Tesoro Vaquero vs Minelab x-terra 505 for relics/coins?

[damiani1]

Thanks rainyday101 I am stoked about hitting that 1812 site that I thought I am missing things at.

 

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[Fletch88]

Damian1 congrats on the XLT.

Fletch88 From what I have read people either love or hate the etrac. Those that love them swear by them and do well with them. The thing is though having a family with three kids just doesn't leave room for that kind of price tag for me. My limit on a land machine would be about $600 and that would leave me with a Tejon, Vaquero, or 505. Different people have different preferences for whatever reason, something they liked or disliked. I am sure in capable hands though, that any one of these three detectors will do just fine.

I feel your pain I have 3 kids and 3 step-kids. I've had to sell certain assets to fund my hobby or more like an obsession. I'm one of the lovers of the Etrac. Its really a different type of detecting all together with this machine.

 

[Fletch88]

Thanks rainyday101 I am stoked about hitting that 1812 site that I thought I am missing things at.

Give us an update when you hit the great finds!

 

[atomicscott]

I haven't used multi tone so I can't argue anyone's facts on that. I don't dig much trash because I sent my disc. just shy of zinc penny and leave the nickels behind for the minelab guys as a good gesture. I don't care about digging rings because no matter which detector you have, if you want rings your gonna dig pulltabs. With my disc setting a clean tone from two directions is a coin 90% of the time. The only thing that occasionally fools me is a twist off bottle cap that is crushed.Don't know for sure, but I am guessing it would also fool a multi-tone because the conductivity of that target is the same as or close to a penny. I am mainly hunting for silver and take the clad as it comes.

If you hunt with low disc. and dig everything I can see where the multi-tone could help you eliminate some trash once you learned the TID numbers.

THE WINNER IS the one that will give the best target separation and you will only get an answer from someone who has used both extensively- Good luck on that one. I would guess Lucky Larry or Terry Soloman could answer that one. You might also call a dealer that handles both Tesoro and Minelab (Miller MDZ) and see what he says. Depth is about the same, target separation in my opinion decides the winner.

The testing I did with a quarter next to a nail was an eye opener. The 505 will give 2 different tones when you scan slow enough. The Vaquero just pops and masks the quarter. If I turn disc to accept iron, I get a beep, (of course its hitting on the nail) but turning up disc past iron drops the quarter out. IMO this is an example of the xterra's good seperation. Haven't heard of anyone who has owned both, but prefered the Vaquero yet.

 

[Ronzie]

The testing I did with a quarter next to a nail was an eye opener. The 505 will give 2 different tones when you scan slow enough. The Vaquero just pops and masks the quarter. If I turn disc to accept iron, I get a beep, (of course its hitting on the nail) but turning up disc past iron drops the quarter out. IMO this is an example of the xterra's good seperation. Haven't heard of anyone who has owned both, but prefered the Vaquero yet.

I got the perfect Tesoro for you Scott.



I've played with the Vaquero a little but not enough as you obviously.
I know all Tesoro's are different, but how do you pick up the nail and get the quarter dropped?
On my Outlaw I can't do that. I can eliminate the nail, but not the quarter. If I crank the disc up past zinc and have both a dime and quarter under my sweep, if I keep going a touch higher I eliminate the dime.
I wish you lived closer cause I'd like a good lesson on your 505 & Etrac. Pretty sure if I was going to get a Minelab it would be the 505 or 705.

 

[atomicscott]

I got the perfect Tesoro for you Scott.

YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxz6oueP4t0

I've played with the Vaquero a little but not enough as you obviously.
I know all Tesoro's are different, but how do you pick up the nail and get the quarter dropped?
On my Outlaw I can't do that. I can eliminate the nail, but not the quarter. If I crank the disc up past zinc and have both a dime and quarter under my sweep, if I keep going a touch higher I eliminate the dime.
I wish you lived closer cause I'd like a good lesson on your 505 & Etrac. Pretty sure if I was going to get a Minelab it would be the 505 or 705.

Im not sure why the vaq did this. I could hit on the quarter 2-3" away, but past that it drops off. With iron not disced, I get a solid signal. As I turn up disc the nail drops out, but so does quarter. Dime was much worse. The xterra numbers jump, but I get 2 distinct tones that tell me its a coin & iron.

 

[rainyday101]

Yeah guys having three kids does strap the budget a little especially when all three are athletes. If I had the money from one year for shoes for all the different sports I would be rich. Not to mention sports camps and equipment! The kids come first though so I have to do the best with what I can afford. Some day one of these kids will be playing pro football (hopefully for the Packers).

I have done really well on coins with the Silver uMax with a 1894 Barber Quarter in excellent condition being my best find. Picked it right out of a trashy area. This inexpensive little detector is a coin vacuum when the disc. is set to cherry pick. It excels in trashy areas and picks the coins from the trash non-stop. The Tiger Shark has been a fantastic machine also. It's hard to convince the wife you want another detector when the two you have keep doing so well with.

AtomicScott, I can't but help wonder if there was something wrong with the disc circuit on your Vaq. because my Silver has no problem with coin/nail test. Now it doesn't totally disc out the nail as you will get pops and crackles, but when you get over the coin you get a nice clean coin tone. My disc works just like what Ronzie describes for his outlaw. I might be wrong, but on a Tesoro you should not be able to disc. out a Quarter. Again, I think that there might have been a disc. problem on your Vaq. I often dig my coin and find the discriminated items in the hole with the pin pointer above and around the coin. If when the time comes I decide to go with other than Tesoro, it will no doubt be the 505. The 705 is a great machine also but has lots of stuff I don't really need because on land my target is silver coins and the clad that comes with it.

You might ask if the Silver uMax works so good why do want another detector? My answer is to make sure I am not missing anything deeper and to see if there is another detector in that price range that could have even better target separation abilities than the Silver. I have also read and seen test done that show that the Silver loses depth with the 5.75" concentric where the Vaq. virtually loses no depth with that size coil. So.... if this were true the Vaq could get better target separation and still have excellent depth. That would be a win win situation for me. One day I was detecting in a park and a guy came over to talk to me that uses a Whites DFX. He asked how the Silver did in trash. I was in a trashy area where you could not go 1-2 inches without hitting trash. In a short time I zeroed in on a coin and plucked it from the ground for him. He was impressed as can be. When I did this I unplugged my headphones so he could here the audio to see how trashy the area was. He stuck around for a bit and I pulled two more coins out of the trash for him. He said he could do that with his DFX but was amazed at how well such an inexpensive detector could do that.

Ronzie, I have looked at the Golden but right now it is on production hold for a problem with the programming for the audio circuit.

 

[atomicscott]

Yeah guys having three kids does strap the budget a little especially when all three are athletes. If I had the money from one year for shoes for all the different sports I would be rich. Not to mention sports camps and equipment! The kids come first though so I have to do the best with what I can afford. Some day one of these kids will be playing pro football (hopefully for the Packers).

I have done really well on coins with the Silver uMax with a 1894 Barber Quarter in excellent condition being my best find. Picked it right out of a trashy area. This inexpensive little detector is a coin vacuum when the disc. is set to cherry pick. It excels in trashy areas and picks the coins from the trash non-stop. The Tiger Shark has been a fantastic machine also. It's hard to convince the wife you want another detector when the two you have keep doing so well with.

AtomicScott, I can't but help wonder if there was something wrong with the disc circuit on your Vaq. because my Silver has no problem with coin/nail test. Now it doesn't totally disc out the nail as you will get pops and crackles, but when you get over the coin you get a nice clean coin tone. My disc works just like what Ronzie describes for his outlaw. I might be wrong, but on a Tesoro you should not be able to disc. out a Quarter. Again, I think that there might have been a disc. problem on your Vaq. I often dig my coin and find the discriminated items in the hole with the pin pointer above and around the coin. If when the time comes I decide to go with other than Tesoro, it will no doubt be the 505. The 705 is a great machine also but has lots of stuff I don't really need because on land my target is silver coins and the clad that comes with it.

You might ask if the Silver uMax works so good why do want another detector? My answer is to make sure I am not missing anything deeper and to see if there is another detector in that price range that could have even better target separation abilities than the Silver. I have also read and seen test done that show that the Silver loses depth with the 5.75" concentric where the Vaq. virtually loses no depth with that size coil. So.... if this were true the Vaq could get better target separation and still have excellent depth. That would be a win win situation for me. One day I was detecting in a park and a guy came over to talk to me that uses a Whites DFX. He asked how the Silver did in trash. I was in a trashy area where you could not go 1-2 inches without hitting trash. In a short time I zeroed in on a coin and plucked it from the ground for him. He was impressed as can be. When I did this I unplugged my headphones so he could here the audio to see how trashy the area was. He stuck around for a bit and I pulled two more coins out of the trash for him. He said he could do that with his DFX but was amazed at how well such an inexpensive detector could do that.

Ronzie, I have looked at the Golden but right now it is on production hold for a problem with the programming for the audio circuit.

Got it back from Tesoro after having coil respun. They said it was fine and rusty gave it ok on final testing. Nothing wrong. Others have had the same complaint about the vaqueros disc circuit. Now the disc on the Compadre was waaayyy better than the Vaq. Much more accurate, didnt fool me all the time with rusty iron that sounds just like a quarter. The ed180 disc is much better than ed120, IMO. Its not discing out the quarter, the large iron nail is 'masking' it out. When I disc nail, coin drops off. It wont separate the 2 unless they are 3-4" away from each other. I had to crank the disc way above iron to knock out the large nail all the way so it didnt pop & click on it.