Compare Mojave EMI and Ground Condition Question

[Kneelteam6]

First, this will be my first detector. I want, and will own, a Compadre for reasons you already know. I can also wait a month and get the Mojave with it's ground switch and sensitivity adjustment, but have read posts where these too were unusable due to chatter (with sensitivity turned down) while another detector worked fine. I know it comes with the territory and will eventualy own one for all the places it will work fine.
Here is the problem. My first dig, and very important to me, will be right outside my back door. I live above an 1830 tavern that began life as a hotel. There is a pond that folks remember playing hockey on as far back as 50 years ago. There is a runoff creek, an old barn, small wooded area, and it boarders an old school that is now a church. I know it has not been detected in the 20 plus years the current owner has had it. Now for the bad stuff.
It sits down the road from the site of America's first iron furnace, in Colebrookdale, Pennsylvania. That runoff creek empties into Ironstone creek, and called that for a reason. Gonna guess alot of iron in the soil. Then there is the tavern that I live above. Think a ton of flouresent lights and just as many cell phones not to mention WIFI. I use an antenna for TV and lose channel 6 as soon as the bar opens, so yes interferance. There is also a power line running right past the property. So what would you do?
Would hate to have my first detector unusable where I most want to detect. I really want a Compadre or Mojave but would hate having to save for a second detector just to get started. I cannot afford, right now, a higher end Tesoro that might work, but really want to be a Tesoro guy. Any Compadre or Mojave owners out there who think it could work?
Thanks in advance, Craig PS That post title supposed to say Compadre not Compare.Duh!

 

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[digger27]

I live and hunt around Birmingham Alabama and I have that mineralized red clay all round, (if not shallow there is a layer below any of the black stuff), mineralization in the black stuff too plus tons of extra iron everywhere.
That iron ranges from microscopic to tiny to small and all the way up to huge.
I hunt in the middle of parks where the EMI can be no problem to the edges of parks near homes and even the lawns of many homes themselves where EMI can definitely be an issue.
Using a very sensitive F70 the chatter can be intense, some because of EMI but also a lot caused by just the ground conditions and what is in it.
I learned to get fairly deep with it here but not as deep as it could get in very good soil out west in Kansas and Missouri...I had to learn a new language to do it, however and it is usually far from quiet and stable but I learned deal with it with a lot of experience.
In these same sites I have used a few other detectors.
An F2...not very deep at all and still a bit jumpy.
A Vaquero...pretty stable but nowhere as deep as others can get in good dirt and it seemed to like to target iron more than I prefer.
A Compadre...deals with all the iron a bit better, nice and stable sounding but still not all that deep.
A Red Racer...not to bad on the iron but overloads bad on shallow targets both good and bad and there are so many of those here especially in the iron family.
An Equinox 800...real new with this one but it does seem to be pretty darn stable on targets than most others I have used.

Last year I traded away my Vaq and got a Mojave which was a crapshoot because I had no idea how it would work here or if it could deal with all my challenges.
I was hoping it would not like to target iron as much as my Vaq did and be similar to my Compadre with great separation and sensitivity.
My biggest hope was for it to go just a little deeper than my Compadre.
What I found was it could handle my difficult devil dirt well, pick out masked targets like a dream, deal with heavy EMI around buildings and most other sites better than I hoped and it is not just a little deeper than my Compadre but several inches deeper.
I still have yet to hunt at a site where I need to use that mineralization switch on high and even in heavier EMI areas where I need to dial the sensitivity back I found the depth to be surprising even if it is dialed all the way down to 1.
I am thrilled with the way it works here and even though it still likes to hit on iron there are ways to understand and deal with that.
It has all the advantages and super powers of my Compadre but it is at least as deep as my Vaq ever got to and if you can believe it I think it might be even a bit deeper.
Don't ask me why this can be true but it sure seems to be on a few surprisingly deeper targets I have dug which surpassed anything I ever found with the Vaq.

I talked to Alan Cannon at Tesoro about something else before I got my Mojave so as long as I had an upper echelon Tesoro guy on the phone I asked about it.
He told me despite what many think this is not a Compadre on steroids but it is it's own entity with a bit different technology than the Compadre...or the Silver or other models for that matter.
He said the 8" coil is probably the optimum coil for it and a bit deeper mounted on this thing than the 7" standard and internally it is not tuned to be anywhere as hot as it could have been set to out of the factory.
As a matter of fact there was some heated meetings where many wanted these set to be higher than what they ended up to be but they opted to turn it down a bit so it would be quieter and more stable in most areas of the country and dirt types.
Also I believe he said the gain on this one cannot be adjusted on a pot like you can on the Compadre but I have never had a need to take it apart and see if this is true...It is plenty deep enough for my needs as it is.

This is in my dirt, I don't have a lot of alkaline filled dirt which I don't believe the Mojave handles well but I do have more than my share of mineralization, iron and heavy EMI at some sites.
My gamble paid off, I never take out the Compadre anymore, the Mojave is my go-to when I feel like swinging a Tesoro.
Your mileage can vary but the only way you will know for sure is to try one or talk to someone in your neck of the woods that has used one.


By the way...great name!

 

[Kneelteam6]

Thanks for the very informative reply, digger27. Makes the Mojave look very promising. As I've said, I can't get the Mojave for another month but I think I have a way to make that month not seem like a year. Gonna order a cheapo BH Tracker IV to putter around with for a month as I learn a few things. It will then become a guest detector or sold to a friend. I want Tesoro because I love all things analog. Get the feeling that, If you master a Compadre or Mojave, you can hunt with your eyes closed and become a better digger. They say that, if you learn its language, it contains the same bells and whistles as the flashy detectors and I can't wait to get going.
Now I gotta rent me one of those storage lockers to store all those gold bars and stuff I'll be finding. LOL.
Thanks again, helps alot, Craig

 

[Terry Soloman]

Don't waste money on a less capable machine because you are itchy to get started. Buy your kneepads, digging tools, gloves, maybe a pinpointer! Be smart, and patient!

 

[ecmjamsit]

If you had to, you could ground the detector. Have a ground rod with a wire, connected to the coil lead that comes out the box. I know this is extreme, but should work. Even aluminun foil around the control box might help.

 

[Kneelteam6]

If you had to, you could ground the detector. Have a ground rod with a wire, connected to the coil lead that comes out the box. I know this is extreme, but should work. Even aluminun foil around the control box might help.

Interesting. I keep reading that the interfierance is introduced through the box. I would have thought it would be picked up by the coil. They sell shielding tape that is used to shield the electronics in electric guitars. It would be easy to shield the board using that tape. Gonna guess that high end detectors come shielded and seems like a no brainer. Thanks for the input, Craig

 

[Terry Soloman]

There is NOTHING that can shield a machine from EMI. The Mojave can get chatty in heavy EMI, but repeats on a good target every time. I would start with low sensitivity and High discrimination, digging every solid target.