I did some air tests...

[IowaRelic]

First off, I have never air tested any of my detectors really, at least not with a “test” in mind. Tonight I was bored, so I put a battery in the compadre, the Eldorado, and the vaquero. Here’s how they are set up
Compadre: 8” concentric-disc at iron
Eldorado umax: 9x8 concentric-disc at iron, threshold at 2 o clock, Sens at 10
Vaquero: 5.75 concentric- same as above

These are the test items I used:
A union eagle cuff button
A quarter sized floral flat button
A small buckey ball-1/8 oz lead maybe less
A 1905 Indian
A 1948 nickel
A 1942 mercury dime
A large sterling/gold men’s ring

Now I did this test in my garage because the weather sucks. I know the environment is not ideal and that air tests are not a true indicator of performance but the results alarmed me. Basically my fleet of Tesoro’s were solid hitters to 6-8” only in this environment. Here’s more specifics:

On the compadre- it literally smacked all targets to 6” then dropped of sharply. Except on the lead, only 2.5” there. So about what you would expect for the compadre.

The Eldorado. This is a new to me machine. Just got it. It’s already landed me 3 buttons in a few hours work. Not sure what to expect here but it was as follows:
Eagle button- 5”
Flat button-6”
Small lead-3.5”
The Indian-7”
Nickel-7”
Merc dime-6”
The ring-7”

The should-be king, the vaquero:
Eagle button-5”
Flat button-7”
Small lead-4”
The Indian-8”
Nickel-8”
Merc dime-6”
The ring-7”

These were the measurements where I got a signal that I may or may not pass up depending on my pace for that particular hunt. Not very encouraging. I have a lot of goodies from these machines, but I believe I will be shopping for something to round this out a little better. For my style, I believe a t2 is in my future. It sucks. I want to believe that my vaquero leaves nothing beneath me. However, my confidence has taken a hit.

 

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[A2coins]

When detecting you are detecting through soil different mineralization an Air test is not a reliable test many conditions wet iron hot ground ect does your detector have disc iron disc ground balance threshold ect ect ect!!!!!!!!

 

[steve1357]

Good job.

I prefer the ElDorado, just feels and sounds better than my Vaquero.

 

[IowaRelic]

Ok, it’s bugging me bad enough that I had to test again. This time basically supertuning the Eldorado and the vaquero. I focused this time on the merc dime and small buttons and a gold ring. The vaquero just barely edges out the Eldorado on the mid range. On the gold ring and small buttons I was at 8” in the v and 7 on the el. That is not bad at all. In fact pretty good. Now on the silver, I loved what I see. The el and the v both hit the dime at 8 “ pretty solid. So I gained a couple inches per item when super tuned. Now I don’t like supertuning in the field, I don’t like what it does to the disc ability and I don’t like the extra chatter in already poppy iron. But if this is what it takes to eek out performance from these machines, I guess it is what it is. These tests make me feel better about the machines and some confidence restored. I guess I never wanted to crank them that high. I like have the depth modulation on the threshold but I have to admit that putting it at 3 o clock really wakes up deeper target on both machines.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

IMHO: I would think the Eldorado would "do" a bit better. I have an Outlaw "a sibling" of the Eldorado and in ground tests in my old test bed it does a little better on the coins.

 

[IowaRelic]

IMHO: I would think the Eldorado would "do" a bit better. I have an Outlaw "a sibling" of the Eldorado and in ground tests in my old test bed it does a little better on the coins.

A couple weeks ago I couldn’t decide on a Silver Umax or the Eldorado umax. Based on one old post from Monte stating that an Eldorado umax has netted him more coins than any other machine, I chose a super clean used one. Getting ready to get a 12x10 concentric for my field sites after some more research. Any input would be appreciated.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

IowaRelic,

I bet you are going to kill it on coins and jewelry! Good Luck!

My Tesoro Outlaw is a playground killer for coins and jewelry! Just turn on, ground balance, sensitivity to 10 (or perhaps to 7 -8 if area dictates) and set disc. a bit below foil (sometimes lower) and dig all the jewelry others have missed. I will assume you will do the same!

Doc