Disc on the Compadre.....

[Auba14]

I have a question to all of the Tesoro experts out here. Was just wondering if the disc tends to fall off if the target is real deep? In other words if it hits as a dime at 2" will it disc the same at 8"? Just wondering, will try to do some real world testing on this but was just wondering if anyone had come across this. Thanks in advance for all of your expertise.......

 

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[digger27]

Yes it does lose depth as you turn up the disc.
Many owners have posted about this over the years on the forums, mine does it too, and from what I can gather it is not the same on every one...there is a range from very little to a bit more but there is no common number and any number of units can differ slightly.
It is not a lot like several inches but there is some depth drop off and different soils might have something to do with this also, I suspect.
I have seen high tone targets like dimes that are deeper near the end of my scanning field that act normal, solid and sound great at lower disc but go away completely way before I thumb the knob up to max disc so deep targets can be misidentified if and when this happens.
After realizing this I changed the way I hunted and set the knob way low below iron and all the way down to all metal most times to get the most and the most solid signals then thumb up the knob on every target.
I also changed to dig all solid targets as I thumb up and past the fade out point and then back down to listen closely to how targets came in.
Many Tesoro owners use this method exclusively, for us it seems to be a more accurate way to ID targets than just turning the knob up to the fade out point as all the manuals say to do.
For me about 80-85% or a bit more of all trash targets came in noisy with at least a few if not many clicks, ticks and chatter before they firmed up as I lowered that knob whereas most good targets just seemed to "come in" quietly with very little or no noise...they just appeared solid.
Even on those better deep ones that disced out in areas below normal because of the slight depth loss seemed to act this same way.
Not a perfect way to do this but my way to avoid digging a ton of trash which I am not willing to do anymore and still dig more than my share of the better treasure out there and this method has worked for me for years in both good and bad soil conditions in more than one state in different parts of the country.

Dig a deeper dime, copper cent, quarter or any other high conductive target that should not disc out at all but does and you will realize this is true...dig a few of these type of signals and you will come to know this is not a fluke but normal for this unit and adapt your hunting style accordingly.
It is not really a huge deal if you understand this might happen from time to time and learn to deal with it, it happens on some other brands and units too as you raise up the disc so more common than you might think.
If you are hunting in areas where most targets tend to exist deeper and this effect happens all the time and it bothers you logic says maybe a change in tools should be considered...eventually.
The Compadre, as great and wonderful as it is, has never been considered a depth demon so for hunters that have a need to get to the deepest regions consistently maybe a Vaq or something else more powerful might be in order.
There is a reason many of us have more than one tool in the arsenal.
I used my Compadre a lot and found a ton of coins, jewelry and other treasure, enough to pay for itself ten times over, but when I ventured into sites that were older and targets were suspected to be deeper I had a few other more powerful and deeper tools to choose from for that application...and I did.
The right tool for the right job sort of thing.


Curiously, and keep in mind I have only used my Mojave for dozens of hours and not hundreds and hundreds like my experience with my Compadre, but this is something I have not seen so far out in the field on that one.
Even the deepest high conductive targets don't disc out low including at lower gain.
Then again my difficult SE. mineralized soil tends to up average most targets as you get deeper here, something that has happened a few times using the Compadre but happens all the time using my Mojave.
Most of this discing out too low effect I noticed happening many more times when I hunted in much better and almost perfect low mineralized beautiful black soil in Kansas and Missouri so as I mentioned the type of dirt you hunt in needs to be added in to all equations when deciding on which targets to dig.

 

[steve1357]

I have a question to all of the Tesoro experts out here. Was just wondering if the disc tends to fall off if the target is real deep? In other words if it hits as a dime at 2" will it disc the same at 8"? Just wondering, will try to do some real world testing on this but was just wondering if anyone had come across this. Thanks in advance for all of your expertise.......

Yes

just to add, my Vaquero though can identify a high conductivity target deeper than my latest upgraded F75 whizbang using disc mode in both.....

I believe Tesoro has the deepest discriminator mode I've ever experienced.

 

[ToddB64]

I have a question to all of the Tesoro experts out here. Was just wondering if the disc tends to fall off if the target is real deep? In other words if it hits as a dime at 2" will it disc the same at 8"? Just wondering, will try to do some real world testing on this but was just wondering if anyone had come across this. Thanks in advance for all of your expertise.......

Auba14,

Focusing on the sentences I colored in your above paragraph, if I am understanding correctly, you are referring to a scenario like the following, to which I have included some specifics to create a valid test.

Hunting with your Compadre Disc. knob set at a specific dial indicator position, let's say for example the white indicator line is on the "I" in Iron, you have it set at that particular spot on the faceplate and intend to leave it at that fixed position as you scan the coil over moderately mineralized soil and making an effort to keep the coil 1" above the soil (not the grass, the soil.). You then hit a clad Rosie dime at 2" depth and get a solid hit. You dig it and resume hunting and then get another hit from a clad Rosie dime at 8" depth and at that target depth and the conditions specified, you want to know if you will get a solid hit on the 8" deep target....again, with the Disc. knob still at the original fixed position. In this example, I was forced to stipulate that the Disc. knob indicator is left at a fixed position, otherwise, if you were changing the knob position, it would invalidate the results of this scenario.

Now, if I have described the above correctly as you meant it, then it is impossible to give a black and white answer, due to many factors. I'll mention just one here to get my point across. As Digger27 indicated, there could be a variation in operation from batch to batch of the circuit boards and coils coming off the manufacturer's production line, due to manufacturing tolerances. This could certainly vary exactly where the scanning field ends from one Compadre to another and reduce to a null return signals from a target at or beyond the edge of the scanning field.

Was that clear as mud ?

ToddB64

 

[Auba14]

Thanks to all. You have all indeed answered my question. Going to try starting out in the lowest disc and listen to how the signal comes back in. I think that is where I have been a bit confused with the Tesoro "language". Will also be looking to upgrade but that will not be for a while. For now I will just be using what I have, and having a blast. Thanks to all HH.