Got a great deal on a used Vaq on eBay

[GopherDaGold]

Knowing all about Tesoros woes I pulled the trigger on a used black Vaquero on eBay. BIN was $335 + $15 to ship. After several automatic offer rejections we settled on $320 for a total of $335 after shipping.
The detector arrived on December 31st. Not a scratch on it. Not even so much as a scuff on the bottom of the 11×8 coil. Installed a battery and it fired right up making it's sweet analog music. Can't wait to take it out for a spin!

 

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[Professor of Engineering]

Good Luck with the new machine!

 

[smokeythecat]

I loved mine! I had to get it down to two machines, so settled with the Deus and the Cibola. I had a Vaquero, but the Cibola has sentimental value as it found almost all of my shipwreck coins and my first gold coin.

 

[HighVDI]

Awesome deal on a machine loved by so many.

 

[Ammoman]

Outstanding machine! It will serve you well.

 

[IowaRelic]

My vaquero is my sentimental machine. Like your first bike.

 

[creskol]

My vaquero is my sentimental machine. Like your first bike.

They are a great machine! Been one of my favorites!

But now .. I would not trade my Pirate Black Devil Pro 2 for it!

 

[Dragonscout]

I'm feeling ya! I just got a new Nox 800, but since I had a windfall, was looking to get a Tesoro as backup due to their reliability and robust rep. I actually found an almost new Mojave all the way back in Kansas City where I used to live (now I'm in middle Georgia). Thought at first it was the small shop in north KC, but was another hobbyist who was thinning the closet. I got the Mojave and extra coil for $250 shipped. It came in the original box still wrapped and all the paperwork. I am thinking about selling the Nox since they'll be around for the next decade and I can get one later if wanted. Great to hear of your find and happy hunting!!

 

[IowaRelic]

They are a great machine! Been one of my favorites!

But now .. I would not trade my Pirate Black Devil Pro 2 for it!

PLEASE give a deteailed account of how the black devil 2 pro performs against the vaquero! Is it opening up your old sites? Isn’t 2 tone just amazing? I’m very torn between Pirate and deeptech.

 

[creskol]

PLEASE give a deteailed account of how the black devil 2 pro performs against the vaquero! Is it opening up your old sites? Isn’t 2 tone just amazing? I’m very torn between Pirate and deeptech.

Although I am still learning what all the machine can do and what all it is trying to tell me, here are my thoughts on Pirate Black Devil Pro 2 so far. Like I mentioned earlier, this machine is like a hyped up version of my old Troy Shadow X5 detector. The first thing I noticed was how sensitive this machine is, even on the tiniest little objects .. way more so than either the Vaquero and Mojave. I guess that could be bad or good depending on what your hunting habits are, but I like that and am impressed with that capability. In other ways, I find that it and the Vaquero are kinda similar, but I find the Pro 2 goes much deeper than my Tesoro did. I have been hunting with a fellow detectorist who uses a Deus, and have no problem saying the Black Devil Pro 2 holds it own against his machine. I like to run mine just on the line of being stable and unstable, so you have to be alert to the tones. I am still learning what it is saying, but having two tones is awesome! I also found that I can swing it a bit faster than the Tesoro without missing anything. I do think the Tesoro may hold an edge discriminating out large iron, but since I pretty much dig everything, that doesn’t bother me. I am not real thrilled about the battery set up if you have to change them, so I would definitely recommend investing in good rechargeable AA batteries. They will not ship batteries to the US so you will have to buy them yourself.You will also need to buy a European to US plug adapter for the Pro charger which does come with the detector.

 

[pinenut]

Knowing all about Tesoros woes I pulled the trigger on a used black Vaquero on eBay. BIN was $335 + $15 to ship. After several automatic offer rejections we settled on $320 for a total of $335 after shipping.
The detector arrived on December 31st. Not a scratch on it. Not even so much as a scuff on the bottom of the 11×8 coil. Installed a battery and it fired right up making it's sweet analog music. Can't wait to take it out for a spin!

A very good detector, those Vaqueros!
If you haven’t already read or thought about other coils - you need - a 5.75 concentric for it too.. ^_^
The 5.75 concentric is hands down, the best coil Tesoro made for very trashy areas.

 

[IowaRelic]

A very good detector, those Vaqueros!
If you haven’t already read or thought about other coils - you need - a 5.75 concentric for it too.. ^_^
The 5.75 concentric is hands down, the best coil Tesoro made for very trashy areas.

Today I hit a trashy dozed home site and a couple old yards. Used the vaquero with 5.75 (most reliable setup I have) also used the Eldorado with the 12x10 concentric and the 7” widescan. Yep 5.75 is king. That 7” widescan was destroying me in foil and aluminum. It would disc out at zinc!! What!?! Lots of emi in town today, but also notice the 7” having fits over bits of thin flat rusty crusty iron. Harder to ID on the dd. Monte was right....