Best detector for jewelry on a budget

jimmyzr1 · Mar 14, 2013

I'm looking for a great detector for finding gold jewelry mainly on soccer fields, baseball diamonds and parks. I'm not interested in coins with this detector only jewelry. I have other detectors (Minelab, Whites) for the coins. A detector that's good on chains as well as rings that's no higher than $400 preferably less.

Terry Soloman · Mar 14, 2013

Tesoro Compade; Tesoro Vaquero - Big Gold to you!

gleaner1 · Mar 15, 2013

Everyone is on a budget, well, almost everyone. The thing to remember is that there is no best tecter for finding any type of crap, just like there is no better sand wedge to make just any sand trap shot. Word on that.

LinkHylian · Mar 15, 2013

Garrett ACE 350 or I highly recommend saving your money for a Garrett AT Pro. Bart at bigboyshobbies.NET can hook you up real good. Good luck and may gold find its way to you.

jimmyzr1 · Mar 15, 2013

I had a ace 250 and didn't care for it. I think this time I'm looking for Tesoro. I will only be using this at sports fields for the most part. I'm leaning toward the compadre unless there is something out there that is much better on gold jewelry in this kind of hunting.

SpiritRelic · Mar 15, 2013

I had read a lot about the compadre being excellent for jewelry.The Golden can be adjusted to give a quack sound when it hits over gold.Utube,53Silver shows this in his Utube video.You are right in your thinking about a Tesoro for jewelry.World know for being very good for jewelry. :-D

chinchilla · Mar 15, 2013

the señor compadre is a good choice

olfacere · Mar 15, 2013

The Compadre was designed to be a cheap and simple, but durable and high-performing, machine to be used for hunting coins and jewelry in easy soil (sounds like exactly what you want to do). There is no other detector in the same price range ($160 new) that will beat it. It also comes with Tesoro's famed lifetime warranty. I hear they'll soon offer the Compadre with an 8" coil, which is nice. Pick the 5.75" coil to better read between trash items or the 8" for covering more ground. I don't know if the coils are changable, though.

P.S. I've heard that the Compadre tends to like small, gold chains more than most detectors.

atomicscott · Mar 15, 2013

Oh Ya! Compadre for sure!

rainyday101 · Mar 15, 2013

Compadre, but don't overlook the Silver Umax. Both are great machines for little jing. I got my Silver uMax off ebay for $160. Best little detector I ever had.

jimmyzr1 · Mar 15, 2013

Which coil would be best for soccer fields, the 5.75 or the new 8" coil? I know the 5.75" coil is the one that everyone has used but would the 8" be as sensitive to the small and large gold jewelry. It would over the ground quicker.

olfacere · Mar 15, 2013

rainyday101: If you got a MicroMax Silver for the price of a Compadre, then you got a deal! The Silver is my first and only detector for now.

jimmyzr1: The 5.75" coil would be better for jewelry. It's a trade-off. My Silver has an 8" coil and I've found it to be quite sufficient.

rainyday101 · Mar 15, 2013

Olfacere, it was on a buy it now or make an offer auction on ebay. I offered $160 and thought there was no way they would take it. Next thing I know the offer is accepted and payment is required. So I bought it. It was like brand new and I don't think it was ever used. Not one scuff on the coil or a nick anywhere. It also still had the factory battery in it and it was still good. I only got to use it for about 8 hours until the snow came and the ground froze, but I learned a lot in that time and loved it. It doesn't take long to learn this thing. I am highly impressed with the 8" concentric for it's depth and target separation.

Buy one from a sponsor of the forum and you can really get some good deals. Miller DMZ is a sponsor that handles Tesoro.

jimmyzr1 · Mar 16, 2013

I ended up buying the Compadre with the 5.75" coil yesterday.

kjb1769 · Mar 16, 2013

Congrats on the Compadre. I really like mine.

olfacere · Mar 16, 2013

You won't be disappointed with the Compadre. For high-value, near-surface goodies, it's the best deal ever.

Acquisitor · Mar 17, 2013

Any garrett ace except for the ace 150

jimmyzr1 · Mar 17, 2013

Here is a gold and garnet ring I found today

with my new Compadre detector in a tot lot. I found it after about 20 minutes detecting. It is 14k yellow gold an weighs 11.4 grams.

Dign-nbama · Mar 29, 2013

I vote for the Tesoro Golden Umax,, :icon_thumright:

Mzjavert · Apr 14, 2013

jimmyzr1 said:
Here is a gold and garnet ring I found today with my new Compadre detector in a tot lot. I found it after about 20 minutes detecting. It is 14k yellow gold an weighs 11.4 grams.
Oops, I cannot post the picture for some reason.

Not a bad way to pay for your machine.