Minelab Xterra 50 -vs- Tesoro Vanquero

[jhnbaker]

I recently talked to Scott at www.metaldetector.com and was comparing the Vanquero against the Minelab Xterra 50 and he said that because of having to manually ground balance the Vanquero and the ability for the x-terra 50 to go very deep that the xterra 50 might be a better choice. Also do you have to use the large 18.75 inch coil for the xterra 50 to get good depth or is the standard coil OK because I am on a budget. I know that the Vanquero is a good machine but I am concerned about all of the ground balancing that you have to do. I will be hunting relics and coins. I hope to find alot of CW goodies as I love history. What does everyone think?

 

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[cryptodave]

Manually ground balancing is not always a bad thing. I love Minelab products, but I don't see any way that the X-terra is going as deep as the Vaquero. Tesoro makes a super VLF product that is just hard to beat. Minelab might be giving out bonuses or a better commission rate than Tesoro.

 

[Dick from IA]

I currently own an XTerra 70, and have also used a Vaquero on a test basis for a week. Both excellent detectors, but for CW relic hunting the Vaquero would be my choice.

 

[Dug D]

The x-terra 50 is manual ground balance so you will be in the same boat as the Tesoro. The 18.75 coil is KHZ not inches and the high khz coil most likely will not go as deep as the standard. For extra depth the 10.5 inch DD coil may give you some but I have only used the 9 inch 7.5 KHZ coil on mine.
As far as depth I am yet to see anything that would lead me to believe the x-terra will be as deep as the tesoro, but the x-terra 50 has the option of 2 different frequency coils with large visual display.

What I don't know is the difference 1 inch or maybe 3 there are a lot of stories, ID is more important to me.

 

[Sandman]

I like Minelab's also, but my nod goes to the Tejon instead of the Vaquero. Between the X-Terra and Vaquero, it is the Vaquero. Ground balancing is no big deal an is done fast an accurate. I don't trust detectors that auto ground balance anyway. Years ago some detectors were advertised as Automatic when in fact they were preset GB.

 

[TonyinCT]

Get the Vaquero or Tejon. The manual GB is what you need in this case for better performance in tough ground you may encounter where you are. Le t me know if I can help you in any other way.

 

[texan connection]

As far as coil size, a small coil can actually many times give geater depth, if in close proximity to other non desireble targets. As different depth targets can often mask a desirable target. (I think that made sense). I bought the 12" coil with my new SE and have had better luck with the standard coil. I have dug some nice big deep stuff with the lg coil.but find myself using the smaller coil more often. At this point I am leaning toward getting the even smaller coil, for areas with more targets, and that is where you will most likley be hunting, (even in a ghost town).