Is the Mojave the start of a new series for Tesoro?

[deserthoag]

I bought a Mojave the other day and it really opened my eyes after finding a 0.5 gram gold(?) colored ring. I not sure my old Outlaw would have hit it with Iron knocked out. Is the Mojave a start for new series of detectors for Tesoro? With the price point it has , I would think it would replace the Silver and Compadre. Heck, maybe it is the new Compadre. Any thoughts? HH

 

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[steve1357]

No new stuff.

My Silver outperforms my Mojave.

 

[deserthoag]

Thanks Steve, I was just curious why they would have 2 detectors in the same price range. Thanks again!

 

[steve1357]

Thanks Steve, I was just curious why they would have 2 detectors in the same price range. Thanks again!

Everyone has an opinion.

The Silver has an all metal setting. Some think the Mojave is the older Compadre with the 7" coil, the older Compadre was hotter than the current Compadre and uses a different circuit board. Didn't I see where the Mojave circuit board looks like the old Compadre circuit board?

 

[TC024]

No new stuff.

My Silver outperforms my Mojave.

Can you expand on the ways it does better? I remember you saying you got a couple more inch's from the silver!

 

[steve1357]

Can you expand on the ways it does better? I remember you saying you got a couple more inch's from the silver!

I'll have to dig out the Mojave this weekend and get back to you. I just don't remember. I had the Silver for a while and grabbed the Mojave because of all the pixie dust everyone was frothing over. Turned out for me there was no pixie dust, just an old Compadre they added a switch to and new decals...

Here's a quirk I discovered on the Silver...
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/t...max-all-metal-depth-changes-disc-setting.html

 

[digger27]

I have used a Compadre, a Mojave and a Vaquero at many, many places and from what I can see the Mojave works better than the others.
Thousands of hours with the Vaq and the Compadre, maybe close to 100 hours on the Mojave.
That would be in MY area of the SE with a decent amount of mineralization plus an insane amount of iron.
I mean really intense iron most everywhere including in the neighborhood lawns I hunt.

Here the Mojave works in a similar way seems a bit more sensitive than the Compadre and still retains all the Compadre's superpowers like being able to double beep on targets next to big metal objects.
In regular areas the Mojave has found great treasure easily and these are sites that I have hit many dozens of times.
One area is my prime experimentation site as it is an old main entrance to a park that was commissioned in the mid 20's.
It is surrounded by electric wires and some strong WiFi coming from a fire station built on this site in the 60's.
It has train tracks that run right through the middle about 6-8" because I have hit parts of them a couple of times.
Also some black dirt on top for a few inches but then red clay as you get deeper in some areas.
Add in tons of trash and way too much iron and you have the perfect storm of bad conditions for hunting.

Most hunters hunted here for decades and gave up on it declaring it hunted out.
I all the easy stuff is gone but because of the intense masking issues I always thought there was a bunch more here.
I was correct, in the last 4 seasons I have found silver dimes, nickels going back to V nics, Indian heads, wheats, silver jewelry, flat buttons and more mostly with the F70, a few with the Compadre.
I used the Vaq also but the iron made it not fun to hunt here even with a sniper concentric coil.

Before I had even a full hour with my new Mojave I walked into this entrance area an found a beat up silver merc.
First silver with the Mojave...didn't even take an hour - Friendly Metal Detecting Forums

Since then I found more treasure in my normal hunted sites most under difficult conditions.


.


My Mojave appears to be living at a deeper level than my older style, hot, 7" coil Compadre with the gain turned up internally.
It can hit the 3-4" range the Compadre can hit here but easily gets deeper by at least 2 if not 3" more consistently which is shocking to me.
The amount of masked older wheats I have found in pounded hunt sites with the Mojave is pretty amazing also.
For relic hunting I have hit decent sized iron horse tack as deep as 12".
The big thing is comparing the Vaq and the Mojave the new one is just way more easier, enjoyable and fun to use and pretty darn productive, too.

I believe it still likes iron a bit too much as some Tesoros do but there is usually ways you can use to tell with each one and this is easier...for me.

I talked to Alan Cannon at Tesoro once about the Mojave and he said it is not just a Compadre on steroids but a new, upgraded design.
It might seem work similarly but it ain't a Compadre.
He also told me there were some heated meetings about exactly how hot they were going to set them internally before they released this one.
Many wanted it higher than what they settled on because there would be even more depth but the side that one wanted them to be as quiet as possible in most of the areas of the country so it actually isn't maxed out on power.
Fine with me, I am getting deeper than the Compadre and better more reliable ID's than the Vaq gave me so I am happy.
Here, my Mojave is getting just as deep as anything I ever dug with the Vaq and in a few coins deeper.
That also shocked me, I have a theory that the Vaq could probably hit the same targets but I get a different frequency of tones with the Mojave that seems to be more pleasant to listen to so I can pick out more clues.


Out west in Kansas the Compadre worked magnificently...I could get to about 6-7" easily, found me a ton and I had few issues.
If where I live now was the same I never would have thought to think about getting a Mojave or getting rid of my beloved Vaq but things change and now I am all about making it easy on me in this crazy dirt I have to deal with.
The Vaq wasn't getting out much, the Mojave is getting way more swing time because it is fun again.

So I guess where you live might have a bearing on whether the Mojave is a better choice than a Compadre in my experience.
In great soil they all work well.
In problem dirt one model might have advantages and actually help some hunters out more than others.

I won't get rid of my Compadre, either...one day I will throw it in an Otter Box and waterproof it for river and lake hunting.

 

[Hihosilver]

I hope that the Mojave IS the start of a new series... I am impressed with mine as well. I put a brown concentric doughnut coil on mine, for a little more depth, and it pinpoints wonderfully over the doughnut hole. In another thread, I mentioned that I found a quarter at 7”. Forgot to mention in that post that this was with the disc set at max! (It was getting close to quitting time and I wanted see what she could do at max disc.)

I know it is not a depth monster, but in a park or school yard, 7” inches is plenty deep.

I wonder how the Mojave measures up against the Outlaw as far as depth of detection with the same 8” coil. Not disputing digger27’s experience in his dirt with the Vaq and Mojave, but I think many would say in normal conditions the Vaq is deeper. But what about the Outlaw? How does the Mojave c9mpare with it?

 

[doggoneitdignit]

With both of you here but never tried a Mojave but the Compadre and Vaq which does perfom when properly GB and slight negativity when STuned. Given that though your right in bad soil conditions between the two withought power gains on the Vaq the Mojave would win. In my area that is why I turned to the Compadre with the donut, and enjoy why I bought it for what I need. Could I have splurged more for one yes. For simplicity for the Compadre and sharing for others as a turn on and go unit is why I bought it and will leave it in the truck for when I need it as a go to unit for me.

PS

I read about the pixie dust but on normal conditions I lock and loaded on the good old reliable Compadre for me.

Thanks for posting.

 

[doggoneitdignit]

Check this video out on how well the Vaquero does on the 5" ws coil on iron masking.

 

[jld66]

The Mojave may have a small bit of an edge at one small thing over other Tesoro's. However, there is absolutely no way it has an overall performance equal or better than a Vaquero, Outlaw, or a Tejon. I personally don't care what these self proclaimed "experts" say. Obviously they could not set those machines up properly even with their vast amount of hours on them. Guess when they get a preset machine requiring no need for manual adjustments, it does perform better for them because it's all set up for them. The Mojave may be decent, but it is not the best model Tesoro currently offers now because it's their newest. Sticking with the preset simple machines is probably better for some and they should realize that. If you have a Mojave and it's out performing a vaquero, either there's something wrong with the Vaquero or your not setting it up correctly. There is no third way...

 

[tabman]

If I had to pick between the Vaquero and the Mojave, I'd go with the Vaquero (or 10 turn GB Cibola) because it's the best all-round detector. I own both because each can do things better than the other can do. The Vaquero owns the Mojave when it comes to depth. On the other hand, the Mojave really shines when it's used close to foundations that are loaded up with roofing nails. It works amazingly well at shifting through the nails to find the good stuff and it's super fun to use. I love its audio! Can the Vaquero work well next to foundations? Yep, but not as well as the Mojave can. That why I own both. LINK

PS: I have really mild soil to detect in. Luck Me!

tabman

 

[digger27]

The Mojave may have a small bit of an edge at one small thing over other Tesoro's. However, there is absolutely no way it has an overall performance equal or better than a Vaquero, Outlaw, or a Tejon. I personally don't care what these self proclaimed "experts" say. Obviously they could not set those machines up properly even with their vast amount of hours on them. Guess when they get a preset machine requiring no need for manual adjustments, it does perform better for them because it's all set up for them. The Mojave may be decent, but it is not the best model Tesoro currently offers now because it's their newest. Sticking with the preset simple machines is probably better for some and they should realize that. If you have a Mojave and it's out performing a vaquero, either there's something wrong with the Vaquero or your not setting it up correctly. There is no third way...

I invite you to come and hunt where I do have for thousands of hours, bring a Vaq and set it up the most expertly way you know how.
After a few hours we can talk.
My Vaq was deep in great soil, worked extremely well in the dirt out west and found a bunch of great treasure here too.
Pretty sure I knew how to adjust it...I experimented with tons of different ways I got from extremely proficient Vaq owners advice and many more I came up with myself for hundreds of hours.
I would hate to think all that was a waste.

I am not saying the Mojave is actually deeper than the Vaq or has more abilities, it is obvious that the Vaq is on a whole different level.
What I am saying is all that power is not that great of an advantage here in my neck of the woods due to conditions and what the ground is made of and what kind of and the insane volume of junk is laying down there with the treasure.
Here the Mojave does perform better from obsevations, it seems to deal with my iron problem better than my Compadre and yea, even my Vaq.
It goes deeper than my Compadre by several inches and matches or comes immeasurably close to the deeper depths I have ever reached with my Vaq or most other detectors I have hunted with or heard of anyone using.
Depth is a problem here for everyone, not that we can't get deep but too much past 5" the signals get way skewed and scrambled and unintelligible in the bad stuff.
ID's on targets at depth make people successful here, or at least about getting good clues about possible good targets
I had to figure out a new language and set of behaviors using my F70 to crack the code even little bit and find a slew of great targets at the 5, 6, 7" level and even a bit further.
I found there is a level of great extremely masked targets here that everyone missed for decades.
For whatever reason using the Mojave just appears to deal with my masking problems easier, decipher those deeper signals better and more accurately than I ever could with my Vaq.
Just what I have observed hunting here in the south at the same exact sites with both.
In another state and different dirt I would say results would be different.
Not that the Mojave is overall better in performance, it just is a bit better in performance and unmasking here, for me anyway.
Then again maybe I just need a dumbed down unit to be more successful than one with so many confusing settings but I am pretty sure that is not the case.

My area ain't normal, even compared to the normal bad dirt most that hunt in the SE usually deal with.
Our geographic mineral eccentricities are a bit unique and because of the history of this city the iron problems are...well, come here and experience it for yourself.
We have had several people hear us talk about the places we hunt and think they know what bad soil is....even neighbors that live in other parts of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and other regions and think they knew what iron infested challenging dirt is, then they hunt here in the city and most seemed pretty shocked.
I am not complaining or whining, it just is what it is and we deal with it because we have no choice.
The good thing about it is there is still a ton of great targets here, they are just hidden extremely well and lots of them aren't all that deep.
Again the challenge here is not getting signals it is making sense of signals at all depths.
I am just proposing the lower price model does it a bit better...here.

Please, the invite is open, come here and see if you think you can do better with your Vaq than I did with mine here in Birmingham Al. and find out why the nickname of this place used to be Steel City for a reason.
I am always open to learning new things.

Out west in Kansas and Missouri I would agree with what you said about the differences between the two, kind of a different playing field around here and that is the difference and why one is adapted a bit better but I don't expect you will actually believe that until you experience it for yourself.


I believe there is a third way, you just need a few unique experiences to understand how and why that could be as illogical as that seems.

 

[Hihosilver]

I am amazed, the more I detect, the more I realize how much depth can be effected by ground conditions, not just the mineralizations, but also the trash. While I like the Mojave a lot, I think having a detector that will ground balance and go deep with a small coil will be very helpful in areas where I have found some silver, but it’s also very trashy... thus I have my sights on a Vaquero, which holds its depth detection even at higher disc settings.

Now having said that, I do think there is something different about the Mojave, as I have been going over ground that I have covered very well with the Golden micromax, and I am finding stuff with the Mojave that the Golden didn’t see.

For me this is what makes this hobby very interesting, first that you can still obtain high quality analog detectors, and second that these Tesoros all have both similarities and differences for use in different conditions.

 

[eman1000]

I've felt since the first time I saw the Mojave that Tesoro really missed the mark with this detector and I still do!

It does sound like that it has some advantages over the Umax but who knows? It was so poorly marketed in my opinion that I couldn't tell if I was buying something better than a Silver UMAX but not as good as a Vaquero or a modded Outlaw.

Its sounds like the high/low switch is nice for a small % of people in certain soil conditions but that's asking a lot on someone to spend $250 as a gamble if they already own any other Tesoro detector.

Tesoro currently has 6 machines on their site that I think could be 1 maybe 2 machines.

That fact that we are even having this debate just shows no one really knows, which is a failure on Tesoro's part not ours.

This isn't a knock on the capabilities of their machines at all. I just feel like they should do better if they want to keep what ground they still have left.

 

[deserthoag]

On the sand volley ball courts (80 to 85 according to the patriot) the Mojave appears to go as deep on targets on low Gb as the High Gb and just as quiet. My normal soil runs 50's to low 60's on average. I just though this was unusual in the high mineral sand.

 

[jld66]

I don't think Tesoro needs another line of models. Expanding the capabilities of what they have out now would be nice. Pirate, Deeptech, Goldenmask, all have all been raising the bar with features like dual freq. and two tones at lower disc levels for years on the "beep and dig" machines. Tesoro answer after all that time was the Mojave? Which is more than likely the best $250 detector. But, it's a basic unit which they already have 3 of with the Compadre, Silver, and Cibola. Yeah, on these Tesoro forums it sounds like they are a popular name and we like them. But very few people, in the whole, who have used them don't anymore and many have never even heard of them. With the features these other brands are coming out with, Tesoro is just getting left behind, losing more and more of their fan base year after year. With the death of the founder and lead engineer, rumors that Rusty has retired, he's gone. Nathan the chief of operations is gone. No social media participation. The complete fumbling failure of the Cazador. The disappointment with the Mojave with a lot of us fans. All within what, 4 years? Eman1000 is correct in saying "they should do better if they want to keep what ground they still have." That's just plain old common sense. I do like the Vaquero though. But, I just don't see buying another new Tesoro model just because it's a Tesoro with the same features or even less than the one I have now
.

 

[walnut]

I have not bought a Mojave because I have a Vaq and a Compadre. Seems like a Mojave would be a lot of overlap. But I am open to the idea that possibly the Mojave is a fantastic detector. Maybe it is their best detector overall, who knows? If it finds more good stuff as effectively as an expensive dual frequency computer detector, yet only costs 251, and has fewer knobs, so be it? Why would that bother me...

Maybe the Tesoro lineup doesn't change much because this is about as good as it gets? Tesoro could put it all into one detector, but they are selling features, and it gets us all to buy 2 or 3 detectors. That's how it works. I think there will always be people like us who prefer the very fast, nuanced analog sound of Tesoro detectors. I hope they are around for a long time.

 

[ArthurEvans]

People expect new features from their phones every year... and for people who want to be able to "live tweet" while eating at Arby's and have a wider range of emojis or they feel left behind, the slow pace of Tesoro upgrades might seem a bit quaint.

I'm no technophobe - I have 3 computers, 2 tablets, and I work in a lab. But I still just use my phone as a phone.

And I don't need any new features on my MD. I like my ATP, but there's so much beeping and squawking, I just can't enjoy myself with it for long. I love my Tejon. It doesn't yak; it speaks up when there's something important to say. It makes the whole experience restful and calming.

 

[Hihosilver]

People expect new features from their phones every year... and for people who want to be able to "live tweet" while eating at Arby's and have a wider range of emojis or they feel left behind, the slow pace of Tesoro upgrades might seem a bit quaint.

I'm no technophobe - I have 3 computers, 2 tablets, and I work in a lab. But I still just use my phone as a phone.

And I don't need any new features on my MD. I like my ATP, but there's so much beeping and squawking, I just can't enjoy myself with it for long. I love my Tejon. It doesn't yak; it speaks up when there's something important to say. It makes the whole experience restful and calming.

I know what you mean. I took the Golden micromax to an older Park today and dug mostly aluminum, but lots of noise, compared to the Mojave. I actually wished I brought the Mojave instead of the Golden... go figure.