Conquistador What do you think of it ?

[TROOPER]

I have an opportunity to buy a used one..but..I heard it's depth is pretty limited..I live in Mecklenburg County,North Carolina...That means thick red clay soil..I can't find much on it,and I would like honest
input from current or past owners,etc...It doesn't seem like a very popular tesoro model..Thanks in advance for the info...

 

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[SamsSon]

You're talkin about 4 1/2 inches on a wheat and 5 on a silver quarter max. This would be in mild soil with the 8x9 spider coil.

The Conquistador is not nearly as good as the new Silver uMax. The uMax is smoother and about 1/2 to 1 inch deeper with the stock coil. The Silver fitted with the 10x12 mono coil will match almost any VLF made today.

But the best Tesoro is the Tejon due to manual ground balance and a hyped up receive. But for the money the Minelab Sovereign GT is a much better machine and buy.

If I were to buy a Tesoro I'd only buy used. You can get a good used Tejon for about $300-$400. I paid $150 for my last Silver uMax. I sold a near mint DeLeon for $275 postpaid.

In my opinion, Tesoros aren't worth their new prices. But a GT is worth the retail price. But even these can be had at a discount price if you look around.

 

[TROOPER]

SamsSon, it looks as no one disagrees with you.Thanks for the info.
I put it on my don't consider list.

 

[SamsSon]

SamsSon, it looks as no one disagrees with you.Thanks for the info.
I put it on my don't consider list.

I wouldn't say no one disagrees. I've never seen a forum yet where everyone agrees. There are forums where if I said up is up someone would vehemently disagree. Usually it would be someone living in China.

Anyway, this is my take on it. The Conquistador is a nice machine and one can find a lot with it because many nice finds are in the 3-4 inch deep range. But it's old technology and there are now many better offers out there.

 

[jorge del norte]

Re: What do you think of it ?

You're talkin about 4 1/2 inches on a wheat and 5 on a silver quarter max. This would be in mild soil with the 8x9 spider coil.

i don't agree with this at all, and i live in the Piedmont of north Carolina........my Conquistador has sounded off at 6+ plus inches on wheats. silver it pushes to 7 inches (in my test bed in my front yard) with the 8x9 spider coil.

my truth is that i have not had much experience finding silvers anyway......i believe that my hunting spots have been poor for older silver, but when i do find a old spot the silver does surface..location,location,location

i use my Conquistador for coin/jewelry shooting at schools mostly......the thing to remember is that Tesoros discriminate very well.....and if you can get a cheap Tesoro hop on it.......they hold there resale value and are tough as hell!

 

[thorny196]

Allot of people complain about the price on Tesoro's detectors but tell me this what is a lifetime warranty worth one hundred two hundred dollars!! I'm not sure but at least I wont have to throw out my detector because its too expensive to fix and I will never have a two or three hundred dollar repair bill. I find it very hard to compare the prices of detectors from a company that offers a 2 year warranty to a company that offers a lifetime warranty. I own two Tesoro's and I will buy a third one next year if for no other reasons then they are made in the USA by a company that stands by their product with a Life time warranty!! Now someone please tell me what that is worth!!! To me its worth my continued support of their products.. Just my .02 Mike

 

[JOE(USA)]

You haven't said what the price is? Joe

 

[bigtim1973]

Everyone has an opinion about certain machines. I have a conquistador and I absolutely love it. My very first target, the first day I took it out was a civil war .56 caliber bullet. I also found an 1882 indian head penny around 6 plus inches down. The place I found these 2 items was I thought searched out by me with my garrett 250. I could not believe that I found those two items that day. I also found several other civil war rounds out there the following week. I live in middle Tennessee and the soil here has alot of clay in it also. Sometimes there may be a problem someone has with their machine and they do not know it and they just assume the particular model is junk. These same people also may not know how to use a detector correctly. I would buy that conquistador in a heart beat if it is still available. Tesoro makes a good quality machine. If you took a look on ebay you will notice that you hardly ever see a conquistador or the eldorado, which had a ground balance otherwise the same a conquistador, and when you do see those used tesoros that go up on an auction, they sell for all the money. This goes for the other older machines also, like bandito and silver saber 2, etc. This tells me one thing, the people who have these machines, hold on to them because they are good units, not because they only find a penny 4 inches in the ground. I dug a clad penny with my conquistador I know over 10 inches down because, I almost gave up digging. The conquistador is a great unit for relic and coinshooting. I do not know how it performs on the beach though since I have never taken it there but, I am sure it might do fine.

 

[Tnmountains]

I am sure this thread has long since expired but should anyone look at any info on a conquistador they should read this. I live in Chattanooga Tn. I relic hunt and my Conquistador pulls them out of the ground. It is great in trashy or rocky areas or heavy wooded areas. I was hunting last weekend along Chickamauga creek in a flood zone that had about two feet of silt in it. I foung this out when I dug a milk cap at around 12 inches. The depth of my digging bayonet. I carry an old bullet and some targets in my pocket to check the machine every now and then. I have to say it works great for me. I watch everyone else sit and fiddle and ground balance and tune their machines while I am on my knees digging targets. I like that you can change frequencys and not get any cross talk and its a breeze hunting under any power lines. Old technology maybe,,, not a lot of bells and whistles it just wants to hunt.

 

[EddieR]

I gotta say it....OVERALL, Tesoro can't be beat. Well made, lifetime warranty, good depth, awesome service if you ever need it. The Conquistador wasn't made to compete with 1000.00 machines. But I'll tell ya, put it in the hands of somebody that knows how to use it and it WILL give a high dollar machine a run that it won't forget. Yes, I use Tesoro. I also use Fisher, Bounty Hunter, and Whites. I am not partial to any one brand. If I'm coinhunting, I'll grab the Fisher or the Whites. Relics, I'll grab the Tesoro or the Bounty Hunter because they go DEEP. You can build a shack with just a hammer and nails, but to build a nice house, you need a variety of tools. I'm not saying that one detector won't do it all, it just makes it easier if you have a machine that's better suited for the type of hunting you plan to do.

 

[Michigan Badger]

Really every post here is good.

It's true in some soils the Cortes may get only 5 inches and in others maybe 8+ inches on coins.

A lot of these depth posts are like a dog chasing his own tail. They really lead nowhere because lots of conditions determine depth. It's really a fruitless discussion.

What's really important is what does a machine find? If it finds good stuff than it's good.

Badger