Ranger1:
Hey folks, I am fairly new to detecting and after all the research and reviews I have decided on a Tesoro. I had just about decided on the Vaquero because of the manual ground balance ...
Welcome to a great outdoor sport.
My word of caution, and I bring this up in every seminar I do, in monthly meetings we host, and frequently on forum posts, is this:
"There is no perfect detector made."
There are some good detectors for certain applications, there some specialty detectors, plenty of lower-end, less featured models on the market, some more expensive and difficult for mot to learn to adjust, .... and then we also have several that could qualify as a good "general purpose" detector that can be used inn a variety of hunting tasks.
The Tesoro Vaquero fits closer to the "multi-purpose" class because it does provide a true manually adjusted Ground Balance for the Threshold-based All Metal mode, and a motion-based, silent-search Discriminate mode.
Ranger1:
...but, since I located an Lobo SuperTRAQ locally I have a couple of questions first.
* The Lobo SuperTRAQ is (new in the box) that was purchased around 1997 or 1998. Has there been any changes over the years as it looks identical to the current LST?
The 'original' Lobo and the newer Lobo SuperTRAQ both can fit the class of "multi-purpose" detectors.
The only factory change here in the USA to the Lobo SuperTRAQ is the recent package color change. Just a physical appearance thing.
Ranger1:
* How well does the Computerized Ground Tracking System react to different soil types especially here in Georgia?
The Lobo SuperTRAQ has a very efficient Ground Tracking circuitry to handle almost all ground mineral environments. I am not a big fan of constant auto-tracking, preferring either an automated Ground Balance that adjusts and then locks that setting, or a manual Ground Balance which leaves me in control of the best functional setting.
The caution to consider here is that the Ground Tracking circuitry works
ONLY for the Threshold-based All Metal mode. The Lobo ST relies on an internally preset Ground Balance for the motion Discriminate mode. I hunt in some rather challenging locations and,
for me, I prefer to not use a constantly tracking circuitry, and really like to have operator control over the Ground Balance function.
Ranger1:
* It also has the reputation of being an all around detector. Whats your thoughts on this?
The Lobo St can do an all-around job, but not with the stock coils. When I used the Lobo SuperTRAQ as my primary search detector in '99 and into 2001 I decided to stay with the round 8" concentric coil. I used them all, but favored the concentric coil because it balanced well, and it also discriminates better than a Double D coil.
Overall it was an 'PK' detector for general use, but I did run into a few situations where the preset GB in the Disc. mode was not sufficient for the terrible ground mineralization where we were.
Ranger1:
* Also, he also has a Sidewinder uMax (new in box) purchased in 97 or 98 that I was thinking of getting for my daughter to use. Not much info out there on this one. Any info is appreciated.
The Sidewinder µMAX was popular, but it also suffered from a factory glitch in the circuitry design. There were a few models that had the same problem, like their first Conquistador, too.
The glitch? These models have an internal trimmer to preset the Ground Balance adjustment. The 'glitch' is that on most that I have handled and recalibrated for others, the GB is changed when you adjust the Discrimination control!
If the Disc. control is set way high when the GB trimmer is adjusted, then reducing the Disc. level to maybe iron nail rejection at the minimum setting could result in a too-negative GB setting and falsing would occur.
If the Disc. level was set at the minimum position and the GB trimmer was set a little more positive than needed, then some increase in the Discrimination level will also shift the GB setting up more positive. It could be so positive that you might not detect a big silver dollar or even a half-dollar coin.
The last one I tweaked for a detector dealer here in Oregon so that it should probably handle most higher mineralized ground enough that it will work okay, but not too much to reject high-conductive targets. He said he uses it as a loaner unit so it will maybe be okay. In the past it falsed a lot for him. The problem was not just the GB trimmer, but the overall settings between the GB trimmer and the Discrimination level.
Monte
