Silver Umax- A review of my first experience with one.

[MDinMaryland]

I used the comments posted here on TreasureNet and other forums to make my decision to buy a Silver Umax. I got a great deal on fleabay and it arrived yesterday. Thanks to UPS it arrived 30 minutes after the sun went down, but I'm patient. Ok I lied, I'm not very patient. So I popped a fresh 9v in it and did some air tests. I have to say I wasn't very impressed initially. It was getting maybe 6" on a clad quarter on full power. I would have tried it in my yard, but I live in a brand new development on an Army post, so metal detecting my yard is not only fruitless, it's illegal.

I went out this afternoon to a park that is probably 15 to 20 years old, so I didn't plan on hitting anything old or deep and I was right. I did walk away after about an hour with a pocketful of clad. I was fooled twice. Once by a rock, about fist sized that I assume is the stuff y'all call "hot rocks." And then later by a twist cap. I set the cap back on the ground and tried to "learn" the sound that it made. I couldn't differentiate until I started rolling the disc nob. As I got closer to the tab and 1c settings, the cap made popping sounds at the ends of each beep.

I dug only coins after that!

The best part was going to a spot that had nothing but about 8 picnic tables. This would be the best test I could give it today. The ground was literally coated in pulltabs, foil wrappers, bottlecaps and can bits, ground up by mowers. I was able to pull two dimes and a nickel out of that area without digging a single piece of trash. The downside to that area was that it was very slow-going. I had to spend time over each beep to figure out if it was trash or not. I rolled the disc nob slowly from one end to the other, if the signal didn't go away or lose strength, I would also test in on all metal to see if it would give me an unusually strong signal, indicating a can or something large.

The point at which I knew I loved this machine and would never touch another detector with a display was when I came across a good, clear signal and I started the testing process. I found it discriminated out when I passed the 1c mark, but it was never a broken signal. I new I had a newer penny. So I set it to all metal, raised it up about 8" and started testing for depth. It picked up around the 7" mark, so I figured it to be near the surface. I didnt bother with a plug, I just removed about a half inch of soil with my screwdriver and there it was... a penny. Right were it said it would be. Totally not worth the 5 minutes I spent, but definitely worth it for the opportunity to learn this machine.

I would like to know if the other Silver owners out there have similar results from air tests. This one I have shows signs of previous use, so I don't know if it is operating up to standard. Any other advice for using this detector would also be appreciated. Ok, I'll shut up now.

Have a great day and happy hunting!

 

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[jorge del norte]

Tesoro.....makes me smile

Hope you enjoy your new/used machine.....I love mine! They are just simple....

 

[MDinMaryland]

I see you use a conquistador... The seller who sold me this Silver for 170 shipped also had a Conquistador Umax for 190. I read about 100 posts about the Silver, but couldn't find enough reviews to justify the Conquistador. Either way, I knew I was getting a quality machine.

 

[BuckleBoy]

The Silver uMax is a beauty of a machine. It is light, easy to use, and easy to learn.

Some of my best finds have come with the Silver this past year, including a nice Civil War sword belt plate that was close to a foot and a half deep. Take a look at my year-end post for more:

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,293877.0.html

I will agree that with the stock coil the Silver doesn't go as deep as the Big Dawgs do...that's why I invested in the 10 x 12 coil. Even the 9 x 8 is a good improvement on depth, without the extra weight that the 10 x 12 has.

The low-end Tesoros are a pleasure to use--the Silver uMax and Cibola especially. My favorite thing is how stable they run. Even in heavy iron. The target separation on them seems to be top notch.


Best Wishes and Happy Hunting,



Buckleboy

 

[SkyPirate]

I found a copper penny this past weekend at about 10 inches. I just got my Silver uMax and I never did an air test but I do fiddle with the knobs when I get a signal and get the same results as you. That hot rock may have been a meteorite which are worth a lot of money. I have found some cool iron relics at 12 inches and more. My Silver U has great depth. Since I got mine in December I have found a silver bracelet, a very small silver "order of the arrow" boy scout medal, and a good amount of clad. I am still learning it but already I like it better than the Ace 150 I was using. Good luck!

 

[oneeye]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I bought a used Tejon off of the classifieds here last year and really love these Tesoros. I have been a White's guy for 25 years. I may have to check out the Silver next. Never can have too many "toys"
Dan

 

[John (Ma)]

I have the Tejon for woods and relic hunting. I bought the Silver to throw on my off road bike and test some areas. I also us the silver for tot lot and park hunting. The more I use the detector, the more I like it. I think it is a very under rated detector. I love the Tesoro's

 

[LuckyLarry]

The new Silver uMax gets around 9" on a clad quarter - in air.

The Silver Sabre (mine) gets 8" on a clad quarter - in air.

My Compadre gets about 8" on a clad quarter - in air.

But some Tesoros are "hot" and some are not.

And a quicker scan speed can increase the air/ground depth from 6" to 9", a 2-3" gain.

A trip back to the factory for increased depth could help a bit - but may not be worth the extra effort, and may not help at all.

Tesoro's strong suites are light weight and superior target separation, not extreme depth like certain Fishers, most Nautiluses, and some Minelabs.

Hope this helps.

LL

 

[MDinMaryland]

Thank you LL. That helps. My air tests are nothing like yours. I think I'm going to buy a 10x12 coil for the Silver. I hit a clad dime (1965) at about 6.5 inches in the dirt, so I think the stock coil is good enough for now. If I find a deal on a 10x12 I'll pick it up.

I hope they station me back in Texas soon.... This snow makes it difficult to go hunting!

Jason

 

[LuckyLarry]

Jason

Go to the nearest Tesoro dealer. Try a bigger coil before you buy it. A larger coil will not always make things better, and sometimes the smaller coil will find things that the larger one will not, especially smaller items. Bigger coils can make thing a bit noisey sometimes too.

An 9x8 will probably serve you better than a 10x12, unless the bigger stuff is what you seek.

A used metal detector very often has a dislodged winding inside the searchcoil. A dislodged winding will affect depth, etc, and will often make it sound out while nothing is there. Tesoro has few problems with it's guts. They are made well and secured well inside but too much heat can damage them as well as any other metal detector. Don't leave them in the car (in the sun). Cover them well and out of sun's rays when storing in a vehicle, etc.

Another thing to consider'; A used Tejon can often sell for less than $300 and with a stock 9x8 coil they will go deeper than any stock Explorer, or stock DFX with standard issue searchcoil. Remember too that a Tejon is the ONLY detector that beat the Nautiluses in the GNRS. In really harsh high-mineral soil with the stock 9x8 they will sound like a dog sxxxxxxg razor blades, so keep that in mind. The Tejon is a bit partial to iron too.

LL

 

[Monty]

I won a Silver Umax as a prize at the second CTH in Kansas. I wasn't too impressed from just looking at it, but it is a great little inexpensive detector and I use it as a backup to my Safari. Once you learn to work the knobs while hunting it is a winner. You have to use the old fashioned method of detecting and I have learned a lot from using mine. Monty

 

[cavador del oro]

The Silver uMax is all anyone needs for land hunting. The stock coil is for heavy trash sites like by old houses or places where houses burned down in the past. Like mentioned by someone above, the 12x10 concentric coil makes the Silver (all Silvers) into a mean deep machine. And because the 12x10 is a concentric coil it can be raised for better target separation when needed (more cone shaped signal). A Silver Sabre or Silver uMax will get up to about 10 inches on an indian cent with the 12x10 coil. I have used the 12x10 a lot in the past and have talked Civil War relic hunters into using it. I am now experimenting with the coil the 12x10 replaced--the 10 1/2 inch round "donut" concentric coil. The 10.5 uMax is now out of production. I'm going to it because I've come to understand it's very popular in the UK for their ancient sites and Georgi of Nexus says the round coil design gives VLF the optimum signal (if I understand him correctly from the Nexus site). See, with some over there the old Tesoros are still favored and they use that round donut coil. If you call Tesoro and talk to Vince he will tell you the advantage of the 12x10 over the old 10.5 is the 12x10 covers a little more area and it's sexier. Personally I have always liked that hole in the middle of the coil for pinpointing. And too, the 12x10 design likes to get caught in brush.
--Snowy

 

[Digging Fool]

I have found some fairly deep stuff with my Silver. It does alot better through dirt than it air-tests(halo effect). It's the most stable machine I've ever used.

 

[vaquero44]

my first tesoro was a silver umax and this is what made me fall in love with the tesoro line up i found more stuff with the silver than any other, before that i had a whites m6 and picked up stuff that it left behind and i've had the 12 x 10 coil on this and it kicked but clad quarters would air test at 16" and a ladies silver bangle bracelet that i found with it would air test 20" no bull also on youtube i have a video of my finds in maine i go under the handle of travelinjavelin

 

[Monkeywrangler2]

I drive a Cibola, and just got a 5.75 concentric coil for it this week. Still getting the hang of the dinky little coil, but am not sure which I prefer yet--stock 9x8 or the 5.75.

 

[Monty]

After reading and posting here, I pulled my little SilverUmax out and took it to the local kiddie park just to kill some time between rain storms. I wasn't trying to find treassure, just wanted "out" for a spell since it had rained for two days. Oh I found treasure alright, four cents! But one was a 1923 wheat worth 4 bucks in the blue book! Rich again. Actually I wanted to see how close I could get to the iron poles without falsing. I found out that I had to turn the descrimination button way up to keep from getting an iron "echo". I suspect then that what I was actually getting was an overload signal, but with a one tone detector that is hard to distinguish. That's the one thing I wish the SilverUmax had, a couple of more tones to aid in distinguishing possible make up of the target. But I had fun and got some fresh air and about ten minutes of sunshine. Monty