after reading and watching videos from scannerguy1968 and 53silver on how good the V really is. I still use my Garrett in parks and decided that machine would be for my son as a beginner to intermediate machine. Only after having the V for about 1 1/2 months while detecting high amount of trashy parks in my area and decided on a smaller coil, and just received my 5.75 concentric 3 weeks ago.

I was debating on the the 5.75 wide scan even had it on order and changed it to the concentric instead, I am sure either one would be good but since I have the black with the 11x8 RSD that Bill G has shown why not pick up a concentric for the more trashy park areas..instead of two widescans?? Only time will tell and again sure either would be fine..but speaking about mineralization my Saskatchewan area contains a fair amount of sodium bentonite. Orhto dark brown and Gleysolic locustrine deposted type clay. I cannot say I have alot of iron in the ground from where I live, but I have heavy dark brown to black clay in my area and very hard to dig in my type of soil...what does this have to say about the halo effect on coins and some types of jewelry and even surrounding iron? Likely I imagine the deeper objects will have a bigger impact from the moisture we tend to receive over time, like anyone else but knowing that clay has a higher affinity over time on the effect of ground material conductivity and a certain amount of fallsing can be expected and would be an issue.

I wanted to make sure if choosing the 5.75 Concentric may help in this area...I don't know, maybe this has to do with more discrimination and ground balancing more often (another benfit why I purchase a V) but when you start talking target separation and responsiveness I figured I have a larger widescan why not put the money to a smaller concentric and hope that the signals I am hearing will help not only with discrimination but with pinpointing just a bit better. I understand a certain amount of moisture in the ground assist in the conductivity target signal that you will hearing, but in trashy areas you just can't beet that smaller concentric coil. From what I read high mineralization go with the wide scan if that is what you are dealing with in your area, and really get to learn the soil and what is in your area you are scanning, for more trashy areas, concentric. But if you have both that is why I purchased the way I did.

Now the 8" donut looks like my next purchase or the 5X10 elliptical don't no.

Im not one to talk but I will add this, it has been over 35 years since starting up the sport again, and just recently here..but my Whites 4000 D Series 3 8" concentric every target I dug with that trusty machine at mostly 3-4 inch max was more then a coin then junk at times in the surrounding parks, but I have learnt and can see why this sport is more challenging coming from what has been in our ground and what we are now digging up over time.

I have found a good read Mastering the Tesoro Tejon and Vaquero Metal Detectors Kindle Edition
by C. Thorsten, you may want to look into this

Now that I am back into the "swing" of things, Thanks to the Loonie and Toonie, I sure imagine that these will be increasing my finds overall.

Great start of a post and my first reply being a newby to this site, great to be back. HH.

 

[68kaiser]

Smokythecat.... I hear you... Think less dig more!!! Get a good "round" repeatable signal.. Time to dig and go to the next. If its trash that's a good thing, get the sh!t out of the way of the good stuff.

 

[Bill G]

Just thought I share my thoughts on this thread as well. I recently did purchase a digital display Garrett 300i and only 3 weeks later been reading alot on the analog Tesoro Vaquero beep and dig machine. Thought about the Tejon and almost picked one up Amazon for a really good price but made may decision after reading and watching videos from scannerguy1968 and 53silver on how good the V really is. I still use my Garrett in parks and decided that machine would be for my son as a beginner to intermediate machine. Only after having the V for about 1 1/2 months while detecting high amount of trashy parks in my area and decided on a smaller coil, and just received my 5.75 concentric 3 weeks ago.

I was debating on the the 5.75 wide scan even had it on order and changed it to the concentric instead, I am sure either one would be good but since I have the black with the 11x8 RSD that Bill G has shown why not pick up a concentric for the more trashy park areas..instead of two widescans?? Only time will tell and again sure either would be fine..but speaking about mineralization my Saskatchewan area contains a fair amount of sodium bentonite. Orhto dark brown and Gleysolic locustrine deposted type clay. I cannot say I have alot of iron in the ground from where I live, but I have heavy dark brown to black clay in my area and very hard to dig in my type of soil...what does this have to say about the halo effect on coins and some types of jewelry and even surrounding iron? Likely I imagine the deeper objects will have a bigger impact from the moisture we tend to receive over time, like anyone else but knowing that clay has a higher affinity over time on the effect of ground material conductivity and a certain amount of fallsing can be expected and would be an issue.

I wanted to make sure if choosing the 5.75 Concentric may help in this area...I don't know, maybe this has to do with more discrimination and ground balancing more often (another benfit why I purchase a V) but when you start talking target separation and responsiveness I figured I have a larger widescan why not put the money to a smaller concentric and hope that the signals I am hearing will help not only with discrimination but with pinpointing just a bit better. I understand a certain amount of moisture in the ground assist in the conductivity target signal that you will hearing, but in trashy areas you just can't beet that smaller concentric coil. From what I read high mineralization go with the wide scan if that is what you are dealing with in your area, and really get to learn the soil and what is in your area you are scanning, for more trashy areas, concentric. But if you have both that is why I purchased the way I did.

Now the 8" donut looks like my next purchase or the 3X10 don't no.

Im not one to talk but I will add this, it has been over 35 years since starting up the sport again, and just recently here..but my Whites 4000 D Series 3 8" concentric every target I dug with that trusty machine at mostly 3-4 inch max was more then a coin then junk at times in the surrounding parks, but I have learnt and can see why this sport is more challenging coming from what has been in our ground and what we are now digging up over time.

I have found a good read Mastering the Tesoro Tejon and Vaquero Metal Detectors Kindle Edition
by C. Thorsten, you may want to look into this

Now that I am back into the "swing" of things, Thanks to the Loonie and Toonie, I sure imagine that these will be increasing my finds overall.

Great start of a post and my first reply being a newby to this site, great to be back. HH.

That book is well worth reading and very informative (a must read if you own the Tejon or the Vaquero).

After hunting with both the 5.75 concentric and the 5.75 DD/widescan I give points to the concentric for pinpointing (I normally just X the target with no problems and very seldom ever use the pinpoint button) and finding its way through trash plus being a better discriminator by design. I give points to the widscan for covering a little more ground faster because you don't need to overlap as much with it as you do a concentric also the widescan may be a hair more deep in super mineralized ground and do better on super small gold items like a small nugget (I don't nugget hunt with my Vaquero). Both these coils take up such a small ground foot print I just don't see the concentric having a grip of issues in the more mineralized ground verses the widscan unless the ground is just super bad.

If I had to give up one 5.75 coil over the other since I have both I would keep the concentric for the reasons stated. Others mileage may vary on this but that's my 2 cents.

Also a mid size coil like myself and others have said is nice. Again I like the 8" 4 pin concentric donut coil with the short cable (one of my favorite Tesoro coils). On another note I find the new stock 11x8 RSD coil to be a superb coil and use it a lot in open park and other more open areas and for it's size is works in trash very well and is light and balanced.

Pic's of 3 favorite Tesoro search Coils below for the Tejon and the Vaquero.

Happy Hunting,
Bill G

* Tesoro Black Tejon
* Tesoro Black Vaquero
* Tesoro Sand Shark
* White's M6

 

[doggoneitdignit]

That book is well worth reading and very informative (a must read if you own the Tejon or the Vaquero).

After hunting with both the 5.75 concentric and the 5.75 DD/widescan I give points to the concentric for pinpointing (I normally just X the target with no problems and very seldom ever use the pinpoint button) and finding its way through trash plus being a better discriminator by design. I give points to the widscan for covering a little more ground faster because you don't need to overlap as much with it as you do a concentric also the widescan may be a hair more deep in super mineralized ground and do better on super small gold items like a small nugget (I don't nugget hunt with my Vaquero). Both these coils take up such a small ground foot print I just don't see the concentric having a grip of issues in the more mineralized ground verses the widscan unless the ground is just super bad.

If I had to give up one 5.75 coil over the other since I have both I would keep the concentric for the reasons stated. Others mileage may vary on this but that's my 2 cents.

Also a mid size coil like myself and others have said is nice. Again I like the 8" 4 pin concentric donut coil with the short cable (one of my favorite Tesoro coils). On another note I find the new stock 11x8 RSD coil to be a superb coil and use it a lot in open park and other more open areas and for it's size is works in trash very well and is light and balanced.

Pic's of 3 favorite Tesoro search Coils below for the Tejon and the Vaquero.

Happy Hunting,
Bill G

* Tesoro Black Tejon
* Tesoro Black Vaquero
* Tesoro Sand Shark
* White's M6

Ahhh Thanks Bill you just answered my recent post on General Discussions on widescan vs concentric on gold grain and nugget detecting, that Terry Solomon responded too.

Thread: Tesoro Vaquero or Tejon on gold grain and nuggets finds.

 

[doggoneitdignit]

That book is well worth reading and very informative (a must read if you own the Tejon or the Vaquero).

After hunting with both the 5.75 concentric and the 5.75 DD/widescan I give points to the concentric for pinpointing (I normally just X the target with no problems and very seldom ever use the pinpoint button) and finding its way through trash plus being a better discriminator by design. I give points to the widscan for covering a little more ground faster because you don't need to overlap as much with it as you do a concentric also the widescan may be a hair more deep in super mineralized ground and do better on super small gold items like a small nugget (I don't nugget hunt with my Vaquero). Both these coils take up such a small ground foot print I just don't see the concentric having a grip of issues in the more mineralized ground verses the widscan unless the ground is just super bad.

If I had to give up one 5.75 coil over the other since I have both I would keep the concentric for the reasons stated. Others mileage may vary on this but that's my 2 cents.

Also a mid size coil like myself and others have said is nice. Again I like the 8" 4 pin concentric donut coil with the short cable (one of my favorite Tesoro coils). On another note I find the new stock 11x8 RSD coil to be a superb coil and use it a lot in open park and other more open areas and for it's size is works in trash very well and is light and balanced.

Pic's of 3 favorite Tesoro search Coils below for the Tejon and the Vaquero.

Happy Hunting,
Bill G

* Tesoro Black Tejon
* Tesoro Black Vaquero
* Tesoro Sand Shark
* White's M6

Sorry to sabotage this post, if I may add a final note to Bill G last post.

I often thought as much as others have, since you have both 5.75" widescan and concentric and the 8" and the stock 11x8 widescan/DD would there be any reason for you to get the 9x10 concentric or even the larger 12x10 DD Tesoro coils now for your twin set? I want to leave out aftermarket 3rd party coils at this time. And since you have the 8" concentric donut would you even need the 5x10" elliptical?

What are your final thoughts on the go to coils that you currently have when speaking specifically the Vaquero and Tejon? Would one really need more then 4 coils interchangeably per machine. I think you really have a nice match up here for both machines and think anything more would warrant money that could go to another machine in the future, am I right?

Reason is that I may go down the same path if I like what I have so far.

Regards

 

[Bill G]

Sorry to sabotage this post, if I may add a final note to Bill G last post.

I often thought as much as others have, since you have both 5.75" widescan and concentric and the 8" and the stock 11x8 widescan/DD would there be any reason for you to get the 9x10 concentric or even the larger 12x10 DD Tesoro coils now for your twin set? I want to leave out aftermarket 3rd party coils at this time. And since you have the 8" concentric donut would you even need the 5x10" elliptical?

What are your final thoughts on the go to coils that you currently have when speaking specifically the Vaquero and Tejon? Would one really need more then 4 coils interchangeably per machine. I think you really have a nice match up here for both machines and think anything more would warrant money that could go to another machine in the future, am I right.

Reason is that I may go down the same path if I like what I have so far.

Regards

Since I have the coils listed above my way of thinking for me only here is.

As far as the 8x9 spider concentric coil goes that's offered stock on the Tejon and the Vaquero it gets about the same depth as the 8" donut concentric coil in my ground (my older Vaquero had the 8x9 spider coil on it but went with it when I sold it). So if I already had the 8x9 spider concentric coil I would not have got the 8" concentric donut coil. I do like the donut coil a little better than the spider coil though, personal preference here. For me having the 11x8 RSD DD coil there is no need to get the 12x10 DD. With that said the 12x10 DD in certain situations may get a hair more depth because of its size but it is more unbalanced and heavy (the 11X8 RSD DD is so much nicer to swing). For me here I would only get the Tesoro 6x10 elliptical DD coil only if I needed a mid size coil and wanted the design benefits of a DD coil such as nugget hunting or extreme mineralized ground. (They do cut through trash nicely because of there elliptical size).

Great question friend and your thinking clearly and doing research for what's going to work for you.

Also, I love the Tejon and as you said its a great match up or mate to the Vaquero.

Happy Hunting,
Bill G

* Tesoro Black Tejon
* Tesoro Black Vaquero
* Tesoro Sand Shark
* White's M6

 

[smokeythecat]

I have three coils for my Tesoros. The lowly Cibola has dug THREE Confederate buckles in the last year. Only posted 1 here. Need to get pics of the others because they were JUST dug, but I've been really busy. WENT TO A TRUMP RALLY ON SATURDAY and came home so stiff (from arthritis), long line and standing on concrete floor, I "LOST" yesterday to a happy nap. Also got FIVE gold rings, 1 HUGE gold earring, hundreds of CW bullets, some CW Stuff, TWO union buckles/plates, 85 or so CW buttons, Union, TWO gold coins, 1 in 2012 1 this year (third was a fake), couple pieces of Spanish silver, and several POUNDS of coins at the beach. The Vaquera has dug similar, but I use the Cibola out of the box where I got the gold. I got this Cibola in 2012. Also some 1790's US coppers, hard to read the dates, etc. I have the BIG coil on the Vaquera and the out of the box coil on the Cibola. Also have the tiny coil but I don't generally do parks.

 

[digger27]

Don't use the Vaq much anymore but I still pull it out from time to time and I will never let it go.
I had the standard concentric only at first when this was my prime, found a ton and had so much fun.
I added the 10X12 DD eventually looking for better performance in my horrendous mineralized and iron infested soil and never saw a big improvement but still found plenty.
That coil worked way better when I moved to almost perfect soil in the KC. and Missouri area, much deeper and that wide scanning field plus the speed of the Vaq even helped me pay for that coil with a gold wedding ring I found in a large area moving that coil so fast it was comical...but I was looking for one last Hail Mary signal right at the end of a long hunt and it happened.
I decided to get a sniper coil and the concentric was the only one on that list because I hunt so many trashy sites with a heavy infestation of crown caps...a formidable enemy for those that use DD's.
Not even an issue using that coil, plus it also seems to have some superpowers when used in areas with extreme trash and/or iron problems.
On my forth hunt with that coil I also found a gold ring that paid for it even though I was hunting a huge area with a coil so small I had no expectation of great success.
Love it when I am wrong in those situations and surprised.

I use screen unit Fishers too but still love pulling out my Tesoros.
Very productive once you understand the language and a huge amount of fun to swing although in a different way.

 

[smokeythecat]

I also like the Tejon. The newest one with the meter drove me nuts.

 

[68kaiser]

Well its official... My wife was nice enough to pick it up for me, I am working out of town. I got to wait till Friday night to see it. This will be the longest week of my life.

 

[Bill G]

Well its official... My wife was nice enough to pick it up for me, I am working out of town. I got to wait till Friday night to see it. This will be the longest week of my life.

That's great, my wife does stuff like that for me too. She also goes out hunting with me sometimes. She takes a chair and her Kindle book and some drinks and snacks and hangs out with her Geek man (that's what she calls me) as she laughs.

The week will pass quick and soon you will be at it learning your new Tesoro.

Happy Hunting,
Bill G

* Tesoro Black Tejon
* Tesoro Black Vaquero
* Tesoro Sand Shark
* White's M6

 

[68kaiser]

well I got it and it is one sweet looking unit. very small and lite. I was hoping for more depth on the air test. only got 7-8 inches with a quarter no matter how I tuned it. as far as detection I found many coins, a very old horse shoe, and a 10 gauge shell casing from 1874-1890 something. I am getting the hang of the sounds it makes.
honestly I don't miss the vdi screen. I am not lazy and dig most all above iron and was able to tell if it was big iron or a good target most of the time. now I just need good headphones and I will be set. many I can get more depth if I can find out what I am doing wrong. I have watched a lot of videos and read a lot about tuning the V.
is my depth normal? do others lie about what their units do? am I expecting to much?
bottom line is I like the vaquero and look forward to become fluent in its language

 

[Bill G]

well I got it and it is one sweet looking unit. very small and lite. I was hoping for more depth on the air test. only got 7-8 inches with a quarter no matter how I tuned it. as far as detection I found many coins, a very old horse shoe, and a 10 gauge shell casing from 1874-1890 something. I am getting the hang of the sounds it makes.
honestly I don't miss the vdi screen. I am not lazy and dig most all above iron and was able to tell if it was big iron or a good target most of the time. now I just need good headphones and I will be set. many I can get more depth if I can find out what I am doing wrong. I have watched a lot of videos and read a lot about tuning the V.
is my depth normal? do others lie about what their units do? am I expecting to much?
bottom line is I like the vaquero and look forward to become fluent in its language

Don't worry air test are way over rated in my opinion but everyone likes to do them. Some detectors do better than others in air test but in the real world a detector will perform better in the ground than an air test. (The key thing that affects this is ground mineralization and proper ground balance).When you did the air test did you set up the ground balance like the Vaquero manual says for air testing?, not that it really makes that big of a difference. Detectors need real ground under the coil with a proper ground balance without the EMI of your house that affects things not letting the detector perform at it's best.

NOTE,
A really good test garden with coins that have been in the ground for a while will tell you much more than any old air test about a detectors depth (even then there are variables).

Also, sometimes but not always the case the places we hunt don't have coins any deeper than we are finding them even in older areas.

PS. I also really don't miss the VDI meter of metered detectors.

Congrats and Happy Hunting,
Bill G

* Tesoro Black Tejon
* Tesoro Black Vaquero
* Tesoro Sand Shark
* White's M6

 

[pinenut]

Your Vaquero depth...

well I got it and it is one sweet looking unit. very small and lite. I was hoping for more depth on the air test. only got 7-8 inches with a quarter no matter how I tuned it. as far as detection I found many coins, a very old horse shoe, and a 10 gauge shell casing from 1874-1890 something. I am getting the hang of the sounds it makes.
honestly I don't miss the vdi screen. I am not lazy and dig most all above iron and was able to tell if it was big iron or a good target most of the time. now I just need good headphones and I will be set. many I can get more depth if I can find out what I am doing wrong. I have watched a lot of videos and read a lot about tuning the V.
is my depth normal? do others lie about what their units do? am I expecting to much?
bottom line is I like the vaquero and look forward to become fluent in its language

Some things I've learned since I started playing with Tesoros...

Depth will vary, depending on your soil conditions. Don't pay much attention to air tests; in good soil, you may find targets a bit deeper than air tests show, and the opposite will happen in highly mineralized soil, and in heavy trash when discrimination is turned up to ignore that trash.

Since you're in California, I'd expect greater than "normal" mineralization in many places, as compared to what some folks in other states may have, so you may lose some depth. You need to run more + on ground balance in those places, and probably lower sensitivity.
Not that others "fib" on the depth they're seeing, they may just have milder soil, and that makes a big difference.

One small tip - with the Widescan DD coil on your Vaquero, you may find that steel bottle caps don't discriminate out until you almost disc out zinc cents as well. You should be able to tell the sound of the steel caps though, by greatly increasing your swing speed, where those darned caps will sound more harsh and "click". A coin should still sound fairly solid at the faster swing speed, while you'll be able to spot the caps by their click. You'll see what I mean after a while.

Another small (OK - bigger) tip - even though you may read how other people like run their Vaquero sensitivity up high, like 10 ++, claiming that's the way to get the best depth... DON'T! That is to say, not until you know that your soil conditions will allow for it. Some places, like where I have deep composted leaves or pine needles, I can. I can also go far more negative on the ground balance in those spots, and get a little more depth. In high mineralization though, and in trashy spots, I get a more solid target response running sensitivity down low, like around 3-5. There IS A REASON that you have a sensitivity adjustment, and that it's not fixed at maximum! That reason is so you can adjust for your soil and trash conditions, just like you can adjust ground balance. The people who always run close to maximum sensitivity probably DO get maximum depth that way, BUT they probably do not get away with that in mineralized soil, or they won't get a consistently solid target response if they try...
So, when you read people saying to run sensitivity "as high as you can, without losing stability"... think about it, and experiment to see what works best for where you happen to be. Don't assume that maximum sensitivity is best; I find that it's usually not.

^_^

 

[68kaiser]

thanks guys.lots the of good info. I pulled more clad from a friend's yard last night. one was a damn zinc about 5" down, I thought for sure a had a wheaty. going to hit the school yard again today.. has to be some more old coins and relics there. the 10guage shot gun shell casing from the 1800s has me wanting to get back.

 

[doggoneitdignit]

Great explanation Pinenut on the Sensitivity and GB on the V. I am going to test with this next spring after our winter thaw, I think as well Threshold will play a role early spring as due to run off and higher conductivity in the ground as wel the adjustmet of the sensitivity and GB that you have mentioned.

I can practice in on areas near a garden as you have suggested. Seasons and the amount of moisture and yes composting in areas would play a role on soil condition, reason for less compactment especially in heavier clay type environments and higher iron levels in certain areas makes sense to make these adjustment on your instrument in various areas that one would hunt.

I will also keep in mind my coil sizes as well with respect to trashy areas even to with respect to these above mentioned conditions. Spring conditions around parks I may run a 5.75 to start and then later go to my 11x8 after for increased depth going into Spring then early summer in the same areas ,and if needed adjust a 3-5 to 6-7 on the sensitivity to see what I dig up.

Heavy clay type soil is a tricky one to determine over time from very dry type seasons to very wet and what one would need to remember to adjust on there instrument from time to time.

I should get my test bed going with various types of soils next to depth on different types of itemized targets and to see what sensitivity and GB adjustments needed and sounds would have over the seasons?

That would be an awesome video to present over time.

Again great post.